I am on my third brew and I am making the Rye IPA. My last beer was the Mild Ale which came out nice but had little head with no retention. Obviously with the IPA I want otherwise and purchased heading powder. I am bottling soon but I am confused on the specifics of exactly how to use the powder. It says to combine it with a cold pint of beer and add to my brew. Do I just use any beer, something similar to what I am aiming or cool off a pint of mine mix then add? Thank you for any and all help 
If it were me, I would really try to find a better way to address the head retention issue. I have never had a problem and kind of come from the school of staying away from additives if there is a natural way to solve the problem.
I assume you are bottling? Are you sure you are properly carbonated? Anything in the mild ingredients that might cause the light head?
I did bottle. I have glass 22oz bottles and use two Coopers Carbonation drops per bottle. I don’t think I used anything that may have caused a light head but I am not sure. I let them sit for two weeks for the first one up to a month and the carbonation was always there just no head. Have you or anyone used the RyePA extract kit before? If so, was the head good without any additive?
I brewed the RyePA extract kit a while back and thought it was good, but not as good as the newer Denny’s wrye Smile Rye IPA kit, which is also available in extract. The one you are talking about uses normal malts and you steep a little rye grain. The latter uses the new rye malt extract which is much better.
In 50 to 60 batches, I can honestly say that I have never had an issue with no head or poor head retention. I am still battling too much head from my kegerator pours.
Are you pouring your bottles into a glass? If thats the case I would likely point the finger at the glassware you are using. Especially if you have a dishwasher, the residue from the soap can and will kill any head your beer ever had a hope of having.
If this is the case, I would suggest super rinsing your glass beer ware into hot water after washing it. Personally I’m not too afraid of a few bugs, so I often times just rinse them very well in super hot water when I’m done drinking a beer or two for the evening. I just then make sure to wash them every few days or so, again being sure to rinse them exceptionally well (especially if I got lazy and put them into the dishwasher instead of hand washing them).
Thank you for your help. I never knew that dishwasher soap could do that. I will definitely hand wash from now on. I am going to opt not to use the powder and see how it goes so thank you and wish me luck. I’ll let you know how it comes out
Any soap can do that, I’ve just found my dishwasher is notorious at not adequately rinsing the soap residue out of the glass. The same can and will happen when you hand wash is you don’t thoroughly rinse after washing.
Make sure the dishwasher has some rinse aid and rinse them out again yourself after. If you are still getting low head retention I would try hand washing without any soap and go with a no rinse cleaner like One Step or a no rinse sanitizer. The same precautions go for your bottles as well.
If you rule out the glassware then next you can start to look at the carbonation process.
