Bubbles!

[Qfwfq]

Surface tension, yes, obviously, as I said way upstream. It will raise the pressure inside the bubble, compressing the gas.

 

What is perhaps more complicated is the resistance of the film to stress. Some solutes can raise it drammatically. I have a vague memory of a children's book telling how to make soap bubbles better and stronger, I think it said to soak pepper or something into the solution. I guess it would have to either be very finely ground or filtered out after infusion.

[Biochemist]

Surface tension, yes, obviously, as I said way upstream. It will raise the pressure inside the bubble, compressing the gas.

 

What is perhaps more complicated is the resistance of the film to stress. Some solutes can raise it drammatically. I have a vague memory of a children's book telling how to make soap bubbles better and stronger, I think it said to soak pepper or something into the solution. I guess it would have to either be very finely ground or filtered out after infusion.

Interesting thought. Those of us that have taken bubble creation seriously (i.e., with young kids outside on a spring day) readily recognize that adding glycerin to a good brand of dish soap (specifically, Joy or Dawn) will dramatically increase feasibility of larger bubbles.

 

We could certainly test out the large-bubble-surface tension hypothesis by adding glycerin to Guiness. We would, however, probably have to add the glycerin to the beer before it comes out of the tap to see if it impacts bubble generation and creates larger bubbles.

 

However, I suspect that many of us would think it is a near-capital-offense to destroy a keg of Guniess by adding glycerin. I would not advocate the experiment. Lives could be threatened.

[Qfwfq]

However, I suspect that many of us would think it is a near-capital-offense to destroy a keg of Guniess by adding glycerin. I would not advocate the experiment. Lives could be threatened.

Quite true!!! But the bubble experiment is enough to ifer that solutes in Guinness probably give it its the much more palpable head.

 

Glycerin. That might be what I had read, yet pepper still comes to mind...

[bumab]

Notably some non-stout nitrogen-packed beers don't have near the head foam consistency that Guiness does. But the bubbles are still small.

 

Head retention is increased by the amount of sugars in the beer. Since most sugars are broken down in the fermentation process, only longer chained sugars survive (unfermentables). Guinness has a lot of unfermentables because they use liberal amounts of flaked barley, which supplies a ton of unfermentables good for both head retention and mouthfeel (that's why it tastes thicker). Lots of other stouts don't use as much flaked barley (or oatmeal- does the same thing), and consequently don't have the head retention.

 

Some breweries post their origional and final gravities in their menu's. That's a measure of the unfermentable sugars (the final gravity is). So if you find a beer with a high final gravity, it will have a lot of head rentetion and mouthfeel, since there's a lot of sugar left over. The stout style is known for using either flaked barley or flaked oats.

 

I just brewed an imperial oatmeal stout, and it's got TONS of oats in it. Good head retention... also brewing a Guinness clone, with tons of flaked barley. We'll see which has a bigger mouthfeel. (both will go with CO2, however- don't have a nitrogen tank :xx: )

[Biochemist]

Head retention is increased by the amount of sugars in the beer....only longer chained sugars survive (unfermentables). ... So if you find a beer with a high final gravity, it will have a lot of head rentetion and mouthfeel, since there's a lot of sugar left over.

I assume you mean starch when you say long chain sugars. I assume there is not really much sugar left in beer, but there certainly is starch. Did you really mean sugar?

 

...And I wish I was close to Bellingham to stop in for a sample.

[bumab]

You're right- sorry! Got to typing a little fast. Unfermentables (starches) and protiens contribute to head retention, presumably by increasing surface tension somehow.

[bumab]

And there is sometimes sugar left in beer- hence the sweet taste. It can either come from combining long-chains and yeast that don't digest long chains well, other sugars (like chocolate flavor ones) that don't get eaten, or fermentations that was stopped for whatever reason.

 

Try a Belgian lambic (or any belgian, for that matter). VERY sweet- not my favorite styles, but interesting.

[Fishteacher73]

I like the lambics after a nice dinner...good dessert. Almost like a yeasty wine in a way... Most are brewed outdoors and allow the local pollen to flavor the beer as well, so the taste can vary widly.

[bumab]

Yeah, I've been looking into brewing lambics. It's probably the most complicated thing you can create. They leave the pre-beer out open over night to be "spontaneously" fermented by wild yeast. then they go through a really complicated blending process with other spontaneously fermented vats to come up with the final product.

 

I wonder if you could even pull that off over here. I had a batch be unintentionally spontaneously ferment once, a while back. Nastiest thing I've ever smelled, much less tasted...

[Fishteacher73]

As long as you were in rural area that did not have prevailing winds from an industrial area to drop soot into the vats...Unless you like smog flavors... :xx:. The outcome will also depend on what's growing at the time you start the process..

[bumab]

I'm pretty sure nothing is growing at the time they start, since they don't add yeast of their own (as far as I know). It's just a vat of sugar water, basically, and the wild yeast ferment it. Or am I incorect?

[Fishteacher73]

I believe you are right, I mis-spoke (can one do that when typing...would that be a mis-typed or mis-wrote?, oh, well). Just that the "stuff" in the air is a major flavoring factor. I had a lambic that was brewed on a cherry orchard and it had a great cherry taste.

[Turtle]

___To the beer in a moment, but first to why one leaves water to set out that is inteneded for flowers (plants); it is to alow the chlorine to evaporate, not carbon dioxide.

___Now to the beer. In order to scuba dive safely below about 300 feet, mixed gass diving is employed. The gases mixed are oxygen & helium; the helium as I understand it is not reactive, ie it doesn't dissolve in the blood or tissues so no bends. (Pure oxygen of cours would be poisoness).

___Now to the beer GETE What if we used helium in the beer? ;) ;) :( ;) ;) :friday: :friday: :friday: :friday: :friday:

[bumab]

Hmm... that would explain things like He being able to sit in beer longer without the beer going flat, but not the size or long term survival of the bubbles.

 

In my homebrew, I've noted that aging also increasing the lifetime of the bubbles (and a corresponding decrease in average size). I'm pretty sure the size of the bubbles is a major factor in the lifetime of bubbles (duh) but why N2? Why not He?

[Queso]

you should try it. tell us what happens!

[akcapr]

Helium may be too expensive to use in beers. N2 might not be able to dissolve in beer well enough to make bubbles

[Turtle]

___Welcome AK. If you reread the thread carefully you will see nitrogen in beer does make bubbles in beer, just smaller.

___In regard to the cost of helium in beer I say, bar no cost in the pursuit of the perfect beer. Just think you guys, everyone drinking might be talking squeaky! What a gas!! ;) :( :( ;) ;) :friday: :friday: :friday: :friday: :friday: ;)