I didn’t know about this, can you add me to the ping list?
I just finished brewing an imperial chocolate milk stout. We brewed 15 gallons. 5 gallons was just an imperial stout. 10 gallons had lactose, cocoa, and vanilla bean. 5 gallons of that was put on bourbon soaked oak. All turned out fantastic, but I used my blichman bottling gun to bottle them from the keg and even though I used wheat in the recipe, I have absolutely no head retention. The beer tastes awesome, and carbonation is fine...just a small head that fades fast like coke foam. Any knowledge on why this might have happened? My next brew is a Christmas Oatmeal Raisin cookie ale. Marris Otter, Crystal, Special B and Oatmeal with some spices.
Maltodextrin will greatly aid in head retention. Try adding a bit of that next time.
Jay, it sounds like you are very experienced in homebrewing and I hope you visit the thread regularly. A lot of us can use really good advice. I amyself am just at the beginner stage in brewing. That is why I started the thread - to learn as much as I can and brew up good brews, meads and ciders!