No Stupid Questions @lemmy.world SadSadSatellite @lemmy.dbzer0.com 5d ago

why is my whisky evaporating?

I have a heavy crystal decanter I've been using for years. A while back I was having some guests for a week, and thought I'd save some money and grabbed a bottle of Jim beam to put in it, as opposed to the higher end I tend to go for, because none of my guest cared about Bourbon. I noticed the level going down further than I had consumed. This has never been an issue before, so I figured someone had just nipped it while o was asleep. The next day, there was condensation on the inside, and the level had dropped further.

Since I'd been using the decanter for so long, I assumed the frosting on the stopper had rubbed off and it no longer sealed.

When it was empty, I refilled it with larceny, my standard, and to my surprise, it didn't evaporate at all for weeks.

Last night, I refilled it with beam again, and this morning, it had dropped and there was condensation on the side.

What really confused me, is Jim beam has a lower alcohol content than the Bourbons I usually fill the decanter with, so I would think it would evaporate as readily.

Why does only this one brand evaporate?

Quick searching gave me no results

Tldr: Why does Jim Beam evaporate in my decanter while nothing else does?

79 comments

Check your home for carbon monoxide.
- God like reference 😂
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news – you subconsciously prefer the Jim Beam and are sleep drinking it at night.
- It was pretty clever to use a spray bottle to add condensation to the inside of the bottle. I would of gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you pesky lemmings.
  
  Not to be 'that guy', but it's "would've" or "would have", never "would of".
- Honestly who doesn’t subconsciously prefer Jim Beam?
You got kids?
Occam's Razor: prefer the answer with the least assumptions. The simplest answer is that the stopper leaks.

You've only got a very small sample size and it's possible that the stopper is slightly asymmetric and fits well one way and no other.

The easiest way to unreliabily detect this is just to rotate the stopper in the neck and see if it sits in one place sightly differently than other positions.

Also, if you're more frequently drinking your preferred bourbon, you'll have a harder time noticing any evaporation.
- I have noticed the stopper is occasionally harder to pull out, so I'm leaning toward this.
  
  I guess I'll have to get a few more bottles to expiriment.
  
  I wonder if waxing the stopper might help?
  
  I guess I’ll have to get a few more bottles to expiriment.
  
  Shame!
  
  For research
  
  If the room cools down after you seal the container it'll feel tighter as well
My suspicion is that your stopper isn't sealing well, possibly from wear or just odd positioning. If you feel like ruining what's left of that Jim beam in the decanter you can run a little experiment. Clear the condensation out of the decanter and mark the current level. Leave it for a week and see if the level dropped to establish a baseline. After marking the change, coat the stopper in Vaseline and leave it for another week. See if that helped or not. If it helped then you've got a leak
- A quicker way to eliminate a variable would be to pour a glass of each to the same level and leave them both out for a day or two. If the levels remain consistent, it’s definitely something about the decanter.
I assume your decanter is transparent?

Lots of people assume Jim Beam whiskey got its name from some fellow names James Beam. But actually it’s a reference to its dual nature: the beverage can exist as both a liquid and an electromagnetic wave.

This is why Jim Beam is so cheap. They want to get it off the shelves before it disappears via Hawking radiation.

Your whiskey didn’t actually disappear. It changed.
Not what you're asking for, but unless you know your decanter is made from lead free crystal (most aren't), don't store booze in it for any amount of time. You should be safe to use it to serve a spirit in, but lead leaches into the spirit much quicker than you'd realise
- The lead adds sweetness though
  
  Only if it's lead acetate. You'd need vinegar or at least wine, not whisky.
- Do people actually keep around lead crystal shit still?!
  
  Yes. Most crystal has lead, it’s just how it works. It’s fine if you’re not a child and you don’t store it in there for long periods.
  
  I have some and use the glasses regularly. The decanter is and finished in 1-2 days though.
  
  If it has a deep resounding ring you might want to avoid it.
- No lead. It's not great quality or antique, I just liked the shape.
  
  That means it's a glass decanter, as crystal always has lead 😉
Do you live alone? I mean I've heard lots of stories where kids, spouses, visitors ... help themselves. And some booze just vanishes, or gets replaced.
- Or becomes cut with water
  
  Yeah, if only the cheap stuff does this, and there are teens in the household, I would bet that the stuff in its bottle is already plenty cut with water.
  
  I remember, as a teen, I’d avoid the expensive stuff just because that’d get me into more trouble probably. The cheap stuff? By the time anyone noticed, it was probably 80% water in the bottle 😁
How many kids do you have.
- None
  
  None that you know of
You just have a lot of angels that want their Angel Share
- Maybe if left to there own vices, they'll turn my beam into woodford.
Condensation means there is more water evaporating, not alcohol.

Keep it in a cooler place and this will reduce the evaporation rate.
- I doubt that it's water condensation. Based on some internet sleuthing I strongly suspect that it's alcohol.
  
  https://foodwine.com/alcohol-evaporation/
  
  Why it's happening for one and not the other, I'm not sure.
  
  it's probably the quality.
  
  https://nationalhomebrew.com.au/brewers-library/safety-foreshot
  
  The foreshot generally contains a quantity of Methanol, Acetone and various Aldehydes along with small amounts of wanted Ethanol.
  
  There's other even more volatile compounds in the cheaper stuff. They will evaporate even more easily than alcohol, though I'd suspect that they drag some along with it.
- I had considered that I wouldn't see condensation from alcohol evaporating, but I only noticed the level visibly dropping with Jim beam specifically.
  
  It could be as simple as the difference in color absorbing more heat from light, I suppose.
- Alcohol condenses too
- The water condensates after evaporating, the alcohol doesn't.
Different alcohol sources evaporate at different rates.

An experiment:

Zero out a scale with a glass

Put 4oz of Beam in the glass

Zero out a scale with another glass

Put 4oz of the other bourbon in that glass

Record total weight of each glass

Wait 24 hours

Weigh them again to see change

Pour fresh glasses

Try all 4 back to back to compare alcohol taste

My guess will be that unless you have a coffee or herb scale, you probably won't see a measurable difference, but you'll be able to taste more of a difference in the Beam.
Is your decanter over something warm? A TV? Cable box? Radiator? Heater register?

Something that will cause the likelihood of evaporation to go up?
If it’s lead crystal then don’t store alcohol in your decanter. It will slowly leach out over time. Crystal is meant to be used then stored away.
your roommates are drinking it.
- No roommates, my partner doesn't drink, and I can see condensation in the container.
  
  Your partner does drink.
What temperature is your house normally? Also what are the high and low temps experienced?
- Between 65 and 74
  
  The boiling point of ethanol is 78. That could be your problem
  
  Are there any windows that ever allow sunlight to shine on, or near, where the decanter is located?
If it has a rubber stopper, maybe prime it with a bit of booze to seal gaps. Also if it's older replace the rubber bits.
Preface: Not a fancy alcohol enjoyer.

My quick searching gave compromised stopper, oxidation and environmental conditions as possible causes. As to why only Jim Beam reacts visibly, might be due to its recipe causing different or more intense chemical reactions.
I wonder if the smaller amount of alcohol in Jim Beam evaporates more readily from the solution, for some reason? Maybe an age difference?
Is there a difference in alcohol level? Alcohol evaporates easier than water.
- Yes, but what I usually store is higher proof
White label Beam is 80 proof and Larceny small batch is 92 so it seems strange that Beam would evaporate since its a 6% different alcohol content. If you normally drink barrel strength 120-130 proof stuff I could see it. Bad seal on the decanter lid maybe?
Jim Beam has a lower alcohol content, and thus a higher water content. This is in line with seeing condensation on the inside. The water is likely evaporating.

79 comments