Liquid nitrogen cocktails

Odysseus

Just seen ths on the news, I don't drink much really so this is the first I have heard of these. What the story with these? Anybody tried them? It brings images of the terminator to mind for me. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/08/teenager-stomach-liquid-nitrogen-cocktail?newsfeed=true

starbelgrade

That's Heston Bluementhal fucked.

My name is URL

How could anyone possibly see that as a good idea?

vicwatson

Why anyway, why? Bah !

davet82

a frozen poo the morning after i'd imagine...

still better than a guinness one i suppose

admiralofthefleet

starbelgrade wrote: »

That's Heston Bluementhal fucked.

he countered with a bat blood and bulls bollox cocktail

GLaDOS

I've seen them before ,but always assumed it was dry ice? Liquid nitrogen seems a bit ridiculous.

kowloon

ScienceNerd wrote: »

I've seen them before ,but always assumed it was dry ice? Liquid nitrogen seems a bit ridiculous.

That's what I thought, when I saw this mentioned in another thread I thought liquid nitrogen cocktail might have been meant in a 'cocktail of dangerous chemicals' type way, not an actual drink.

For Forks Sake

Liquid nitrogen they said, be grand they said...

humbert

It's an inert molecule so not toxic. If it's used to flash freeze drinks then it would normally boil off very very quickly. However if any of it remained then it could do enormous damage as the temperature difference between it and you is around 250 degrees Celsius.

snausages

How ****ing stupid do you have to be to serve liquid nitrogen cocktails. And more importantly, how ****ing stupid do you have to be to drink it. Methinks that safe-ed classes in schools should be obliged to screen Terminator 2 to their students so something like this doesn't happen again.

A2LUE42

They either used too much nitrogen or the person drank it much faster than expected, or both. Unfortunately, for the 18 year old they have paid a hefty price for this.

Wasn't there some cases a few years ago where some idiots ran a contest where they got people to sit on a block of ice(but used nitrogen or something instead) and one of the contestants had to have a chunk of their ass amputated.

Odysseus

A2LUE42 wrote: »

Wasn't there some cases a few years ago where some idiots ran a contest where they got people to sit on a block of ice(but used nitrogen or something instead) and one of the contestants had to have a chunk of their ass amputated.

God that was a half assed idea.

humbert

A2LUE42 wrote: »

They either used too much nitrogen or the person drank it much faster than expected, or both. Unfortunately, for the 18 year old they have paid a hefty price for this.

Wasn't there some cases a few years ago where some idiots ran a contest where they got people to sit on a block of ice(but used nitrogen or something instead) and one of the contestants had to have a chunk of their ass amputated.

I suspect the something else was dry ice, much colder. Also, it sublimes so no liquid phase.

RADIUS

Yes the girl done something very stupid but she is only 18 and obviously naive. Not everyone knows what liquid nitrogen is. I feel sorry for her as she obviously trusted the establishment to serve safe drinks.

The bar definitely has a lot to answer for here and I can see a massive law suit coming out of this.

Are there no restrictions on serving industrial grade chemicals in drinks in the UK/Ireland?

eth0

RADIUS wrote: »

Yes the girl done something very stupid but she is only 18 and obviously naive. Not everyone knows what liquid nitrogen is. I feel sorry for her as she obviously trusted the establishment to serve safe drinks.

The bar definitely has a lot to answer for here and I can see a massive law suit coming out of this.

Are there no restrictions on serving industrial grade chemicals in drinks in the UK/Ireland?

No sure every cola has a healthy dose of phosphoric acid in it

humbert

RADIUS wrote: »

Yes the girl done something very stupid but she is only 18 and obviously naive. Not everyone knows what liquid nitrogen is. I feel sorry for her as she obviously trusted the establishment to serve safe drinks.

The bar definitely has a lot to answer for here and I can see a massive law suit coming out of this.

Are there no restrictions on serving industrial grade chemicals in drinks in the UK/Ireland?

I too would blame the bar entirely but what the served is the main component of air, it's just that the temperature was extreme.

conorhal

humbert wrote: »

I too would blame the bar entirely but what the served is the main component of air, it's just that the temperature was extreme.

After reading that, I actually find myself thinking, for the first and perhaps only time, 'Health and Safty' probably should have gone Mad! in this case.....

RADIUS

humbert wrote: »

I too would blame the bar entirely but what the served is the main component of air, it's just that the temperature was extreme.

Your right of course, I understand that nitrogen is ingested in abundance by us.

This is probably how the bar owners justified serving it. Drinking something that cold must be as bad as eating hot charcoal. After all , we ingest carbon all the time.

petersburg2002

Seems drastic to remove her stomach. Wonder what her long term prognosis would be? Looks like that bar will be going out of business pretty soon!

Faith+1

A2LUE42 wrote: »

Wasn't there some cases a few years ago where some idiots ran a contest where they got people to sit on a block of ice(but used nitrogen or something instead) and one of the contestants had to have a chunk of their ass amputated.

LOl!

Emeraldy Pebbles

ScienceNerd wrote: »

I've seen them before ,but always assumed it was dry ice? Liquid nitrogen seems a bit ridiculous.

Yeah, is it not dry ice? Or at least meant to be?

Emeraldy Pebbles

humbert wrote: »

It's an inert molecule so not toxic.

According to the article, it can cause severe internal damage if ingested. As indeed happened to this girl.

Emeraldy Pebbles

RADIUS wrote: »

Are there no restrictions on serving industrial grade chemicals in drinks in the UK/Ireland?

I'd be surprised if there wasn't. After all, laboratory ethanol is treated chemically so that it doesn't get taxed as heavily as ethanol destined for consumption. The bar seriously dropped the ball here.

Pyridine

humbert wrote: »

It's an inert molecule so not toxic. If it's used to flash freeze drinks then it would normally boil off very very quickly. However if any of it remained then it could do enormous damage as the temperature difference between it and you is around 250 degrees Celsius.

Liquid Nitrogen is INCREDIBLY toxic! I have no idea where you came up with the non-toxic bit there!

Pyridine

Emeraldy Pebbles wrote: »

I'd be surprised if there wasn't. After all, laboratory ethanol is treated chemically so that it doesn't get taxed as heavily as ethanol destined for consumption. The bar seriously dropped the ball here.

Emm 96 % Ethanol is available from Aldrich. If you hold an alcohol bond (which you pay for each year to the taxman) you don´t have to pay duty. If you don´t hold the bond then you DO have to pay duty.

If you are thinking of absolute alcohol which is 99% then it is stabilised by heavy metals which are toxic.

JohnMarston

How could they afford to buy, store and serve liquid nitrogen? That stuff isnt exactly cheap.
And how demented do you need to be to think its a perfectly safe drink?

Emeraldy Pebbles

Pyridine wrote: »

Emm 96 % Ethanol is available from Aldrich.

I know that. It likely has been treated so not fit for human consumption. If not, then grand. But thanks for letting me know that ethanol is available from a laboratory supplier.

Pyridine

JohnMarston wrote: »

How could they afford to buy, store and serve liquid nitrogen? That stuff isnt exactly cheap.
And how demented do you need to be to think its a perfectly safe drink?

Liquid Nitrogen isn´t actually that expensive. Last time I saw it was about 2€ a litre and you can get it from BOC.

As for storage, a 25L dewer would last you about 3-4 days depending on storage and ambient conditions.

A2LUE42

Faith+1 wrote: »

LOl!

Found it. No amputation, but skin grafts were required.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2691229.stm

JohnMarston

Pyridine wrote: »

Liquid Nitrogen isn´t actually that expensive. Last time I saw it was about 2€ a litre and you can get it from BOC.

As for storage, a 25L dewer would last you about 3-4 days depending on storage and ambient conditions.

oh right. Still, i have a hard time imagining a barman been asked to handle that stuff

Pyridine

Emeraldy Pebbles wrote: »

I know that. It likely has been treated so not fit for human consumption. If not, then grand. But thanks for letting me know that ethanol is available from a laboratory supplier.

You misunderstand.... the 96 % which is available from Aldrich is drinkable. It is NOT treated chemically to prevent anyone from drinking it and you STILL have to pay duty on it when you buy it for your lab!

The 99 % is not. But not because it has been treated to prevent anyone form taking a sip.

BizzyC

The people who put that drink on the menu should be put in prison for endangerment...

Probably some twit who thought it would be a great marketing gimmick

stevenmu

RADIUS wrote:

Are there no restrictions on serving industrial grade chemicals in drinks in the UK/Ireland?

Emeraldy Pebbles wrote: »

I'd be surprised if there wasn't. After all, laboratory ethanol is treated chemically so that it doesn't get taxed as heavily as ethanol destined for consumption. The bar seriously dropped the ball here.

It's quite common for beers to be pasteurised, which also removes all of the alcohol. Industrial ethanol is then added to the beer to give it it's alcohol content back.

So it's actually very common for industrial grade chemicals to be served in drinks.

And that's before you start looking at all the preservatives, stabilisers, flavour enhancers etc that go into your average mass-produced beers.

(I don't even want to think about what goes into alcopop****e)

JohnMarston

BizzyC wrote: »

The people who put that drink on the menu should be put in prison for endangerment...

Probably some twit who thought it would be a great marketing gimmick

Exactly. You would think they'd research the stuff before adding it to drinks.

jmayo

stevenmu wrote: »

It's quite common for beers to be pasteurised, which also removes all of the alcohol. Industrial ethanol is then added to the beer to give it it's alcohol content back.

So it's actually very common for industrial grade chemicals to be served in drinks.

And that's before you start looking at all the preservatives, stabilisers, flavour enhancers etc that go into your average mass-produced beers.

(I don't even want to think about what goes into alcopop****e)

Not to mention antifreeze in Austrian wine.

Plazaman

See one been served once but never tried one. The whole idea is for cosmetic purposes whilst the drink is being served. It appears the girl drank the cocktail before the Liquid Nitrogen had fully evaporated or whatever the hell it does. Of course this would be similar to many the eejit I've seen drinking a flaming sambuca without blowing out the flame first.

Cocktails are dangerous kids and I think the good old pint of Carlsberg is hard bet when it comes to nights out.

djk1000

petersburg2002 wrote: »

Seems drastic to remove her stomach. Wonder what her long term prognosis would be? Looks like that bar will be going out of business pretty soon!

Knew a guy that had most of his stomach removed due to cancer. He was fine, but had to constantly eat very small amounts of food throughout the day to get the nutrition into him.

Emeraldy Pebbles

Pyridine wrote: »

You misunderstand.... the 96 % which is available from Aldrich is drinkable. It is NOT treated chemically to prevent anyone from drinking it and you STILL have to pay duty on it when you buy it for your lab!

Actually, that's not what I've read. I read it in an American college textbook, that in order for it not to be taxed heavily, it is treated. It might have changed and it may never have happened in Europe but I'm not completely pulling this from my arse! Duty would likely have to paid even if it was treated but probably not as high of duty. Anyway, that's all I've to say about that.

MadsL

Pyridine wrote: »

Liquid Nitrogen is INCREDIBLY toxic! I have no idea where you came up with the non-toxic bit there!

LN2 is the liquid form of a gas you are currently breathing, air is 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.039% carbon dioxide...roughly.

So Liquid Nitrogen is INCREDIBLY COLD! Not INCREDIBLY toxic! However breathing 100% Nitrogen will make you go bye-bye in a euphoric state.

JohnMarston

Pyridine wrote: »

You misunderstand.... the 96 % which is available from Aldrich is drinkable. It is NOT treated chemically to prevent anyone from drinking it and you STILL have to pay duty on it when you buy it for your lab!

The 99 % is not. But not because it has been treated to prevent anyone form taking a sip.

Most people are smart enough to know not to drink such stuff. Going into a bar and ordering a drink should not be like playing a game of russian roulette with your life

humbert

Emeraldy Pebbles wrote: »

According to the article, it can cause severe internal damage if ingested. As indeed happened to this girl.

Pyridine wrote: »

Liquid Nitrogen is INCREDIBLY toxic! I have no idea where you came up with the non-toxic bit there!

It's possible you know something about a change in it's chemical properties as a liquid that I don't but I'll need you to back that up?

Emeraldy Pebbles

humbert wrote: »

It's possible you know something about a change in it's chemical properties as a liquid that I don't but I'll need you to back that up?

I never it was toxic, I said it caused damage. And it did. The article backs it up.

petersburg2002

djk1000 wrote: »

Knew a guy that had most of his stomach removed due to cancer. He was fine, but had to constantly eat very small amounts of food throughout the day to get the nutrition into him.

Thanks for that. Sounds life altering alright. And at only 18 years old. That's tough.

humbert

Emeraldy Pebbles wrote: »

I never it was toxic, I said it caused damage. And it did. The article backs it up.

I don't really know why you quoted what I said then but fair enough.

Emeraldy Pebbles

humbert wrote: »

I don't really know why you quoted what I said then but fair enough.

Well, it might not be toxic but certain forms of it can cause a lot of damage. So I didn't really see the point in saying that nitrogen in non-toxic. Toxicity isn't the only thing that classifies something as hazardous.

thecornflake

Whats next Joe ??? Liquid He cocktails, that what Joe.

They think they're so cool.

msg11

Feel sorry for the girl. Personally myself, if I heard the words 'Liquid Nitrogen and cocktail or food/beer' the alarm bells would be going off in my head that it is not something your body would want to be dealing with. I would not even know it would mess your stomach up big time but you would just get the vibe that it is not good.

So they took the girls stomach out ? How will see digest food etc.. Someone fooked up big time on this one.

humbert

humbert wrote: »

It's an inert molecule so not toxic. If it's used to flash freeze drinks then it would normally boil off very very quickly. However if any of it remained then it could do enormous damage as the temperature difference between it and you is around 250 degrees Celsius.

Emeraldy Pebbles wrote: »

Well, it might not be toxic but certain forms of it can cause a lot of damage. So I didn't really see the point in saying that nitrogen in non-toxic. Toxicity isn't the only thing that classifies something as hazardous.

I feel I covered that adequately.

sebastianlieken

I'm surprised her stomach didn't explode! Liquid nitrogen in the stomach, expanding to 37c. Nitrogen gas will expand to approx. 700 times it's liquid volume.

Liquid Nitrogen cocktails... seriously.

humbert

sebastianlieken wrote: »

I'm surprised her stomach didn't explode! Liquid nitrogen in the stomach, expanding to 37c. Nitrogen gas will expand to approx. 700 times it's liquid volume.

Liquid Nitrogen cocktails... seriously.

The same thought occurred to me. I'm also surprised (and glad) her oesophagus survived. Perhaps it wasn't direct contact with liquid nitrogen but a flash frozen drink might be very cold and potentially have sharp edges.