No head

[Joshua Moore]

Good morning!

Not sure if this is normal but my bottled beer seems to have no head.

This was the case with my 1st brew and i just assumed i did something wrong, but second batch is the same.

They seems to be carbonated enough( both sat for 3 weeks before drinking/fridge time)

I hand washed the last glass i used to make sure it wasnt the issue.

is this normal?

 

[Miraculix]

Good morning!

Not sure if this is normal but my bottled beer seems to have no head.

This was the case with my 1st brew and i just assumed i did something wrong, but second batch is the same.

They seems to be carbonated enough( both sat for 3 weeks before drinking/fridge time)

I hand washed the last glass i used to make sure it wasnt the issue.

is this normal?

No. We need more info on the brewing process, especially ingredients, og/fg and mashing schedule.

When I had poor head, my beer was usually infected with some bugs that chewed on the proteins which usually create foam. But this can also be caused by wrong rest temperature or extensive protein rest lengths.

 

[IslandLizard]

When you pour the beer is there any foaming?
If so, how dense is the foam? Or are they big bubbles that dissipate fast, like pouring soda?

When tilting the glass back and forth, once, do you see a swarm of little bubbles rising from the beer?

When you open a bottle do you hear a short hiss?

How much sugar did you use for priming? Was it dissolved, then mixed well with the beer?

 

[Joshua Moore]

Both of these brews were Brewers best kits (scottish ale and smoked porter)

Both came with 5oz of priming sugar but asked for 2.5 or 3 (both kits requested different amounts).

The sugar in both were dissolved in 2 cups of water. if i dont tilt my glass i can get a small dense head, much like the on in my picture. with no head i can see small bubbles in my beer kind like soda bit but as much.
There is a very light hiss when opening the beer yes.

The small amount of head i get when i do get it goes away pretty quick.

 

[Jag75]

When you say they sat for 3 weeks . Do you mean they sat at room temp or the fridge for 3 weeks?

 

[Miraculix]

And when did you add the sugar?

 

[IslandLizard]

That's a lowish amount of priming sugar. For 2 volumes (British Ales, Porters, Stouts) 3.3-3.6 oz of corn sugar is kinda standard.

Now it also depends on the warmest the beer has been until you bottle it. That's retained (residual) carbonation from the fermentation.
You may lose some of that when racking and stirring.

Generally you should get some head when pouring slowly into a clean tilted glass. Just pouring it hard onto the bottom will create foaming. But you're fooling yourself, because it removes carbonation from the beer, which is essential for mouthfeel and aroma/flavor experience while drinking it. Head is overrated, it's a side effect, carbonation should remain in the beer.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator

 

[Joshua Moore]

When you say they sat for 3 weeks . Do you mean they sat at room temp or the fridge for 3 weeks?

bottled and sat for 3 weeks.

 

[Day-Day]

Were these 5 gallon batches... 2.5-3 oz priming sugar sounds low for 5 gallons... with that little priming sugar it may take a long time to reach desired carbonation... if it ever does... when I used to bottle I always used an online calculator to calculate priming sugar amount... it was usually right around 4 oz per 5 gallons... depending on the style, temp, etc. Bottling can be tricky... I much prefer kegging

 

[RM-MN]

bottled and sat for 3 weeks.

If you have some carbonation and no heading at all it may be caused by the bottle washing. Any soap or detergent residue in the bottles will kill the heading for the entire batch. Tell us how you clean your bottles.

 

[Kanonen80]

I recently had a head retention issue and read that a very aggressive boil can hurt head retention. Looking back, my boil was probably too active (I was having to fight back foam/boil over much of the boil, which was odd).