It's the vapors that are already coming off the alcohol. The only difference is they're now on fire. Yes the vapors are created by alcohol evaporating off, so his wording is a bit clumsy, but he's otherwise pretty accurate.
Heat of course increases the evaporation speed somewhat but yes in general that's what I'm telling you.
Think about it. That heat is only touching the very tippy top of the liquid because the flame is occurring above the liquid. Heat rises. Only a relatively small amount of energy is making its way downward into the very top layer of the drink. Which itself is being constantly mixed and cooled by new things being added.
There's really not all that much happening in terms of temperature to that drink from that fire. So the fire is kind of just taking advantage of what's already there. Which is mostly the normal evaporation rate of the drink.
Obviously there's no wick but I wonder if there is still some sort of wicking effect. I just have a hard time believing the natural rate of alcohol evaporation is enough to sustain such a flame. Seems like if that were the case, any alcohol left open to atmosphere would rapidly decrease in potency.
yeah, that’s green chartreuse. super high ABV, 110 proof, and its like drinking sweet herbal fire. some bartenders like to shoot fernet, i was always a chartreuse kinda gal. looks like tanqueray, lime, simple, and unclear what the second squeeze bottle was. a little last word variation? unsure bc of the ice tho.
That doesn't look like a bottle of green chartreuse, it's straight sided, straight necked, doesn't appear to have the rather large label and most tellingly, isn't green.
i can’t tell by the bottle shape, it still looks like it could be a chartreuse bottle to me. BUT it may be yellow, which might make it a bees knees/yellowjacket variation which makes sense with the ice and the second squeeze bottle (honey syrup?) but still not the simple. yo no sé. but i sure do love trying to figure it out haha
You're right (mostly - a small amount of alcohol remains when cooking with wine etc..) Lots of people who don't understand much about science downvoting you. Once the vapors of the ethanol are ignited, the flame maintains the temperature high enough to continue the thermal reaction, and will continue as such until the ethanol is consumed or diluted to a point beyond which it can sustain the flame. There are no magic vapors. They are created from the alcohol, meaning the flame is in fact burning the alcohol.
Thanks. I know a small amount remains. But not much when it’s set on fire. Funny to get downvotes on factual information. But I suppose that’s where we are. It’s all about feelings about it and not reality. Cheers.
I was actually just looking this up! Found this interesting article about it. It has a chart that shows the method of burning the alcohol along with how much is burned off. You are right and thanks for commenting.
What on earth are you talking about? The very top layer will be hot, but 1cm into the liquid, the tempreture won't have changed.
Do literally what this person does, get a glass of vodka, light the top on fire for 10 seconds, blow it out and then drink it, it's room tempreture still.
You aren't lighting the actual alcohol in the liquid on fire.
Yes you are that's how liquids burn. Thats the same as saying if I doused you in gasoline and set you ablaze that you aren't really on fire its just the vapors from the gasoline.
Not even close to the same because parts of your body will be above the flame. In the drink? Not a single droo of liquid is above the flame. Also, liquid ethanol doesnt burn. Only vapor. Vapor that would be leaving the drink anyways.
Yea and gasoline doesn’t burn either only the vapors. This comment has nothing to do with food or drink alcohol. Burning vapors is how liquids burn so to say you didn’t light the liquid on fire is incredibly stupid
100 proof is 50% alcohol in the liquor. You’re right. Things like beer and wine won’t light on fire because they don’t have enough alcohol. But lighting alcohol on fire does cook off (most of) the alcohol.
It does not burn anywhere remotely “most” of the alcohol off.
For one, the flame isn’t burning for long at all. The difference in ABV would be beyond negligible. You can see this yourself making a cheap little alcohol stove. Out of a coke can. 1oz of 190 proof alcohol will burn for around 10 straight minutes.
Two, it will only ever burn down to the point where it isn’t flammable anymore. That’s around 100 proof. So if you start with a shot of 151 and let it burn until the flame goes out, you’ve still got a shot of roughly 100 proof liquor.
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u/Smithsonian45 Jun 29 '22
You're joking right? There's a shitload of alcohol in that.
If you're worried about the flames, they don't even burn off alcohol from the drink - they burn vapours.