Magnets?

[Speedwell]

This article in The Atlantic claims that they can cut down on overfoaming by using magnets
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/12/how-to-keep-beer-from-foaming/383775/
I don't get it though, since the hops themselves don't make it into the bottle. At least not if you're filtering properly.

 

[Braufessor]

I don't get it either. It is like they are saying the reason the hops are added in the first place is to act as "anti foaming" particles. And because magnets are used, they can now use less hops, making the beer less bitter. It makes no sense to me at all - on many levels.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I think this is a case of bad journalism doing a story on something they know nothing about. Beers don't gush just because. Either someone shook it up and nothing's gonna help. Otherwise, it's a process control problem. If it was something inherent that needed the magnet "fix" then it would be much more widespread.

I was reading this article a while back for the part on calcium oxylate precipitation (another gusher cause), but it talks about the hydrophobin thing too. It's an issue with contaminated malt, it appears.

Edit: Whoops, this was a different (albeit slightly better) story than what I saw earlier. Still not perfect, but the one I saw earlier was just terribly ignorant about beer.