Scientists Unlock Secret To Thick, Stable Beer Foams (arstechnica.com)
- Reference: 0178883052
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/08/26/1728256/scientists-unlock-secret-to-thick-stable-beer-foams
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/08/physics-of-why-belgian-beer-foam-is-so-stable/
Surface viscosity dominated foam stability in single-fermented beers. Marangoni stresses from surface tension differences stabilized double- and triple-fermented beer foams. Lipid transfer protein 1 underwent progressive denaturation through successive fermentations. Single fermentation produced small round protein particles. Double fermentation created net-like protein structures. Triple fermentation broke proteins into hydrophobic and hydrophilic fragments that function as surfactants. ETH Zurich's Jan Vermant said breweries can now improve foam using these specific mechanisms rather than adjusting multiple factors simultaneously.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/08/physics-of-why-belgian-beer-foam-is-so-stable/
[2] https://pubs.aip.org/aip/pof/article/37/8/082139/3360405/The-hidden-subtlety-of-beer-foam-stability-A
Seven years studying beer? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm in the wrong job...
Re: (Score:2)
Time for replication studies!
No surprise (Score:2)
Since Tripel Karmeliet is a favourite of mine, this comes as no surprise. When you pour the contents of a bottle of Karmeliet into a glass, you have to do so _very_ carefully, or you will end up with mostly foam.
What? (Score:2)
I'm all for science and research for it's own sake, but who actually wants foamy beer?
Re: (Score:2)
The Czech. They 100% want that foam on top.
Re:What? (Score:5, Funny)
Are you English by any chance ? Belgians don't want warm flat dishwater.
I'm American (Score:2)
Now you two stop fighting or I'll come over there and make you both drink our beer.
Re: (Score:2)
American beer is fantastic, if you stay away from the national breweries. Of course the only ones with an international presence are the bad ones.
It's a shame Japan's entire beer industry is modeled after budweiser (but higher quality) of course. For a country that has fantastic cuisine and plentiful high quality, cheap food.. I wish they had a better micro brew scene with variety.
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Japan may have bad beer, but they have some fantastic whiskey.
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> Of course the only ones with an international presence are the bad ones.
In my experience they're generally what was hot in the 90's when American craft brew was just getting going and was still getting its legs under itself. Our craft beer industry has evolved a lot since the 90's.
Prohibition killed out domestic beer industry and while it's taken ages to make a come back I agree with you, I feel our beer is pretty good nowadays although that might depend a bit on where you are in the country.
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I live in the US, though I can't stand "regular American" beer, which is mostly crappy "pilsner" at best, though there are a few good ones from Canada. I like German-style (dry, crisp) pilsner, and enjoy a hefeweizen from time to time. There is good Belgian beer, though I've not experienced it as particularly foamy. The English make ale I like (Bass for one, though I don't like it above 10C) and I like a good heavy porter or stout with dessert sometimes, but I mostly drink a locally brewed IPA or two with
Re: (Score:2)
> 10-20 years ago, there was a craft beer (mostly IPA) renaissance over here, and man were there some great IPAs, though unfortunately that has faded, as many of the good craft breweries get bought up by Inbev or other huge conglomerates and ruined. There are still a few good ones left, but at some point I'm probably going to have to start brewing my own.
Where I live the IPA thing was WAY over done. I like IPAs and all but there was a period where I'd walk into a bar and go "Oh good, they have 20 beers on tap. Great variety!" only to discover 16 or so were all IPAs. I'm glad that fad is done now, IPAs are great but so are a ton of other types of beer. Variety is good.
Re:What? (Score:4, Interesting)
Guinness drinkers for one.
While no one wants a beer that's all foam a nice foamy head is quite nice on some beers.
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Ok, I'll give you that, though a well poured Guinness should have no more than about a half inch head on it. It does have a nice mouthfeel, though I typically prefer a heavier stout than Guinness when I'm in the mood for a stout.
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The foam is insulation and makes it stay cold longer. :-)
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Foamy beer is bad. It was poured at the wrong pressure, or thru a too-short tube from the keg (or by a bartender who dislikes you...)
However, a good head on a beer is important. It is where the air and liquid mingle to create the aromatic experience of the beer. Smell is an important aspect of taste. You want the head to last while you drink the beer so that you get the full smell/taste experience throughout. A clean (oil-free, soap-free) glass helps a lot with head retention.
A good beer is something to
Re: (Score:1)
have you tried dark ale? It's a completely different taste
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Or Weizen, way different.
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"My sense of taste is better then everyone else's"
People have been drinking beer for thousands of years but yeah, no one really likes the taste. Ridiculous...
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Sure, there was a period when Europeans forgot that one shouldnt shit in ones drinking water and beer came in handy as a safe way to hydrate. That doesnt change the fact that beer has been around a lot longer then that and is today an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars. But yeah, everyone drinking beer is deluding themselves, only you have the one true accurate pallet.
Gimme a frick'n break with your self righteousness. I don't like olives but you don't see me walking around telling everyone they
Re:Beer is ass (Score:4, Funny)
> Beer tastes like ass.
I assume you performed a double blind test with a statistically significant sample size to verify this. How many assholes did you taste in the process?
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Your username is eerily on-topic.
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Miller actually isn't the worst.
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I have a buddy that now drinks NAs exclusively.
Some beers are quite good, some are not. It's like wines, cheeses, types of beef.. everyone has a unique pallet.
When I drink bourbon - all I taste is the ethanol unfortunately. It's the same with most liquors. I'd like to appreciate the different distilling methods like I enjoy the different brewing methods of beer but I guess it wasn't meant to be.
Something about a couple cold beers to "re-hydrate" after a hockey game.
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Don't forget about the several beers during the hockey game. Hydration is important.
Science vs professionalism (Score:2)
You are not going to be able to convince me that medieval monks didn't figure this out first.
Young Einstein (Score:3)
I think I saw a [1]movie on this one [imdb.com]. Doesn't it involve splitting beer atoms in a nuclear explosion to get perfect bubbles in beer? I think you need rock and roll music too.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096486/
Coming up in The Onion (Score:3)
Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Fermentations
Re: (Score:2)
Although the origins of single double and triple isn't known, it's inferred that it relates to the strength of the beer (about 3, 6 and 9%), It's not as the article seem to suggest fermented multiple times. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripel
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In modern parlance, it largely has to do with the method of fermenting. You can't just start out with a higher gravity (more sugars) wort to get a really high alcohol beer -the yeast cant handle it (some can, but it won't taste good!) So you start out at an average gravity, and then feed it more sugar in stages (dubbel or tripel) to get to that higher alcohol content.
Yeah, nah (Score:2)
Your doing it wrong. Beer is something you drink. You drink liquids, not foam. The foam is only there to show the beer is not flat. Here you are taught at a young age how to correctly pour a beer with minimum foam.
Re: (Score:3)
Have you never had a Guinness (amongst a lot of other beers)? All foam = bad. Nice foamy head = great for some beers.
Hegseth especially upset (Score:3, Funny)
The only research DOGE regrets cancelling.