how do I get better head?

there are few tricks. mostly, if you are brewing with fresh ingredients, head formation and retention is not a problem. it is likely a glass ware problem.

head retention - make sure your glass ware is "beer clean". it doesn't need to get complex, just wash beer glass in hot to very hot water and let air dry. a wet glass can help. a cold glass is helpful as well. even a little soap residue will kill foam. oil, soap, grease, dust, dirt etc. is verboten.

head formation - protein promotes head formation. wheat is high protein and adding a little to your brew, 5% to 10% can really make a difference. think of a hefe weizen.

head formation - pour with some vigor. you probably already figured this out.

both formation and retention - be sure your beer is adequately carbed. green beer and beer that is undercarbed will not have enough gas to form foam or hold foam.
Cheers.

 

Process has a lot to do with it. Proper mash. Good healthy fermentation with controlled temperature. Proper carbonation level. Many of joy beers with 100% Pilsner malts have great head formation and retention now. Many years back, mot so much.

 

I've always heard that using wheat helps. I tried with 1/2lb flaked wheat in 5 gal and although the beer is still fairly green I'm not sure how much it's going to help.
I'm planning to add 2lb malted red wheat to my next 10gal batch of IPA (total grain about 25lbs/10gal) wondering if that will help?

 

Came here for the pun. Was not disappointed.

 

Even straight 2-row has worked for me, giving a real nice looking pour with plenty of head retention.

Things tend to improve over time, and as you get more batches in. But perfection is fleeting. We all flirt with it from time to time but achieving a perpetually high state and remaining there is a bit tougher.

I've tried the adding wheat thing. Can't say it really helped, can't say it obviously hurt anything either. Nowadays I don't do the wheat thing because it's not really necessary.

[tangent alert!]

Mind you I say this while not having achieved a particularly high state of perfection of late. Wondering how (im)perfect my latest 2 batches will be. I had made an IPA like thingie using four base malts and four hops (quadro-smash, yes, everything's a smash when you live in fantasy land, as I do ). I also had tried a sam adams summer ale clone kit from my LHBS. I quite like sam adams summer ale, and I haven't done any kits in years, so I figured what the hey. Well............................................

I dry-hopped the hell out of the summer ale, and my heavily dry hopped quadro-smash IPA is now perhaps more of a non-dry hopped hoppy pale ale.

They'll both be drinkable, but I'm banking on the sam adams thingie being "a little odd." The pale ale will probably suffer little, but I'll probably be thinking "I could have dry hopped this one."

[/tangent alert!]

 

Adding about 3% Flaked Barley to your grain-bill will help, but if there was one simple fix to get good head retention everyone would be doing it.

 

Adding any flaked malt, carapils, and extra hops should promote getting....

 

MOAR HOPS!!!!! (& being nice to your wife...)

 

Too easy...

To answer your real question though, yeast health and pitch rate can impact head too, as well as temps. Make sure you are pitching an adequate amount of healthy yeast., and control your ferm temps.

 

1ST test bottle of the botched sam adams clone is VERY promising! you can taste the mega-dry hop addition* (inc. a fair portion of citra) and it's damn good! Oddly you can also taste the spices from the sam adams summer ale clone (grains of paradise, lemon peel).

*it was a fucking LOT, don't recall how much off hand but suffice it to say I know what is a "lot" and what is "not"

 

Just add 3% flaked oats(Quaker), it will help enormously to head retention without adding any flavor.

 

I use a touch of red wheat in everything I brew. It seems to help.

 

definitely a lot of factors that could add to head retention, from a good mash, and vigorous boil, to ingredients, and a "beer clean" glass. Like previous post, some carapils goes a long way, or 2-5% of wheat or flaked barley will definitely make a difference depending on style. Also carbonating on the upper end of the styles spectrum could help.

 

article from BYO in 2005:
https://byo.com/stories/issue/item/693-getting-good-beer-foam-techniques

 

This was very informative for me as a new homebrewer. Thank you for linking!