kettle anti-foam

[g.brew]

anyone know were i can get some kettle anti-foam. I've used All-Tech "no foam" in the past with great results but have been informed my their company that they do not make this product anymore(the guy had never even heard of it) Anyone useing anything good and know were i can get it?

Thanks!

[Michael Murphy]

As advertised on probrewer.com

http://www.brewerssupplygroup.com/brewing_aids/foam_control.php

[MikeJordan]

Yo Murphy!

Another source is Birko. Try the Antifoam 100, it does require beer to be filtered.

http://www.birkocorp.com/prodesc.asp?type=ANTIFOAM

[Greenbrewmonkey]

Try FermCap S, carried by Crosby and Baker 800-999-2440

Cheers,
Ron
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales

[g.brew]

thanks alot! ill look into them!

[g.brew]

i've tried the fermcap from kerry and it works well. Kerry doesnt have any info for using this product as kettle no-foam. Its primarily used for fermentation foam control. i havent noticed any adverse effects from use in the kettle and i know of other brewers who use it in the kettle without problems. Thanks again.

[Diamond Knot]

Never having used these products...........but doesn't the use of these wreck the head of a finished and poured beer?

I have always been dubious................ :confused:

[billings]

I tried an oil based antifoam to help with boil over issues in the kettle. The reason I tried an oil based antifoam is because we used it in an unfiltered american wheat ale which would not be filtered out. With our simple brewpub quality control program. We found there was not a noticable head retention reduction. What we did find is that there was No aroma in the tested batches. Which changed the beer completely. So we do not use antifoam at this time. It did not work for us but it could work in other situations.

Cheers,
Travis
Montana Brewing Co

[Hophead78]

I was dubious myself, and compared two batches of our Blonde one brewed with Fermcap, the other without, I didn't notice any diffrence in head retention or aroma. I've never added it the fermenter, just the kettle and love how it makes a boil behave.

Cheers

Dave

[g.brew]

kettle anti-foams should only help with head retention. the more foam kept in the beer through the boiling and fermenting process the more foam/head stability will be left in the final product, especially with the use of anti-foaming agents. Bamforth told me that, and he loves bubbles!

[dick murton]

"Never having used these products...........but doesn't the use of these wreck the head of a finished and poured beer?"

The silicones in the antifoam get adsorbed by the precipitated proteins and any left gets taken up by the yeast - so no worries there. I guess the molecules are too big to combine with the small proteins that contribute to beer foam stability

Cheers

[Diamond Knot]

Thanks for the reply, Dick.

Different question with some application to the topic at hand..........what about FermCap products used to keep kreausen down during primary fermentation? Do these reduce kreausen losses?

We have some tanks that are a "real" 15Bbl volume.......no 25% headspace, so we blow quite a bit during fermentation. I was trained old skool (the School of Hard Knocks!) and just booked the losses but have heard these help.

Is that true? And will they wreck the head stability? If not, what's a good prouct here in the U.S.?

Thanx!

[pubbrewer]

I have used Fermcap in both applications. In our Hefe weizen it allows me to fill up a 10Bbl tank full to 12Bbl and without filtering to the serving tank thats alot of extra beer. Never noticed any problems in 12 years of not filtering, just using finings, never had head retention problems. I did work for a big micro that tried it in their IPA in the kettle for boil overs and found that the hop aroma or end hop profile was decreased. Not sure if they calibrated the test batch for the extra volume they saved or lack of beer lossed on the floor from blow off. But head retention still wasn't the issue as far as I knew. Cheers Dean

[g.brew]

how necessary is filtration after using No-foam in the kettle? I've had great success with clarity in beers that have been No-foamed.

Greg

[chaseale]

I just brewed 4 batches over the past few days, used Birko' Patcote 376 and had great results in the kettle. I just used it today on my hefe in the FV. I'll update this once beer is finished.

Chase Healey
COOP Ale Works

[John Dean]

I've been using Birko's Patcote 376 for years and it works great for me. Now another trick that works most of the time, is to turn off the kettle once it comes to a boil, when the foam settles down I pitch the bittering hops and let the bubbles expend themselves. Then, when I turn the kettle back on, the boil usually behaves itself.

Cheers,
John Dean
Blind Tiger Brewery

[gitchegumee]

To second John's observations; you could also add a few pellets to the wort pre-boil to help knock out gases, or alternatively you could first-wort hop. These will help eliminate the initial tendency to boil over.

[Ipscman]

Dana from Birko just presented at the Craft Brewer's Conference and indicated he had heard from some brewers that the silicone based antifoam products (e.g., Fermcap) can gum up the filters. He says the vegetable based antifoams like Patcote 376 don't have this problem.

Q1. Anyone experience this problem with silicone based antifoams?

Q2. Where are you getting Patcote 376? Birko points you to bevbuy.com which is now out of business.

Thanks.

Mark
Hidden Well Brewery

[DieselDynamo]

One thing I've noticed is that I only need to use about 1/2 oz (vol) antifoam 100 (from Birko) for a 9 bbl boil for effective control of kettle foaming. I think the instructions reccomend 1 oz for every 1250 lbs of product which corresponds to 1.88 oz on a 1.054 O.G. wort...just a thought.