Is Helium Infused Beer Real?
Helium infused beer is supposed to be beer that has helium in it. Supposedly, this provides the resulting brew with a wide range of benefits that include but are not limited to a lighter feel, a longer-lasting product, and a lack of change in the taste of the beer. As a result, helium infused beer has managed to catch the interest of a lot of beer consumers out there. With that said, interested individuals might want to check the dates on which the announcements of helium infused beer were made, which should tell them much about this particular product.
Is Helium Infused Beer Real?
Simply put, helium infused beer is not a real product. Instead, it started out as an April Fool’s joke, which proved to be so popular that it picked up a life of its own. As a result, the concept of helium infused beer has popped up on numerous occasions over time. For example, multiple beer companies have made jokes about launching helium infused beer products. Furthermore, there has even been beer reviewers who reviewed cans of the fictitious beverage. Due to this, it is understandable if people think that helium infused beer is a real product, though they should know that it is not. In fact, unless something huge changes in the future, it will never be a real product.
Will Helium Infused Beer Ever Be Real?
First and foremost, helium is not one of the more soluble substances when introduced to water. The exact number is no more than 0.0016 grams’ worth of helium being dissolvable in an entire liter of beer, meaning that there wouldn’t be much of a point to infusing beer with helium. For comparison purposes, it is possible for 2.5 grams’ worth of helium to be dissolved in an entire liter of beer, thus making that particular substance much more useful in this particular context.
Theoretically, a beer brewer could force helium into beer even if it doesn’t dissolve, but once again, the problem is that there would be no real point to such a practice. The nature of helium means that undissolved helium will just gather together into one or two big bubbles of noble gas that will emerge from the can as soon as the seal is broken. Even worse, it is probable that the helium will come out with such speed that it will cause a fair amount of beer to spill out, which isn’t exactly the sort of thing that most beer consumers will want. Once more, this is a stark contrast to carbon dioxide, which will come out at a steady pace rather than all at once, thus enabling beer consumers to benefit from its presence instead of seeing it rush out without even being able to bring their mouth to the can’s opening.
At this point in time, some people might wonder about turning helium into its liquid form before introducing it to the beer. Once more, this is not a practical solution. After all, helium doesn’t reach its liquid form until it hits -220°F, which is so cold that the rest of the beer would be nothing more than a block of ice in a can. Simply put, this isn’t an option either for people who are fascinated by the idea of helium infused beer.
Finally, some people might be wonder about making a beer containing a helium compound rather than helium. Unfortunately, this is not a particular productive path to pursue either because helium is a noble gas. In short, helium is the least reactive of the elements, so much so that for a long time, people believed that it didn’t have any compounds at all. As a result, helium compounds are not the solution, which is without considering the fact that it wouldn’t result in actual helium infused beer even if it proves to be successful.
Summed up, helium infused beer isn’t a real product that can be found either on store shelves or through online websites. Certainly, there is some interest in such a product, but for the time being, there is no real way to make such a product because of the peculiar characteristics of helium that make it unsuitable for such a use. Moreover, even if such a product was ever made, chances are good that it would be nothing but a gimmick because there is no real upside to its inclusion in beer.