cliv

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_...^13762,00.html

I keep thinking that the alcohol in the beer should have added to the fire. Am I just ignorant of chemistry ? Or did they forget to fact check the article and don't know that alcohol burns with a almost invisible flame ?

Noob

im guessing that there is not enough ethanol in the beer to burn since its all watered down

soopadoopa

I don't believe there's enough alcohol in beer to burn, but I've never tried it. I have tried burning Jim Beam though, which is 40%, and it just barely lit. Most beer is around 5-6%.

sailor

Yeah, there is too much other stuff in the beer. Most liqours wont burn, and they are about 7-8 times more alcohol than beer.

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wlcm

there's also a whole lot of compressed CO2 that can put fires out

Mael

if you want to burn alcohol, it's usually got to be really high in alcohol content. bacardi 151 burns well, everclear burns really really well. so well, there's a warning on the bottle.

dylanmarsh

Yeah, I would tend to agree with this theory. CO2 and fires don't mix. Also, beer does contain quite a bit of water, too.

If the kid was trying to put the fire out with moonshine, it would be a different story.

wry1

In the past, "Proof" was a term which signified that the alcohol (when mixed with a small amount of gunpowder and lit) would burn with a consistent blue/red flame. For something to be 100 proof, then it would burn. Anything less would either not burn consistently (such as 80-proof liquors) or would not burn at all.

Presently, "Proof" is calculated based upon the percentage of alcohol in a liquid; 50% alcohol is now considered to be 100-proof. Since beer is only 6-8% alcohol, that would make it 12 to 16 proof....far too low to actually burn. As the remaining items in the beer are primarily water, this is what puts out the flames (as the alcohol is not in sufficient quantities to actually sustain the chemical reaction which is fire).

Hope this little history lesson helps answer your question, Timmy!

Orodinn

Flaming Moe burns fine. It's like there's a party in your mouth and everybody's invited

Chingal0

Yep. For sure, the Flaming Moe is where its at.

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Liquor Dealer

Beer is more water than anything else - There is no where close to enough alcohol in it to accelerat a fire.

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cliche

I'm pretty sure an early way of telling how alcoholic a spirit was was to see if it lit - ie only if things have a high alcohol content will you get flames (invisible or otherwise)

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powder

Beer, it's not just for breakfast.

saltfish

If I heat up one of my big stainless steel pans on the stove, above a gas buner, like "NASA HOT" and pour a can of beer on it, the alcohol will boil off 1st. As it boils off it will burn (chef pours alcohol in a frying pan, bursts into flames ) The water part of the beer will contine to boil off. So... The beer itself has to heat up quick enough to have all the alcohol "boil off" per-say at the same time. If you heat cold beer up slowly, the alcohol boil off slowly, and you won't be able to light it at all.

-SF

MacGyver

actually that last part isn't true... try cooking beer brats some time. when you boil the beer put a lid on the kettle. after about 3-5 minutes on the burner take the lid off and put a lit match in there... it's quite a cool effect. a spectacular flash of blue flame is present. alcohol boils around 140F and water at about 212F so when you first start to heat up the beer the alchohol boils off first... then the the temp continues to rise untill it reaches 212F when the water starts to boil. the trick is to contain the alcohol vapor when it boils.

in a fire, the liquid isn't actually on fire, it's the vapor that burns. the heat from the vapor is intense enough to cause the liquid to give off more vapor to continue the fire. In the case of beer, there is too much water to heet up and too little alcohol to give off vapor to continue this process. in the above post he chef gets away with this exception because of the intense heat source (a red hot burner) which can continue this process of vaporization where the flame alone cannot.

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wakelagger

Was it American beer? That'd explain the high concentrations of water

Fire

i have seen fires put out with cans of beer

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iktoweya

the simple fact of the matter is that liquids dont burn fumes do beer doesnt produce any major fumes in order for fire to ignite thus letting a can of beer if not more put out a fire

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Liquor Dealer

Nice try but there is only a fraction of a percent of difference in alcohol content in nearly all beers produced. Canadian beers contain just as much water as do those made anywhere else.

If you want to see abreakdown of content in most the beers made try:

http://brewery.org/brewery/library/AlClbinger.html

This will break it down to carbs, calories, alcohol content, etc.

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Life isn't always a bowl of cherries, sometimes it's more like a jar of Jalapenos --- what you say or do today might burn your ass tomorrow!!!

matt_mll

most all non distilled alcohols will not burn. They have too much water content to sustain an exothermic reaction. When tossed into the fire, the boiling of the water into steam removes more energy from the fire than the burning of the alchohol. There is a balanced amount, i think it's 25%. That type will simply burn, but not violently. Crank up the alcohol % and the reaction will be more and more violent. Hope this helps.

petergriffin24

I did a report on beer for college (sweet assignment by the way) and the studies I found were that the AVERAGE beer is 3.5% alcohol and was made 70% from water explaining why it won't burn in a fire when it's more than half made from water!!

The.Lunatic

no beer won't burn, not jack daniels won't burn i've tried!.

I think for the alchol to actually catch fire you've got to have it over a hundred proof IE 50%.

Your proboally thinking along the lines of if their is gas in water the gas will burn, but alchol is diffrent its also polar which means it will dislove in water. the gas doesn't it just rides along the top.

If you still don't understand picture it like this to burn you need to make it to the top of a mounatin with 5 buddies, and if your just alchol you've got a nice straight short path. If you're alchol mixed in water you've got to do this same thing except this time you've got to walk through millions of those little plastic balls they have in play pens.

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JStrider

ive caught 80 proof on fire before... just gotta hold the flame to it for the top to start warming up and evaporating...

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brandon11983

I was at a party last year and my buddy poured a cup of beer on a bonfire and it flared up.

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