I've used defoaming agents and they seem to work (I believe they are used commercially too), the one I've tried contained "silicone and propylene glycol".
As stated above if going a neutral wash, if you let it finish dry and clear it then I wouldn't bother, never had one like that puke even filling the boiler almost to the top. If you can't get it completely dry then I add it as these tend to puke.
When doing a rum I want to reuse the dunder so don't want that stuff in the next generation so I use butter and lots of head space in the still.
The anti-foam do have their place, just depends what your running imho.