no head

[hopsalot]

I just opened a bottle that has been racked for two weeks and there isnt really much head when poured. is tjis going to improve by the magic week three? Also I have tried about ten, oops, anyways they all taster a little bit different. Also one was alittle off not sour but there was a strange taste. I am pretty sur this is not the "band-aid" taste I have heard people talking about but I have never tasted a band-aid. If anyone has any answers let me know.

 

[Evan!]

By "racked", do you mean "bottled"? If so, when you pour, is there any carbonation at all?

 

[ohiobrewtus]

He refers to the "magic" week three, so I'm guessing that racked=bottled.

I've had brews that with great carbonation in as little as 3 days that were excellent at 2 weeks, and I've had others that didn't have the slightest hint of carbonation until they were in bottles 2.5 weeks.

You'll just have to wait it out. If you get to 5+ weeks with little or no carbonation, you could always pull an Evan! and open them all up and carb tab them all.

Seeing as how you've already had 10 of them, I don't think that waiting until week 5 to see if they're carbonated will be a viable option.

 

[talleymonster]

no head, that sucks. Head is good.

 

[TexLaw]

On my very first batch, I opened a bottle at two weeks. The carbonation jumped right out of it, and the head sucked. I was very unhappy.

A week later, I opened another one, and it was beautiful. I was very happy.

If you've smelled the "Band-Aid" smell, you know what everyone is talking about. If it was only the one bottle out of ten, I wouldn't be concerned. You may not have cleaned out the bottle just right, or maybe you just got unlucky with that one.

Save the rest of the batch until it is good and ready. You will be happier. If you need something to keep your mind off of that batch, start another one.


TL

 

[DeathBrewer]

hey! put that beer down! she's not done yet!~

did you mix up your priming sugar well when you bottled? that may make a difference in bottles with taste and carbonation if the sugar was unevenly distributed.

but, again...it's too early to tell

 

[malkore]

I don't think carbonation is the issue...its head/head retention (at least the way I'm reading it).

Head retention has a lot to do with the grains used and mash temps, protein rests, as well as hot break and cold break.

since this is the extract forum, I'll assume this was an extract recipe, with possible steeping grains. depending on the extract used, it may lack the proteins needed to retain the head.

 

[Yooper]

Or the glassware being used may have a soap residue on it. I don't use soap on my beer glasses, and keep them out of the dishwasher. I heard that jet dry is a head killer, too.

 

[Benny Blanco]

Yeah, I had the same problem and it ended up being soap residue from the container I used to hold my sanitizer. Lesson learned.

 

[Madtown Brew]

FYI, all of my extract brews had marginal head retention, except for the infected one. I'm with malkore in that there likely isn't enough/the right kind of proteins in the extract for good head.
mmmm... good head.

 

[hopsalot]

yall are taling about proteins, is it possibly something that I did or is it just the process of extract brewing?

 

[BrewDey]

I had a recent batch that needed over 6 weeks to get fully carbed. It was a higher gravity brew, but still-it seems that time is the main ingredient.

 

[Madtown Brew]

yall are taling about proteins, is it possibly something that I did or is it just the process of extract brewing?

well, you're going to have to clarify things a bit before we can answer further. Is the problem that there isn't enough carbonation, or that there's no head/head retention? because they are different things.

ex.
A beer can be highly carbonated but have no head, like champaigne = poor head.
A beer can have good carbonation and produce head when poured, but it might dissapate very rapidly = poor head retention.
Beer is flat = low carbonation.

Proteins are more related to head creation and retention; generally the more you have the bigger/stronger the head will be. Whereas the carbonation level is related to amount of priming sugar, viability/health of the yeast at bottling time, storage conditions, and even headspace in the bottle.