Brewmaker Irish Velvet Dark Stout Beer Kit

havantman

Hi guys ive made the above homebrew and used the Beer Kit Enhancer and Muntons Premium Gold Active Brewing Yeast and used sugar instead of Coopers Carbonation Drops. Its only been in the bottles for 9 days but on testing it the head only lasts for no more than 1 minute and yet the last batch i made with the normal yeast that comes with the kit and granulated sugar and Coopers Carbonation Drops the head lasts longer. would it be to much sugar for secondry fermentation or would it be contamination. Any help appreciated

havantman

easiest way i can describe the head is it fizzles away

HBO_Staff

There can be a few reasons for the head retention not being very good, the first is that it hasn't fully carbonated yet, as 9 days is still relatively early, and by leaving it to condition for a bit longer may improve things. How long the secondary fermentation takes can be affected by the temperature, it is best to store it somewhere warm for the first few days to get it going, and then move it somewhere cooler to clear and condition. If it has not been warm enough for the first few days this will increase the time taken to carbonate. One other main thing which can cause a problem with the head is if there was any residual steriliser or detergent in the bottles, they must be well rinsed with clean water to make sure there is none left behind as this could kill the head on the brew.

We think it is worth leaving it longer in the bottles if you are happy the bottles were well rinsed, and this will improve the stouts flavour, and probably the head too. It sounds from your description as if it is not yet quite ready to drink.

Too much sugar would have caused it to create excess pressure in the bottles, and make it more carbonated. If not enough sugar had been used (in whatever form - sugar/carbonation drops, etc) then this could result in a poor head as it would be under carbonated

havantman

ok thanks for the reply left it to condition for 6 days at 22 degrees before moving it to the shed i will leave for another 3 weeks and test again and if still no good i will throw it away and try again but use Coopers Carbonation Drops. As ive had no problems with them