Poor Head Retention

[truebe]

I made this belgian pale ale brew last time that we like but the head retention was very poor. white, fizzy, and died in half a minute or so. I tried making it again and now its at krausen in the primary and i can see that im going to have the same problem again. it has been fermenting aggressively for a couple days but there is a pathetic looking foam on top and barely any is coming through the blow off tube. I was wondering if it was just the recipe. Here's my grain bill for a 5.5 gal batch:

pilsner 8#
aromatic .25#
caramunich .75#
biscuit .6#
flaked oats .6#

Also is the anything i can just dump into the carboy to improve the head?

 

[hopsalot]

Dextrin definetly helps with mouthfeel and I find that dextrin helps with head retention. Add a pound of dextrin malt to your mash, such as Carapils or CaraBelge or add 8 oz of malto dextrin to your boil. I do not know if there is much you can do after the boil.

 

[Prionburger]

When I have head retention problems, it's usually from the following:

*Bad fermentation with stressed/dying yeast.

*Improperly cleaned surfaces for fermentation/packaging. Invisible oily smears. Fixed by thorough oxyclean treatment.

*Dirty drinking glass.

I hear you can also kill your head retention if you mash too low in the protein-rest range.

I'd look at these before looking at recipe formulation. You can have great head retention with 100% pilsner low gravity beers, if the above variables are good.

 

[eastoak]

i wonder if it's the oats? they have a high lipid content, the highest of all cereal grains. obviously they have been used in brewing for centuries but i wonder if some misstep in the brew process can cause head retention problems. i brewed a belgian wit with a pound of oats that never developed any krausen at all, not even a thin one, and the resulting beer made any head when poured either.

 

[hopsalot]

I'd look at these before looking at recipe formulation. You can have great head retention with 100% pilsner low gravity beers, if the above variables are good.

Good point

 

[truebe]

I thought it was something with the recipe since i havent noticed the problem before. but maybe its an error i always make thats being exaggerated by this low gravity beer. I clean everything with oxyclean and i mash at 151 the whole time. also i used a wyeast propagator pack with no starter.

 

[Prionburger]

Hmmm, maybe you're under-pitching and stressing the yeast. Propagator packs are designed for making a starter. Even Activator packs, which have more yeast, generally need a starter for most beers.

You could try an Activator pack (designed for 5 gallons) with a starter around 1.035 gravity, some yeast nutrient, and the volume calculated by MrMalty. Usually for a 1.050 beer it's about 1 liter water, 100g dry malt extract, and some yeast nutrient.

Basically, your yeast may be dividing too much, and exploding, spilling their guts all over the beer and ruining head retention. That's definitely happened to me in cases where I under-pitched.

Another thing is maybe to do a mashout. Which is to pour hot water in the mash at the end to raise it to the point where the enzymes finish and denature. That way, hopefully, your proteins don't get cleaved killing the head retention thusly.

The other thing that I do sometimes is to make a style impervious to head destruction, like Jamil's West Coast Blaster. Tons of hops and crystal malts, along with a high mash temperature make for a very heady beer. I abuse those beers all the time and they always maintain a respectable head.

 

[Yooper]

I'd blame the oats. They give a silky mouthfeel, but the reason they give a creamy silky mouthfeel is because they are oily, almost slick.

If you're using a bar clean glass (do a salt water scrub on it just to be 100% sure!), and the head dissipates like that, I'd try adding some wheat malt or dextrine (carapils) malt to the next batch. I can't think of anything you can add now to fix it.

 

[robcj]

Also is the anything i can just dump into the carboy to improve the head?

Do you bottle? If so, you could try Muntons KreamyX. It's a primer made with DME, sugar and a heading agent. My brewing partner tried it once on his half of a batch we made together and his beer had insane head compared to mine. Seriously, it wouldn't quit and clung to the glass like the beer was trying to climb out of there.

 

[pjj2ba]

I'd check the glassware first as that is a simple check. Then I'd check your process. Your recipe looks fine. As mentioned, you can get great head out of a 100% pils malt beer. I don't know that I would finger the oil from oats. I've made plenty of beers with oats that have great head. The oil content of oats is not that much higher than barley, and almost all of that will be in the embryo portion of the grain and is not readily extracted during the mash. I think the silkiness of oat containing beers is from proteins and dextrins

When I use pilsner malt I always do a protein rest, typically 125 F for no more than 20 min. I feel this improves head retention AND body. I also do saccharification at two temps. ~147, and then ~160. The time at each depends on whether I want a fuller maltier beer, or a lighter crisper beer. I also almost always add 0.5 lb of wheat to the recipe as it's high protein content helps with head formation. I've gone away from carapils,foam, etc as I found I don't need them for great head.

There are heading powders you can buy. I believe they contain foam stabilizers like xanthan gum or other gums.

 

[MachineShopBrewing]

When I have head retention problems, it's usually from the following:

*Bad fermentation with stressed/dying yeast.

*Improperly cleaned surfaces for fermentation/packaging. Invisible oily smears. Fixed by thorough oxyclean treatment.

*Dirty drinking glass.

I would start here.

also i used a wyeast propagator pack with no starter

And I would also pitch more yeast.