Head retention for coopers kit?

[Mayo]

I am lookng for a quick easy way to get (no flavour) into my beer but increase head retention. in a 5 galon batch. I want something simple, as I can not boil the wart because I use coopers kits which are non boil. The beer flavour is good the carbination is fine but now its just the head retention is driving me crazy.I normally do 5 goln batchs, Im fine with doing like a small mash that i could add to my wort but IM unsure what I should add.


I need something that I could buy at a local grocery store as I don't have a homebrew shop for literally hundreds of miles.

I have tried DME but, I really dont like the malty flavor in my lager style beers.. So any help would be appreciated. I read somewhere that you could use 2 egg whites for head retention 2 days prior to bottling but I have no idea.

So key points are
1) Something easy that will increase head retention in beer
2) Little to no flavor will be added ..(dme is out)
3) prefer something without a boil if possible as I am not interested in spending hours to get nice head.(if 10-15 minutes I might be ok with that)
4) Prefer something I can buy from grocery store as I don't have local homebrew shop anywhere around me (i refuse to pay crazy shipping)

 

[BradleyBrew]

flaked oat... I believe they have to be mashed but you could add it to your warm water with some of the extract mixed in. I believe that extract can convert. It would be the equivalent of a mini mini mini mash.

 

[Mayo]

Any ideas on how much flaked oat I would need or length of boil required ? I really don't know the science behind the mash. Thanks for input.

 

[jmprdood]

Flaked oats are just "Quick Oats" from the grocery store. Usually about 8-12oz for a 5G batch is sufficient. I've had good success steeping them at about 140-150F for about 20mins, helps w/ mouthfeel, but I'm not sure how much it will help head retention.

Cheers!

 

[Mayo]

Cheers thanks so much for input will have to give it a go next batch ..and yeah it should help with head retention as well (after a quick google search). I just wasnt sure how much or what heat but now i at least have something to try XD. thanks

 

[Mayo]

So im pretty sure i blew it lol.. My temperature rose to over 180 so i doubt i did it right.. ah well i hope it turns out ok.

 

[greenthumbed]

Hi Mayo,

I'm over here in Golden, BC. I have similar troubles sourcing ingredients around these parts (Save-on Foods). I overcame these trials when I discovered a online store out Vernon called Hop Dawgs http://http://www.hopdawgs.ca/index.php. The fellow that operates this store's name is Chris and he seems like a great guy. As far as shipping goes he always uses the cheapest going rate. If you can believe this he even delivers to your door if he is passing through on business which happens from time to time. Check him out!

Oh, get some Carapils (dextrine malt), Crack & steep it in 2L of cold water overnight sparge (rinse) with another 2L of warm water. Add this to this wort to the FV then add kit and other ingredients. As a grocery store addition for head retention you can add corn syrup with some success.

BTW, what do you add to the Cooper's kits if you don't like adding malt extract? Please don't say sugar! You know, beer is made from malt.

 

[LTownLiquorPig]

Hi Mayo,

I'm over here in Golden, BC. I have similar troubles sourcing ingredients around these parts (Save-on Foods). I overcame these trials when I discovered a online store out Vernon called Hop Dawgs http://http://www.hopdawgs.ca/index.php. The fellow that operates this store's name is Chris and he seems like a great guy. As far as shipping goes he always uses the cheapest going rate. If you can believe this he even delivers to your door if he is passing through on business which happens from time to time. Check him out!

Oh, get some Carapils (dextrine malt), Crack & steep it in 2L of cold water overnight sparge (rinse) with another 2L of warm water. Add this to this wort to the FV then add kit and other ingredients. As a grocery store addition for head retention you can add corn syrup with some success.

BTW, what do you add to the Cooper's kits if you don't like adding malt extract? Please don't say sugar! You know, beer is made from malt.

+1 on Hop Dawgs. Never ordered from them, but I've had some emails back and forth and they gave me great pointers. I live about as far away from them as you can get though, so the shipping was foolish.

I've found my best kit results have come from adding Munton's Brew Enhancer. I think it's a mixture of dry malt extract and glucose, but not sure of the ratio. I get great beer flavour, mouthfell and decent head retention. I made a stout kit with LME as my added fermentable, and while it was good and had very good mouthfeel and head it was way too malty. To me, stouts are special, so next time I'll splurge on getting two kits instead.

 

[unionrdr]

Brew enhancers usually contain maltodextrin & dextrose,like cooper's BE1. Others.like their BE2,also contain some plain light DME. It's the maltodextrin that increases head retention & gives some mouth feel.

 

[Mayo]

As far as shipping goes he always uses the cheapest going rate. If you can believe this he even delivers to your door if he is passing through on business which happens from time to time. Check him out!

I have ordered from him a few times and yes i agree Hes a good guy.. To be quite honest though i brew alot of beer and don't want to have to order so much so often.. I know his prices are decent but yeah I don't have grain mill or anything or a large enough pot and i dont feel for blowing so much more on brewing .. I know the answer is always all grain but kits I'm quiet happy with, they just lack head retention..

BTW, what do you add to the Cooper's kits if you don't like adding malt extract? Please don't say sugar! You know, beer is made from malt

I use what I have at the time.. sometimes dme sometimes corn sugar sometimes brown sugar sometimes honey... the malt flavor from dme is good in a english bitter or darker beer but not for the lager style beers.. least i dont enjoy it.

It's the maltodextrin that increases head retention & gives some mouth feel.

Well i have experimented with this and i found that maltodextrin wasn't as good as holding head retention as what i hoped..

Its all good I ordered some heading powder and once a get it will see if that really works for me or not...

 

[soberJim]

I've actually found the priming sugar plays a bigger part in coopers cans than the primary sugars added. Go for a less refined sugar, I would say a brown sugar but that would add flavour. Raw sugar? That gives a creamy texture too.. Coffee sugar would probably be the same, or close too. Everything is sugar, its just in different forms. Stay away from really refined stuff, I tried using caster sugar... Good carbonation, no head. And everybody likes getting good head!

 

[greenthumbed]

Hey Mayo,

I forgot to mention the easiest and cheapest way to get your head retention... Wait for it! The head always improves with time in the bottle.

I think corn sugar, honey, brown sugar all have there place in home brew, but only a small % of the fermentables. Like say 15% or less sugar to 85% Malt. I would say even Lagers have this kinda' ratio.

Tell us how the heading powder works for you. I've tried it many years ago and if I recall correctly it wasn't great Back in those days I though never did let them age. Make a batch, drink a batch. Repeat!

 

[Mayo]

Yeah I tend to let my brews age at least 2-3weeks minimum always. I found out quickly if you wait awhile you beer gets better. I just received my heading powder and will be adding it to my next 2 batches (which are almost done) I will update this thread to let everyone know how it turns out in the end.. I thank all you guys for the suggestions and I will be trying them all eventually. I am constinatley making beer so if I can figure out how to keep the head stable I will post it here to help anyone else having issues as well..

Wait for it! The head always improves with time in the bottle

Yeah I had some beers that sat for over 5 months but the head was terrible as well.. I think it has alot to do with simple sugar that I sometimes use in some of my batches.

 

[greenthumbed]

Yeah I had some beers that sat for over 5 months but the head was terrible as well.. I think it has alot to do with simple sugar that I sometimes use in some of my batches.

You're probably right, there

 

[Mayo]

I've actually found the priming sugar plays a bigger part in coopers cans than the primary sugars added. Go for a less refined sugar, I would say a brown sugar but that would add flavour. Raw sugar? That gives a creamy texture too.. Coffee sugar would probably be the same, or close too.

Thats funny you mention that I noticed some of my favorite brews I used brown sugar that could be it. I mainly primed with just dextrose but past 3 batches(none ready yet) I used all coopers bottling drops.(they contain dextrose, maltodextrine and i believe dme?)Just to test if they will make any improvements. I will though have to test out the brown sugar for priming as well, I like that idea.



Also

Flaked oats are just "Quick Oats" from the grocery store. Usually about 8-12oz for a 5G batch is sufficient. I've had good success steeping them at about 140-150F for about 20mins, helps w/ mouthfeel, but I'm not sure how much it will help head retention.

so 140-150 with or without the can of extract? I just sparged in water then poured it into the fermenter, with the kit hopefully thats ok?

It may also be problems with my fermentation temperatures, where I live temperatures (mostly at this time of year) fluctuate quite a bit. (71-78F or 22-26C) I'm guessing that may stress the yeast a bit and send out the enzymes that destroy head.
I'm just glad the ranco temperature controller is on its way I hope the fermentation chamber will help.

Any other ideas?

 

[soberJim]

Between 21 and 27 is pretty much optimal brewing temp, although a cooler temp is meant to be a little nicer for the darker brews. I've found beer generally stays fairly consistent in temperature, regardless of outside temperatures.. I used the carbonation drops for my first few brews, they gave weak head, so I used an extra one per bottle.. to each their own though, I'm still a novice compared with people on here with more and probably better and fairly consistent results

 

[greenthumbed]

Between 21 and 27 is pretty much optimal brewing temp, although a cooler temp is meant to be a little nicer for the darker brews. I've found beer generally stays fairly consistent in temperature, regardless of outside temperatures.. I used the carbonation drops for my first few brews, they gave weak head, so I used an extra one per bottle.. to each their own though, I'm still a novice compared with people on here with more and probably better and fairly consistent results

Hi Jim,

Like you said, to each there own. I think that 21-27C is way too warm. A temperature range of 16-20C is right for ales and 10-14C lagers. Any warmer than these ranges, the yeast will impart some "off flavours" which are not appropriate. I try to mantain 18C in the wintertime by keeping the FV on the basement floor covered with a banket. The ambient temperature of the brew room is approx. 16C with the woodstove heating the house. In the summer season the brew room's ambient temp. is approx. 14C which keeps the brew at a constant 16C.

I think you might have head retention and carbonation a bit confused. For an example: a stout has a very low carbonation level but a very rich head.

I used carbonation drops once a long while back. They are a pain in the ass! Using two in a bottle (500ml or less) will result in bottle bombs!:cross: I would move to bulk priming as soon as possible if I could suggest to you.

 

[soberJim]

I was talking about the actual head, I like a nice lacey frill. Havnt looked into bulk priming before, although it would concede with more consistent results I presume.. not sure how I'd go though, my draining tap is at the bottom of the fermenter, not a siphon type. Yes I agree, carbonation drops are utter crap. Which is where I started trying different types of sugars instead of sticking with it... I found three in a 740ml bottle still wasn't quite enough; didn't have any explode or anything like that so I don't know really.

Any advice is good advice, even if just for the experience.