Is there a fast and discreet way to defizz beer?

July 4, 2015 11:04 AM

Say like you (me) are going out to a nice restaurant with friends and you would like to order a glass of beer instead of the usual red wine.....but you know it will bring on a painful gas attack due to the fizz. Is there a fast, discreet way to get those bubbles out of your glass? Salt? A pinch of baking soda? Thanks.
posted by Tullyogallaghan to Food & Drink (17 answers total)

I don't know of any methods to quickly de-fizz, but carbonation can vary a lot between different types of beer. You probably want to stay away from, say, lagers, but a nice porter or stout tends to be comparably quite low in bubbles.
posted by aecorwin at 11:20 AM on July 4, 2015

Is the gas attack intestinal or a sensitivity to carbonation in your stomach? If it's intestinal, I'd just discreetly take a Gas-X tablet before drinking the beer.
posted by quince at 11:28 AM on July 4, 2015

Order a beer charged with nitro instead of co2 (if offered). Guinness is the most common, but there are others. mostly in pubs.
posted by OHenryPacey at 12:21 PM on July 4, 2015

Gas-X, or any other OTC anti-gas medicine where simethicone is the active ingredient, would also make the beer go flatter if you crushed a little up and put it directly in your beer - it works the same way on the bubbles in the beer as it does bubbles in your gut.

Unless that's your goal, though, you might find the taste of the beer more pleasant if you just took it as a tablet.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 12:24 PM on July 4, 2015

Most wheat beers have fairly low carbonation, also.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:31 PM on July 4, 2015

Salt, yes --- but instead of using a salt shaker on it (obvious because of asking for a salt shaker in a bar plus the shaking motions), try quietly sticking your finger in there.
posted by easily confused at 12:34 PM on July 4, 2015

with your finger it's not the salt reducing carbonation, it's oils on your skin. Fats inhibit carbonation.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:36 PM on July 4, 2015

The nucleation sites are not going to be anywhere near your finger. If anything, it's the oils on the skin reducing the surface tension at the top, reducing just the foam. I'm sure there's a paper on it somewhere, that's how I found out about nucleation sites.
posted by rhizome at 12:59 PM on July 4, 2015

Order cider.

Basically every place carrier at least one kind of cider now since cider is gluten free and GF became a meme. Cider completely bypasses this problem.

If that doesn't count as a solution because you want to drink beer then sorry, but it works perfectly.
posted by emptythought at 1:03 PM on July 4, 2015

All hard ciders I'm familiar with are carbonated.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 1:06 PM on July 4, 2015

It's comparatively very mild though, and never causes any issues for me(someone who can very easily get bloated/gassy from carbonation and beer)
posted by emptythought at 1:16 PM on July 4, 2015

Can you grab a spoon and stir it?
posted by Clustercuss at 3:31 PM on July 4, 2015

So, we used to stick our fingers in cups of root beer to defizz them.

It's not as classy when you're in public and an adult. Maybe discreetly roll your finger over the side of the glass to defizz the foam? Or order an ale, which might be less fizzy?

Would it also be possible to order and drink from the bottle? Does that make a difference for you?
posted by mibo at 4:06 PM on July 4, 2015

Ask for an extra glass. Fill a glass, then transfer to the second glass a sing more fizz.

Also seconding finding a brew that's less fizzy to start with.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:02 PM on July 4, 2015

Okay this is gross but... Rub the finger on the side of your nose for extra greasy debubbling effects
posted by rubster at 8:21 AM on July 5, 2015

C'mon MeFi, yr lack of science is letting me down!

I have beer, and beano, and some curiosity, so I tried this.
- Crushed 2 tablets into a fine powder in a shot glass w/the back end of a wooden spoon.
- Poured powder (it broke up well) into one of three pint glasses.
1) Beer
2) Beer + beano (stirred)
3) Beer (stirred)

- Poured a few mouthfulls of beer into all glasses from a freshly opened pilsner.
- Beano glass went all foamy. I don't think it went higher than the head of the other glass, but it was foam top to bottom. The foam quickly started disappearing, from the bottom up.
- Gave 1 & 2 a series of stirs after the beano one seemed to stabilize (still had a head).

Results:
#1 propelled civilization
#2 was markedly flat and gross. Dead soldier gross.
#3 was bad, but not as flat.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 1:45 PM on July 5, 2015

Take a pill containing simethecone (the brand I usually use are called Ovol).

Simethecone breaks the surface tension of liquid = no foam = much less gas and bloating- you can easily burp up most of the gas in one quick go, rather than having a horribly bloated stomach all night. Works like a charm and the pills are cheap ($10 a pack over the counter) and taste pretty ok (chalky, like soft tums, usually either mint or cherry flavoured). It's safe- it's what babies drink in their gripe water.

I guess you could also try a couple drops of unflavoured gripe water in your beer, if you prefer to de-gas the liquid instead of yourself. Never tried doing it that way, but it might work.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 1:03 AM on July 7, 2015