How to improve head retention in your homebrew?
I think one of the most disappointing things that can happen in homebrewing besides getting an infected batch of beer, is poor head retention.
We have all had that feeling when we pour our beer and nothing, no foamy head.
I thought it would be useful to break down some easy ways you can help improve your head retention.
The first thing you want to do is to make sure that all your equipment and bottles are thoroughly clean. No gunk, dust, or anything inside of them. I would suggest cleaning your equipment and bottles with a brewing cleaner quite often to help keep everything nice.
You also want to make sure you have good bottles and caps. If you are using our PET bottles they do last a long time, but we do recommend replacing the caps every few months depending on how often you are brewing. If you are noticing that your carbonation and head retention are starting to suffer might be time for some new caps.
Now onto glassware. It is critical that you are using a clean glass that has no dust, or oily soap residue in it. Both of those factors can have an impact on head retention.
You also want to make sure that you are using the proper glass for your beer style. There are all different types of glasses out there and they can impact your head retention as well as your aroma.
Another factor that will impact this is the proper pouring of the beer. Tilt the glass at a 45-degree angle and then when the glass is about two-thirds full level the glass.
If you want to add some items to your brew to help with head retention you can also do that.
You can steep some carapils malt for 30 minutes at 145-155 and this will help improve the head retention of your beer.
It is also critical to make sure that you are adding the proper amount of priming sugar to your beer and that your carbonation and conditioning temperatures are in the ideal range for your recipe.
That wraps this up and those are all the tips you can use to help improve your head retention in your homebrew.
Cheers,
Robert