No head on my beer? techniques to improve?

[DreamyESB]

I recently brewed a flag porter clone. The beer turned out really tasty but has absolutely no head when poured. I've read some reasons why this may happen.

George Fixx PhD. -Lipids in the beer make the foamy head dissipate early or be absent.

Guy at LHBS - using tap water that has chlorine and other ions/unwanted molecules negatively affect the foamy head.

Off internet - Not transferring beer to secondary fermenter diminishes head.

My take - The water thing and transferring to secondary are wive's tales as far as I can prove through trial and error. I recently brewed a Boddington's ESB clone with tap water and didn't transfer to secondary and the head has only gotten more creamy as it has set in the bottle. Does the aging/time have something to do with it? Never heard anything on that aspect.

As for the lipids in the wort or nascent beer, that seems pretty accurate but I have no idea how to alter this on brew day. Just to point out, you can put a bit of oil on your finger and stir it around in excessive foam on fresh poured ale to get rid of it. This seems to work. So it makes sense that lipids in wort would diminish head.

Thoughts anyone? More importantly, how to remedy the no head problem in an otherwise perfectly awesome porter that you plan to brew again?

 

[glenn514]

Often, head retention is the fault of the glassware, not the beer. I brewed a batch of Deception Cream Stout that, at first, had absolutely NO head. I took my favorite beer glass and scrubbed the inside with coarse salt and just a little bit of water. I rinsed the glass thoroughly, and...TA-DA...I got a beautiful head on my next pour of that same brew. Try the salt scrub on your favorite beer glass and see what happens.

glenn514

 

[Slainte-brew]

Was this an extract or all grain/partial mash brew? What was the grain bill? What do you use for cleaners and sanitizers? Bottled or kegged, and how?

Head and head retention can be a tricky thing. If I had to guess I would say that you had a simple grain bill that did not give you enough protiens (specifically pepetides) to hold the structure of foam with CO2 present.

http://byo.com/stories/item/621-fabulous-foam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_head

Here are a couple links. I would say adding 4 oz of flaked wheat would be a good place to start with your process. I would definitly try cleaning a glass first and observing the carbonation level.

 

[duboman]

Was this an extract or all grain/partial mash brew? What was the grain bill? What do you use for cleaners and sanitizers? Bottled or kegged, and how?

Head and head retention can be a tricky thing. If I had to guess I would say that you had a simple grain bill that did not give you enough protiens (specifically pepetides) to hold the structure of foam with CO2 present.

http://byo.com/stories/item/621-fabulous-foam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_head

Here are a couple links. I would say adding 4 oz of flaked wheat would be a good place to start with your process. I would definitly try cleaning a glass first and observing the carbonation level.

+1 to this and +1 to evaluating your glassware! Do a simple salt scrub on your next glass, rinse well, dry and pour and see if you get head

Otherwise add some protein building grains to the grist as mentioned.

 

[tootal]

Not enough info to make a judgement call.
Was it forced carbonated or did you add sugar and bottle?
Oil in glassware will definitely do it.
Under modified malt and no protein rest would do it.
Need more info...

 

[billl]

Not sure if anyone else has the same results, but I've seen a big difference based on ph. My stouts and porters used to have head issues until I started monitoring PH. (Head not an issue with lighter beers) Not a water chemistry expert, but the protein related enzymes all have lower optimal ph's than amylase, so the lower ph of the dark malts might have been an issue.

 

[flars]

Try two more weeks of bottle conditioning time at about 70° to 72° then chill for three days before opening.

 

[DreamyESB]

It was a mini-mash with half or more fresh grains and the other half dry malt extract. I've poured the same batch after it's sat in bottle over a month and it now will retain a head for about a minute. Time seems to be working in my favor. I have no explanation for what happens with aging. Need to research!!

 

[DreamyESB]

Try two more weeks of bottle conditioning time at about 70° to 72° then chill for three days before opening.

I did just this and it is much better, I'm interested in the pH monitoring however as I believe this could be a culprit.

 

[flars]

It was a mini-mash with half or more fresh grains and the other half dry malt extract. I've poured the same batch after it's sat in bottle over a month and it now will retain a head for about a minute. Time seems to be working in my favor. I have no explanation for what happens with aging. Need to research!!

This seems like a problem I created. One of my dry Irish stouts has a peachy flavor from brewing to cool with WY1056. I'm adding cold brewed coffee to each glass. The coffee was made with grounds. The oil in the coffee kills the head within a minute. Could your glasses be contaminated? Do you always use a lip balm?

 

[DreamyESB]

Not enough info to make a judgement call.
Was it forced carbonated or did you add sugar and bottle?
Oil in glassware will definitely do it.
Under modified malt and no protein rest would do it.
Need more info...

I don't have the equipment (yet) to do force carbonation, so I add priming sugar. I know you're probably thinking that the priming sugar just didn't make it into that particular bottle, however I try to circumvent that problem by stirring the beer as my wife bottles. Curious as to why force carbonating would change the out come? Can you expand on this?

The oil in the glass is an interesting idea that I've never heard. I will have to try some tests

As for the protein aspect, I heard from Slainte-brew you can add flaked wheat.

 

[dclarkelon]

I had the same problem. I did a Red Oak clone that was a partial mash. The beer is supposed to have a nice creamy head. I bottled them let them sit for 2 weeks in the bottle and when i pour it there is almost no head, just a little bit around the glass. I was disappointed in this. It may have been the bottles, i cleaned them with oxy clean a few weeks before. maybe that had something to do with it.

 

[kman6234]

The brewing network just did a Sunday session show on foam with Charlie bamforth... Its worth listening to if you want to learn about foam and head retention.