PaddyPotatoes
Member
I have a question I thought I'd throw out and see if anybody might have an answer.
I typically use White Labs yeasts if my beers, and this spring brewed about 5 batches of English style bitters using London Ale and British Ale strains. While they all came out great, I noticed they had very low head retention. While all the recipes varied slightly, all used UK crystal (1/2 to 1 pound) and 2 batches used carapils. All had average attenuation, stayed in the primary fermentation from 2-3 weeks, and were given about 3 ounces of corn sugar at bottling time. I use Star San to sanitize (no bleach or other chemicals know to retard head retention), and have brewed similar beers with other White Lab strains and experienced frothy heads that didn't dissipate. In other words, this lack of head retention seems confined to to beers brewed with the English yeasts.
Now, I understand English bitters are supposed to have little carbonation, but can the strain of yeast actually affect this detail?
I typically use White Labs yeasts if my beers, and this spring brewed about 5 batches of English style bitters using London Ale and British Ale strains. While they all came out great, I noticed they had very low head retention. While all the recipes varied slightly, all used UK crystal (1/2 to 1 pound) and 2 batches used carapils. All had average attenuation, stayed in the primary fermentation from 2-3 weeks, and were given about 3 ounces of corn sugar at bottling time. I use Star San to sanitize (no bleach or other chemicals know to retard head retention), and have brewed similar beers with other White Lab strains and experienced frothy heads that didn't dissipate. In other words, this lack of head retention seems confined to to beers brewed with the English yeasts.
Now, I understand English bitters are supposed to have little carbonation, but can the strain of yeast actually affect this detail?
