Foam control drops

Anyone use them? I saw over at the green forum that they seem to give foam control drops rave reviews, some use it for nearly everything.

I just got a bottle of it the other day. So far I've used it for a starter (which never got more than a thin lace of foam as a result) and I just used it during a boil - 10 drops in a 5-gal batch and although a hot break was evident (characteristic creamy foam) and quite vigorous, it never grew to more than maybe 1/2" high - it was dissolving as fast as it was appearing. I didn't even have to lift a finger to keep 6.5 gallons from boiling over in my 30qt turkey fryer pot - where the liquid level was only 2-3 inches from the top of the pot at most, even though I had the gas on pretty high for a vigorous boil.

I know, I know, you can control boilovers just fine with spray bottles and controlling the burner and all that, and for all my batches thus far that's what I've done, and never had anything more than a small boilover. But I am suddenly very much enjoying being able to set it and forget it and not have to babysit it at all.

So, provided it does what they say and settles out after fermentation not affecting my beer, I think I am going to be absolutely sold on this stuff. I can totally understand those with brew kettles that have enough head space to never boil over not wanting to go adding anything to their beer that they don't have to, but this seems like an awesome solution for the rest of us.

But as they say, "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is" - does anyone have any experience with foam control drops that WASN'T positive?

I've seen it used as a way to ferment in a 5 gal corny. You just remove the poppet from the gas in and place an airlock.

Some guys in our club report that they got a loss of head retention by using it, but that has not been my experience.

On my last few brews I have not used it to see if any difference can be detected by me.

I just put the recommended amount in the fermenter, after it had been in there about 12 hours without it (except for any that may have made it through from the boil, but from what I hear it doesn't carry over very much). It had about 1/2" of krausen, and after 20 minutes or so it has dropped to about 1/4" and is much more green with hop particles than before.

We'll see how it goes as the fermentation progresses. I've got 5.5 gals in a 6.5gal better bottle so hopefully it does its job.

I've used Foam Control for years, and I've never had a problem. Head retention is excellent.


TL