Disappointing Head on my Bottled Coopers Stout

[mancer62]

Hi there just like to say I was most disappointed in my batch of Coopers Stout which I bottled in Coopers 500ml Pet Beer Bottles. I used 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar per bottle and made sure the tops were screwed on correctly. But when I opened them with eager anticipation there was no lovely hissing sound as I turned the top. Instead I got a pint of Stout with initially a decent head which lasted for maybe a minute or so then just a disappointing black lifeless looking drink. The Stout itself was far from lifeless as there was carbonation when drinking but the look and the lack of hea : d was poor. Any recommendations or suggestions for future batches. Cheers :

 

[PD]

how long has the stout been in the bottles ?

 

[Rwilts]

I never got any lasting head on my bottles last year. But found a few bottles that were 8 months old recently and they had a head that lasted the whole pint, including a coopers stout. Not sure I can let my beer sit around that long before drinking tho :thumb:

 

[mattrickl06]

I have found that carbonation fades in the plastic coopers PET bottles.

and

cheat and use a nucleated glass :thumb: which will make the beer less fizzy but give a good lasting head.

 

[mancer62]

Hi just looked back on my notes and what I have recorded was that I made the Stout on Jan 21st 2013 with an OG of 1040.
I brewed with 1 kg Brewing Sugar. For some reason I haven't recorded the final gravity but it would have been ready.It's noted that the fermentation went like a bomb and I bottled on the 29th Jan. It then says I primed the bottles with 1/2 tspn granulated sugar (not 1 tspn as I originally stated).

 

[RobWalker]

sugar can affect the head, sorry to hear it's not great - dry malt extract will give a much better lasting head in place. also make sure you wash your glass of all detergent and you can use a pocket beer engine too at this stage;

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/view ... =6&t=49001

if they havn't been in the cool long too, leaving them in a cool place for a week or two may give it a boost. :thumb:

 

[NickW]

One other thing it could possibly be, or will improve the head... make sure the glass is dry before pouring. A wet glass is no good for maintaining a head. I'm not sure of the science behind this.

Also as stated above, a glass with an activator at the bottom would help

 

[anthonyUK]

A small syringe can be used as a ghetto widget if you want to add a nice head
Just use it to suck some beer and and expel it quickly back into the glass a few times.

 

[mattrickl06]

A small syringe can be used as a ghetto widget if you want to add a nice head
Just use it to suck some beer and and expel it quickly back into the glass a few times.

I had never heard of this until last night but after trying with a particularly flat ale I brewed was astounded by the result. It was better than a good hand pulled cask ale in the pub!!

 

[Zedilly]

I've done 2 coopers stout kits but used dme in both and the head was decent both times. 1st time they were all in coopers pet bottles and the second was part keg part bottled. It may just be the lack of dme or as others have said it may be the glass you are using (or both).