Bottle Foam Up

Hello,

I have a question about a classic bar prank... it's the one where you
hit the top of somebody's beer, causing it to foam up and make a mess
(a la the recent miller lite 'man rules' comercial). I'm wondering why
this happens. My only guess is that hitting the bottle causes all of
the bubbles that are clinging to the sides of the bottles to release
and float to the top. Could this be it?

As an afterthought... can anybody think of a way to stop a beer from
foaming up after somebody hits one?

Thanks,
Ben

Dear bwilde:

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"nucleation sites".


Negatory. They certainly do release, but there is not enough
present at any instant to do that. There are also microbubbles
floating in the brew, looking for a home. The "hitting" creates
a shock wave, the beer is in a metastable condition (as it
warms), and any and all available sites that can nucleate, will.


Choose better friends. Aiming the bottle at them after they do
this also serves to condition the ones you already have.

David A. Smith

"N:dlzc D:aol T:com (dlzc)" <N: dlzc1 D:cox T:net@nospam.com> wrote in
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<..>
Or shampoos them at least

Best of Luck - Mike