Thin head on brown ale with Oats and Cara

[ktraver97ss]

I formulated the below recipe hoping for a big bodied brown, nutty, with a thick creamy head. It was brewed Nov 4th and has been kegged and on c02 for 2 months now and the head is still thin. Large bubbles that dissipate quickly. No retention and no lacing. It was only supposed to ferment down to 1.019 but went all the way to 1.010 in a week. We have had great success with lacing, head, and retention on other beers using the same system. Is there anything in the recipe that jumps out at you that could be the issue, or anything else that can cause this?


Mashed at 155 for 60 min
Measured OG - 1.060
Measured FG - 1.010
SRM - 21
IBU - 26
ABV - 6.7%
80% efficiency
27g batch

40# 2row
6# Flaked Oat
5# Victory
3# Caramunich I
2# Crystal 60L
1.5# Chocolate Rye
1# Chocolate Malt

2oz Columbus @ 60min
2oz US Northern Brewer @ 15min
1oz Willamette @ 0 min

 

[RM-MN]

Soap residue on any of the equipment that touches the brew at any point in the whole process will cause this. Mash tun, fermenter, keg, any of it.

Did you keg it after the one week you mentioned above and then chill it? That could be a factor too. If so, take the keg out of the chiller and let it get warm for another 2 weeks and chill it again.

 

[ktraver97ss]

We dont really clean with soap. We use PBW and iodine, but it was a bit of an "interesting" day as it was the first time we attempted a full 30g batch and only ended with 27g. I guess there is a chance my buddy I brew with used something to clean the kegs that we use as fermentors, but i doubt he will remember. I will keep that in mind for future brew though. Is it the animal fats in soap that cause this issue?

It went 4 weeks in primary, no secondary, and we kegged it all after a 3 day cold crash and hooked right up to c02 at about 10psi.

 

[harrymanback92]

From my experience with oats they don't contribute that much to head retention but more mouthfeel. I use oats a lot, but I always add some flaked barley to the oats to get the mouthfeel and head retention.

But if this has worked for you in the past, I'd suspect soap is the culprit.

 

[Yooper]

Oats are "oily" and while they have a nice creamy mouthfeel, they can kill head retention. For beers that I use oats in, I add something like flaked barley to help with head and foam retention.

Edit- we posted at nearly the same time! Great minds must think alike.

 

[harrymanback92]

Haha. Cheers!

Yooper must be onto something

 

[ktraver97ss]

hmmm i thought oats helped with retention as well as body! D'oh! ill have to add some barley next time we brew this one.

 

[ktraver97ss]

So, last weekend we had a chili cook-off and we tapped another keg of the brown that had been aged and carbed differently. This one has been at room temp in the keg since early Dec and we just carbed and chilled for the party and it was excellent! The head was exactly what I was looking for, heavy body, and flavors were blended and smooth. The other 2 kegs were kept in my garage kegerator right after racking and were carbed right away. Could they have been too cold to age and carb properly? They never froze but it does get pretty cold around here. It does make me feel better that it was not the recipe but another aging factor.

 

[ktraver97ss]

Would it be bad to pull one out of the kegerator now and age at room temp for a while? I guess it sucks anyway, doubt it will make it worse.

 

[RM-MN]

Getting maturity in your beer takes time and since it seems to be a function of the yeast and a slow chemical reaction it need the beer to be warm. I'd take the beer out of the kegerator and give it a couple weeks at room temperature to let things happen, then chill it and try again. I'm betting that will be all that is necessary.

 

[ktraver97ss]

Thats what I figured, really hope it helps.

Thanks!