Head retention question

Hmm, for me head retention hasn't seemed to be a carbonation-only issue. I've brewed some beers with fairly high carbonation that don't retain much head. How long has it been bottle conditioning for? what strain of yeast did you use?

 

There is a lot of helpful information here:

http://brewwiki.com/index.php/Head_Retention

Beyond that a recipe and description of your process would be helpful, there are so many factors that go into head retention that it would be impossible to diagnose your problem with the current information. And even with all the information in the world a conclusive diagnosis is still difficult.

 

Did you toast the oats? Ever time Ive used toasted oats the head retention is nill

 

Was your final gravity actually 1.014, and was your mash temp actually 155?

 

I think in another week or two you could then assume it's carbed up as far as it will go. Sometimes they can take longer than a week and a half depepnding on the circumstances.

Also, is there simply ZERO head retention? Does it seem flat? Some beers, even though they are carbonated well just aren't gonna have much retention, although you will usually at least see a little wisp around the outside surface of the beer.

 

Don't forget the glassware. If you have any dish detergent residue/film in the glasses, it will kill any head the beer may have. To be honest I find that best glassware are ones that are handwashed and thoroughly rinsed.

 

So confused by your question.

Are you suggesting that he purposely is trying to misdirect us so that we can't help him? Or that he can't use either a thermometer or a hydrometer correctly and that could be the issue?

 

No, just that he might post his recipe rather than his process. It just looked copied and pasted from a website. But it wouldn't surprise me if the OPs mash temp was way too low and he started to break up some of the proteins in the beer that aid in head retention. So if the numbers were what the beer was supposed to be and not actually what the beer is, there are more questions to be asked.

 

I'm not clear on the problem. When you poured, was there adequate foam that then just disappeared too quickly? Or was it just never there? The former would be a retention problem, and would be related to the composition of your beer. The latter would likely be a carbonation problem.

 

I got ya now. Especially considering he posted "assumed" for the efficiency. I guess it could be the recipe and not the results. Thanks for clarifying.

 

Did you actually measure your mash temperature with a thermometer?