輕拍啤酒的側(cè)面真的能減少泡沫嗎?

輕拍啤酒的側(cè)面真的能減少泡沫嗎?

The long and storied history of beer is rife with colorful traditions.

悠久而又傳奇的啤酒歷史充滿(mǎn)了豐富多彩的傳統(tǒng)。

Canned beer — a relatively modern development — doesn't enjoy that kind of history. But there's one custom that's been around since the first can of suds hit store shelves in 1935.

罐裝啤酒——一個(gè)相對(duì)現(xiàn)代的發(fā)展——不喜歡那種歷史。但自從1935年第一罐肥皂水上架以來(lái)，有一個(gè)習(xí)俗就一直存在。

A shaken can of beer is an accident waiting to happen. (Photo: Mariyana M/Shutterstock)

That's the traditional tap on the side of the can — believed to prevent all that fizz from erupting when you open it.

這是傳統(tǒng)的輕敲易拉罐側(cè)面的方法，據(jù)說(shuō)可以防止你打開(kāi)易拉罐時(shí)所有的氣泡都冒出來(lái)。

The trouble is, no one has actually taken the time to confirm if it actually works. Sure, you might have gotten fizz on your chin once or twice, even after tapping. But who's to say that tap didn't save you from an even worse fate — an entire face-full of beer?

問(wèn)題是，沒(méi)有人真正花時(shí)間去確認(rèn)它是否真的有效。當(dāng)然，你可能會(huì)有一兩次下巴起泡，即使是在輕敲之后。但誰(shuí)又能說(shuō)輕拍沒(méi)有把你從更糟糕的情況中拯救出來(lái)呢?

Beer drinkers, on the whole, may not pay that much attention to the issue.

總的來(lái)說(shuō)，喝啤酒的人可能不會(huì)太注意這個(gè)問(wèn)題。

There's at least some theoretical basis for the tap. As MIT Technology Review notes, a tap should free up bubbles that may cling to the inner wall of a can. Once those bubbles float to the top of the can, they dissipate politely. Most importantly, no one should get wet.

至少有一些理論基礎(chǔ)。正如《麻省理工學(xué)院技術(shù)評(píng)論》所指出的，輕敲應(yīng)該會(huì)釋放出附著在易拉罐內(nèi)壁上的氣泡。一旦這些氣泡浮到罐子的頂部，它們就會(huì)禮貌地消散。最重要的是，沒(méi)有人會(huì)弄濕。

That reasoning may be good enough for most beer drinkers, but scientists tend not to let these things slide.

這種推理對(duì)大多數(shù)啤酒飲用者來(lái)說(shuō)可能足夠好了，但科學(xué)家們往往不會(huì)讓這些事情隨波逐流。

So researchers at the University of Southern Denmark set out to determine if that tap actually eased the volatile nature of canned beer. Especially after a can has been shaken, priming all those tiny bubbles from the carbonation process for an explosion.

因此，南丹麥大學(xué)的研究人員開(kāi)始研究這種水龍頭是否真的能緩解罐裝啤酒的揮發(fā)性。尤其是在一個(gè)易拉罐被搖過(guò)之后，從碳酸化過(guò)程中產(chǎn)生的小氣泡就會(huì)爆炸。

SPOILER ALERT: It doesn't.

劇透警告:不是的。

But it's worth raising a glass to the researchers for their remarkable dedication to the experiment. For their study, published this month in the journal arXiv, they tested the tap theory on no less than 1,000 cans of beer.

但值得為研究人員對(duì)實(shí)驗(yàn)的卓越貢獻(xiàn)舉杯。他們的研究本月發(fā)表在《arXiv》雜志上，他們?cè)诓簧儆?000罐啤酒上測(cè)試了這一理論。

"Given the strong Danish tradition in beer brewing and consumption, we set out to settle this matter with high-quality evidence," the researchers explained to MIT Technology Review.

研究人員向《麻省理工學(xué)院技術(shù)評(píng)論》解釋說(shuō):“鑒于丹麥啤酒釀造和消費(fèi)的悠久傳統(tǒng)，我們打算用高質(zhì)量的證據(jù)來(lái)解決這個(gè)問(wèn)題。”

Scientists were rightfully concerned about beer spillage. (Photo: PixieMe)

No, they didn't drink all that beer themselves. Staff and students at the university were invited to partake. For their experiment, researchers divided the cans into two groups: shaken and not shaken.

不，他們自己沒(méi)有喝完所有的啤酒。該大學(xué)的教職工和學(xué)生被邀請(qǐng)參加。在他們的實(shí)驗(yàn)中，研究人員把罐子分成兩組:搖過(guò)的和沒(méi)搖過(guò)的。

The former were particularly abused, getting swished around by a machine at 440 rpm for a full two minutes. The researchers say that's about equal to being carried on a bicycle for 10 minutes.

前者尤其容易被濫用，在440轉(zhuǎn)/分鐘的轉(zhuǎn)速下被一臺(tái)機(jī)器來(lái)回甩動(dòng)整整兩分鐘。研究人員表示，這大約相當(dāng)于騎自行車(chē)10分鐘。

Once those cans were all fired up, researchers gave them a few taps. The beer testers weren't told which cans were potential fizz bombs. But those shaken cans did erupt as expected, losing about 3.45 grams of beer upon being opened. Not surprisingly, the unshaken cans lost much less beer, at around half a gram.

當(dāng)這些易拉罐全部點(diǎn)燃后，研究人員給敲了它們幾下。啤酒測(cè)試者沒(méi)有被告知哪些罐子是潛在的氣泡炸彈。但這些搖搖晃晃的啤酒罐果然如預(yù)期般爆發(fā)了，打開(kāi)時(shí)損失了約3.45克啤酒。毫不奇怪，未搖過(guò)的啤酒罐損失少得多，約半克。

And those three taps? They didn't make any difference on how much fizz spilled over, shaken or unshaken.

那三下呢?不管是搖過(guò)還是沒(méi)搖過(guò)，它們對(duì)溢出多少氣泡沒(méi)有任何影響。

Researchers aren't exactly sure why the tap method failed. But they suspect barley proteins may keep the bubbles from rising to the top of the can and dissipating. For that, a much harder tap may be required. But then, of course, you might be dangerously close to making those bubbles angry those bubbles — and getting a face-full of foam.

研究人員并不確定輕拍方法失敗的原因。但他們懷疑大麥蛋白可能會(huì)阻止氣泡升到罐頂并消散。為此，可能需要加大力度。但是，當(dāng)然，你可能會(huì)很危險(xiǎn)地接近于讓那些泡泡生氣，并看到一個(gè)滿(mǎn)是泡沫的臉。

If at all possible, the scientists suggest, it's best to simply wait and let those bubbles calm down on their own.

科學(xué)家們建議，如果可能的話，最好還是等一等，讓這些氣泡自己平靜下來(lái)。