Head disappears when cold

[SwillyBilly]

Hi everyone,

I recently brewed a Old Rasputin clone and have had the beer bottled for about 3 weeks now. If I pull a bottle out of the pantry at about 67 degrees and put it straight into a pint glass then I get about an inch of head on the beer. It disappears fairly quick but that's no problem for me.

However, if I put the beer into the fridge for a few hours or overnight and then pour the beer straight into the pint glass I get no head at all on the beer.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to why the head disappears at lower temperatures?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[jeepinjeepin]

Low carbonation? Less bubbles when cold to bring the head up?

 

[heywolfie1015]

That happens when I go swimming in a cold lake, too.

Oh wait, you meant something else.

 

[SwillyBilly]

The carbonation is fine for a RIS. There's just no head if it's been in the fridge.

 

[jeepinjeepin]

That sounds fairly normal. Serving temperature should be 55 degrees or so anyway.

 

[airving]

At colder temperatures co2 stays in solution more easily. You've got the same amount of carbonation in the bottle whether it's hot or cold, but when you open the warm bottle more of the gas comes out right away.

 

[badbrew]

Have you tried chilling the pantry beer?

 

[unionrdr]

I had a similar experience with my Whiskely ale. 9 weeks & 6 days at room temp. It needed to be in the fridge (bottles) for 2 solid weeks to get a 2 finger head & decent carbonation. Heavy &/or darker beers seem to need the extra fridge time to drive the co2 into solution well.

 

[StittsvilleJames]

This used to happen to me all the time too.

I think, in my limited experience, that it's because the beer is not carboated enough. Like other said, once it's cold, CO2 goes into the beer, and doesn't come out right away when it's poured to make a nice head.

I started adding a bit more priming sugar, and now I get more head when the beer is cold. I started with 3/4 cup of corn sugar for a 5 gallon batch, but have now started going to almost 1 cup, and the beers have much nicer head when they've been chilled for a couple of days.

 

[SwillyBilly]

The beer in the bottling bucket was less then 5 gallons so I went with 2/3 cup priming sugar. Also because my last beer was waaayy too bubbly.

In the end, I guess it doesn't matter. The beer is carbed and it tastes good. I was just wondering more for the presentation aspect. Now I know that the CO2 goes into solution more when it's cold. Good to know!

Thank you all for your insight!

As an aside, any recommendations on how to age some of the bottles of this beer? My walkout basement stays around 55-60 in the winter but can get up to 70-75 in the summer. I don't have a beer cooler. Do you think I should age them in the basement or just in the fridge?

Thanks again!

 

[unionrdr]

Store them in the cold only after they've carbonated & conditioned first. Otherwise,ale yeast could stall & go dormant.

 

[BOBrob]

Once it has good carbonation; sure , but mine would never make it till summer. Basement floors can be a brewers friend, because it stays cooler than the air around it. Cheers