Head Retention Problems
Q: I make my usual Scottish mild from a 1.6-kilogram can of lightly hopped malt extract syrup mixed with ¾ kilogram of dark dry malt and just less than 1 kilogram of corn sugar. I prime with 1¼ cups of corn sugar per 5-gallon batch before bottling. The original gravity is about 1.044 and ends at about 1.013.
I have no problem with carbonation (I even get good small-bubble formation), but I am experiencing serious frustration creating and maintaining the head. Can you go over the main factors in head retention? My serving glasses are clean of all soaps, and I store the beer in a cool environment. Adding heading powders before bottling has not worked for me either.
I sometimes use a teaspoon of rehydrated Irish moss in the 30-minute hard boil. Is this pulling out some of the good head-creating proteins along with the bad high molecular weight haze-forming proteins?
Someone told me that using bleach to sanitize (even if triple rinsed) is the head killing culprit. If so, how?
I would also like to know how to keep using bleach (yes, I know about chlorine dioxide products) while avoiding the formation of trihalomethanes and chloro-phenols described in “Applications of Chlorine Dioxide: A Postrinse Sanitizer that Won’t Leave a Bad Taste in Your Mouth” (BrewingTechniques 5 [2], pp. 76–81 [March/April 1997]). What are these compounds? Are they hazardous to me or my beer? If so, how? What precautions should I take to minimize or eliminate them?
Dave Miller was a home brewer for 15 years and has been brewing professionally since 1991. He worked as brewmaster at the Saint Louis Brewery from its opening in 1991 until September 1994. He is currently brewmaster at the Blackstone Restaurant and Brewery in Nashville, Tennessee. He is the author of four books and numerous magazine articles and is a contributing editor of BrewingTechniques magazine.
A: If you are thoroughly rinsing your fermentors and other equipment, then chlorine is not the source of your foam retention problem. The problem is simply that you are making a very light extract beer; it may not have a low gravity, but a significant proportion of its fermentable material is corn sugar. The beer is low in protein and other foam-retaining compounds.
Try eliminating Irish moss for a start. In my experience, it is not necessary to achieve clarity in extract beers. The next step would be to go to an all-malt recipe. The more malt you use, the more foam retention you will get.
I am surprised that your foam-retaining powders have not helped. Propylene alginate (I assume this is what you used) always worked for me. Check your beer’s pH to make sure it is not abnormally low or high. Finished ales should be in the range of 4.0–4.5.
Trihalomethanes and chlorophenols are worth avoiding. Chlorophenols impart a nasty medicinal taste. Some trihalomethanes are carcinogenic. Bleach is an effective sanitizer, but if it contacts beer these nasties are inevitable. If you use bleach, limit contact time with the vessel (to avoid corrosion), use the proper strength (two tablespoons per gallon — more is not better), and rinse it off thoroughly before racking wort or beer into it.
Incidentally, why insist on staying with bleach? Compared with the cost of malt and hops, sanitizers don’t even register on the brewing budget.
All contents copyright 2024 by MoreFlavor Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this document or the related files may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.
.png)
.png)
(1).png)
.png)
