Big stout doesn't carbonate properly

[OldDogBrewing]

So I don't really know where to post this because I feel like it can potentially cover a wide array of topics, so General felt better.

The thing is I love big bold stouts, sometimes pastry, sometimes not pastry, these beers I make start at an OG of at least 1.130 so they can finish from 1.045 to 1.060s or so, depending on the OG, I've gone as high as 1.155.

I want to bottle carbonate these beers for multiple reasons, one being that on the long term, it's better for ageing and this beers feel perfect for ageing, but I'm having issues with carbonation, or more well said, I solved already the carbonation issue, now the issue seems to be head formation, the bubbles go up so slow that when they reach the top, the ones that were there before, have vanished already but the carbonation is there, it feels like it's at the right volumes (2 - 2.2 Vol).

Obviously when it's a pastry stout, some ingredients may interfere with head retention but it happens the same thing in non pastry ones so it may be accentuating it, but it's not the sole origin of it.

My thinking is I could raise the carbonation, it shouldn't mess with the body of a 1.055 finishing beer too much, or maybe add something to help with foam like more wheat but I've tried that and I feel like it doesn't work, what would you do on this one?

 

[hottpeper13]

I think most of those bog beers just don't hold a head. Mine go away shortly after the pour and so do the ones I stand in line for on Black Friday. To get the most possible foam i do a mashout rest at 172*. Whats your BU/GU? I'll calculate 100 ibu's for beers that big,and my DIPA's all lace to the bottom of the glass. I always add 3 grams of CBC yeast to the cooled priming sugar.

 

[OldDogBrewing]

I think most of those bog beers just don't hold a head. Mine go away shortly after the pour and so do the ones I stand in line for on Black Friday. To get the most possible foam i do a mashout rest at 172*. Whats your BU/GU? I'll calculate 100 ibu's for beers that big,and my DIPA's all lace to the bottom of the glass. I always add 3 grams of CBC yeast to the cooled priming sugar.

BU/GU ratio depends on what I want, if it's intended for ageing it's around 65 to 85 IBUs, single addition, and for pastry 25 to 30 IBUs.

The way I carbonate is adding a fresh pitch of the same yeast I used to ferment it, this makes it properly carbonated but the issues is the head retention, like bubbles are so slow that they can't build anything

 

[hottpeper13]

When my local maltster started malting oats and rye ,the big beers black or pale got at least 8 oz of each per 5 gal batch. When you use so much base malt(25-20 lbs) I can't taste them but they seem to help with the mouth feel and maybe some in the foam. I mash the big ones at 148* for 2 hours and want them to finish below 1.020 , so i need some beta gluten to make them smooth.