Head retention

Originally the principal aim of adding hops was to compensate for the insipid, sweet taste of the unhopped beer with the characteristic bitter taste and aroma of hops. Other assets of adding hops include increasing the biological stability of the beer and improving the head retention and body of the beer. The amount of hops added varies from 0.4—4.0 g/L. In the original Pilsner beer, the amount is about 4 g/L but elsewhere much smaller amounts are used. 

J.S. Pierce, The role of positive and negative factors in head retention, Inst. Brewing, Aust. N.Z. Sect., Proc. Conv. 15 (1978)51-65. 

This is a well-balanced beer, with excellent carbonation and head retention. Be careful not to over-carbonate I have also dry-hopped into the secondary with 1 ounce of Kent Goldings with very good results. 

This recipe produced the best porter I ve ever had, bar none. Old Peculiar fans (myself and two others) liked it much better than Old Peculiar. The Edme yeast gives it fruity overtones in aroma and in flavor. Some people say the Lyle s black treacle is merely black molasses, however treacle does not take weeks to mellow out and even one week later does not taste like molasses. This is not a beer to guzzle. It s more like a sipping beer, but it is not too heavy. The head retention was such that you could draw a geometric diagram on it with a toothpick, and the diagram would remain for 2 minutes. 

This beer took third Place in the Fruit Beer category at the St. Louis Brews Happy Holiday Homebrew Competition. The Judges comments were Nice aroma of raspberries. Nice flavor. Body appropriate and head retention great. ... 

The figures given in the final column are retentions relative to the internal standard, which is indicated by I.S. Where the reference quotes retention times instead these are given under the heading retention time and are in minutes (min) or seconds (sec). 

The head-forming capacity of beer is directly related to its carbon dioxide content and within the normal range of 0 35-0-42% w/w carbon dioxide, this has no effect on head retention [163]. However, beers foamed with other gases show different behaviour. 

Changes in head retention through brewing process (Blom) [128]... 

Fi. 22.2 Effect of the state of lipids on the head retention of beer at different dilutions (diluted with approximately 4% aqueous ethanol), (a) No lipid (b) Dispersed lipid (c) Non-dispersed lipid [138]. 

Of the individual iso-a-acids, isohumulone is concentrated into the foam to a greater extent than isocohumulone and unhopped beer bittered (21 0 BU) with isohumulone had a better head retention (2 = 132) than that bittered with isocohumulone (2 = 115) [146]. Addition of iso-a-acids to beer increases head retention but, in particular, the iso-a-acids are responsible for foam adhesion, cling or lacing. Unhopped beer does not show these effects. Traces of heavy metal ions (iron, cobalt, nickel and copper) also improve the head retention of beers but only in the presence of iso-a-acids [139]. 

Treatment of beer with AT powder resulted in a substantial fall in the oxidizable tannin value [201] but there was no loss of head retention. Compared with tannic acid and proteolytic enzyme treatment less sensitive protein was removed and that lost was not due to the removal of any particular protein as the isoelectric profile did not differ from that of the control beer [193]. Filter sheets which incorporate polyvinylpyrrolidone are commercially available. The natural polyamides keratin and casein have been used for stabilizing beer but they are not superior to the synthetic polyamides. 

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