Best means of head formation/retention

[RichardG]

Esteemed forum members,

I've been into this brewing lark for a year or more now, but the one aspect which seems to allude me is a consistent head formation and/or retention. I understand that I can improve this by the use of certain ingredients, e.g., flaked barley, torrified wheat etc. I usually brew bitters/ales, with the occassional darker brew (e.g. Porter). Could I ask for others experiences of this and which ingredient(s) (or indeed, alternative methods) have worked best? I bottle at the moment, but may well invest in a keg shortly (all the cleaning and sterilising is a right pain!). Many thanks in advance.

[Whorst]

Wheat Malt would be my choice. Many like Torrified Wheat.

[trucker5774]

The keg route is probably the answer, along with the wheat malt etc. I tend to do a lot in bottles (particularly for summer as they are easily chilled. Bottles tend not to produce the head I would like but I accept the limitations. Don't forget that pub ale (in the north at least) is forced through a sparkler on the pump outlet. Even sparklers come with at least 3 different size holes to choose from. I am playing with pumping from the bottles at the moment.........just need a spare part for my pump!

[RichardG]

Thanks chaps. So, we're looking at malt and/or torrified wheat. What sort of percentage would you suggest? Would around 5% seem right?

[Whorst]

That's about right. I use 224g.

[RichardG]

Cheers whorst. Apropos nothing, I note that in his AG recipe kits, Paul at Barley Bottom seems to use torrified wheat. I guess it's a case of trying both and seeing which I prefer (if I can tell the difference that is!).

[Zatoichi]

I had this problem too and it drove me nuts!!!

"Head stability depends on the presence of substances with low surface tension in the beer which can form stable elastic bubbles. The two primary contributors to head retention are certain high molecular weight proteins and isohumulones (alpha acids from hops). Therefore beers with more proteins that are highly hopped will have a higher head retention."

I found that beers with lots of late hop additions 15mins or less produced beers with fantastic heads!!!!!

Well it worked for me anyway!

[adm]

Definitely a bit of wheat will help. I often use about 150g of wheat malt with 5Kg of pale malt and it works for me.

I also use a LOT of late hops very regularly.....maybe Zatoichi's got a point there too.

[floydmeddler]

Cheers for starting this thread up. Going to try some Torrefied Wheat in my next brew. Does it add any flavour?

Cheers

[beer gut]

Hi everyone i use weat malt and torrified weat for head retention. I have started using caraphills wich also aids flavour head retention and formation. I did not know that hops help with head retention that's something i will take on board on my future brewes, i did allways think why my darker beers did not keep they heads as long as my lighter higher hopped pale ales.