no head

[DonPolo]

Just now, DonPolo said:

I used various amounts of steeped cracked carapils grain to no avail!

On the other hand the instructions I received was to boil the grains for only 10 minutes not 30.

[Worthog]

3 minutes ago, DonPolo said:

I used various amounts of steeped cracked carapils grain to no avail!

Caramalt, carafoam, carahell.....

Back when I was having difficulty with kits, @Beerlust, suggested this and it solved my problem from that point. I am now AG and the problem does not exist in any type of glass I pour.

Cheers,

[Worthog]

10 minutes ago, DonPolo said:

On the other hand the instructions I received was to boil the grains for only 10 minutes not 30.

You steep the grain for 30m@65c, in a bag preferably, to later remove the grain from the wort.

Then boil for 60m, adding any late hop schedule, as and when you desire.

Cheers

Edited June 17, 2019 by Worthog

[Hairy]

No need to boil the wort from specialty grain for 60 minutes.

Some people don’t bother boiling at all but I liked to boil for at least 5-10 minutes.

If you are using the wort for boiling hops then you only need to boil it for as long as the hop additions.

[porschemad911]

Hmmm I've still got a couple of bottles of 2 different saisons done with 100% Coopers LME (one light, one amber, no grain additions at all) left. Will have to pay more attention to head formation / retention when I try these.

I don't remember any particular issues in my tulip glasses (handwash in detergent, rinse, air-dry). I'll probably find it isn't as good as my partial mash or all grain beers, but not enough to make me say "gee that's terrible". Carb levels are reasonably high with a single carb drop per 330ml bottle (and a diastaticus yeast). 

Cheers, 

John 

[DonPolo]

On 6/14/2019 at 11:52 AM, PB2 said:

If you are seeking better head retention, you might like to start with asking yourself how you stack up against the points mentioned in our FAQ. 

I think I have checked off all of these. Maybe too much sugar but really I was only using the equivalent of 500g and 400g Carapils with 1kg LDM or is that too much sugar?

[Otto Von Blotto]

It means sugar like table sugar, raw sugar or dextrose or whatever, not malt extract or grains. 

In theory a beer made entirely from malt should have better head retention than one with a percentage of sugar in it and that has been my experience. I did a couple of megaswill clones a couple of years ago that had around 12-13% raw sugar in them, and the head retention was pretty much non existent. Certainly a lot worse than my usual all malt beers.

[MitchellScott]

1 hour ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

It means sugar like table sugar, raw sugar or dextrose or whatever, not malt extract or grains. 

In theory a beer made entirely from malt should have better head retention than one with a percentage of sugar in it and that has been my experience. I did a couple of megaswill clones a couple of years ago that had around 12-13% raw sugar in them, and the head retention was pretty much non existent. Certainly a lot worse than my usual all malt beers.

Yep exactly. Since I've started kegging I usually add about 250-300g of Dex to make up for the ABV the secondary ferment in bottles gives.
I wouldn't add much more Dex then that to a brew though. Get your ABV from Malt Extracts. For example, my IPA I just put down has a Coopers APA tin, Coopers LME tin (1.5kg), 500g DME and 300g Dextrose.

Cheers.

Edited June 17, 2019 by MitchellScott

[Otto Von Blotto]

I don't use any unless it's part of the style. I don't really care about the ABV matching the bottled versions; I can make a beer that pretty much tastes the same but with 0.5% ish less ABV in a keg.

[MitchellScott]

1 hour ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

I don't use any unless it's part of the style. I don't really care about the ABV matching the bottled versions; I can make a beer that pretty much tastes the same but with 0.5% ish less ABV in a keg.

100% if your happy with the lower ABV then that's sweet. But many of my brews are from the recipes section and many of them without the extra 0.4-0.5% they can be quite low ABV.

I figure the recipes technically have sugar in them from the bottle priming so adding the same amount of sugar (I know it's less then 300g) should result in the same beer. 

 

[DonPolo]

So it sounds like adding 400-500g raw sugar to a can and 1kg LDM is a no no.

[Hairy]

45 minutes ago, DonPolo said:

So it sounds like adding 400-500g raw sugar to a can and 1kg LDM is a no no.

Not necessarily. Sugar has its place in kit and extract beers. I always found that all malt extract beers finished too high, especially once you get over the 5% ABV mark.

It is all about balance and making sure the percentage of simple sugar isn’t too high.

[DonPolo]

41 minutes ago, Hairy said:

Not necessarily. Sugar has its place in kit and extract beers. I always found that all malt extract beers finished too high, especially once you get over the 5% ABV mark.

It is all about balance and making sure the percentage of simple sugar isn’t too high.

Damn I thought I might have found my magic bullet reason!