Sunday, November 1, 2015

It's a Gas: Two Views of Carbonation




The First View:

Quantum Beer

My son-in-law assures me
that there are infinite possible possibles.
and this, being hard to swallow
makes me belch and
at the moment of this tiny eructation
a world erupts and, tripping over
the digestisonic of the moment,
it stumbles and slows and thus
this world is right here right now-
gliding along, listening in
with its cosmic earphones
on the conversations we
should have had
were we as loving
in our world
as we could have been
after a good, incredulous,
semi-sempiternal belch in its.

and for this reason alone,
i beg you beerward where
each swallow leads not to capistrano
but to fomenting other worlds where we,
explosive, are expanding
out to gassy, grassy love.
(the truth of the belch is in the grain,
sparkling water ain’t the same)
and i wonder if each embarrassment,
each long carbonic vowel
is just a node where we get to meet
all the better possible rest of us.
And perhaps ‘excuse me’ is just
the right thing to say to remind us
how little time we have,
how few bubble-years there are
to get it right.

The Second View:

Water bubbles want to collapse. Their water molecules like the company of each other more than any other molecules, so they don't like to hang out in air. That's why water beads up on the counter top: the darlin' little molecules are huddling together-gregarious.

This water-loving property of water is decreased and foam is increased by hydrophobic proteins. Wheat malt is a good source and a little bit of wheat in the mash can give a noticeable increase in foam. The bitter compounds in hops enhance foam and so does acidity. Nitrogen gas enhances foam because it encourages small bubbles.

On the other hand, water gets wetter (and more fond of itself) it the presence of soap or detergent. ABV's (alcohol percentages)of the level usually found in beer inhibit foam and so does any sort of fat or grease. Oats in the mash add fat, which suppresses the head and of course any grease on the serving glass does the same. (Oh, Lipstick!)

So wash and rinse your beer glass. Taste the foam before you taste the beer. Sit down, shut up, take a breath and pay attention.

No comments: