Positive and negative impacts of specialty malts on beer foam: a comparison of various cereal products for their foaming properties.

Background: The foam stability of beer is dependent on the presence of foam-stabilizing polypeptides derived from the cereals from which it is made. It has long been argued that there is a tendency to boost the foam-stabilizing capabilities of these polypeptides at the heating stages involved in the production of the grist materials. The present study started with the intent to confirm whether these changes occurred and to assess the extent to which different cereal products differed in their foam-stabilizing tendencies.