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I tried something new tonight. While making a 2 liter starter in an Erlenmeyer flask, I recalled hearing about a micro brewer who would toss in a handful of hops as the wort came to a boil to prevent a boil over. Now I don't have a problem with boil over in my brew kettle ( Thank you, electric brewing), but I always have to carefully watch my starter flask because the DME wort is very foamy, and as the wort comes to a boil in the narrow neck, the foam has to go somewhere. After the boil is established, the foaming problem goes away. Its only at the early stage of the boil that I have a problem. Well tonight I tossed in a couple of hop pellets. Not enough to add any IBUs or flavor, just a couple of pellets. The wort started to foam, but never got out of hand. Is that because of the oils in the hops breaking the surface tension of the bubbles? I don't know. I don't even know if it had any direct effect in the lack of boil over. But I will keep doing it until I find a reason not to.
Anyone else do this?
Anyone else do this?