No Head!

BaronVanDuck

Afternoon,

I tried my Coopers Aussie Lager last night, it tasted good, smelled fine and was nicely carbonated EVEN the missus liked it... there was no head though!

I believe i cleaned my equipment thoroughly and it was all brand new gear. I bottled the beer after a week and primed with carbonation drops, left in the kitchen which was around 20 degrees and then after a week i moved into the shed. I tested last night after 2 weeks in the shed and i was quite please with the outcome bar the non existent head.

I used the standard Brewing Sugar which came with the kit, could this be the reason?

My glasses where also cleaned thoroughly as well, so im abit baffled.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Si

HBO_Staff

Hi Si, there are two main things to consider, firstly it sounds like early days so we think it should ideally be left longer and it will improve in the bottles. Secondly, the sugars used, 500ml bottles are best with 2 carbonation drops each if a good carbonation is preferred, or alternatively try priming with brewing sugar (a good heaped teaspoon per 500ml bottle), leave it somewhere warm for at least a week, then move somewhere cooler for a few weeks to condition and carbonate, if it's cold a week on a heater tray gets the secondary fermentation going nicely. Also as you say, try using a brew enhancer instead of sugar, they do cost more but we find the results are much improved, more body, better head and a better flavour, the enhancers are designed to improve the brew, if you make your next batch with one as a comparison, and see what you think, we think you'll notice a good difference. With this batch though, time will improve it no doubt