Head Retention

[hopbrad]

I know carapils is the best option, but i dont have everyday access to it. are there any grains that would help with this? i can get all types of unmalted grains at the market. not sure about flaked grains tho. just the flaked quick oats.
ive seen pearl barley alot. will that do anything? what about wheat?

 

[Yooper]

I know carapils is the best option, but i dont have everyday access to it. are there any grains that would help with this? i can get all types of unmalted grains at the market. not sure about flaked grains tho. just the flaked quick oats.
ive seen pearl barley alot. will that do anything? what about wheat?

Wheat (either malted or flaked) will be the best choice. In my opinion, it's better than carapils, so I never use carapils at all!

Crystal malts also increase foam retention, as does hops, so an American pale ale that has both lots of hops and some crystal malt usually has a very nice head and head retention.

For beers without crystal malt, wheat malt will really help.

 

[hopbrad]

Nice thanks! i will give wheat a try and see what i am able to find in the market. Would a wheat cereal work? like a Kellogs Wheat Bran.

 

[jfolks]

Nice thanks! i will give wheat a try and see what i am able to find in the market. Would a wheat cereal work? like a Kellogs Wheat Bran.

haha I wouldn't try that myself (as it includes non-wheat ingredients, like sugar) but let us know how that turns out if you do!

Surely you can get some sort of wheat in Nicaragua...that's about as basic of an ingredient as it gets..

good luck!

 

[hopbrad]

ha yea i figured, altho ive read people mashing cereal, that will be last resort.
unmalted grains are all over the place. but Yooper said malted or flaked. which would be tough.
if regular wheat works, that will be great.
it will be for my stouts/porters and browns so clarity wouldnt be an issue.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

If flaked or malted wheat is not much of an option or hard to get I would personally experiment with some flaked oats. Another thing to consider would be step-mashing, starting with a protien rest around 131f and then "stepping up" to your desired mash temp. When using highly modified malts or done for too long the protein rest can actually negatively affect head retention though so it may take some fine tuning with your system. I normally do a protein rest for about 20 minutes before ramping up to mash temps and have had good results.

 

[Calder]

I assume you can mash.

You can mash oats if you have a base grain to provide the enzymes.

Rolled are best as you can toss them in the mash. If they are cut, you would need to pre-gelatinize them first (I've never done it, its just a matter of cooking them first - you should be able to search it). When oats are rolled, the high pressure pre-gelatinizes them. Quaker oats (or similar) are fine from the grocery store (not that i have a clue what is in your stores).

 

[hopbrad]

I cant mash yet. I am working on the distributor to get me some base grains, their warehouse is full of products from Cargill and Maltexco. but all bakery stuff. they have extract tho. so im making due.