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?
Condensation means there is more water evaporating, not alcohol.
Keep it in a cooler place and this will reduce the evaporation rate.
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.
The water condensates after evaporating, the alcohol doesn’t.
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.
Alcohol condenses too
