Mar 17 2008
If beer lovers needed something else to toast on St. Patrick’s Day, it might be the silicone-based products used in the brewing process.
While carbon dioxide bubbles can create a distinguishing “head” on a glass of beer, they can also create problems such as boilovers in the brewing process. Silicone-based anti-foams added into the process destabilize and collapse the bubbles, allowing brewers to fill their kettles fuller and not have to stop production to clean up spills. The anti-foams are removed along with the silica used for haze stabilization in the filtration process before packaging.
“Silicone-based anti-foams offer brewmasters possibilities to better manage demand and thanks to their inertness, quality is not compromised,” said Arturo Cuéllar, marketing specialist, Dow Corning.
Not limited to beer production, tasteless, odorless water-based food-grade silicone anti-foam emulsions are also used in production of wine, carbonated soft drinks, fruit juices and drinks, and soy sauce.
Posted March 18th,2008