Belgian beer is “ahead of the game” when it comes to foam. Researchers from Europe on a mission to find out what makes the best beer foam discovered that triple-fermented Belgian ales had the highest stability of all the drinks they studied. Single-fermented beers, however, produced the lowest foam. This study was published in Physics of Fluids to help better understand foam formation. Beer proved to be a great case study. Emmanouil Chatzigiannakis is an assistant professor in Eindhoven University of Technology’s Processing and Performance Group. He said that the study was intended to examine what happened in the thin layer between two adjacent bubbles. Belgian beer has the most stable foam
The world’s largest producer of beer is the Belgian. According to the newspaper, beer is one of the top alcoholic beverages in the world. It contributed more than 555 billion US dollars to the global economy by 2024. The foam at the pint’s top is a key feature of beer. It is made up of tiny air bubbles coated with a thin liquid film. The bubbles and foam hold their shape when the film is stable. The bubbles will pop faster, and foam will dissolve, if the film is less stable. The team examined six different types of beer to determine the exact reason why the foam remained stable. This included two Belgian Tripels (Westmalle Tripel, Tripel Karmeliet), as well as a Dubbel and Singel. Triple-fermented beer had the best foam stability. Single fermented beer was the last to be ranked.
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How can foam stability be increased (or decreased)?
The primary factor that affects the stability of lagers is surface viscosity, and this is affected by proteins. The more proteins in a beer, the better it will be. When a beer is subjected to additional fermentation processes, LPT1 changes its nature, increasing the foam’s stability. Researchers found
that foam from triple-fermented beer, like the trappist beer brewed by European monasteries retains stability due to the forces caused by differences in surface tension. The head of triple-fermented beers will last longer than lagers because they are more stable. What is Next in Beer Research
? Researchers hope that the research will help manufacturers perfect beer. However, the results could also have many benefits for a variety of other industries, from improving electric vehicle safety to treating varicose veins. In a recent press release, Jan Vermant of ETH Zurich said that the research could be used to inspire other materials designs. “We can think about how we can use materials efficiently [of creating stable foams],” he added. Additionally, “If you can’t mimic 2D networks like double-fermented beer, could we do it with surfactants?”
Article Resources
At Discovermagazine.com,our writers use high-quality peer-reviewed sources and studies for their articles. Our editors also review the article for accuracy in terms of scientific standards and editing. The sources for this article are listed below:
- Physics of Fluids. Beer foam stability: A blueprint to advanced formulations.