Head

[Mnic]

yup i said head .

got a question. i just brewed my first 5 gallon batch about 5 weeks ago. it has been carbonating for 3 weeks in 12oz bottles . I tried the first one last night and it is carbonated, maybe slightly flat but the brew has no head when poured into a Glass. I was a bit disappointed. Ive never seen a Beer poured into a glass with no head.

what did i do wrong? all my temps were good, my sanitation should be perfect. the beer tastes fine. just no head.

 

[Yooper]

Well, the first thing to check is your glass. If it's really clean, that's the first thing. You can make a salt scrub for the glass, mixed with a little water and rub it into the glass well, and then rinse. That will take off any soap residue, or if you used a dishwasher any residue from Jet Dry or other things.

Second, it just might need a bit more time. If it's well carbonated, that's the first step. Since it's still sort of flat, that's probably the issue. It won't have head or head retention until it's carbed up.

Lasty, it could be ingredient related. If you're using a "bar clean" glass, and it's fully carbed, it could be related to a lack of head-retention grains in the recipe. You won't know that for a while, though, because you have to wait until it's fully carbed.

 

[Mnic]

what is the average time it would take to be "fully carbed " ?

and what do you mean by "bar clean " glass?

thanks for the reply

 

[Nickme23]

What kind of beer is it? What temp did you condition? Extract or AG? Any idea what the Alc% and FG were?

I'm no expert but from what I've read it seems like there are some beers that just don't have much head so that could be one reason, the style of beer.

2. If you have the beer bottled and conditioning somewhere too cold then the yeast will be slow to metabolize the sugars in the beer therefore taking longer to carb the beer. Like Yooper said you should wait till it's fully carbed to really determine what the problem is.

3. If the Alc% was really high when you bottled then the yeast might not be very viable due to the high percentage of alcohol. So depending on the Alc% and the amount of fermentable sugars upon bottling that might explain some of your problem.

4. If it's an All grain batch then some grains just don't promote much head retention like Yooper said. Which kind of goes back to the type/style of beer that you've got.

And last, I don't mean to point out the obvious but did you forget the priming sugar? I almost did on my first brew

 

[Mnic]

it is an Ale, it has been at a steady temp of 72 degrees while carbonating and I dont remember the Alc%. I did not write it down .

it is an extract with steeping grains. and no i did not forget the sugar.

again it is carbonated , maybe just a little flat, not much though.

 

[Nickme23]

Dunno what to tell ya then, either enjoy it as it is or wait a while and hope it finishes carbing.

One thing that might give you a better idea is if you took the original gravity reading and you cracked one of those bad boys open, poured enough to fill your Hydrometer tube (drank the rest, no need to waste it), made the beer to be tested (in the hydrometer tube) flat, and tested that to see what the Gravity is in the bottle then we might be able to get a better idea, but it's a long shot.

So the idea is if you have the OG, subtract it from the FG, then multiply by 105 and you'd get the percentage of Alcohol. If it's really high then your yeast might have hit the wall and stopped because of Alc%.

Otherwise your yeast could just be a buncha pusses and not working hard enough, if that's the case just wait it out

 

[Mnic]

thanks for the info . i have enough bottled that it will be around for a while . just trying to learn from you veterans.

 

[Yooper]

what is the average time it would take to be "fully carbed " ?

and what do you mean by "bar clean " glass?

thanks for the reply

Sorry for the confusion. I thought I had mentioned having a very clean (and free of residue) glass. You can use a salt/water scrub on the glass to remove any residue that kills head, especially if you've ever used a dishwasher to clean your bar ware.

It can take a bit longer to be fully carbed, sometimes 4-6 weeks depending on the beer. Then, put it in the fridge for 24-48 hours before drinking. That allows the co2 to be fully absorbed into the cold beer.

 

[Mnic]

Yes I understood what you said about clean glasses but I wasn't sure if " bar clean" was slang for something . I'm new here and still figureing out your lingo

 

[flyingwmelon]

I don't know if it is recommended or not but my second batch had the same problem and I swirled the bottles to get the yeasties off the bottom to get them into suspension again and the seemed to help some. I am not saying to shake them just turned the upside down and swirl. I did this every other day for about two weeks before trying another and it was fully carbed and had a nice head on it. Not sure if swirling had any real effect on it or just the extra time waiting but it gave me the feeling thAt I was helping the beer along.

 

[wing_nut]

Mnic, I am on my 4th batch so far and have noticed this same thing but not all the time from the same batch. I remember something I heard ages ago that if you put milk in a glass, no matter what you do do it after that, you will never again get a head form a beer in the glass. When I drink form my frosty glass mugs never and issue. But sometimes with a regular glass from the cupboard... sometimes no head. C

While not offering a solution, I am curious to what the experienced brewers think. Is that milk thing true?