Another head retention thread...but this one is different

[botigol]

Hi everybody,

I brewed BierMuncher's Helles Belles, splitting the batch into three for experimenting with three yeasts: WY2206, WY2565 and WLP830. Last night I pulled a bottle of each, for a side-by-side comparison, and found that the Kolsch (WY2565) had great head retention, whereas the two lager yeasts had none. Both lager yeast samples foamed up at pouring, but then quickly died back down.

Given that they all came from the same wort, were lagered for the same period, primed for 2.4 volumes of CO2 and bottled at the same time, the only obvious variables are fermentation temperature and yeast. I haven't come across discussion of head retention in regards to either subject.

Any thoughts or experiences with these?

 

[MaxStout]

Head retention is usually due to proteins in the beer. With all else being equal, I'm going to assume that the flocculation properties of different yeasts may have precipitated the proteins to different degrees.

 

[botigol]

Head retention is usually due to proteins in the beer. With all else being equal, I'm going to assume that the flocculation properties of different yeasts may have precipitated the proteins to different degrees.

That's a great point that I hadn't thought about, especially since WY2565 flocs very slowly. However, the three months of lagering should have evened out the differences, right?

 

[daksin]

How was the carbonation on each bottle? Slight differences in carb level can have dramatic effects on head appearance.

 

[botigol]

WY2206 had the most carbonation and WY2565 just a little bit less.