Why are my home brewed beers pouring lots of head?

Question

It seems to me that my homemade beers have more head than they should. On a careful pour (slowly down the side of the glass and then the rest in the center), results in about half a glass of head. Usually a 16 oz pint glass is used to drink the 12 oz of beer. Are there any recommendations to reduce the head?

Answer 1

The simplest way would be to reduce the amount of priming sugar you add to start bottle conditioning.  Since there's less excess sugar for the yeast to ferment, this will result in less CO2 when it's done.

But be careful, a little reduction goes a long way.  Instead of the standard 3/4 cup, try 5/8.

Alternately, you can try something called PrimeTabs, which are little pre-measured tabs of sugar.  You add them straight to the bottle before capping, and you don't need to boil them.  You can adjust the level of carbonation you want (2-4 tabs per bottle).  I haven't tried them though, so I can't really give you any meaningful reviews.

Answer 2

Keep them in the fridge for a couple in hopes that the carbon dioxide will dissolve into the beer.  There's still a good chance you can enjoy the rest of them without spilling beer everywhere.

Answer 3

too much corn sugar.