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How long can I expect to wait to see a decent head on my (kit)brews?

What other changes, if any, can I expect to see/taste with the passing of time?

I guess I'm just an impatient bugger.

How much head you get on your brews depends on a number of different factors.
It can depend on the yeast used, how long it was in primary, priming sugar type, and the temperature you store your bottled brews at.

With kit brews you have litle control over the make-up of the malt bill of your brews.

How do you carbonate your brews?

I normally use caster sugar, and use it at the lower end of the scale. I dispense it with one of those sugar measures, but I've cut mine down to hold only about 2/3rds of normal, and still get decent carbonation in anything from about 1 week up to sometimes 6 weeks.

Kit brews will probably improve in the bottle for a good 2 to 3 months, and they should keep even longer. Leaving your brew in the fermenter before bottling for about 2 weeks or so will also help to speed it up. Some brewers prefer to rack and cold condition their brews for about a week before bottling, which will also help.

I brew AG, and depending on the style I'm brewing, I might not crack a bottle for 3 to 4 months if it's an Old or APA. Hefeweizens, on the other hand, I'll crack after only 1 week.

Another often overlooked reason for a lack of head in a well made beer is your glassware. Detergent residue is known to reduce head. Make sure your glasses get a good rinse after washing. There are other methods - some only rinse (i.e. don't wash), some wash with a bicarb/vinegar solution. I'm sure there's nearly as many methods as there are brewers. If you can't sort it out with brewing practice, give google a bit of a bash about how to treat your glasses.

If you play with spec grains at all then give Carapils a crack. Can help with forming a good head. Some look upon this as cheating though (not me, I've put it in 3 out of my last 4 brews).

Warra
For my first brew I used the kit yeast. So I really have no idea what it was exactly.

I used dextrose to carbonate the first brew using the full measure of the plastic dispenser.

I've been letting the primary fermentation go for two weeks, but I want to start racking and cold conditioning as soon as possible. Just finding it a little difficult to get a second fermenter at a budget price.

I'd like to move into AG eventually. But not before doing a few decent kit brews and not before seeing it done in person.

Bum
No detergents go near my glassware. I don't think any amount of rinsing can save a glass from lots of detergent washing.

I'll have to look into Carapils.

Thanks guys.

warra48 wrote: Some brewers prefer to rack and cold condition their brews for about a week before bottling, which will also help.

Not sure about this one Warra, a few times I have cold conditioned, I have had a hell of a time getting them to carb up, 4-6 weeks in some cases, I think this is best suited to kegging (which I'm about to do this arvo!)

jello wrote:Warra

I'd like to move into AG eventually. But not before doing a few decent kit brews and not before seeing it done in person.

Thanks guys.

Jello,
If you want to see an AG done send me a PM, (Plenty of bad habbits to share ) I'm in the Hunter between Maitland & Singleton. Normally brew most Fri nights or Sat, mornings.

Cheers, Mick.

billybushcook wrote:

warra48 wrote: Some brewers prefer to rack and cold condition their brews for about a week before bottling, which will also help.
.

Not sure about this one Warra, a few times I have cold conditioned, I have had a hell of a time getting them to carb up, 4-6 weeks in some cases, I think this is best suited to kegging (which I'm about to do this arvo!)

Cheers, Mick.

There may be other reasons than the cold conditioning for this.
I brewed a AG BoPils recently with WY2001. 2 weeks in the fermenter at 10ºC, racked and lagered for 6 weeks at 2ºC. My bottles were fully carbed at 2 to 3 weeks post bottling.
I don't rack my ales, just bottle from primary 2 to 3 weeks post brewing. I brewed a Best Bitter earlier this year with WY1968. I only used about 80 gr of caster sugar to prime them, and they took from 6 to 8 weeks to come good. It was worth the wait though, they were delicious.
It's all a bit of a mystery. Maybe the answer is to brew enough so you have stocks to keep you going, no matter what!

Yeh, the few I cold conditioned were Kits with bits & used S-04 from memory, some prior to that would have been Coopers Kit yeast.
It makes sense that Lager yeasts would be more tolerant to it, but I felt that every thing had fallen out of suspension & not enough yeast carry over to carbonate.

Havn't tried it again until last week were I have done an AG Pale Ale with Galaxy flowers @ 60Mins, Amarillo @ 15 Mins & 1098 Brit Ale yeast,
tossed it in the fridge last week & am going to keg it tonight for a mate (I will have to help him drink it on his B'day )

Cheers, Mick.

warra48 wrote: Maybe the answer is to brew enough so you have stocks to keep you going, no matter what!

When you work out how to do this without ordering truckloads of grain & making it a full time job, be sure to let me know hey?

Actually, I think I just drink too much!!
Brewing & consuming minium 1 brew (30 bottles) per fortnight & toss the occasional extra one in, on the off week.

Cheers, Mick.

Seeing as I'm not into the AG side of brewing yet, I don't seem to be having any problems letting my brews condition. Though...having surgery and being in too much pain to drink has helped.

billybushcook wrote:

warra48 wrote: Maybe the answer is to brew enough so you have stocks to keep you going, no matter what!

When you work out how to do this without ordering truckloads of grain & making it a full time job, be sure to let me know hey?

Actually, I think I just drink too much!!
Brewing & consuming minium 1 brew (30 bottles) per fortnight & toss the occasional extra one in, on the off week.

Cheers, Mick.

I do brew AG, but I only drink about 2 to 3 stubbies a day.
I need to do a brew about every 3 to 4 weeks.

I buy all of my base malts in 25 kg sacks. Specialty malts I buy in 5 kg lots. I'm a bit short on hops, I only have about 3 kg in the freezer at present.

My planned brewing schedule, using BeerSmith, is about 4 to 5 brews ahead, so I can co-ordinate my requirements with my actual stocks, and buy ahead as needed. I need to do this, as the only HB shop locally really only caters to K&K brewers. I tend to buy to most of my supplies from Mark's Home Brew in Islington during my visits to Newcastle, or I call in there in passing on my way to Sydney. I also buy some supplies on-line from CraftBrewer.

I prefer to use liquid yeasts, but building starters and saving splits allows me to basically keep most of what I need. I'm lucky enough to still have WY1469 available!

Planning ahead is the way to go!

warra48 wrote:

billybushcook wrote:

warra48 wrote: Maybe the answer is to brew enough so you have stocks to keep you going, no matter what!

Actually, I think I just drink too much!!
Brewing & consuming minium 1 brew (30 bottles) per fortnight & toss the occasional extra one in, on the off week.

Cheers, Mick.

I do brew AG, but I only drink about 2 to 3 stubbies a day.
I need to do a brew about every 3 to 4 weeks.

... and Mick thinks HE drinks too much! I have to do a brew a week to keep my OH in beer. And now I've acquired "the taste", it's becoming a full time job! (Maybe a third fermenter??)

I often add some Corn Syrup at the same time as the sugars.

It gives it finer bubbles so u don't get that soft drink fizz, and better head retention.
500g of either liquid or powdered corn syrup does the trick for me (in a 23L brew).
Its almost non fermentable so it wont effect the alcohol content and is tasteless (eat sum) so it wont effect the taste alot (imo).

Wheredoyagetit? (the Corn Syrup that is...)

I have used it once before, was advised it gives a bit of body to the brew, although I can't say I noticed too much difference.

Your local homebrew shop should stock it.

Thanks Big Pete!

Corn syrup aka maltodextrin.

General consensus is that you don't need it unless you are making low abv beers (4.0% and lower).

All malt is the way to go. Using brew boosters that contain large amounts of dextrose will only thin your beers out and the maltodextrin is there to counteract that.

So by going all malt you forgo the need to use maltodextrin.

Its also been noted by many brewers that excess maltodextrin can add a soapy type mouthfeel to your beers.

As for the glassware, i put mine in the dishwasher. They get the same treatment as my plates, cutlery etc.

Very interesting, as usual, Doc! And I believe one of the ingredients of Coopers BE2 is maltodextrin anyway, so I'll keep using it and add extra malt - always get good results with that!

Anna wrote:Very interesting, as usual, Doc! And I believe one of the ingredients of Coopers BE2 is maltodextrin anyway, so I'll keep using it and add extra malt - always get good results with that!

My beers improved greatly when i ditched the brew enhancers and went all malt, adding crystal malts, hops and a good yeast.

In fact, i won my 2nd brewing trophy not long after that and beat a few AG brewers in the process!

drsmurto wrote:

Anna wrote:Very interesting, as usual, Doc! And I believe one of the ingredients of Coopers BE2 is maltodextrin anyway, so I'll keep using it and add extra malt - always get good results with that!

My beers improved greatly when i ditched the brew enhancers and went all malt, adding crystal malts, hops and a good yeast.

In fact, i won my 2nd brewing trophy not long after that and beat a few AG brewers in the process!

Aahh, I remember that. It was with your version of Boonie's LCPA, if I recall correctly?

You've got the memory of an elephant Warra!