Head on wheat extract beers

[scubabrew]

I have been brewing for about 18 months now and have noticed a pattern with the head retention on wheat beers that I make. Hefeweizen, American Wheat, Witbier, all have an enormous amount of head compared to others, and it takes a significant amount of time for the head to go down. I have an American Wheat on tap right now that I added blueberries too, and I need to pour it into a pitcher and let it settle to get any significant amount beer. When I pour it into a pint glass, there is about 20% beer, and the rest of the glass is head.

Any thoughts on this or something that I can do to reduce this?

[dmtaylo2]

Wheat beers have a lot more protein than regular all-barley beers. Thus the huge head. Same goes for rye. Bubbles are made of protein.

New brewers also tend to overcarbonate all their beers. Not their fault, but it’s because the kits and recipes they use all tell you to use way too much priming sugar. The next batch you make, reduce the specified priming sugar by 2 tablespoons or ~3/4 oz (for 5 gallons). I’m sure you’ll be extremely pleased with the results.

[scubabrew]

For the one on the kegs, can I purge the head space and will the dissolved CO2 escape the beer and then could I recarbinate at a lower PSI?

[dmtaylo2]

Oh yeah, sorry, for some reason I just assumed you bottled. I don’t keg, but I’m thinking yeah, vent it off and carbonate less than you’ve been doing, and you’ll be fine. I bet the same people who tell you to use too much priming sugar also lead you to overcarbonate your kegs. When in doubt, use a little less than recommended, especially if kegging where you can easily bring it up higher if needed, but maybe not so easily go down the other way.