Head/Lacing on second pour

[ca_baracus]

I just kegged a batch of beer for the second time and I’m noticing that if I’m pouring 2 beers, the first pour has great head and lacing. The second pour has very little head and no lacing. Is this normal? Should I be waiting before pouring the second glass?

 

[Bassman2003]

Yes. I have found that with my keg setup, the first pour has more CO2 coming out of solution than the second pour. I think the end of the beer line before the shank has a pocket that forms when the beer is not being poured. This pocket is not there on a second pout therefore the CO2 stays in solution resulting in a "beer only", no head pour.

CO2 is either in solution (carbonation) or coming out of solution (foam). Tons of foam means flat beer, & nothing left in solution. It is a balancing act. What I do is start and stop the tap on my first pour, drink that little bit, lower the glass and pour a bit at distance to generate some head. Then after 30 seconds I tilt the glass and pour the rest. This generates nice head foam while keeping most of the beer carbonated.

If I just keep flowing with the initial foam the entire beer will be kind of flat as the agitation kind of grows exponentially!

 

[ca_baracus]

Interesting.. I'll give this a try.

 

[brewbama]

That’s an interesting technique baseman. I do not have that issue. I have a great foamy head and plenty of champagne-like bubbles (carbonation) regardless of how many glasses I pour. I attribute that to a Hockhurz step mash and good carbonation.

 

[Bassman2003]

I think this discussion is more about pouring beer than beer quality. I am sure my system is not functioning 100% correctly as this pocket at the end of the line should not be there. But I get around it by what I described. I also have flo-restrictors in my beer lines which slow the beer down. These might be the cause but they allow higher levels of carbonation with short beer lines. A slow pour helps keep the CO2 in solution even at higher carbonation levels. You can coax it out for foam which is better than it coming out of solution on its own which tends to multiply.

 

[brewbama]

I did not mean to infer anyone has inferior beer. I simply stated I don’t have the problem and why I believe that is in an effort to help.

 

[Bassman2003]

No worries. I am a big fan of Hochkurz myself!

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Getting a keg to pour optimally is an interesting battle. You need a number of things to be set up correctly to make it work. First, you need the right temperature. Second, you need that temp to be consistent all the way to the faucet. Third, you need the right serving pressure for the beer and temp. Finally, you need the right hose length for the serving pressure.

If any of those are too far off, you end up with either a foamy first beer or all beers are foamy. If you've looked at carbonation charts, you know that how much CO2 will be in solution is proportional to the temperature. Lower temp beer can hold more CO2. So you need to look at the chart to force carb and use the same info for serving pressure. Ganerally, serving at 37 degees or less is optimal from a pouring perspective (regardless of ideal drinking temp).

If the beer line is warmer in the tower, the beer in the line warms up and you get CO2 coming out of solution. That CO2 forms a pocket and results in a foamy first beer. One poured immediately after will not produce that foam. It's not flat, it's just not readily coming out of solution. You can pour that more aggressively if you want a nice head on it. I use a tower chiller that keeps the air recirculating through the tower and the rest of the chamber for consistent temps throughout.

The line length ensures that the beer doesn't come out too quickly for any given pressure. Flow through a hose or pipe is inversely proportional to the length and directly proportional to the diameter. A smaller diameter and longer hose will flow more slowly and reduce agitation as the beer enters the glass.

One final thing to consider. There was a person here who had a special lid for a corny keg for carbonating that fed the CO2 through a carbonation stone into the beer. Works nicely for carbonation, but you want to switch to the regular gas in port for serving. Once carbonated, introducing CO2 into the beer through that creates nucleation points and takes CO2 out of solution. This makes beers after the first one pour flat until a day or two later when the beer is re-force carbed. (at least that was our conclusion at the time and moving the gas input solved his issue).

 

[jaymosbeershack]

Hwk nailed it up there. I just changed lines and actually have the right length now(after 4 years of wrong) the difference is night and day. I used this calculator. http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/

 

[ca_baracus]

Thanks for the input, @Hwk-I-St8. I think one of the big issues is the temperature difference in the draft tower. I'll have to look into that. If I recall correctly, I have 6' of beer line. I haven't used the calculator that @jaymosbeershack linked to; just went off the recommendation of the guy at the LHBS. The beer definitely pours at a nice rate... not too fast, not too slow. I'll have to dial everything in before my next batch.

 

[myndflyte]

If you have a beer tower, then I think the temp of the lines in the tower is your culprit, unless you have a fan blowing cold air up the tower. But even then, that beer has been sitting there and warmed up compared to what's in the keg. CO2 will come out of solution when it warms up and then that first pour is a lot more foam then when the lines are cold.

That even happens with my keezer. The first pour is always the foamiest because of the warmer lines.

 

[ca_baracus]

The foam on my first pour is excellent:



If I were to correctly cool my tower, this wouldn't happen, right? It would then be a matter of the line balancing, etc.?

 

[ca_baracus]

 

[joegbeer]

I don't have problems per se with the first pour, or the second pour that I've noticed. What I've noticed that a full keg pours perfect, but a half keg or lower pours much more foam.

 

[whovous]

One final thing to consider. There was a person here who had a special lid for a corny keg for carbonating that fed the CO2 through a carbonation stone into the beer. Works nicely for carbonation, but you want to switch to the regular gas in port for serving. Once carbonated, introducing CO2 into the beer through that creates nucleation points and takes CO2 out of solution. This makes beers after the first one pour flat until a day or two later when the beer is re-force carbed. (at least that was our conclusion at the time and moving the gas input solved his issue).

That was me. I'm an infrequent brewer, and have not used the CO2 stone since that time. I am sure it still has its' uses, but I guess I've been in a little less of a hurry to get things carbed properly.

 

[Nubiwan]

An old thread - but I did not see anyone state what I believe is the reason the second pint is not as heady or laced. And that is - the glass is not clean. Did OP just pour second pint into the same glass?

Recall reading elsewhere that the head and lacing depends on how clean the glass is. Dirty glass potentially means no head. Might be a load of bunk, so just passing this on. YMMV. I reckon head and lacing quality say a lot about a beer. Nothing worse than a beer arriving with a few bubbles on top.

Find it disappointing to be honest, as much of the aroma (lack of) is surely in that head.

EDIT HMMM ! just re-read OP post. He poured 2 glasses back to back. While it might still be a dirtier glass, it might well not be the case.