Lager brewing

[Craig57]

Good evening, i have posted before regarding lager kits and issues found while doing these. Once again after trying a different method of the bottling process etc, im still finding after leaving the lager to do its thing for a good few weeks that the lager once opened from a PEP bottle does as it should and carbonates giving a nice head to the lager but within a couple of minutes its gone flat losing its head. The lager tastes ok, no issues there, so what im asking is that am i asking/expecting too much from these kits and do ALL lager kits end up this way with no decent head all the way down? Yes i know im not getting a pint from a pub but ive tried numerous things to try to maintain a head (carbonation drops, brewing sugar, ordinary sugar) even bottled in screw top bud bottles but the same issue arises. If this is the norm thats great at least i know its not me, but any tips would be appreciated.
Thanks
Craig

 

[foxbat]

A clean glass is a good start to head retention. I mean 'beer clean' (google it, it's a thing) not clean from a dishwasher. I don't see why lager kits should be any different to ale kits in their head retention (or not).

Many modern keg lagers in pubs cheat to get a head that stays all the way down by using nucleated glasses and very specific carbonation levels and serving pressures in the keg. When done right you get a constant stream of CO2 bubbles from the nucleation points that stay streaming - and creating a light head - all the way until an average drinker has finished the glass.

 

[Craig57]

A clean glass is a good start to head retention. I mean 'beer clean' (google it, it's a thing) not clean from a dishwasher. I don't see why lager kits should be any different to ale kits in their head retention (or not).

Many modern keg lagers in pubs cheat to get a head that stays all the way down by using nucleated glasses and very specific carbonation levels and serving pressures in the keg. When done right you get a constant stream of CO2 bubbles from the nucleation points that stay streaming - and creating a light head - all the way until an average drinker has finished the glass.

So the answer maybe then is to 'borrow' some glasses from the pub to help achieve this...

 

[terrym]

So the answer maybe then is to 'borrow' some glasses from the pub to help achieve this...

Perhaps not really necessary as a first step. Wash your glasses separately from other stuff, then rinse with clean water and use a dedicated clean glasses cloth to dry. And don't use the dishwasher.
But it may all be down to the basic ingredients, and not down to what you use for priming for example.
So if you are making a 1.5kg lager kit with 1 kg brewing sugar don't expect much.
However wheat is often used to encourage head retention on beer (amongst other things) so as an experiment you could try using some wheat DME, instead of 'ordinary' DME, to see if that changes things, although there may be a subtle change in flavour. So kit can plus 500g sugar plus 500g wheat DME perhaps, and see how it turns out.
Finally lagers require high carbing so you should be priming at the rate of between 5.5 to 7.5g table sugar per litre.

 

[pms67]

An etched glass can help
I sometimes use a pint Stella glass (don’t judge) and swmbo uses the half pint
Mines always has a head on it whilst the smaller one dissipates a lot quicker
Shame but it’s mine and that’s that

 

[Scottyburto]

Someone, I'm sorry I forget who, mentioned a chemical in washing up liquid called bitrex that kills head in glasses. The main reason pubs have glasswashers and dishwashers is so no "fat" Should end up in the glasswashers. A good pub won't wash anything in the glasswashers other than glassware. They also renovate the glasses once a month using a chlorine based chemical.
A borrowed nuclearated glass is a good start then I'd make a point of using a brush or sponge just for your drinking glasses.

 

[Craig57]

Perhaps not really necessary as a first step. Wash your glasses separately from other stuff, then rinse with clean water and use a dedicated clean glasses cloth to dry. And don't use the dishwasher.
But it may all be down to the basic ingredients, and not down to what you use for priming for example.
So if you are making a 1.5kg lager kit with 1 kg brewing sugar don't expect much.
However wheat is often used to encourage head retention on beer (amongst other things) so as an experiment you could try using some wheat DME, instead of 'ordinary' DME, to see if that changes things, although there may be a subtle change in flavour. So kit can plus 500g sugar plus 500g wheat DME perhaps, and see how it turns out.
Finally lagers require high carbing so you should be priming at the rate of between 5.5 to 7.5g table sugar per litre.

Thanks for the info, very much appreciated. For your infor, ive been using 5/6 carbonation drops per 2 litre bottle, and some bottles ive used 4.5 tsp of normal sugar instead, just to see if this makes any difference. One other point that i need to mention is that the lager is very clear in the bottle, but the lager once poured becomes cloudy, hopefully all related.

Thanks again

 

[Craig57]

Someone, I'm sorry I forget who, mentioned a chemical in washing up liquid called bitrex that kills head in glasses. The main reason pubs have glasswashers and dishwashers is so no "fat" Should end up in the glasswashers. A good pub won't wash anything in the glasswashers other than glassware. They also renovate the glasses once a month using a chlorine based chemical.
A borrowed nuclearated glass is a good start then I'd make a point of using a brush or sponge just for your drinking glasses.

Thanks, much appreciated