Fizzy Wheat Beer with barely any head???

[elessarjd]

This is a 1 gallon, all-grain Belgian Wit. Primary for 2 weeks and then bottled with carb drops. I placed one bottle in the fridge at day 10 after bottling and opened the next day. The beer tasted okay, but had some carbonation bite, with fizzy bubbles, but little to no head. I imagine people will suggest I give the others a try in a couple weeks, but that seems to be to let it carb longer and it was plenty fizzy. I had this same issue with my previous batch (Brooklyn Brewshop Summer Wheat). I let those bottle condition for the full two weeks before cracking open. They were fizzy and had some head, but not a lot and still had a lot of carbonation bite. Not sure what to do, but I was disappointed at the lack of head considering these are wheat beers. Below are the specs, any thoughts on what I might be doing wrong?

1 lb of 2 Row
0.5 lb of Pilsen
0.75 lb of White Wheat

German Smaragd Hops
0.125 oz - 60 min
0.0625 oz - 30 min
0.0625 oz - 5 min
0.25 oz - Coriander - 5 min
0.30 oz - Bitter Orange - 5 min

Yeast: Sambrew S-33 Dry Yeast (over pitched a bit)

IBU = 17
Efficiency = 54%
OG = 1.046
OG = 1.016

 

[ArcaneXor]

S-33 is a very weird choice of yeast for a witbier. To be honest, it's a weird strain to choose for just about any beer: It's labeled a lager yeast, it's advertised for fermenting Belgian beers, and its origin is (I believe) the United Kingdom. And it doesn't taste very good.

In a witbier, oils from the spices can inhibit head. Did the Summer Wheat have spices in it?

If that's not the problem, post some details about your process. How do you clean and sanitize, especially your pot and bottles? Do you do a protein rest?

 

[WileECoyote]

3 weeks @ 70 deg is a minimum for your beers to properly carb up, time is the only way to get that carb bite out of your beers.

Also 3 days chilling in the fridge is what you will want to do when you are ready to try one.

Cheers

 

[elessarjd]

S-33 is a very weird choice of yeast for a witbier. To be honest, it's a weird strain to choose for just about any beer: It's labeled a lager yeast, it's advertised for fermenting Belgian beers, and its origin is (I believe) the United Kingdom. And it doesn't taste very good.

In a witbier, oils from the spices can inhibit head. Did the Summer Wheat have spices in it?

If that's not the problem, post some details about your process. How do you clean and sanitize, especially your pot and bottles? Do you do a protein rest?

The yeast was suggested by my LHBS, but I've since been researching and picking my own yeast, but those beers are still fermenting. The Summer Wheat was part of a kit so I'm not sure what was in the grain, but there were no steps to steep any additional spices during the boil. It sat in the closet 5 days longer than the Belgian which may explain why there was slightly more head. To sanitize I simply used StarSan to soak bottles and wash the pots.

3 weeks @ 70 deg is a minimum for your beers to properly carb up, time is the only way to get that carb bite out of your beers.

Also 3 days chilling in the fridge is what you will want to do when you are ready to try one.

This might be my problem, lack of patience:smack:. I have 8 bottles left of the Belgian that I'll wait on now and 1 left of the Summer Wheat that I'll try at week 3. I've also been cracking them after only 1 day in the fridge. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Jayslay]

I would let your bottles sit for a while longer before judging any of their qualities. Ten days is a very bare minimum for most beers, and certainly half the time alot of beers needs to shape up. Your carbonation at this point may be fizzy, harsh large bubbles, but you want the smaller bubbles to develop to give you the effervescent effect that leads to tighter and lasting head. . Next question, do you hand wash your glasses or dishwasher? Dishwasher residue can ruin head in your beers. Lastly, I've never used carbonation drops, so I immediately distrust them .
Just give it a couple more weeks and you will have some head develop Im sure.

 

[TopherM]

How long did you chill the beers at fridge temps before cracking one? Even after a beer is fully carbed, a good % of the CO2 will not absorb into the beer at room temps, and just gets stuck in the headspace of the bottle. It takes a good 48 hours at fridge temps for the CO2 in the headspace to absorb into the beer. If you just flash cool a beer, you may be missing out on a good 30+% of the intended carbonation. Make sure you are leaving them in the fridge for a good 48 hours to finish absorbing the CO2.