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Downtown WatkinsviUe
THE PERFECT POUR
Physics—that wonderful study of how things
work and why—seems to be much maligned.
It’s the basis for why your cell phone reception
cuts out when you enter an elevator, or why you
shouldn’t put a fork in the microwave, though
the microwave itself is constructed from metal.
Over a handful of installments, this column
will discuss the physics of everyday life; things
like the correct angle at which to pour a beer,
the thermodynamics of coffee roasting, or—my
personal favorite—why your chin can help you
extend the range of your car’s remote keyless
entry.
I invite you to read and consider these ideas as
presented, but above all, I encourage you to try
them for yourself. Be your own experimental
ist. Question everything, and you will know the
whole story for yourself. We begin with some
thing you can test at 5:30 in the evening: the
perfect pour.
The perfect pour of beer is one that has
a head of foam approximately two finger-
thicknesses high. Now, not everyone will agree
with that statement, but if we're to cover beer
from a physics viewpoint, we need to be spe
cific with our<goal. Too little foam is undesir
able and possibly an indicator of a fault in the
beer (i.e., that it's stale or somehow tainted).
Too much foam means less beer in your glass.
Remember: you want the foam to complement
your beer, not displace it.
coarsening and collapse. Drainage of the liq
uid from the foam thins the bubble walls until
they reach a critical minimum size and pop.
Coarsening occurs when two bubbles morph
into one larger bubble. Collapse is often due
to the bubble wall being too thin to hold
itself together (because of drainage) or, some
times, to the presence of lipids (fats), which
again destabilize the bubbles themselves.
Popular brewing adjuncts such as oats, cof
fee or spices that contain lipids (like those in
Terrapin's coffee oatmeal stout, to take a local
example) will decrease the amount or stabil
ity of the head of foam on the beers they're
added to. Therefore, expect that it will be
easier to pour a perfect beer when you drink
lager than it will be to create a beautiful head
of foam on that October seasonal, the pump
kin spice ale.
Formation and spices aside, the perfect
pour is about technique, and, of course, good
technique comes from our understanding of
physics. Begin with a tilted glass, ideally at
30 to 45 degrees with respect to the upright
(see fig. 1). Bubbles are formed by agita
tion, so as you increase the agitation, you
form more bubbles, and your beer will have a
larger foam atop it. You want minimal agita
tion initially, so that your glass fills with more
beer than foam. Pour the beer directly down
the inside of the glass. Aim for contact at
two-thirds of the way up the side of the glass.
As the beer reaches the two-thirds mark,
And complement, it will. Foam is to beer
what icing is to cake: a decorative barrier
between you and the object of interest, a
focal point for your anticipation. More tech
nically, foam is a three-dimensional bubble
array, generated by agitation (which causes
air to get trapped in the liquid) and stabilized
by the presence of certain proteins. In the
case of beer, both proteins and isomerized hop
acids contribute to the foam's stability, which
improves the foam lifetime. This explains
why beer has a head of foam and champagne
doesn't: both produce the same quantity of
foam, but champagne's foam dissipates faster
due to a lack of bubble-stabilizing proteins.
Despite the presence of these proteins,
bubble stability is diminished by drainage,
straighten up the glass to increase the agita
tion of the liquid. Here, you form the head of
the beer by allowing the liquid to hit directly
against that already in the glass. Enough foam
will be produced in that last third of a pour to
provide an attractive snowy cap to your drink
(see fig. 2).
Now, sit back. Admire. Enjoy the wonders of
physics as your friends notice that your beer
looks remarkably better than the one they just
poured from the pitcher. You can always share
your knowledge in the next round.
Sarah Dunning
Sarah Dunning is a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D
in physics at the University of Georgia.
10 FLAGPOLE.COM JULY 2, 2008 NEWS & FEATURES I CALENDAR I MOVIES I A&E I MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE I CLASSIFIEDS
JACOB HUNT