Stout head retention

[Seracer]

Hi everyone,

I have an all grain stout recipe that I am having trouble with head retention on. I used the same yeast cake (London Ale 1028) on a porter right afterwords and had no issue with that beer. Infusion mashed at 155F, batch sparged at 180F, 5 gallon batch:

6 row barley malt 10.00 lbs
Flaked barley 2.00 lbs.
Black unmalted barley 0.50 lbs.
Roast barley 2.00 lbs.
Chocolate Malt 0.25 lbs.
Malted Wheat 1.00 lbs.

Bottled final ABV at 6.68%. Fermented for 16 days, aged in the bottle now for 32 days. Pours a nice, thick head out of the bottle that rapidly settles in a minute or so to look like coffee with no lacing. I use the same equipment and glasses on other beers and have no head issues on them.

What am I missing?

Thanks!

 

[flars]

This is from an experience I had with a stout. If the head forms large frothy bubbles, more conditioning time is needed. On the pour, if the bubbles in the head are tight and small, yet still quickly dissipate, the glass may have soap residue.

 

[RM-MN]

Two things come to mind.
1. Bottles. Did you wash your bottles with a soap and not get them rinsed well enough? It happened to me.
2. My stouts don't pour as good a head as my lighter color beers. They may need more time in the bottle for the heading proteins to link?

 

[Seracer]

Two things come to mind.
1. Bottles. Did you wash your bottles with a soap and not get them rinsed well enough? It happened to me.
2. My stouts don't pour as good a head as my lighter color beers. They may need more time in the bottle for the heading proteins to link?

This is from an experience I had with a stout. If the head forms large frothy bubbles, more conditioning time is needed. On the pour, if the bubbles in the head are tight and small, yet still quickly dissipate, the glass may have soap residue.

Good info. The bottles are all washed with hot water and a bottle brush, no soap, then soaked in starsan for a few minutes prior to filling. The beer has been in the bottles for a month now, and previous batches for several months with no change in the head retention. Head is thick and foamy, not tiny bubbles. I kind of think it's the recipe, but not sure what to add or change to help. Could it be the 6 row? Here is the percentages of grains also:

6 row barley malt 10.00 lbs. 63.49%
Flaked barley 2.00 lbs. 12.70%
Black unmalted barley 0.50 lbs. 3.17%
Roast barley 2.00 lbs. 12.70%
Chocolate Malt 0.25 lbs. 1.59%
Malted Wheat 1.00 lbs. 6.35%
Total Grain 15.75 lbs. 100.00%

 

[flars]

Could it be the conditioning temperature is well below 70°, slowing the conditioning process?

 

[Seracer]

Could it be the conditioning temperature is well below 70°, slowing the conditioning process?

No, temp is about 75F for the area I bottle condition in. I just bottled a California Common and out of curiosity opened up one last night after only 3 days. It had nice carbonation already, but of course I always let everything set for at least a week. The initial pour on the stout is great, thick and hearty, with lots of nice cascading bubbles. Then after a minute or so I have coffee with no residual lacing.

 

[KeninMN]

If you want good head on a stout, hit it with some nitrogen using the syringe trick. Get a 10 CC (or similar size) plastic syringe. Pour 12 oz of beer from your bottle into a 22 oz (or similar size) pub glass. Draw between 2 - 5 cc of beer plus an equal amount of air into the syringe and then, while holding the end of the syringe above the surface of the beer, shoot is all back into the beer in one single, quick motion. (It will take a bit of trial and error in order to determine how much air and beer to inject, which is dependent on the level of carbonation and the temperature of the beer. Use less beer + air if the beer is carbonated to a higher volume of CO2 or if the beer is warmer, verses more for lower levels of carbonation or a colder temperature.) This will simulate what happens when you dispense from a keg using nitrogen or beer gas (because air is 70% nitrogen.)

 

[flars]

Try the simplest. Clean your beer glass with PBW or a good salt scrub, rinse well, and pour another one that has been chilled for three days.