No Head in my beer

[Al Morse]

So I popped the top on my first ever home made beer. It is a American ale that was an extract brew. I bottled using the priming sugar that came in the kit. There are carbonation bubbles in the beer, just no head what so ever. I even “aggressively” poured my second bottle in a pint glass and still no head?! The beer tastes great, which I am shocked, just no head. I let it bottle condition for two weeks per the kits directions and cool in the fridge for 2 days. Any help or tips are appreciated. Thank you.

 

[JohnSand]

Congratulations! You're first beer was good, you're off to a great start.
What was your recipe? Is this an all in one can, Coopers, Mr Beer, etc? No judgement about that, thousands of brewers start that way. It's just that to help solve your problem, more details are necessary. To start though, a little longer in the fridge might make a difference. In the meantime, don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll figure it out.

 

[WiSilverBrewer]

So I popped the top on my first ever home made beer. It is a American ale that was an extract brew. I bottled using the priming sugar that came in the kit. There are carbonation bubbles in the beer, just no head what so ever. I even “aggressively” poured my second bottle in a pint glass and still no head?! The beer tastes great, which I am shocked, just no head. I let it bottle condition for two weeks per the kits directions and cool in the fridge for 2 days. Any help or tips are appreciated. Thank you.

Welcome to the obsession, I mean hobby.....One side affect to doing extract brews is the minimal or nonexistent head or head retention. One way to fight that is use 4 oz or so of carapils...isn't gonna give you a world class head but it will make it better. Of course, I'm more worried about the taste than I am the head (in beer).

 

[Alex4mula]

Welcome to the obsession, I mean hobby.....One side affect to doing extract brews is the minimal or nonexistent head or head retention. One way to fight that is use 4 oz or so of carapils...isn't gonna give you a world class head but it will make it better. Of course, I'm more worried about the taste than I am the head (in beer).

Totally disagree with this. Extract brews can have as good head as any all grain. Don’t know where you got that. I have brewed 135 gallons this year of both. Never noticed that. OP problem could be something else. Maybe not fully carbed, contamination on glasses or else.

 

[bracconiere]

contamination on glasses

LOL, you're getting head man....you're just not seeing it!

 

[Jag75]

Congrats on your 1st beer ! Yeah never had a head retention problem with extract brews . Welcome to the the HBT !

 

[RM-MN]

Any soap residue in any part of your system will kill the heading.

 

[LittleRiver]

After bottling, did you keep them at room temperature or put them in the fridge? They need to stay at room temperature after bottling for a couple of weeks at least, four weeks will give you better carbonation/head. Here's a video that shows bottles being opened at various times during the carbonation cycle.

Here's a video about making your glasses "beer clean".

 

[Rob2010SS]

+1 to what @LittleRiver said. Give them another week at room temperature (~70*F) and try another one. If still not satisfied, give it another week and room temp and try another.

Don't put all of them in the fridge, just do one at a time.

Right now, sounds like they're just not fully carbed and your yeast are just moving a bit slowly.

What is the temperature of the room where you're keeping the bottles?
How much priming sugar came in the kit and what was the volume of beer you ended up with for bottling?

 

[Al Morse]

Thank you for all of the questions and suggestions. Here is the recipe I used:12oz Pilsen light DME, 4oz Rice Syrup Solis’s
Hops: 2g Lemondrop Hops
Yeast:Safole US-05

There was 1 gal of beer that was mixed with 1oz of priming sugar. They were bottled in 12 oz longnecks that were washed, rinsed and dried. Then soaked in sanitizer for 2 minutes before bottling. They bottle conditioned for 2 weeks at 71 degrees before being refrigerated. Unfortunately In my excitement I put all the bottles in the fridge at the same time. I rinsed the pint glass with water before pouring the first beer in. Once again appreciate all the help and this has still been a lot of fun. Trying a Craft a Brew partial BIAB Oktoberfest next and would like to improve my product.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Thank you for all of the questions and suggestions. Here is the recipe I used:12oz Pilsen light DME, 4oz Rice Syrup Solis’s
Hops: 2g Lemondrop Hops
Yeast:Safole US-05

There was 1 gal of beer that was mixed with 1oz of priming sugar. They were bottled in 12 oz longnecks that were washed, rinsed and dried. Then soaked in sanitizer for 2 minutes before bottling. They bottle conditioned for 2 weeks at 71 degrees before being refrigerated. Unfortunately In my excitement I put all the bottles in the fridge at the same time. I rinsed the pint glass with water before pouring the first beer in. Once again appreciate all the help and this has still been a lot of fun. Trying a Craft a Brew partial BIAB Oktoberfest next and would like to improve my product.

If it were me, I would take them all out of the fridge and give them another 2 weeks at room temp, or 71*F like you had it. For the first week, every 2 or 3 days, go and tip the bottles upside down once or twice to try and get everything moving around again. After 1 week, I'd stick one in the fridge to chill and test it again. If it's good, throw them all in the fridge. If not, let them sit another week at room temp and test another one. I would think this will solve your issue.

If it's still not fixed, come back and we'll see if we can come up with other ideas. Oh, and personal preference, but I wouldn't rinse the glass before pouring.

Cheers!

 

[LittleRiver]

+1 on warming up the bottles and giving them a shake. The yeast will wake up.

Another possibility here is that your bottles are not capped tightly enough. Hit them again with the capper just to make sure.

 

[Craig C]

I would also try not rinsing your glass before pouring. The dry glass creates friction as the beer is poured into it, which will produce more head. There could be a number of contributing factors, but I would certainly try this.

 

[Al Morse]

I have drank the last of my brew. It was cool to taste the difference as days went by. Head or no head, it still tasted great. New Years is my next brew day. I will be using my notes from your suggestions on bottling day. Thanks again!

Allan

 

[KevBrewski]

Let it sit and condition outside of the refridgerator longer. Kits will tell you to let it condition for 2 weeks, but it can take up to 4 weeks to fully carbonate