Slashdot Mirror
Condensation On Your Beer != Good
An anonymous reader writes "Turns out that condensation on your favorite chilled beverage is a bad thing for keeping it cold. Two researchers conducted an experiment in their bathroom proving that condensation can raise the temperature of your beer by nine degrees!"
By the time there's any condensate to wipe off the glass, hasn't the damage (i.e. heat from condensation) already been done? That's what warms the glass and its contents, not the water remaining on the side. So wiping it off won't prevent the warming.
Now how about an experiment about the optimal water quantity for a wet t-shirt contest? Something about capillary action certainly has to be discovered...
Save the ales!
>> Two researchers conducted an experiment in their bathroom
A lot of my stories that end with "and then we were both grounded for a month" start that way too.
Phase transition from gaseous to liquid dissipates thermal energy. News at 18:00.
Computer simulation made easy -- LibGeoDecomp
Note to international readers: That is 9 degrees Fahrenheit. It's not as bad news for the summer days as it looks!
The condensation pays a latent heat penalty, warming the beer when the beer is super cold. But conversely the evaporation pays back the latent heat penalty at some higher temperature. Where the equilibrium point is I'm not sure.
But there is an easy solution to this problem: mist the outside of your beer glass with cold water. This will tie up all the condensation nucleation sites without paying the latent heat penalty.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
You chill beverage to hide the unpleasant flavors. Good beer is best served just at or slightly below room temp. Keep it in a cool, dark place - it's ready when you are. Colonials ::sigh::
Senior NCO in the fight against entropy. I've seen things, man. Things no one should have to see.....
>> Two researchers conducted an experiment in their bathroom
A lot of my stories that end with "and then we were both grounded for a month" start that way too.
I imagine a lot of stories that start that way end with "...and 9 months later, you were born!"
(for fans of Sexy Loser)
(for those who don't know, don't look it up at work)
While on a float trip in Arkansas many years ago, a friend in a bikini offered me a titty. Shock turned to disappointment when I learned that in parts of the South Central US, those foam beverage sleeves are known as "Tiddies" for the Texas-based manufacturer of such foam-rubber products. But my beer did stay colder longer, so it wasn't a total loss.
I am not a crackpot.
this is simple highschool physics. the real problem we need to research and investigate is why do beer bottles unexpectedly and inappropriately become empty.
I have, as a scientist, conducted extensive research myself and have to date been unable to conclude a definitive cause. I implore slashdotters, if you have any experience in this phenomenon or have experienced it personally, please adhere to your diligence as scientists and provide additional research data. bottles, glasses and even steins will exhibit this behavior, so please consider this in your testing protocol.
Good people go to bed earlier.
The reason for this is very simple.
The brewer does not pay for the cooling, the bar or customer does. This means they can continue to use cracked rice, cracked corn, the lowest grade of barley known to man and hops extract. When you are making a billion gallons of brew you can make a lot of profit by using animal feed instead of proper ingredients.
Then you simply advertise the hell out of serving this garbage as cold as possible, which covers up the taste.
And yet you felt compelled to post. What's that about?
Stuff that doesn't interest me happens all the time. If I had the same compunction to comment on all of them I'd never get anything done.
Or is this another case of Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own a Television?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Why not spending a couple of extra cents on quality ingredients to make a quality beer instead of blowing money on cooling?
Because that wouldn't be the American Megacorporate Way. Why spend more on product quality, when you could spend half as much on ubiquitous ad campaigns to redefine the country's understanding of what "beer" even is?
WRT beer, what is this American Megacorporation to which you refer? AB InBev? Grupo Modello? SABMiller? Molson Coors? (I guess that last one's half-American, but not really "mega" compared to the first two.)
I am not a crackpot.
Isn't this basic high school science class stuff? Yes, condensation raises temperatures, just like evaporation lowers temperatures.
That's the whole reason human beings can sweat to cool off.
A lot of people presumably know about that. Are those people surprised that this works "in both directions"?
This happens only with American beer, in the rest of the world the temperature raises only by five degrees
A man walks into a bar and orders three beers.
The bartender brings him the three beers, and the man proceeds to alternately sip one, then the other, then the third, until they're gone.
He then orders three more and the bartender says, "Sir, I know you like them cold, so you can start with one, and I'll bring you a fresh one as soon as you're low."
The man says, "You don't understand. I have two brothers, one in Australia and one in the Ireland. We made a vow to each other that every Saturday night, we'd still drink together. So right now, my brothers have three beers, too, and we're drinking together."
The bartender thinks it's a wonderful tradition, and every week he sets up the guy's three beers. Then one week, the man comes in and orders only two. He drinks them and then orders two more. The bartender says sadly, "Knowing your tradition, I'd just like to just say that I'm sorry you've lost a brother."
The man replies, "Oh, my brothers are fine -- I just quit drinking."
My co-workers mock me for my beer rituals... If we go to a patio for a few cold ones at lunch, I won't let the server take the menu away... I need the menu to shade my beer so the UV doesn't make the hops all skunky. Nobody believes that I can even taste the difference but it's obvious to me... Skunky beer sucks... So if you're on a patio, keep it shaded or in a coozy...