head retention

@Brew_Betty... and any others. This revelation of chilling for 5 days got me thinking of the following question:

Can you summarize the timing of the stages of bottling?

1. Bottles at ___ degrees for ___ days to carbonate
2. Bottles at ___ degrees for ____ days to condition
3. Bottles chilling in fridge for ____ days to eliminate "BBH" (= "big-bubbled head" )

I was told one place that it is a good idea to do step 1 at around 70 degrees for a few days and then do step 2 for 3 - 4 weeks. But elsewhere I've read that step 1 at the higher temp is not needed and just do step 2 for 3 - 4 weeks. Until now I was unaware that a long step 3 was helpful.

 

Let us know how it is!

I believe I've just done a week in a closet followed by two weeks in the fridge. (Trying one beer after one week in the fridge just to make sure it's alright).

 

This works for me for most beers:

2 weeks at 65-70F
1 week at 34F
Drink!

I only do an extended warm conditioning time with a big beers 9% and up and wild ales.

 

So my last Porter bottle had been in the fridge for over a week and I had a few bottles of the Irish Red Ale that had been in for 4-5 days.

The Porter's head was still the same as before - started with a decent amount of head but is more bubbly than creamy (not like the head on commercial porters I've had) and was gone pretty quick and left no foam at all on top.

The Irish Red Ale though did seem to have better head than the first two I had (that were only chilled for about 10 hours). Although the head was not huge it was much nicer in texture than the one on the porter. I carbed this one on the low side of the range for the style, so I wouldn't expect this to generate a large head. So this suggestion "fixed" the Irish but not sure what was up with the porter. But I think the good news is that maybe I improved from my first batch (porter) to my second batch...

 

So the assumption here is that they taste good with no off flavors that would indicate an infection. In that case the difference can be attributed to the fines that are floating in the porter vs the red. Give it a few weeks (in the fridge) and check it again. If it is same or worse, you have an infection. If it gets better, the fine particles have begun settling out.
Good Luck.

 

Well.... all the porter has been consumer already! It was a 1G batch so there were not many bottles. But there is no indication that these had an infection.