head retention

I'm in exactly the same situation. I've done two extract brews - a porter from a kit and an Irish Red Ale from a recipe found online. For both the head is good when first poured ((although it seems to have larger bubbles than in commercial beers) but it is is gone rather quickly.

So... I'm interested in any advice you get!

 

Need more detail on the recipe and how it finished.

 

I can't speak for jdrinksbeer but here is what I used for the Irish Red Ale:

Irish Red Ale recipe that is on the AHA website (http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/irish-red-ale/). Here are the ingredients as listed for a 5G batch (but I converted them to a 2G batch):

4.25 lb Briess Golden Light Dry Malt Extract
1.0 lb Briess 10L Caramel Malt
3 oz Briess Extra Special Malt
2 oz Briess Roasted Barley
0.5 lb Honey
2.0 oz E.K. Goldings, 4.75% alpha acid (60 minutes)
0.5 oz E.K. Goldings, 4.75% aplha acid (15 minutes)


I don't know what you mean by "how did it finish".

 

Sorry , meant was it high in ABV, if so that could reduce head retention.

 

Neither of mine was high ABV. Porter ended up at 6.8% and the Irish Red Ale at 4.8%. So that does not seem to be the issue. For me the key seemed to be that the head (in both cases) seemed to be made up of big bubbles rather than the small-bubble, creamy head on commercial beers.

 

How long were they bottled? The bubbles can get smalller with time as the small particles in suspension settle out. Those particles can be nucleation sites for CO2 to come out of suspension.

 

The porter was in the bottle 3 weeks before I tried the first one. Some of the later ones were in my 65 degree basement for a few weeks longer but did not show any change in the head quality. The irish was in the bottles for 4 weeks before I tried the first one - I've had a few now but the others are still sitting at 65 degrees in my basement.

 

At this point it wouldn't hurt to move a few to the fridge for a few weeks and leave others out to see what develops. The only other thing would be an infection can cause larger bubbles but you have not mentioned off flavors or gushing.

 

Thanks... I'll try that.

 

Ferment cool in the low to mid 60s Fahrenheit, and don't use any soap on your glassware, only clean it with hot water. Done.

 

I have noticed almost all beers I pour at home have a nice head with great lacing by doing this

 

Filthy glasses in this thread. Just filthy!

Believe it or not, you can wash your glasses with soap and still have good head retention.

 

I do wash my glasses with Ivory but then I do a thorough rinse. But this can't be the problem because when I pour a commercial beer the head is very good... it is only my homebrew that gets the big-bubbled head and dissipates fairly quickly.

 

BBH means you need to chill the bottles longer before drinking. At least 5 days cold.

Try it with the same batch. I'll bet the retention improves as well.

 

Huh!!! That may be it!!! What I've been doing is just putting one or two in the fridge at a time and then drinking them with 1/2 to 2 days after that. Maybe that is it!

I'll try it!! Actually, I think I have one porter left that has been in the fridge for a week.

 

It should work. A generic schedule for bottles is carb for 2 weeks and chill for 1 week before drinking.

I prefer to chill pro beers for at least 4 days before drinking and notice a significant taste and aroma improvement vs consuming a quickly chilled beer.