Mathematicians invent a new way to pour stout

The problem, as far as stouts are concerned, is that the low concentration of dissolved nitrogen means the process works at only a 15th of the rate seen in ales and lagers. But Dr Lee has an answer to that: more cellulose. He and his team spiked their beer with extra fibres from a cut-up coffee filter and watched the bubbles form under a microscope. By crunching the numbers from these observations, they calculate that lining a can of stout with nine square centimetres of fibres should form a head as good as that produced by a widget. If their method works on an industrial scale it will have two benefits. Stout will be cheaper. And those irritating adverts proclaiming that you do not need to know how a widget works in order to enjoy its benefits will disappear for ever.


http://www.economist.com/node/18329424

What'll they think of next? -- Pretty neat

Yeah. If I read it right we might be able to just slip something into the bottle neck if it expands and stays in place.

Hermit said:

Yeah. If I read it right we might be able to just slip something into the bottle neck if it expands and stays in place.

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uh, why am I thinking feminine hygiene product.....

buffalobrewer said:

uh, why am I thinking feminine hygiene product.....

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To each their own. I was thinking of something less absorbent....

I have a great new way to pour stout... directly into my mouth

Thanks for the good article. Pretty interesting.

captianoats said:

I have a great new way to pour stout... directly into my mouth

Thanks for the good article. Pretty interesting.

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Especially if we see a commercial product come out that we can easily make ourselves by imitating it.

While I don't doubt that creating a plethora of nucleation sites would create a creamy head in a beer with rather low carbonation, the rest of that article is bologna.

Nitrogen is NOT used because it goes into solution. Rather, it is used because it DOES NOT go into solution (easily). Therefore, the beer can be held and served at high pressure AND a state of low carbonation.

The restrictor plate in a stout faucet needs high pressure beer to be forced through it to work correctly. As the beer passes through the restrictor plate, CO2 comes out of solution in tiny bubbles, making the creamy head. The low carbonation of the underlying beer gives it a silky mouthfeel.

The widget is basically a ping pong ball with a small hole in it. When the beer is bottled/canned, it is carbonated at a low level, then capped under high pressure as a result of the introduction of nitrogen. Under pressure, BEER is forced into that small hole in the widget. When the top is popped, the BEER is forced through the hole, causing CO2 to come out of solution in much the same way as it would through the restrictor plate in a stout faucet.

I've read some articles that claim that the small (MINUTE) amount of nitrogen that is dissolved in the beer does stabilize the head. Even if that is true, nitrogen is not the chief actor in the stout pour process. That role still belongs to CO2. Nitrogen is an enabler.

Has anyone thought about pouring a co2-carbonated stout from a keg through the coffee filter to get the foam head of a typical Guiness draught. I have a Guiness clone fermenting right now that I am thinking about trying out the coffee filter trick on in a couple of weeks.

What were the results?