Posted on 12/12/2019 8:45:25 AM PST by C19fan
Bad news for beer tappers: Tapping your shaken beer doesnt reduce its likelihood of exploding. In a new study, scientists found no statistically significant link between tapping on a shaken beer and a reduction in explosive foam. The obvious conclusion is that can tapping does not reduce foaming, a result that must be a considerable disappointment for bicycle-riding, beer-carrying Danes, MIT's Technology Review reports. Lets dig in.
Like soda, most commercial beer is carbonated artificially, called force carbonation in the industry. This means carbon dioxide is pumped into kegs, for example, and left to dissolve there. Carbon dioxide naturally dissolves in water-based liquids in general, but kegs and other containers are pressurized, which means more carbon dioxide can dissolve. In naturally carbonated beer, the beer is fully brewed, and then a small amount of a yeast fuel, like sugar, is added to individual containers. As the yeast consumes the sugar, the byproduct is natural carbonation.
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
Missing from this analysis is the fact that tapping takes time. It really takes only a few seconds for the bulk of the CO2 to get reabsorbed into the liquid after most can drops. The few seconds of setting the can down, and tapping on it, stops someone from opening the can immediately.
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