Ferm-caps alternative?

[hopsoda]

Is there anything i can use as a Ferm-cap alternative?
I need something to help prevent boil over's . would a few props of vegetable oil or mineral oil ... be a bad thing in the kettle when it starts to foam up?
or will it effect - flavor / yeast growth or head in the finished beer?

 

[bad coffee]

Just spend the $7 on fermcap. two drops a batch that 4oz bottle will last you quite a while.

B

 

[MacBruver]

Well if you're in a hurry, you could buy some mylicon from a drug store. It's basically just pharmaceutical grade Fermcap-S... and costs more. I definitely would not use oil of any kind.

 

[ChrisKennedy]

A spray bottle and standing over the boil will prevent it.

Clipping a fan on the boil kettle and pointing it at the wort will help prevent boilover.

Getting a kettle so big that you would never boil over will prevent boilover.

I would not put oil in the beer. It will probably prevent a boil over but it could also persist into the final product.

 

[EisBerg]

FermcapS rock!!! Pic

Probably more than you would ever care to nkow about the product and alternatives. Good stuff though!

 

[Edcculus]

I bought a different brand that my LHBS repackaged. It was simply labeled "foam control". For all I know, they decanted a large bottle of Fermcap though. Oil won't work. Well it it will work to control foam, but it won't drop out like Fermcap will. Whatever oils are in Fermcap are bound to silicone, which drops settles out in the trub.

 

[hopsoda]

mylicon ... interesting wiki , you guys know everything thanks.

 

[Jipper]

I bought a different brand that my LHBS repackaged. It was simply labeled "foam control". For all I know, they decanted a large bottle of Fermcap though. Oil won't work. Well it it will work to control foam, but it won't drop out like Fermcap will. Whatever oils are in Fermcap are bound to silicone, which drops settles out in the trub.

It probably is. One supplier out there was labeling it that way for a long time before it really hit the "main stream" If it is milky in color and in a dropper, it's FermCap