I poured a 2 week old RIS, which I understand is very young. When poured it formed an amazing deep brown head that disappeared almost instantly. Will head retention form with time, or is this the way it will always be?
Like Revvy said, head retention isn't your issue at all. Your beer simply isn't carbed up yet.
If I were you, I'd leave them alone for another two weeks, then try again.
Patience, Brother... Pez.
Imperial stouts are fermented at ale temperatures in the 63-68 F range, carbonated at low to moderate carbonation rates, and stored at ale temperatures or lower (as they were during the icy trip across the Baltic). Often Imperials require an extended aging period to achieve full maturity due to the high starting gravity.
From Brad at Beersmith's description of the style.
The word "imperial" in the name should be a clue...when you have that word in there, that means you should be thinking long term about this beer.
Fer cher, but I'd leave it two months, not weeks. It's a RIS and the OP said it'd been bottles for only a couple weeks, that thing'll take another month at least to carb up properly.
I need to follow my own advice about patience.......... Pez.
As a beer is stored more particulate matter drops out. These particulates are enucleation sites for carbonation so as a beer ages, the bubbles become finer and this can lead to a creamier head that can give the impression of better head retention. Head retention itself is really influenced by medium chain proteins in the beer so that really shouldnt change with time.
As has been said above, if you dont have carbonation, you cant have head. So wait a bit
Between me and you man, so do I. Even when I know I have a long wait for bottles, I try one at 3-4 weeks to see if some magic beer fairy helped them carbonate faster than nature allows..... needless to say, I've yet to see signs that this fairy actually exists outside of my own imagination.
The only cure is having a pipeline, so you have beer ready and beer at all different stages.
We all do. You think it doesn't get to me too? The only cure is having a pipeline, so you have beer ready and beer at all different stages.
To make matters worse, once you actually have a pipeline built up, store-bought beer is seldom, if ever, going to be as tasty as your own work.
I can't agree with that. I love home brew but there are some awesome beers from around the world. I get it that no one thinks their own baby is ugly, but to make the leap that everything you make is better than anything you can buy is a bit of a stretch.
Im willing to bet it seemed pretty carbonated because it was bottled while it was still fermenting.
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