StillSmart

One of the biggest problems I've ever encountered in AG brewing was the foam generated during the stripping runs. To date I've always used Distiller's Conditioner bought from a HBS but I recently contacted a chemical supply company about what antifoam agents are used by breweries and I found one called Antifoam 30.

I've ordered their minimum size which is 5Lt and costs €96. This might seem a lot but the dosage rate is 2ml per 25Lt in the boiler so just one litre will treat 500 stripping runs The only problem is that the product has a shelf life of 12 months and there's no way I'll use anything like that amount in a year.

Anyone in Ireland, incl Northern Ireland interested in taking some off my hands and sharing the costs. I can ship around Ireland for about €6.50 with Parcel Motel. Costs around £12-13 to UK so maybe not so attractive but a quarter litre will treat 125 strips and completely prevent puking from grain washes.

AM

I use this http://www.brupaks.com/antifoam.htm(presume its the same/similar to yours) for my All Grain beer brewing, with having 11 gallons of wort trying to climb out of the brewing kettle when it comes to a boil a couple of squirts of this kills it dead, fantastic stuff. Wouldn't worry to much about the dates mine is BBE 2010 and I've had no issues with it

I have the remains of a bottle of that one and was looking for an industry standard product.

Good to know about the best before date.

AM

I use one teaspoon of rapeseed oil per 25ltr wash, works for me

Snap, fuf!

Yes fuf, I use good old "Crisp & Dry", never gives a problem.

In my early days I did try oils and even butter but found all were detectable in my Vodka, by she who knows a lot better about Vodka than I do, and also required the carbon in my Essencia Filter to be changed more frequently.

On top of that, I used to use my still boiler for heating water for making new batches of wash and after using oil on a stripping wash I'd get an oil streak in the water and had to spend the day washing out the boiler with detergent and a huge bottle brush through a 2 inch opening no fun.

AM

I can appreciate the effort there AM, no fun indeed.

My "redneck" solution,- Tall column for your strips,defy the bugger to try and boil over.
Worked so far,on some mean and lively washes.
I don't fancy conditioner,oil or butter in my still,and await my comuppence!
Robert.

Well, the Still Spirits distillers conditioner, for anti-foaming etc, is polyethylene glycol a.k.a. PEG.

Whether you could get that in small enough quantities ? as it's 2 to 3mls per 25 litres of wash.......

But I'm thinking that there's likely no middle ground. Either a homebrew sized quantity, or straight into the small/medium sized commercial brewery amounts......

Think I had my first potential puke last night, I had 25 litres of wash made from 6kg malted barley and 3kg sugar, I could hear some popping going on and some liquid was pushing its way out trough the seal on my boiler lid !!

Luckily the boiler is twice the size of the wash and I had over a meter of column before my take off so it never made it up and all the way through my condenser, I turned down the power and got away with it.

I'm I correct in suggesting the reason is because it was a grain wash and they are more susceptible to boil overs?

Absolutely! Grain wash, in particular, foams up like mad and you need to either keep the power low or use an anti foam agent like Distillers Conditioner.

AM

In my limited experience of AGB,+ 1 with aidanmac,it can be lively stuff!
Robert.

I had these sorts of issues after I had run the Airstill for a few hundred litres. I solved it with 2 things.

A new silicone ring to make sure the fit was snug - I was amazed how much 'snugness' the old ring had lost.

AND more importantly I think this is super heating spontaneously releasing. So an agitator was required. After a few experiments I have found the perfect solution - about 40 pence in 1p's in the bottom.

On boil the still now rattles away all the time. Problem has gone.

Got the idea from a glass 'milk saver' my mother had years ago.

Hope this helps !!

Cheers

This is the recommended method for preventing surge boiling in an Airstill but never known it to prevent foaming on an all grain stripping run.

However, with bigger stills this is not really feasible and low power or low volume or distiller's/other conditioner is often required with foam prone washes...but not if your wash is properly cleared

Where's my manners, Welcome aboard Mashy

AM