Head retention

[seymour]

Regarding your own Oatmeal Stout with less-than-desired head retention...perhaps you didn't use enough oats. [wink]

9.2%

Ah, well that is substantial, so I don't know how to explain that.

I also made the point about carbonation and the support this gives, never the less those are impressive looking beers , but my bet is they are over carbed for my taste.

You're right about that too. These were all relatively highly carbonated beer. Not extreme carbonation, champagne-like gushers or anything, but definitely higher than traditional English ale. I do enjoy beer a little cooler and a little more carbonated than authentic "Real Ale" so those definitely are contributors to my brews' appearance.

I'm surprised you didn't comment on the science based article in the JIB, is this an example of the real world not being the same as the lab?

That Journal of the Institute of Brewing was very interesting, thank you for sharing. Really, some interesting take-aways. The most relevant passage would be "Barley control beer showed acceptable foam stability, whereas the foam stability of the oat beer was relatively poor. The generally higher fat content in oats than in barley, and consequently in their worts and beers, might be one possible explanation for the poor foam stability of the oat beers. Another reason could be the higher degree of proteolysis in the oat malt as indicated by higher Kolbach indices in the oat malt." Except that the entire article is about beers brewed with 100% oat malt, which I don't care to use. I do believe the head retention contributions require unmalted oats. This is key: torrified wheat and flaked wheat improve head retention, wheat malt does not. Flaked rye does, rye malt does not. We all know the malting process improves brewing efficiency of grain. What we want here is some inefficiency, the foamy stuff left behind. Another quibble: I'm not sure why they chose to ferment a Weihenstephen lager with extended aging. As far as I knew, we're all talking about quick-and-dirty ale brewing.

[dshar]

Following this thread with great interest since ive had major issues in getting good head (pls dont quote me out of context!!)

Anyways, im no expert, only have ~10 AG brews under my belt, but none with decent foam. Even the oatmeal stout which was more than 10pct flaked oats...

About the gushers though, ive hd one or two of these and assumed they were infections, do i miss something here? Are there other causes for gushers?

Cheers

which leads to big bubbles and, in extreme cases the occasional gusher.

[wally]

You could try what the commercial breweries do. Add 3 ppm tetra hop at bottling. Gives great head apparently.

[guypettigrew]

Never understood the need for a head on beer.

Surely it's all about the liquid in the glass?

Guy

[Jocky]

Following this thread with great interest since ive had major issues in getting good head (pls dont quote me out of context!!)

Anyways, im no expert, only have ~10 AG brews under my belt, but none with decent foam. Even the oatmeal stout which was more than 10pct flaked oats...

About the gushers though, ive hd one or two of these and assumed they were infections, do i miss something here? Are there other causes for gushers?

Cheers

which leads to big bubbles and, in extreme cases the occasional gusher.

Gushers can be down to an infection, but if your beer isn't overtly infected then excess yeast in the bottle can cause it too. It's the same reason as when people were putting mentos in bottles of Coke - it provides a nucleation site for CO2.

[Jim]

Never understood the need for a head on beer.

Surely it's all about the liquid in the glass?

Guy

Well, visual appearance of food and drink is surprisingly important. I've seen experiments where they presented 3 identical sugary drinks (but each coloured differently with tasteless food colouring) to volunteers. The volunteers swore that the drinks tasted different, and expressed a preference for one or the other. We eat and drink with our eyes as well as our palate!

[Bazz]

I've been following this thread with interest, I only have 8 ag brews to my name and every one has been an experiment or trial of something new to help me learn, for me so far torrified wheat didn't work out so well, I haven't tried oats yet ( it's going to be in the first brew of the new year) but carapils and Carahell have both given me excellent results in the head retention department.

[Capped]

Never understood the need for a head on beer.

Surely it's all about the liquid in the glass?

Guy

Well, visual appearance of food and drink is surprisingly important. I've seen experiments where they presented 3 identical sugary drinks (but each coloured differently with tasteless food colouring) to volunteers. The volunteers swore that the drinks tasted different, and expressed a preference for one or the other. We eat and drink with our eyes as well as our palate!

I wouldn't drink any beer without a head! It's like lemon meringue pie without the meringue. But then, I am in Yorkshire....

Bazz: flaked barley, flaked barley,flaked barley, never mind cara this and cara that!

[Bazz]

Bazz: flaked barley, flaked barley,flaked barley, never mind cara this and cara that!

Duly noted, i'll give it a shot in the next bitter/pale ale i brew. Thanks for the tip.