Today, my wonderful hubby decided to surprise me with a treat: homemade root beer!
He bought the root beer extract (he'd tried to find Zatarain's, but the store didn't carry it) and dry ice. My husband then proceeded to make the root beer, mostly according to the package directions, but using water carbonated with the dry ice instead of soda water as the directions called for.
But what happened next was both a spectacular display of physics, and something to make Walter White and Jesse Eisenberg jealous.
After he poured the finished root beer into my beer growler for storage (which also contained dry ice to maintain carbonation), the pressure from the carbon dioxide in the dry ice caused the root beer to explode, the force of which shattered a glass on the counter top. The only reason my growler hadn't turned into a root beer and carbon dioxide-filled bomb was cuz my husband, seeing how the root beer was rapidly bubbling up in the growler, quickly took the cap off just in time to see his creation blow.
I actually had not witnessed the explosion. I was in the bedroom, playing with the baby, when I heard a loud BANG! My first thought was that my growler had exploded. My husband reassured me that it hadn't, but called me into the kitchen to survey the damage.
There was root beer EVERYWHERE. It was on the floor in the kitchen with the broken glass, the ceiling, the counter, and the root beer even made it all the way up into the living room! The work area and server were splashed with sugary brown root beer, as were our shoes and the front door. My husband spent the rest of the morning cleaning up the fallout and vacuuming up the broken glass.
Miraculously, the growler survived. Its cap went missing (if it hasn't been blown into another dimension, I suspect it's under the fridge or between the counter and the fridge), but the vessel remained intact. My husband, though, cut his hand. How it happened remains a mystery, but I suspect it was from flying bits of dry ice.
I refused to drink what was left of the root beer since the remaining glass was covered in blood from my husband's hand. After bandaging his hand, my hubby wiped down the glass, drank the remaining root beer, and said it was tasty.
As it turned out, the critical error was not letting the carbon dioxide vent before sealing the bottle. My husband resolves to try again, but hopefully with less explosive results next time.
And I'm still searching for my growler cap...
*Update 8/28-I found the cap! It was somewhere clean on the other side of the living room. The Doctor was kind enough to drop it off as the TARDIS buzzed by during the night. Hope it helped defeat whatever villain he had to deal with next.
He bought the root beer extract (he'd tried to find Zatarain's, but the store didn't carry it) and dry ice. My husband then proceeded to make the root beer, mostly according to the package directions, but using water carbonated with the dry ice instead of soda water as the directions called for.
 |
| Dry ice in water |
 |
| So far, so good |
 |
| Just about ready to bottle up |
But what happened next was both a spectacular display of physics, and something to make Walter White and Jesse Eisenberg jealous.
After he poured the finished root beer into my beer growler for storage (which also contained dry ice to maintain carbonation), the pressure from the carbon dioxide in the dry ice caused the root beer to explode, the force of which shattered a glass on the counter top. The only reason my growler hadn't turned into a root beer and carbon dioxide-filled bomb was cuz my husband, seeing how the root beer was rapidly bubbling up in the growler, quickly took the cap off just in time to see his creation blow.
 |
| Oops... |
I actually had not witnessed the explosion. I was in the bedroom, playing with the baby, when I heard a loud BANG! My first thought was that my growler had exploded. My husband reassured me that it hadn't, but called me into the kitchen to survey the damage.
There was root beer EVERYWHERE. It was on the floor in the kitchen with the broken glass, the ceiling, the counter, and the root beer even made it all the way up into the living room! The work area and server were splashed with sugary brown root beer, as were our shoes and the front door. My husband spent the rest of the morning cleaning up the fallout and vacuuming up the broken glass.
 |
| The aftermath |
Miraculously, the growler survived. Its cap went missing (if it hasn't been blown into another dimension, I suspect it's under the fridge or between the counter and the fridge), but the vessel remained intact. My husband, though, cut his hand. How it happened remains a mystery, but I suspect it was from flying bits of dry ice.
I refused to drink what was left of the root beer since the remaining glass was covered in blood from my husband's hand. After bandaging his hand, my hubby wiped down the glass, drank the remaining root beer, and said it was tasty.
 |
| The costliest glass of root beer in the world |
As it turned out, the critical error was not letting the carbon dioxide vent before sealing the bottle. My husband resolves to try again, but hopefully with less explosive results next time.
 |
| No matter what, "science MUST be served!" |
And I'm still searching for my growler cap...
*Update 8/28-I found the cap! It was somewhere clean on the other side of the living room. The Doctor was kind enough to drop it off as the TARDIS buzzed by during the night. Hope it helped defeat whatever villain he had to deal with next.
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