I learnt something new today. Keeping your drinks cold has another enemy that is little known – condensation.
While i always assumed condensation was natural and quite harmless, it’s in truth a goddam cold-sucker. The droplets on your glass, can or bottle, are actually the main cause of your drink warming up.
Once you grab a can or bottle of beer from the fridge or esky/ice-box , stopping it from warming up quick is a losing battle, unless you have some protection. (Thirsty Blogger post on booze storing systems and ice-boxes here.)
The important part is why. The researchers studied how much of an effect the water droplets that collect on the outside of the beverage — condensation — have on the temperature of the can, glass or bottle.
NOOOOooo….
The effect is huge: the formation of those damn droplets sucks heat from the surrounding air, and delivers it straight to the drink.
It was sumtin i saw on Business Insider, an article called Science Proves It: Koozies Keep Beer Colder. Among others, the koozie stops the formation of these water drops, thus slowing the heating process.
Koozies by huggaz – handy drinkers’ gear
Works for wine bottles too
Says study researcher Dale Durran, atmospheric scientist of the University Of Washington, “Probably the most important thing a beer koozie does is not simply insulate the can, but keep condensation from forming on the outside of it.”
I didn’t know that. I assumed it’s role was merely the insulation from the surrounding heat.
Will use huggaz koozies a lot more now. Haha.
A beer is typically served at 5 Celsius. With condensation, within 5 minutes it can double and warm up to 10 Celsius. Condensation is an exothermic process. Heat is released into its surroundings, in this case, the beer.
Liquid absorbs heat to turn into gas; thus gas (in this case H2O) releases heat when it turns into liquid.
Condensation = bad news. Gas turning to liquid and causing shit
When u see sweat on your can, beer or wine bottle, or glass, it’s no good. And the more humid the air is, the worse the condensation. And we have a high 80% humidity.
