Only Thing Worse than Bad Head

[celticcolorado]

...Is No Head at All

I recently brewed Ó Flannagáin's Standard Stout recipe and I can't figure out where I went wrong. it tastes fantastic but has absolutely no head. To answer some of the more obvious questions, it was bottle conditioned and has been in the bottle for 4 weeks. The carbonation seems really good, but just no head at all. My glasses were clean and all my other beers seem fine.

Below is the recipe that I used. I figured with a pound of Cara Pils, the head would be good. Any advice would be appreciated.

6.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 64.86 %
1.00 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 10.81 %
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 10.81 %
0.75 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 8.11 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5.41 %
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 17.2 IBU

Thanks

 

[tenchu_11]

I've heard if you wash your bottles with dish soap and don't rinse them out good it will kill the head. I put one drop of dish soap in my bottles and clean them out before bottling and rinse them until no more foam comes out but i've always had good head. No pun intended

 

[Teromous]

I figured with a pound of Cara Pils, the head would be good.

It does improve head retention, as do the various crystal malts...I tend to make room for those as I have good results in head retention when I use crystal malts. So when you pour it directly into the glass there is no head at all? You said your carbonation is really good, but if that were the case there really should be a head on it. If there is absolutely no head it's more likely to be an issue at bottling than anything else. Even with green beers that haven't fully conditioned, I get a strong head before the beer ever absorbs the CO2...so it could be that the beer bottle didn't get enough sugar?

 

[celticcolorado]

That is what I would have assumed as well. It is carbonated and I used the same amount of priming sugar that I always do. But I would have to do a very fast straight pour to get any head at all. I didn't do anything different when bottling so I am completely at a loss as to what went wrong.

I am buying a keg setup, so hopefully this will be my last bottling adventure for awhile. It is still driving me crazy not to know.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Can't explain the lack of head but ime the pound of flaked barley will improve head retention more than the pound of Carapils. That beer should have great head.

 

[brrman]

Did you ferment at a higher temp than normal? Was your yeast underpitched maybe? Both of these factors can contribute to a lack of head.

 

[celticcolorado]

Did you ferment at a higher temp than normal? Was your yeast underpitched maybe? Both of these factors can contribute to a lack of head.

No, i made a solid starter and fermented at about 65

 

[celticcolorado]

Can't explain the lack of head but ime the pound of flaked barley will improve head retention more than the pound of Carapils. That beer should have great head.

I really thought it would have great head. A little disappointed.

 

[cclloyd]

Can't explain the lack of head but ime the pound of flaked barley will improve head retention more than the pound of Carapils. That beer should have great head.

That's exactly what I was thinking - I put a pound of flaked barley in my last stout and it damn near cascades like a nitro pour.

 

[BorisLobb]

Same thing happened to me with an amber ale I just brewed. I put the correct amount of priming sugar in and left the bottles in a warm place for 3 weeks. Nothing. There's some bubbles in there, but no head at all and definatly tastes under carbonated. For the record, I used dry Windsor Ale yeast. Could the yeast have flocculated out? I even tried shaking the bottles numerous times and still nothing...

 

[Homercidal]

It's a mystery. That recipe should produce fantastic head!