Beer Forum

Hello!

After listening to the Archives, I think it is best to start using a starter for my brews.

I have heard of something called "Foam Control" regarding yeast starters and flasks. Does anyone know what that is? Additive, hardware,etc?

Thanks!

BTW: Sorry about the double post. New to THIS forum... Thought I was already logged in.

I think I mentioned it on one of the shows. It is a liquid. You can add a drop to your starters to prevent foam over (if the flask is really full).

You can get it from www.morebeer.com.

Is that an oil base?

Dogger

Honestly i dont what it is, but I use it when making wheat beers. I also have used it when I put more in my conical that a heavy ferment can handle. I also have heard that it aids in head retention aswell, but Im unsure if this is true.

Heath

Likley not oil if it is giving good head retention.

Dogger

Its an emulsion of silicone polymers. My company used it in a reagent for biotech assays for a while, before we fixed our foaming problem with changes to the engineering of the wash stations. Its non-toxic, but will probably screw up head retention unless you do what the big breweries do: filter your beer before bottling. Here's a link to a fact sheet from a manufacturer:http://www.baschem.co.uk/downloads/fd20p.pdf

And a pic of the chemical structure


Its essentially quartz (silicon dioxide) where some of the oxygen atoms in the crystal lattice have been replaced by methyl groups (a carbon and 3 hydrogens), which turns it into a linear molecule that is sparingly soluble. This structure makes it like to hang out at the air/water interface where it disrupts surface tension.

I've been using the foam control for the last several batches and havn't noticed any loss of foam stability, even on the beers I haven't filtered.

Awesome,

and you leave it behind at the end.

Must be careful if using glass

Dogger