Milestone Black Pearl - no head ?

[DCM]

Hi, I have a milestone black pearl kit in my corny but when I pull a pint there is little or no head on it, is this normal for a stout?

I brewed it as follows:

10 days in the primary
7 days in a secondary (primed with 80 grams of brewers sugar disolved in warm water).
Transfered to Corny keg and has been in there about 8 days

Have I done anything wrong? , the FG wa about 1005 when transfered to the secondary.

[sparky Paul]

I can't add anything to DaaB's suggestions, spot on as usual. I'm suffering from a similar problem at the moment, but I suspect it's due to detergent residues on the glasses. Some kit beers definitely produce a better head than others though.

Slightly off at a tangent, but what do you think of the taste of the Black Pearl? I'm quite partial to the bottled variety from the Brewery, and I was wondering how the kit version turned out?

[DCM]

Thanks for the replys, ill try your suggestion Daab. The taste of the black pearl is a bit strong for my liking, i was hoping it would have more of a guiness like taste. Maybee its not fully conditioned yet though.

[sparky Paul]

The taste of the black pearl is a bit strong for my liking, i was hoping it would have more of a guiness like taste. Maybee its not fully conditioned yet though.

You might find that it mellows after a month or two, I find that the taste of stouts changes quite a bit with age. I've made a few which have been a distinctly uninteresting after a week or two, maybe even a little harsh, but have turned out very nice indeed after a couple of months.

The brewery Black Pearl isn't really a Guinness-a-like, it's a more complex flavour. If you are looking for something more akin to Guinness Original, I can recommend the 3Kg John Bull Masterclass Irish Stout - this also needs a good time to mature, but it is a very nice pint, and produces a good head too.

DaaB's suggestion to try adding more carbonation is important too - I find that stouts do need a fair bit of carbonation. I don't have a problem with this as I PET bottle everything.