Poor head retention, everything seems ok?

[mario_silent]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum, I have some experience if I could say so myself brewing. I have about 8 batches (5 gallon) out of which 7 are all - grain.
I've been adjusting a few things throughout my learning process and so far so good really, no contaminations so far and good beer mostly.

The thing is, I feel like almost every batch turns out with some poor head retention. I add about 0.5 lb of Carapilsner to every batch to aid in body and I'm actually mashing at 156 for 60 minutes, without any temp losses in my 5 gallon cooler.
I've been brewing some porters, scottish and english mild ales which are naturally low hopped so I'm guessing that's one of the reasons for the low head retention.

The question is, can I compensate for that with some wheat malt or flaked barley? add more carapilsner maybe? I've read flaked barley solves the problem and it's cheaper than carapilsner in another thread.

I rinse my buckets really well so I have no soap residues and my carbonation is at about 2.0 for the styles. I ferment for about 2 weeks in primary and then bottle condition for another 2 weeks. OG is about 1.055 - 1.066. I have some good initial head, but it goes away pretty quickly even though the beer body seems ok to me, it's not poor. Taste is great, carbonation adequate.

Thanks for the attention and sorry for the long post! I like giving as many details as possible

 

[GuldTuborg]

I'd look to your glassware first. What are you drinking from, how do you prep it, and how do you pour? Any differences noted between your beer & commercial stuff?

 

[clevefails]

If no other issues,1/4 lb. of flaked barley works great

 

[beerkench]

Listen to the latest Beersmith podcast on foam. There's evidence suggesting that caramel malts are harmful for head retention.


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[mario_silent]

I'd look to your glassware first. What are you drinking from, how do you prep it, and how do you pour? Any differences noted between your beer & commercial stuff?

I thought about glassware too, but I tried like 6 different glasses. A couple of curvy ones for beer, others straight regular glasses and same thing happened.
I've tried plenty of other commercial beers, handcraft and not and actually last weekend I tried one that held the head forever!

Any more ideas?

 

[mario_silent]

Listen to the latest Beersmith podcast on foam. There's evidence suggesting that caramel malts are harmful for head retention.


Sent from hell
using Home Brew

Interesting about caramel malts! Where can I listen to that podcast? Thanks!

 

[jimbobbillyray]

I thought about glassware too, but I tried like 6 different glasses. A couple of curvy ones for beer, others straight regular glasses and same thing happened.
I've tried plenty of other commercial beers, handcraft and not and actually last weekend I tried one that held the head forever!

Any more ideas?

Try rinsing a couple glasses REALLY well, then chill them down and see IF it makes a real difference

 

[mario_silent]

Try rinsing a couple glasses REALLY well, then chill them down and see IF it makes a real difference

Alright, I'll do that and post back the results

Thanks a lot! Cheers

 

[Yooper]

First, do a salt 'scrub'- that is, moisten a glass, sprinkle salt, and then use your hand to 'scour' the glass. Then, rinse very very well. Then pour your beer into that clean glass and check the foam and foam retention. don't use chilled glasses- room temperature glasses will work best.


It should be better, but if it's still poor then using some protein-rich grains in your recipe (flaked wheat or flaked barley) would help.

 

[mario_silent]

First, do a salt 'scrub'- that is, moisten a glass, sprinkle salt, and then use your hand to 'scour' the glass. Then, rinse very very well. Then pour your beer into that clean glass and check the foam and foam retention. don't use chilled glasses- room temperature glasses will work best.


It should be better, but if it's still poor then using some protein-rich grains in your recipe (flaked wheat or flaked barley) would help.

Thanks Lorena! I'll try that out when I'm drinking one cheers

 

[beerkench]

Interesting about caramel malts! Where can I listen to that podcast? Thanks!

Check out Beersmith.com and go to the latest podcast with Charlie Bamforth.


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[jimbobbillyray]

http://beersmith.com/blog/2015/06/09/malt-and-its-impact-on-beer-with-dr-charlie-bamforth-beersmith-podcast-105/

 

[beerkench]

A lot of the English breweries use torrifed wheat in the English style recipes to aid head retention though as stated previous, you can use flaked.
I like to use malted wheat at around 5-10% in my IPA's and have good head.

 

[mario_silent]

A lot of the English breweries use torrifed wheat in the English style recipes to aid head retention though as stated previous, you can use flaked.
I like to use malted wheat at around 5-10% in my IPA's and have good head.

Excellent tip, next time I place an order online I'll get some wheat, either flaked or malted and check the results.
Thank you everyone, you've been really helpful.

 

[shortyz]

toss in some wheat?