How to get pillowy foam

[Sadu]

Sometimes I'll be hanging around here and people will post pics of foam that sits a good inch over the top rim and seems to somehow stay there. Looks like a marshmallow, rather than a liquid.

I've never had that before. My beers typically pour with an attractive inch of foam on top that lasts fairly well and gives nice lacing but if it goes above the glass level, it's gonna spill over the side every time.

What's the secret folks?

 

[ba-brewer]

cant really help you but you are not the only one on that quest.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/what-is-krausening.658394/

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

besides using nitro or a nitro valve that basically sprays the beer out giving smaller bubbles you can use also chocolate grain, it does the same thing but you will have a dark beer

 

[shortyz]

foam is stupid, please fill my glass to the top. thank you.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Can't speak for all the pics (some might just be excessive overcarb), but there's a pouring technique (often called a "slow pour pils" or "seven minute pils" or something to that effect) that'll pour like that. It's used for German Pilsners by some brewers (namely those that take their German beer seriously), but works for just about anything.

 

[ghohn]

German Ale yeast will accomplish what you are hoping for. It's now offered in dry format too (K-97)

 

[cabron99]

Pour your beer, let it set for a minute or two and top it off. The old foam, having "dried" out, will set stiffer on top. The foam looses a little moisture, making it stiffer. See if that works.

Pat

 

[Smellyglove]

Protein rest will give you more of a "pillow", but it also strips some of the body.

 

[jdauria]

I know on the Low Oxygen sites, they advocate natural carbonation by transferring to a keg with 4-6 gravity points left in fermentation and then letting that residual sugar carbonate in conjunction with a spunding valve. And they post some amazing looking beers with giant heads on them.

 

[duelerx]

I know on the Low Oxygen sites, they advocate natural carbonation by transferring to a keg with 4-6 gravity points left in fermentation and then letting that residual sugar carbonate in conjunction with a spunding valve. And they post some amazing looking beers with giant heads on them.

They also advocate step mash and clear wort in the fermenter for head retention.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I know that it is in disfavor and almost every post I’ve seen says that it does absolutely nothing, but I use Carapils in most of my beers in varying amounts. Specifically to make a pillowy head. My last beer used a half pound for a 2 gallon batch. This is the result.

 

[BrewZer]

I brewed an American Pale Ale with this bill and had very thick, pillowy head:

Briess LME - Pilsen Light Extract 6.600 lb
Weyermann - Pale Ale Malt Grain 1.000 lb
Briess - Munich Malt 10L Grain 8.000 oz

Before the boil, I took the Pale Ale Malt Grain and Munich Malt Grain up to 150 and held it there for half an hour.

 

[bierhaus15]

Old school German brewers would make a paste from water and table salt and scrub their glassware between uses to ensure good foam. While not really necessary these days, it does do a good job of removing dishwasher film. Generally, an impeccably clean glass does wonders for beer foam.

That said, pouring technique, step mashing, high protein malts, shorter dry hop times, proper beer pH, high C02 content, and increased iso-alpha content all help with foam retention. In lieu of that you can just add a few drops of tetra or rho extract to your beer to get comical levels of beer foam; as some popular NEIPA breweries do with their instagram shots. Or if you are Belgian, add some liquid nitrogen to your bottles... ahem, Duvel.

If you wish to deep dive into beer foam science, Karl Seibert of Cornell is your man.

 

[Smellyglove]

Also, don't believe all the pics you see on the interwebs, they are often just to "show off", meaning they can do a various things to the beer prior to pressing the camera-button.

Just stir a wooden spoon or something else made out of wood into the beer, and you get the foam, but no carbonation in the beer..

 

[balrog]

+1 what @cabron99 said. The take-2, double-take pour.

 

[grampamark]

Hell, if I wanted to impress the peanut gallery on the Web I’d just hit it with a shot of Redi-Whip and put a hop flower on top in place of the cherry.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I can honestly say that my picture is legit. In fact, to keep it from getting totally out of hand, I had to pour very slowly and down the side of the glass. I do like a big fluffy head on my beers, but I think that this particular beer was a little extreme though I did plan it that way. Normally, I add 2-4 oz. Carapils for a 2 gallon batch.

 

[couchsending]

Listen to @bierhaus15 he knows what he’s talking about. There’s not one thing that’ll do it, it’s a combo of many steps and processes.

The professionals also have access to some hop derived products that homebrewers don’t that aid it foam.

German Ale yeast won’t do it alone
Carapils certainly won’t do it (it’s actually Foam negative, as is Carafoam)

As for the “Foam is stupid, fill my beer to the top” comment... You don’t think that Foam has a dramatic effect on how the beer is perceived when you drink it? If you can make a beer with a persistent head of foam all the way through the glass it will significantly impact the sensation when you take each sip. A full, softer mouthfeel with better expression of aroma are all positives in my book.

 

[rhys333]

As per the comment of someone above - pour it, let it sit a few seconds, and then top it up again.

Also, it or course needs to be a beer with plenty of heading ingredients to make sure that foam builds and sticks around.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Carapils certainly won’t do it (it’s actually Foam negative, as is Carafoam)

That’s so weird. I wonder how every beer that I have made with Carapils has “accidentally” had foam that directly and positively correlates with how much I put in my mash. 15 of 20 batches. Hmmmmm.... I guess the Carapils didn’t read the same book you did.

 

[brewbama]

Several reasons for great foam:

pouring half the glass, let the foam dry, then fill the glass will push the foam up.

The dextrinization rest at 70-72C (158-162F) needs to be held until the mash is iodine negative but may be extended to 45-60 min. Many authors contribute head retention and mouthfeel benefits to extending this rest.

High protein malts.

Clear wort (reduced lipids)

Etc, etc

 

[Lefou]

*High protein malts* - Bingo!

... or extracts with a moderate to high concentration of wheat. Wort needs a proper amount of hopping for the oils and protein to bind with the CO2 to make persistent foam. Temperature has a marked effect on foam presentation during the pour and you tend to get better foaming when beers are poured at or near room temps.
An extract amber ale I did last year had a stupid amount of foam when poured. OG was around 1.066, had Briess. Munich and wheat LME as ingredients, and was done with WLP001. IIRC, the hopping was Cascade and Hallertauer leftovers that didn't really balance the malt to style, but it had one heck of a kick.

 

[couchsending]

That’s so weird. I wonder how every beer that I have made with Carapils has “accidentally” had foam that directly and positively correlates with how much I put in my mash. 15 of 20 batches. Hmmmmm.... I guess the Carapils didn’t read the same book you did.

No offense but I’ll take Charlie Bamforth’s word over yours.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

No offense but I’ll take Charlie Bamforth’s word over yours.

My word is good, so assuming Charlie’s is too, I guess there is something about my process that allows Carapils to be foam positive.

I can say unequivocally that the amount of Carapils I use translates into the amount of foam I have.

I don’t know why Carapils works for me and not for other brewers, but my theory is that many people mash in a cooler and I don’t. Brülosophy, in their short and shoddy series has seen full extraction and conversion at 15 minutes into the mash. I know that I have half my expected extraction at 15 minutes based on my refractometer readings. I use single vessel on my stove top, so there are temperature gradients within my mash in spite of stirring every 5 minutes or so. I believe that this makes my conversion less efficient leaving the dextrine more intact than if I had mashed in a cooler. This of course is all conjecture, but I am certain that in my beer more Carapils = more head and lacing.

It would be ridiculous to claim that I am a greater expert than Charlie Bamforth, but it is short sited to discount my experience. This isn’t a ghost in the machine like character as is debated in LODO. You can literally see the difference with Carapils, though I really don’t know why my experience differs from some other people.

 

[applescrap]

Some beers are naturally more foamy than others? My beers with chocolate and coffee have less foam. Speaking of Dr. Bamforth he has a podcast on beersmith about this iirc.

 

[vgmohag]

As an observation... most of the beer pics I have seen with the foam above the rim have been in glasses where the glass narrows towards the top. I think this has to be one of the contributing factors.

 

[Qhrumphf]

It's not Carapils/Carafoam. Can confirm that it does nothing for if not hinders head.

Certain factors with hops and malt proteins can aid, but I've found unequivocally that you can create that with pouring technique. The slow pour pils method I mentioned includes in large part what other posters have mentioned- pouring, letting rest, then pouring again.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Since everyone is so certain regarding Carapils, I went through my brew journal and compared my notes concerning head and lacing with the amount of Carapils in my recipe. Each beer tracked. The beer I made that had the most unruly head had the most Carapils 15%. The beer pictured has 8%. Half of the beers I’ve made had it. So okay, but I’ve had a different experience.

 

[EnglishAndy]

The beers I've brewed that have had the most meringue-like head have included large amounts of wheat. A 70/30 wheat/barley American wheat was top of that tree, but a good dose of torrified wheat (10%) also seems to have the desired effect without affecting the flavour of the ale.

 

[rhys333]

I don't understand the myth that carapils and carafoam don't aid in head retention. Like many other foam-enhancing ingredients, they absolutely do work! Why on earth would a company bother selling a product that does the exact opposite of what it claims to do?

When I have used it, and that's not often, I have noted crazy foam retention and lacing.

 

[Bilsch]

It's interesting reading the different experiences brewers have had creating better head. In my experience carafoam did just the opposite it's name would imply, and yes it's confusing why they called it that. Anyway I fought this problem for many years but only after adding a rest at 162f for 30 minutes is when my foam and head retention got really great.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I don't understand the myth that carapils and carafoam don't aid in head retention. Like many other foam-enhancing ingredients, they absolutely do work! Why on earth would a company bother selling a product that does the exact opposite of what it claims to do?

When I have used it, and that's not often, I have noted crazy foam retention and lacing.

Because no company in history has ever sold a product that doesn't work as advertised. Clearly I dreamed the entire "as seen on TV" concept.

People buy it so they sell it. Simple as that. Says nothing to how well it does or doesn't work. LOTS of pros use it too, so the idea that it works isn't uncommon, and keeps the market for it.

I didn't ever find it to benefit foam in any appreciable way. I've found it to hinder foam if used in high amounts. When it's my decision I don't use it at all.

 

[rhys333]

Because no company in history has ever sold a product that doesn't work as advertised. Clearly I dreamed the entire "as seen on TV" concept.

People buy it so they sell it. Simple as that. Says nothing to how well it does or doesn't work. LOTS of pros use it too, so the idea that it works isn't uncommon, and keeps the market for it.

I didn't ever find it to benefit foam in any appreciable way. I've found it to hinder foam if used in high amounts. When it's my decision I don't use it at all.

Logic dictates that if there's substantial market demand among experts (i.e.: pro brewers), then odds are that the product actually works. By contrast, products available through the "as seen on TV" medium typically have a short life cycle, and we don't see many experts buying products that way.

Carapils works. It's just not always necessary, as there are other ways to improve foam retention.

 

[ba-brewer]

I don't know the answer to carapils and carafoam working or not working, I have used them in the past and even have some in my ingredient cache but have not used them in a while.

When I seen the statement about how or why a company would/could sell a product that does not do what it says it does, 5 star 5.2 pH stabilizer came to mind.

 

[rhys333]

I don't know the answer to carapils and carafoam working or not working, I have used them in the past and even have some in my ingredient cache but have not used them in a while.

When I seen the statement about how or why a company would/could sell a product that does not do what it says it does, 5 star 5.2 pH stabilizer came to mind.

I probably should've said that "I contend that carapils works," rather than delivering a truth.

As for 5 Star 5.2 pH stabilizer, isn't that product aimed mainly at homebrew hobbyists? I ask because, if so, it would fit with the "as seen on TV" example, and have about as much credibility. I'm curious how many accomplished pro brewers would actually recommend using this stuff. I suspect not many.

 

[ba-brewer]

I thought the story on 5.2ph was it was designed for a specific brewery.

 

[rhys333]

I thought the story on 5.2ph was it was designed for a specific brewery.

Not sure, but if that's the case, then it's perfectly reasonable that it could be the ideal water adjustment given their specific water and beer styles. Where it runs afoul, is the claim that it can do the same for any other brewery.

 

[Smellyglove]

Not sure, but if that's the case, then it's perfectly reasonable that it could be the ideal water adjustment given their specific water and beer styles. Where it runs afoul, is the claim that it can do the same for any other brewery.

That's what I've heard/read. Designed for a specific brewery. Pushed into the market because of $$$

 

[Bilsch]

This was about 5 minutes and couple gulps from being poured. All in one shot, no double pouring or anything else fancy to enhance the head. No secret foam building ingredients, just 80% pils and 20% munich. Nothing fancy for glassware cleaning either. Just the result of step mashing with proper rest temps.

 

[rhys333]

This was about 5 minutes and couple gulps from being poured. All in one shot, no double pouring or anything else fancy to enhance the head. No secret foam building ingredients, just 80% pils and 20% munich. Nothing fancy for glassware cleaning either. Just the result of step mashing with proper rest temps.

Same here, but it doesn't mean carapils won't also work in the right situations. I have used it for an IPA that's 97% base malt and 3% carapils. It makes for a pretty beer and a well-laced glass.