Using too much fining can be a huge problem for head retention. Whirlflock may be the culprit (or Irish Moss). For a 5 gallon batch you really only need half a tablet of whirlflock. If using something else (Super Moss or plain old Irish Moss) be sure to follow the manufacturers instructions carefully.
That’s good info, Keith - never heard that. I know you only need half a tablet, but I just drop a whole one in for convenience. My beers don’t have any head retention issues, but it’s something to keep in mind anyway.
The actual dosage of WF is also based on OG. It is 2 tabs per bbl per 10 degree brix.
Which works out to half a tablet for 5-6 gal at 5-6% ABV. Which is nice.
This is new for me as well and good to keep in mind. I only use hot side fining, exclusively Irish moss and not for every brew. No issues with head retention using around 1.5 grams per 6 gallon batch.
Does too much wirlfloc strip too much foam positive material? Or does the excess wirlfloc stay behind and cause the problem,
Hmmmm, I do have some head retention problems. I do 6 gal. extract and partial mash batches and have been throwing in a whirlfloc tab just because. But, now that I think about it, there’s probably some such thing already in the extract.
Perhaps oxidation could be contributing to a lack of foam?
In any case, I wouldn’t blame aging, necessarily. I can’t speak with regard to lagers specifically since while I love them, I rarely brew them…but my IPA, Porter, and Barleywine/Burton which I brew a lot of and all of which get an average of 8-12 months aging at minimum (and in some cases far longer) tend to pour pretty consistently with very long lasting heads of foam that leave a generous, clinging lacing on the glass.
Cha-Ching!
I’m more inclined to point towards the health of the yeast. I’ve had a few beers do this, both ale and lager, where it doesn’t hold a head and goes flat looking. Fermentation temps were good, and were kegged and chilled immediately following fermentation (2 weeks or so). But I guess I’m just spit balling…
I don’t think it’s necessarily letting the beer sit at ambient temps for an extended time. Either way, it doesn’t happen all the time, so it’s really hard to say what the cause is. I guess, like Frankenbrew said, if it tastes good, what’s it matter? There’s lots of commercial beers that do this as well, especially a lot of the American lagers (all of them, really…). What’s the cause of the head falling in those beers? Adjuncts? Doesn’t seem likely, but I don’t know…
Resurrecting this one as I have a German pils with good head formation, but no head retention.
We brewed 20 gallons of wort (5 of which was used for a saison) and I believe we added about 4 tabs (1 per five gallons as opposed to 1/2 per five gallons).
I have been searching high and low to diagnose this. Does excessive whirfloc negatively impact just head retention or head formation?
I remembered Keith posting this.
Excessive whirlfloc could, but what do you consider excessive? Read this…it not only has explanations, but there are tests you can do to help you dagnose your problem.
http://byo.com/stories/article/indices/35-head-retention/697-getting-good-beer-foam-techniques
Denny, one of the possible causes listed in the article is using a weak boil. Have you noticed any foam issues with the Zymatic considering it never hit a true boil?
Nope, absolutely non. Keep in mind that there’s nothing magical about hitting 212 compared to 207. The reason you need the extra few degrees is to get the wort moving in a normal kettle. Since the Z recircs constantly you get the same effect. A weak boil implies no wort movement. That doesn’t happen with a Z.
I have also had plenty of my beers that have weak head retention. I get good foam on a pour but it disapates quickly leave little to no lasting head. Sometimes it’s better than others, sometimes lacing is decent, sometimes not. I don’t know where I am going wrong in my process. One thought I had after all this time is when I rack from the kettle to my fermenter, I always let the wort splash into the fermenter from a small legth of tubing on the kettle spigot. This creates tons of foam which I thought, hey extra oxygen. Well, today I didn’t do that, I racked gently to my new carboy and oxygenated with pure o2. Lets see if this is an improvement. Other than that I don’t know what could be my culprit, I feel I have pretty decent brewing practices after 6 years but there has to be something.
Just to complicate things further, yeast strain makes a difference to head retention and you can see the effect in the krausen. If the krausen refuses to drop (WLP800 pilsner and Wyeast3711 saison spring to mind), the beer will have good head retention. I get poor retention from W34/70 but great persistent heads from WLP800. Danstar Nottingham worse than Chico/US05. I’d say Nottingham gives the worst head retention of all the yeasts I’ve used.
A bit more info here but shows a limited range of yeasts:
ABV probably effects it too, at least that seems to be a common denominator I’ve noticed. In my personal experience, no scientific data or qualified peer review, it seems like 4% beers retain foam a bit better than 14%.
One of the possible culprits for head retention could possibly, maybe, perhaps be lipids in the mash. Maybe. Perhaps. If your filtering technique is inadequate it’s possible you are pulling a lot of lipids over which can cause problems with head retention and premature staling post packaging. Using a grant may help reduce lipids from being stripped from the mash.That said, it may not. But it might. Maybe.
Ah… I sense another theory rabbit hole. Can lautering too fast negatively effect foam? I say… I don’t know. Maybe, depends on who’s asking.