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 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
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.
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.
Alcohol condenses too
The water condensates after evaporating, the alcohol doesn’t.