Last winter/spring I brewed two lagers, a dunkel and a maibock. The dunkel was 90+% light Munich malt, and the maibock was about 60% pilsner and the rest light Munich. They were both fermented with the same Saflager 34/70. The both tasted great. The problem was/is that after the first few sips, there is no head or foam left in the glass.
Now before you think it’s the glasses, let me tell you that I have five taps going all the time, and none of my ales has this problem. I hand wash and dry my beer glasses, and I’ve pretty much ruled them out.
Is it the yeast? That and the Munich malt are the common variables here.
I’m done with lagers for this year, though it would be nice to have a new approach for next lager season. Thanks in advance for your help.
The fermentation process plays a very large role in foam production and retention. This article not only explains what’s going on, but has tests you can do to help you diagnose your problem.
Is it possible you didn’t pitch enough yeast? Lagers need about double the cells that ales need. They need to be pithed cold (48 degrees is not too cold) and fermented cold for a few days before warming for a d-rest.
I can’t say for sure what it is. Did you ferment too warm? Fusels will kill head. Probably not though.
I’ll give you an easy fix for the future, though — add 5-10% rye malt next time. You’ll get head with rye like you’ve never had before, I can virtually guarantee it. They used to say this always about wheat, but now I’m telling you, it’s rye.
I see this as well. My Ales have no problems with head but my lagers seem to drop the head quickly and have little lacing. I’ve tried Carapils and Carafoam but it doesn’t seem to help. Next on my list is raising the mash PH a bit to 5.5-5.6 and lowering PH in the kettle down to 5.2-5.3 similar to what rabeb does.
I feel like there’s more to it than just fermentation temperature, but not sure what it would be. I don’t see a huge difference between my ales and lagers, head retention-wise. Once in a while I’ll have a beer where the head drops and looks like soda…that really annoys me. I’m not sure what the deal is when that happens, it’s either lagers or ales. I don’t think it has to do with lager yeast vs ale yeast.
Potentially related: I’ve recently brewed 10 gallons of a Munich Helles. The first 5 gallons went straight from fermenter to keg to kegerator and the head was great. The second 5 gallons, after kegging, sat in the basement at ambient until the first was kicked. Head dissipates almost instantly on this second keg. In this case I think the only two options are storage at high temp after lagering or oxygenation while sitting in the keg on deck.
I was definitely looking in the wrong direction. My mash ph, time and temp were fine, but the fermentation and lagering were definitely less than ideal. I don’t have temperature control, but my cellar is cool enough for a lager fermentation during the winter/spring months. But, after they were done fermenting I lagered them at ambient temperature as the above poster discussed. With all that has been discussed, including the article, that seems the most plausible cause in this case.
I guess the reason I’m miffed is because both beers tasted great, no fusels or solvents. They were very clean and tasty. I mistakingly thought that even though the conditions were not the greatest, if they tasted good, then all is well. That’s what is great about this hobby, one never stops learning.
Like people are saying there are lots of reasons for loss of head retention. “Using a lare portion of adjuncts, poor malt quality, or processing problems (addition of foam surpressors during fermentation,excessive foaming during fermentation, excessive co2 scrubbing to the beer to remove oxygen, incidental addition of surface active cleaning agents, etc) causing beer to lose its inherent foaming abilities” you can always buy some propylene glycol alginate and add it to the keg to get some head retention back, if you’re that concerned to want to do something to the beer now
