Troubleshooting for head retention

[Drewch]

I was wondering if the hive mind could help me troubleshoot a recipe.

I brewed a mild brown ale

92% pale ale malt
6% crystal 120 malt
2% black malt

Lightly hopped with EKG

Lallemand Nottingham yeast.

I mashed on the high side (160F for 45 minutes) with an eye to keeping the ABV lower and leaving more residual mouthfeel.

10 days into bottle conditioning and the level of carbonation is pleasant (right for English-inspired brew), the mouthfeel is nice (1.016 FG), but there is zero head retention. Zip, nada.

Ideas?

 

[VikeMan]

I don't see any smoking guns there. But's here's some stuff from a presentation I did a while ago:

•Use Malt from Barley with high Nitrogen (protein) content
•Add Flaked/Malted Wheat or Flaked Barley (proteins)
•Avoid Over-Modified Malts (destroys proteins)
•Limit No/Low Protein Adjuncts (corn, rice, sugar)
•Avoid Protein Rests with well Modified Malts (destroys proteins)
•Use Caramel Malts & other Highly Kilned Malts (contain Melanoidins)
•Limit Use of Oats, Coconut, Coffee, Chocolate (fats/oils, i.e. lipids)
•Keep Most Kettle Trub Out of Fermenter (Fatty Acids)
•Make Bitter Beers (Iso-Alpha Acids)
•Adequate Yeast Health and Pitch Rates (avoid stress)
•Pasteurization (commercial breweries, denatures Proteinase A)
•Scrupulously Clean Equipment and Glassware
•Vorlauf (retains more Lipids in grain bed instead of kettle wort)

The full presentation can be downloaded here:
http://sonsofalchemy.org/library/

 

[DBhomebrew]

10 days into bottle conditioning

Give it some time. Stronger and/or darker beers get better in all sorts of ways after 3, 4, more weeks.

 

[Jag75]

I don't see any smoking guns there. But's here's some stuff from a presentation I did a while ago:

•Use Malt from Barley with high Nitrogen (protein) content
•Add Flaked/Malted Wheat or Flaked Barley (proteins)
•Avoid Over-Modified Malts (destroys proteins)
•Limit No/Low Protein Adjuncts (corn, rice, sugar)
•Avoid Protein Rests with well Modified Malts (destroys proteins)
•Use Caramel Malts & other Highly Kilned Malts (contain Melanoidins)
•Limit Use of Oats, Coconut, Coffee, Chocolate (fats/oils, i.e. lipids)
•Keep Most Kettle Trub Out of Fermenter (Fatty Acids)
•Make Bitter Beers (Iso-Alpha Acids)
•Adequate Yeast Health and Pitch Rates (avoid stress)
•Pasteurization (commercial breweries, denatures Proteinase A)
•Scrupulously Clean Equipment and Glassware
•Vorlauf (retains more Lipids in grain bed instead of kettle wort)

The full presentation can be downloaded here:
http://sonsofalchemy.org/library/

That's good stuff right there