NEIPA Head Retention

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by hoptualBrew, Jul 8, 2019.

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  1. hoptualBrew

    hoptualBrew Initiate (0) May 29, 2011 Florida

    On the latest (and 2nd best IPA I’ve ever made) I employed a new process of rousing the dry hops daily with a CO2 burst through the dump valve of the cone on the fermenter. The resulting beer, even after 3 days cold crash before packaging, is delightfully hazy.

    I’ve noticed that when I pour the beer from tap, and it is carbonated to about 2.3-2.4 volumes, that little to no head generates and dissipates over a minute.

    It does not look bad though. The beer still looks very pleasant.

    But this had me thinking. I believe that the rousing of hops and extensive contact of hops:beer extracts more oils into suspension and thus the oils of the hop in such high concentration in the beer prohibit a nice head from forming.

    Thoughts?
     
    #1 hoptualBrew, Jul 8, 2019
  2. billandsuz

    billandsuz Pooh-Bah (2,097) Sep 1, 2004 New York
    Pooh-Bah

    Hop oil is known to contribute to head formation and retention. I can't quote the text at the moment but it is documented. Trub will do the opposite however.

    If the beer is brewed with quality ingredients and everything was done right, it should naturally have adequate head formation and retention. Add some wheat (protein) and you'll definitely see some great foam. That and must have beer clean glassware all the way.

    As an aside, injecting CO2 is very likely scrubbing volatile aroma and possibly flavor compounds as well. That extra CO2 gas will escape into atmosphere pretty quickly, and hop molecules will gladly hitch a ride out of your beer and into your brewery. Though to be fair if you are satisfied with the results, who can say you're doing it wrong?

    Cheers.
     
    #2 billandsuz, Jul 8, 2019
  3. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    I wonder if the daily CO2 burst might have caused enough foaming at the time to use up a significant part of the foam positive proteins in the beer. They're "use once" structures.
     
    #3 VikeMan, Jul 8, 2019
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  4. hoptualBrew

    hoptualBrew Initiate (0) May 29, 2011 Florida

    Interesting thoughts. Most “juice” IPA breweries I know of either spin their dry hops (recirc with pump during dry hop) or use the CO2 bursts.

    And the beers pour same way as I described above.
     
    #4 hoptualBrew, Jul 8, 2019
  5. Genuine

    Genuine Maven (1,347) May 7, 2009 Connecticut

    Also, what is your grist? I've been using 1.5-2lb's of Raw Wheat in mine and I haven't had an issue with head retention or lacing.
     
    #5 Genuine, Jul 9, 2019
  6. wasatchback

    wasatchback Pooh-Bah (1,574) Jan 12, 2014 Tajikistan
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Co2 bursting shouldn’t cause loss of foam and hop oils are generally foam positive.

    Treehouse and Hill Farmstead have some of the best foam in the biz, they brew plenty of “juicy” beers.

    20-30 minute rest at 160-162
    Don’t transfer trub to the fermenter
    Keep fermentation under control
    - anti foam agents actually help foam in the beer
    Get the beer off the yeast ASAP
    - or get the yeast out of the beer
    Carb to higher levels
    - so many breweries like to undercarb this style which drives me nuts personally.

    A lot of breweries cheat and use hop derived products for foam enhancement. Stuff homebrewers don’t have access to.

    I personally don’t believe that Wheat helps that much.

    No wheat or Tetrahop here, plenty of juice.

    [​IMG]

    Or here


    [​IMG]
     
    #6 wasatchback, Jul 9, 2019
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  7. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Unless it's making foam. In which case, it will cause loss of foam.
     
    #7 VikeMan, Jul 9, 2019
  8. wasatchback

    wasatchback Pooh-Bah (1,574) Jan 12, 2014 Tajikistan
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I do it and have no issues.. maybe I don’t create much foam. Just hit it with 10 seconds of 10psi 2 or 3 times??
     
    #8 wasatchback, Jul 9, 2019
  9. loebrygg

    loebrygg Initiate (0) Jun 4, 2016 Norway

    Don't you think active fermentation will cause enough CO2 on its own?
     
    #9 loebrygg, Jul 9, 2019
  10. wasatchback

    wasatchback Pooh-Bah (1,574) Jan 12, 2014 Tajikistan
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I don’t dry hop during fermentation.
     
    #10 wasatchback, Jul 10, 2019
  11. JohnConnorforealthistime

    JohnConnorforealthistime Initiate (0) Mar 10, 2016 Wisconsin

    Curious what you carb yours at? And anti-foaming products you mean fermcap?
     
    #11 JohnConnorforealthistime, Jul 17, 2019
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