Lose 80% of carbonation by pouring a beer into a frosted glass?

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TkmLinus

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Stumbled upon this video and the gentleman explains that if you pour your beer into a frosted glass you lose 80% of carbonation. I agree with the fact that certain beer styles taste better when served warmer, but I don't get the supposed CO2 loss. Cold liquid can hold more co2, so it would seem to me that pouring into a warmer glass would release more co2. So what is the consensus? Is this guy telling the truth, is it really that bad to pour into a frosty glass(which I never do BTW)? Video link below. Cheers!

https://www.lowcountryweekend.com/say-no-to-frosted-pint-glasses/
 
I don't know if the facts are true. I do know that I don't like beer as well when at the cold temps they serve it here here in the USA. When I was in Germany, I noticed that the serving temps were not near as cold as here. To me the flavor comes through better when it's not so cold.

I stopped using frosty beer glasses if they bring me one, I just drink from the bottle or ask for a clean but room temp glass.

I think I'm in the minority on this though. My friends make fun of me when I do that and we are out at the tavern.

I suppose it might stand to reason that the ice crystals give the beer more nucleation points for CO2 to form from and gas off if CO2 needs such nucleation points.
 
if it's true you could probably prove it and weigh a pour both warm glass and frosted glass? it should make about a little over a gram difference?
 
I've noticed that beer poured into a frosted glass does tend to foam more, but I find it hard to believe that 80% of the CO2 is released right at that time. The cold beer is going to keep a lot of it in solution until it warms up.

Maybe the "craft beer expert" quoted in the article poured warm beer into a frosted glass.

He did use the term "probably," which tells me it was likely a wild-ass guess.
 
It would need to be frosted on the inside to make enough nucleation sites which would promote the " off gassing " but if 500ml of beer has 2.5 vols of CO2 in then that all coming out in a short space of time would be a foamy mess I'd have thought.
Drop a mintoe in a coke and it will foam up like mad, not sure why you'd want to do this at all.
 
dont-believe-the-meme.jpg
 
damn, i just tried my experiment.....


i had same glasses, one in the freezer for an hour, the other room temp (75f)...i put the warm glass on the scale, tared it pour a glass of cider, not fully carbed quite yet, but still...


the cider weighed 307.7gs , then i put the frozen glass on the scale, and damn did the scale start dropping, like a gram a second, i was thinking to myself holy, i could damn near carb an entire keg with that much co2!!!! to hell with spunding, i think i'm on to the next big thing!!!! but then... 🤔 💡

probably just the temp of the scale, and yeah.... when i let the scale warm back up and pour the frosted glass back into the warm one it only lost a gram, which is understandable because not like i squeegeed the glass for the transfer or anything.....
 
Right I'm a bit slow on the uptake having read @bracconiere experiment.
Frosted = frozen
I thought the thread and my comments except the true one from Abe, were about having an etched or sandblasted glass on the inside.
Lost in translation.
Slaps head.
 
DuncB said:
Right I'm a bit slow on the uptake having read @bracconiere experiment.
Frosted = frozen
I thought the thread and my comments except the true one from Abe, were about having an etched or sandblasted glass on the inside.
Lost in translation.
Slaps head.
Click to expand...


damn man! i had to actually go back and watch the video, and yeah frosted is frozen.....there for a second i thought it was beer glasses with labels on them! and i was being stupid! ;) :mug: lol
 
day_trippr said:
Never pour into a frosted anything. That's just crazy. Nucleation points galore. No bueno...
Click to expand...


LOL, coming from the guy with the nitro tap! saying there's to many nucleation points... 🤣


i watched the video, i think he might have been talking 80% of flavor not carbonation, or meant to..... :mug:


edit: can us crazies still add frosted flakes to our mash though?
 
I'm off to find the Hydrofluoric acid and etch the bottom inch of a glass or maybe the top inch. Might be a " nitro pour " with just CO2.
But I'm still keeping the Nitro tap and beer gas.
 
A frosted glass will definitely nucleate more than a cold or even warm glass. I don't understand American fixations with ice cold beers… the colder the beer the more muted the flavors… there are very few beers I prefer under 40f and most beers I prefer around 50f. If you need your beer in the 30s what flaws are you trying to hide? I usually wash my glass in hot water, then lower back down to room temp or lower with cold tap water before pouring. A cool glass will be the perfect balance for balancing out amount of head generated during the pour.
 
hotbeer said:
I think I'm in the minority on this though. My friends make fun of me when I do that and we are out at the tavern.
Click to expand...
Was also at a place in Vegas that only served the beer in frosted glasses. I asked for a non-frosted and my friends also laughed about this. After a couple of years they came around.

Elric said:
I don't understand American fixations with ice cold beers… the colder the beer the more muted the flavors…
Click to expand...
I have a "soft freeze" drawer that I stash some beers in the summertime for yardwork fodder. But mostly just Boston Lager and corona.
 
I can't walk very well with frosted glasses but sure as hell wouldn't wear a monacle, so I'll keep my spectacles warm. I just use tall beer glasses.
 
I'm a craft beer lover, and seasoned homebrewer, and I like cold beer <gasp!>. It annoyed me how so many people think that if you like your beer cold, that only means you drink Bud Light and Corona, and don't like the taste of beer. My wife loves Brussel sprouts, I can't stand the smell of the house when she cooks them- does that mean I don't like food???

Anyway, I did an experiment for an article a few years ago. I gathered a bunch of fellow craft beer fans and we sampled a bunch of different beers and rated them as they warmed up. I'm sure my experiment wouldn't stand up to scientific standards, but what was clear was there seemed to be two categories of craft beer fans. One that liked beer cold/cooler, and when it got warmer did not. And one that thought beers just kept getting better as they warmed up.

Below are links to the article I wrote on it. For some reason the link to all the detailed data plots is down. If I figure that out, I'll share that.


 
micraftbeer said:
... there seemed to be two categories of craft beer fans. One that liked beer cold/cooler, and when it got warmer did not. And one that thought beers just kept getting better as they warmed up.
Click to expand...
For me it depends on the beer but I don't prefer any at room temp, nor do I prefer any frosty cold.
Various taste and smell characteristics come out at different temps.
EX. Too warm frequently means too-much foam and the inability to get a swallow of actual beer in the important first one or two swallows.
Too cold and there often isn't enough foam and many of the smells are suppressed.
And different brews shine at different temps.
My opinion anyhow... for what it's worth ( hey that just made me think of Buffalo Springfield :) )

Edit: But I never prefer a frosted glass
 
I don't use frosted glasses, my beer isn't seen at its best in one.

R0010797.JPG


Last finings used were kettle finings. Does it qualify as a craft beer? Not that I'm bothered.
 

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