Bubbles in a beer glass

J

JohnWF

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John at Salida
I like to go to a wood-fired pizza place now and then and have a mico-brewery beer and pizza. It puzzles me why the bubbles in the glass of beer only start at the bottom of the glass; never half way up or near the top.

Why only at the bottom?
 
Having home brewed beer for over twenty-five years, I would have to say that I have no idea.
 
In Some beer the bubbles rise and in others the bubbles fall. Has something to do with the nitrogen. Like Jack said, what's the question?
 
I never spend enough time looking at beer to care. I can't see it in my stomach.
 
My beer preference is too dark to see any rising bubbles.
 
I toured the Sam Adams brewery in Boston a few years ago. At that time, they were trying to sell their 'special' beer drinking glasses in the gift shop. They said it was etched at the 'perfect' spot along the sides so that the beer would bubble from the sides, which supposedly enhanced the flavor of the beer.

I have to be honest, once I heard that the 'perfect beer glass' was anything other than self-refilling, I quit listening to the details...
 
CJones said:
I toured the Sam Adams brewery in Boston a few years ago. At that time, they were trying to sell their 'special' beer drinking glasses in the gift shop. They said it was etched at the 'perfect' spot along the sides so that the beer would bubble from the sides, which supposedly enhanced the flavor of the beer.

I have to be honest, once I heard that the 'perfect beer glass' was anything other than self-refilling, I quit listening to the details...
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By the time I have had enough beer to focus on the bubbles, I am not sure I could taste any differences.
 
My great uncle (my grandfather's brother) used to frequently pronounce that a glass that had ever had milk in it was no good for drinking beer. It wasn't until I became an adult and got into brewing that I found out that this was just some Irish predisposition against milk but had actual basis in fact.

As for the bubbles, the poster who mentioned nucleation sites is right. That's why you get a string of bubbles. It's the same with Champagne.

It's also what accounts for the rather flamboyant behavior of dropping Mentos into soda (please don't waste good beer or sparkling wine to do this). The hard candy surface has many, many more nucleation sites than a glass (or bottle) does.
 
Nucleation sites! Is that why you can pour soda without fizzing over pre-wetted ice cubes. Wetting the ice cubes removes the nucleation sites maybe.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Yes, any wine that makes bubbles is, by definition, champaign.
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You have just been banned from France for life....:rofl::rofl::rofl:

First off, Champaign is is a college town in Illinois and should be capitalized.

Champagne on the other hand is a region of France from which a type sparkling wine bearing its name comes. I believe that the courts have upheld that and now if it doesn't come from Champagne it may not be labeled as such.
 
Henning said:
You have just been banned from France for life....:rofl::rofl::rofl:

First off, Champaign is is a college town in Illinois and should be capitalized.

Champagne on the other hand is a region of France from which a type sparkling wine bearing its name comes. I believe that the courts have upheld that and now if it doesn't come from Champagne it may not be labeled as such.
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Somehow, I am seemingly unperturbed.
 
John 221, you are quite correct.

Sac, Fail. You are lacking in....well it rhymes with gas.
 
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Isn't it Henry's law (one of the gas laws) that's responsible for the bubbles forming in the first place?
 
mchesney said:
Isn't it Henry's law (one of the gas laws) that's responsible for the bubbles forming in the first place?
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Oooh, a chance to use some knowledge from my computer based training! Henry's Law states that when pressure decreases, gas bubbles are released causing nasty stuff like the bends. Let's see if I remember that for another 12 months...
 
Graueradler said:
Nucleation sites! Is that why you can pour soda without fizzing over pre-wetted ice cubes. Wetting the ice cubes removes the nucleation sites maybe.
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I will have to try that.

I have noticed that soda hardly foams when using commercial ice machine ice. I thought that was because those machines usually freeze the ice from recirculating/flowing water. I guessed that prevented minerals from being frozen into the cubes.
 
jhausch said:
I will have to try that.

I have noticed that soda hardly foams when using commercial ice machine ice. I thought that was because those machines usually freeze the ice from recirculating/flowing water. I guessed that prevented minerals from being frozen into the cubes.
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Could also be that commercial ice machine bins are typically filled with 'damp ice' due to the constant exposure of the the ice to the atmosphere...:dunno:
 
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