Let's talk about Foam Control drops (aka Fermcap)

I should probably call the manufacturer about this, has anyone not kept fermcap refrigerated. the bottle I have been leaving out and using for a year now says keep refridgerated. I wonder if I should wait to drink until after im done brewing..... Wait I would rather lose a bottle of fermcap then be stupid. I needs me some dranks! My boss wont let me drink on the job so I might as well when Im working around the house

Edit: fail, simple search says each bottle says differently.

Yambor44 said:

I just tried the baby gas drops in the boil kettle today. Didn't work for me.

I shook it well.
Added 2 drops per gallon at 205 degrees (just before boil as i have read).

I am downloading a very short video right now and will post it here when it finishes.

Anyone have any thoughts on when I added it? Too soon? Too Late?

Thanks.

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Try using more, I've always used the baby drops as opposed to Fermcap, because my LHBS never has fermcap and I rarely order online so its not worth the shipping for a little bottle. I usually add about two dropper fulls (~2 mL) per 5 gallon batch to start with right before the boil as you did. I would just add more next time.

Edit: You figured it out, I should read the thread better

KaSaBiS said:

I should probably call the manufacturer about this, has anyone not kept fermcap refrigerated. the bottle I have been leaving out and using for a year now says keep refridgerated. I wonder if I should wait to drink until after im done brewing..... Wait I would rather lose a bottle of fermcap then be stupid. I needs me some dranks! My boss wont let me drink on the job so I might as well when Im working around the house

Edit: fail, simple search says each bottle says differently.

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Yeah, I stopped chilling mine years ago. I forgot it more if it was in the fridge, as opposed to in my brewing gear.

There is no choice for my situation. I have it I have used it a lot in the past. Then I found out it was silicone so I now use it very sparingly, sometimes not at all. I am looking to get a natural version.

I don't refrigerate mine, though where I keep my brewing stuff is usually fairly cool, <70. I bought my vial about 8-9 mos ago, and it still seems to work fine.

I stick with my vote. No Way - Never.

My wort can be an a-hole
But I use temp control
To keep it in line
Because it is mine
I guard it
All of the time!

so when you use it in a starter it's better to have a stirplate to keep it agitated? I put a drop in the 2nd batch of wort and loved it in the boil. Then I read here it doesn't transfer to fermenter - okay, added a drop and took out the head from the 1st yeast doubling. A few hours later it was foamy so I turned off the stir plate. BAD MOVE. A few hours later I was cleaning up the flask. I added another drop and things went away. The fact that it settles out helps justify this - don't let it settle.

So in a full size batch fermentation, should you slosh the fermenter once it kicks off to ensure the Fermcap gets resuspended and doesn't just sit on the bottom?

Dan said:

I stick with my vote. No Way - Never.

My wort can be an a-hole
But I use temp control
To keep it in line
Because it is mine
I guard it
All of the time!

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Burma Shave!

rockfish42 said:

Burma Shave!

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Ha, ha! I'm actually old enough to remember seeing Burma Shave signs by the side of the road when I was a boy.

http://www.fiftiesweb.com/burma1.htm

After reading this thread I plan on grabbing some from my LHBS or Morebeer tomorrow.

Think I can pull off 9 gallons in a 10 gallon kettle?

should be able to, I recently did a 14gal boil in a 15.5 gallon keggle (never would have considered it without fermcap)

I didn't read through the whole thread and I know this is an old one, but I just started brewing a few months ago and after brewing several extracts batches, I went AG. I just finished a 60 min boil starting with 7.25 gallons in an 8 gallon kettle. I used Brew Haus anti-foam agent and never even came close to a boil over and I had it going pretty vigorously using a bayou Kab4 burner on full blast. Love this stuff and will use it on every batch from now on.

Started using Fermcap with this latest batch. Did 4 1600 ml starters, 2 each of Wyeast 1388 and White Cry Havoc. One drop in each and foam stay at less than 2". Did 10 gallons of Kolsh and 10 gallons of Blond Belgian yesterday, pitched about 6 PM - added 10 drops (2 drops/gal) of Fermcap to each fermentor and they are bubbling like crazy this morning with about 1 to 2" of foam.

This will be a staple in my brewdays from now on.

Been using it in all my batches in the fermenter for about a year. Seems to work great! When I have forgotten, I have blowoffs (13 gallons in a 15.5 sanke keg) and when I remember, they slumber quietly in the fermentation chamber Never tried it in the boil, but will from now on!

This is included in the midwestsupplies product description.... I was unaware of the change in bitterness!

Prevent boil overs on the hot side, add 2 drops per gallon for a nice rolling boil. On the cold side, Fermcap keeps the krausen in your fermenter to 1/2 an inch. Fermcap works very well for brewers who use a carboy for primary fermentation. In a 6 gallon carboy there is no need for blow off tubing when you use this product. Use only two drops per gallon at the start of fermentation. If you add Fermcap during the boil you do not need to add it again in your fermenter. Used in the fermenter, it increases the bitterness of your beer (retained IBUs) by about 10%! Enough for about 20 batches. Keep refrigerated. Size: 1 Oz.

The bitterness is increased due to the lack of blowoff which carries some of the hops oils away, in German brewing texsts this sort of blowoff supposedly smooths out the bitterness.

benbradford said:

This is included in the midwestsupplies product description.... If you add Fermcap during the boil you do not need to add it again in your fermenter.........

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Is this a true statement? I thought I read here that this was not the case, That you have to re-add at the beginning of fermentation?

Anyone have experience with this?

Yambor44 said:

Is this a true statement? I thought I read here that this was not the case, That you have to re-add at the beginning of fermentation?

Anyone have experience with this?

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No, it's not necessarily always true. There have been many times I've added it to the kettle and still needed to add it to the fermenter.

Denny said:

No, it's not necessarily always true. There have been many times I've added it to the kettle and still needed to add it to the fermenter.

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Me to.seems like I usually need to add it to the boil and fermenter.

mxstar21 said:

Me to.seems like I usually need to add it to the boil and fermenter.

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My experience would agree with you, folks. I definitely don't get the fermcap effect in both the boil and the fermenter. I think the products naturally sinks to the bottom. So, if you let your trub settle out and rack off the trub into the fermenter then it gets left behind.

Anyway this stuff is great. I haven't really been using in my buckets because it doesn't matter, but I recently got a BB and cleaning all that yeast and krausen off the inside top of the BB is quite a pain. I did buy one of those carboy cleaners you hook up to a drill. I don't know why I waited so long. It pays for it self when comparing to the cost of constantly soaking in PBW.

RmikeVT said:

I think the products naturally sinks to the bottom. So, if you let your trub settle out and rack off the trub into the fermenter then it gets left behind.

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It's actually the opposite. It forms a thin skin on the surface, and clings to the kettle/fermentor wall as you drain them.

Anybody ever use Fermcap-AT. It's supposed to be a silicone free product that uses canola oil instead. It meets the FDA guidelines for not needing filtration (unlike Fermcap-s).

This is something I am going to try. Since I don't rack from kettle to fermenter but instead use a paint strainer filter, it seems to me that it should carry over and I won't need to add more to the fermenter.

I'll let you know once I try it out

Rick

Yermom said:

Anybody ever use Fermcap-AT. It's supposed to be a silicone free product that uses canola oil instead. It meets the FDA guidelines for not needing filtration (unlike Fermcap-s).

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Yep, that's what I use now if I use it.

Denny said:

Yep, that's what I use now if I use it.

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Do you know a good place to order it. No one around here caries it and the only place I found it online wanted $21 for 2 ounces shipped.

Denny said:

Yermom said:

Anybody ever use Fermcap-AT. It's supposed to be a silicone free product that uses canola oil instead. It meets the FDA guidelines for not needing filtration (unlike Fermcap-s).

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Yep, that's what I use now if I use it.

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Does it work as well as the "regular" Fermcap?

Yermom said:

Do you know a good place to order it. No one around here caries it and the only place I found it online wanted $21 for 2 ounces shipped.

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Nope, sorry. I got it from a wholesaler as part of a group grain order. We got a gal. and split it up.

ResumeMan said:

Does it work as well as the "regular" Fermcap?

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Identical as far as I can see.

After having read this thread, I bought some fermcap. I've used it in the brew kettle for my last 3 batches and can say without any hesitation that I just can't stand the fact that I had never heard of this stuff before this thread.

I brew on the stove top in 8 gallon brew kettles, so for 10 years I've been dealing with the threat of boil-over. With fermcap I don't have to worry about boil over any longer.

Long live fermcap... I'll never brew without it again.

I don't have the time at the moment to read all 6 pages. I made a yeast starter last night that krausened over and hit the aluminum foil off. I am making a new yeast starter in a couple hours... So... do I add this during the boil or after I have cooled and transferred it to the flask?

I want to be certain I don't get another foam-over.

I just used it on my last brew... I dropped about 8 or so drops in about 10m before it boiled and I didn't have any worries about boil over. I was still ready to shut off the heat but it went well

Zippox said:

I don't have the time at the moment to read all 6 pages. I made a yeast starter last night that krausened over and hit the aluminum foil off. I am making a new yeast starter in a couple hours... So... do I add this during the boil or after I have cooled and transferred it to the flask?

I want to be certain I don't get another foam-over.

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I add after the boil. Pretty sure that stuff is sanitary.

I use for stir plate starters. I add it before the boil and it allows me to boil in the Erlenmyer flask and prevents blow off on the stir plate.

I've been using Fermcap-S for a while, and actually HAD my first boil over with it on Friday. 10 gallon pot, 7.25 gallons of wort. When I added my bittering hops, it actually boiled over. I had 10 drops of it added too! WTF???

mew said:

So I wanted to see how expensive this would be. For the $6.99 fermcap stuff (4 fl oz) at NB:

(1 batch/10 drops) x (1 drop/0.05 mL) x (1 mL/0.03381 fl oz) x (4 fl oz/1 bottle) =

236.6 batches per bottle. Sounds good to me.

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I just used up my first bottle of this last night. Looking at the date on this thread, I wonder if my next bottle will last that long?

I posted that I used it sparingly. Since then I had boil overs even with it and have had blow off with it so I just stopped using it. I know it is minimal and supposedly the same as Simethicone anti gas medicine, but I decided I didn't want that in my beers.

I have been using fermcap for every boil for about 2 years. It has saved my bacon quite a few times. I never have to worry about boil-overs. I tend to use a little more than recommended. I find, for my setup about 24 drops for 7.5 gallons at the start of the boil works very well for me.

If you just turn down the heat at the start of the boil you don't need anything artificial....

Phildo253 said:

I have been using fermcap for every boil for about 2 years. It has saved my bacon quite a few times. I never have to worry about boil-overs. I tend to use a little more than recommended. I find, for my setup about 24 drops for 7.5 gallons at the start of the boil works very well for me.

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I do about the same thing. I like not having to worry about it.

kh54s10 said:

If you just turn down the heat at the start of the boil you don't need anything artificial....

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Most of the time the risk seemed to be right after the first hop addition.

Prior to using it I stirred, blew on it hard and dialed down the temp to 8/10ths on my electric stove. In keggle I never used it since it so oversized.

I'd stand by and watch with beer in hand. [emoji481]

Phildo253 said:

I have been using fermcap for every boil for about 2 years. It has saved my bacon quite a few times. I never have to worry about boil-overs. I tend to use a little more than recommended. I find, for my setup about 24 drops for 7.5 gallons at the start of the boil works very well for me.

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Holy moly. I use 5 drops for the same amount, and it works like a charm. Takes a few minutes for the foam to dissipate from the start of the boil, but then, wah lah. Magic.

1 drop for my 1.5L starters does the trick too.

wepeeler said:

Holy moly. I use 5 drops for the same amount, and it works like a charm. Takes a few minutes for the foam to dissipate from the start of the boil, but then, wah lah. Magic.

1 drop for my 1.5L starters does the trick too.

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i will have to try that on my next boil. i started with what the directions called for, which was 3 drops per gallon and then adjusted from there.