Head Consistency - Possible Culprits?

[Meyre86]

So I brewed up a 5-Gal batch of Imperial Pumpkin Ale a few months ago and it was a huge success with friends/family. While I absolutely love the flavor, I'd like to see if I can modify the amount and consistency of the head it has when poured out of the bottle.

The only way I can describe it is that it "cloud-like". Light and foamy, and dissipates VERY slowly. Its basically impossible to pour a pint without ending up with 2+ inches of head and unless you use your thumb/finger to "pop" it or drink it off, it seems like it will just sit there for forever without subsiding.

I don't have a ton of experience with the ingredients and/or fermentation variables that might impact this, so I could use some help to identify what i might consider changing up next time around. My goal is to get more of an IPAish head when pouring.

Ingredients:
16 lbs Pale Malt
2 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt (20L)
1 lbs Biscuit Malt
1 oz. Magnum Hops (60 min)
.5 oz. Sterling Hops (10 min)
1 Tsp. Irish Moss (10 min)
2 Pks. Wyeast Labs London Ale Yeast (#1028)

I combined 32 oz. Pumpkin puree and 1/2 cup of brown sugar and baked it for ~30 min. before adding it to the boil @ 20-min. I also added some vanilla extract and spices in the bottling bucket, but am not thinking those have anything to do with it. If so, let me know and I can spell those out.

Added 5 oz. of diluted corn sugar right before bottling.

Thanks in advance for any insight/advice you can give!

 

[jdauria]

Starches from the pumpkin maybe? I kegged my pumpkin and it took a lot longer on CO2 to get the type of head on it that my other beers do. But it's not very long lasting.

I've read that adding 1/2 lb of wheat malt per 5 gallon batch can greatly improve the head of the beer.

 

[doug293cz]

Wow, too much head is an unusual problem. I seldom get enough head, and it doesn't last long enough Maybe I need some pumpkin.

Brew on

 

[duboman]

Not sure you actually have a problem, most people are looking to improve head retention, not the opposite Are you sure it's not over carbonated? 5oz of priming sugar could be too much if you are not priming a full 5 gallons of finished beer.....

 

[Meyre86]

Lol...I literally spent 10 minutes after I wrote up my original post trying to figure out how to reword my title in a way that wouldn't get me 2 pages of jokes before some actual info.

Thanks for the quick responses!

Pumpkin -- Didn't think about that. I'll have to look into what characteristics the pumpkin will put into the beer aside from the flavor as I didn't factor it into the recipe aside from noting it in Beersmith.

Wheat Addition - Haven't heard of this before. I'm going to look further into it and see if this might do the trick. I'm wondering if maybe the lb. of Biscuit Malt might have anything to do with it. I wanted to give it a pumpkin bread-ish flavor.

Over-carbonation - Definitely a possibility, but if it is, its different than others I've seen. I did a 60-min clone a while back that ended up WAY over carbonated, but the foam reminded me of the foamed milk you get on a high-end coffee drink -- soft, constantly "fizzing", and gradually shrinking after the initial pour. The head on this imp pump ale is less soft and doesn't seem to want to "fizz" on its own -- think sink full of dish soap bubbles. It also seems like it has a little more texture than the head I've seen on most beers.

I've got one of the last few bottles in the keezer now, so maybe I'll pour it tonight and post a video/pictures so you guys can see what I'm talking about.