From Aeration show: Shaking Causes a loss of head retention?

[jamilz]

BrewMatt. Yes, shaking the carboy is fine. It won't get enough O2 in there for some beers, but in general it is fine.

DataMike. I must have misspoken. Did I mention that I drink during the shows?

So these proteins, critical to head formation, are used only once. They unfold in forming the bubble, and this uses them up. There are lots of them, but then again, it takes a lot of them to form the head on just one pint. Excessive, unnecessary foaming is counter to good head in your beer.

Read through the Bamforth article. I believe it has calculations on how much surface area there is in one bit of foam and keep in mind how small proteins are. (It might be in another article, if so, forgive me.) I'm pretty sure in there it talks about the head proteins unfolding. Search for 'unfold' in the file. If that isn't in there, then I probably pointed you at the completely wrong file. I don't think so, but hey, did I mention I drink while answering forum posts?

If you didn't post elsewhere, my apologies. I know you're active and critical on many forums. The person that pointed me to this post referred to several postings on multiple forums. I guess they were mistaken and it is my fault for not confirming it. Sorry about that.

[Datamike]

If you didn't post elsewhere, my apologies. I know you're active and critical on many forums. The person that pointed me to this post referred to several postings on multiple forums. I guess they were mistaken and it is my fault for not confirming it. Sorry about that.

No worries, but again, I think you're confusing me with someone else. I rarely post - I've got 42 posts on here and that's since 2005! I read the forums at homebrewtalk, but don't post much at all.

Michael

[jamilz]

I must and that is my fault. Again, my apologies. I owe you a pint.

[BigNastyBrew]

I must and that is my fault. Again, my apologies. I owe you a pint.

You owe me one now, too. Just because you made BDawg post a picture with your head up your ass.

just sayin'

[OhioMurb]

I started aerating with a paint stirrer in a bucket and would whip the crap out of it - 4-5 inches of a thick foam head. I was looking at those bubbles as testimony to how well aerated by wort was...but...(and this might be a coincidence) my head retention went to shit.

Makes sense that the idea is just to expose as much wort to the air as possible (pull the wort up from the bottom and circulate). It's a good tip - maybe shaking isn't going to affect, but whipping it up like cream had some harmful side effects for me.

[Nyakavt]

Guys, Kai posted a brief experiment on this subject you might be interested in. His results do not seek to prove or disprove anything about proteins 'unfolding', but they do seem to indicate that there are enough protein present in beer that we don't really need to worry about loss of head retention from shaking/foaming, at least if the fermentation is a healthy one and properly temperature controlled.

http://braukaiser.com/lifetype2/index.p ... 5&blogId=1

[jwatkins56550]

That's an interesting little experiment. I figured it wasn't a big deal shaking the beer...I mean tasty is frequently talking about shaking to carbonate in a keg