Getting Good Head

[Owly055]

My most recent bottles to come out of secondary were of a malted ginger brew that really went to town. They have a lovely thick creamy head that persists for a long time...... I don't know what I did differently, but the effect is really nice.


H.W.

 

[kyt]

Malted ginger? Grain is malted, I'm not aware of any process for malting a root, like ginger; I wouldn't think that is even possible.

 

[snarf]

I like good carbonation in my kombucha, but a thick creamy head would freak my out. If I want that, I'll just have a nice beer...

 

[Owly055]

Malted ginger? Grain is malted, I'm not aware of any process for malting a root, like ginger; I wouldn't think that is even possible.

I used the term "malted" in the sense of malted milk......... It was a syrup made of malted grains....... Melanodin and crystal 60 cooked with fresh grated ginger root, and cooked down until it was fairly dark. I then pitched yeast and fermented it out, and used it for a bottling syrup at a ratio of 1/4 cup per liter of kombucha...... The thick "shaving cream" head was rather impressive.

H.W.

 

[kyt]

Ah ok that makes more sense. The grains are going to provide the proteins and dextrins necessary for proper head formation and support.

For some reason I cannot get to http://thebrewingnetwork.com/ but there is a BrewStrong episode that discusses head formation/retension. I've been downloading the episodes and saving them to Google Music so I can listen to them wherever I am. So I'm going to say, it's the 3rd episode in the archives. Go to the bottom of the last page, you should see it.

Additionally, I think it's episode #10 Yeast Starters where they talk about how yeast started in sucrose will not be able to ferment your malt well, because they would lack the ability to process maltose. You could use that on purpose to produce a sweeter, thicker "kombucha". Or you could use that extract as a starter and pitch it with your kombucha. You'd have the regular kombucha tolerant microbes, plus maltose tolerant yeast with more developed cell walls.

I had been toying with the idea of steeping some specialty grains to alter a batch of KT. This might just have been the push I needed. So thanks! lol