轻拍啤酒的侧面真的能减少泡沫吗?

轻拍啤酒的侧面真的能减少泡沫吗?

The long and storied history of beer is rife with colorful traditions.

悠久而又传奇的啤酒历史充满了丰富多彩的传统。

Canned beer — a relatively modern development — doesn't enjoy that kind of history. But there's one custom that's been around since the first can of suds hit store shelves in 1935.

罐装啤酒——一个相对现代的发展——不喜欢那种历史。但自从1935年第一罐肥皂水上架以来，有一个习俗就一直存在。

A shaken can of beer is an accident waiting to happen. (Photo: Mariyana M/Shutterstock)

That's the traditional tap on the side of the can — believed to prevent all that fizz from erupting when you open it.

这是传统的轻敲易拉罐侧面的方法，据说可以防止你打开易拉罐时所有的气泡都冒出来。

The trouble is, no one has actually taken the time to confirm if it actually works. Sure, you might have gotten fizz on your chin once or twice, even after tapping. But who's to say that tap didn't save you from an even worse fate — an entire face-full of beer?

问题是，没有人真正花时间去确认它是否真的有效。当然，你可能会有一两次下巴起泡，即使是在轻敲之后。但谁又能说轻拍没有把你从更糟糕的情况中拯救出来呢?

Beer drinkers, on the whole, may not pay that much attention to the issue.

总的来说，喝啤酒的人可能不会太注意这个问题。

There's at least some theoretical basis for the tap. As MIT Technology Review notes, a tap should free up bubbles that may cling to the inner wall of a can. Once those bubbles float to the top of the can, they dissipate politely. Most importantly, no one should get wet.

至少有一些理论基础。正如《麻省理工学院技术评论》所指出的，轻敲应该会释放出附着在易拉罐内壁上的气泡。一旦这些气泡浮到罐子的顶部，它们就会礼貌地消散。最重要的是，没有人会弄湿。

That reasoning may be good enough for most beer drinkers, but scientists tend not to let these things slide.

这种推理对大多数啤酒饮用者来说可能足够好了，但科学家们往往不会让这些事情随波逐流。

So researchers at the University of Southern Denmark set out to determine if that tap actually eased the volatile nature of canned beer. Especially after a can has been shaken, priming all those tiny bubbles from the carbonation process for an explosion.

因此，南丹麦大学的研究人员开始研究这种水龙头是否真的能缓解罐装啤酒的挥发性。尤其是在一个易拉罐被摇过之后，从碳酸化过程中产生的小气泡就会爆炸。

SPOILER ALERT: It doesn't.

剧透警告:不是的。

But it's worth raising a glass to the researchers for their remarkable dedication to the experiment. For their study, published this month in the journal arXiv, they tested the tap theory on no less than 1,000 cans of beer.

但值得为研究人员对实验的卓越贡献举杯。他们的研究本月发表在《arXiv》杂志上，他们在不少于1000罐啤酒上测试了这一理论。

"Given the strong Danish tradition in beer brewing and consumption, we set out to settle this matter with high-quality evidence," the researchers explained to MIT Technology Review.

研究人员向《麻省理工学院技术评论》解释说:“鉴于丹麦啤酒酿造和消费的悠久传统，我们打算用高质量的证据来解决这个问题。”

Scientists were rightfully concerned about beer spillage. (Photo: PixieMe)

No, they didn't drink all that beer themselves. Staff and students at the university were invited to partake. For their experiment, researchers divided the cans into two groups: shaken and not shaken.

不，他们自己没有喝完所有的啤酒。该大学的教职工和学生被邀请参加。在他们的实验中，研究人员把罐子分成两组:摇过的和没摇过的。

The former were particularly abused, getting swished around by a machine at 440 rpm for a full two minutes. The researchers say that's about equal to being carried on a bicycle for 10 minutes.

前者尤其容易被滥用，在440转/分钟的转速下被一台机器来回甩动整整两分钟。研究人员表示，这大约相当于骑自行车10分钟。

Once those cans were all fired up, researchers gave them a few taps. The beer testers weren't told which cans were potential fizz bombs. But those shaken cans did erupt as expected, losing about 3.45 grams of beer upon being opened. Not surprisingly, the unshaken cans lost much less beer, at around half a gram.

当这些易拉罐全部点燃后，研究人员给敲了它们几下。啤酒测试者没有被告知哪些罐子是潜在的气泡炸弹。但这些摇摇晃晃的啤酒罐果然如预期般爆发了，打开时损失了约3.45克啤酒。毫不奇怪，未摇过的啤酒罐损失少得多，约半克。

And those three taps? They didn't make any difference on how much fizz spilled over, shaken or unshaken.

那三下呢?不管是摇过还是没摇过，它们对溢出多少气泡没有任何影响。

Researchers aren't exactly sure why the tap method failed. But they suspect barley proteins may keep the bubbles from rising to the top of the can and dissipating. For that, a much harder tap may be required. But then, of course, you might be dangerously close to making those bubbles angry those bubbles — and getting a face-full of foam.

研究人员并不确定轻拍方法失败的原因。但他们怀疑大麦蛋白可能会阻止气泡升到罐顶并消散。为此，可能需要加大力度。但是，当然，你可能会很危险地接近于让那些泡泡生气，并看到一个满是泡沫的脸。

If at all possible, the scientists suggest, it's best to simply wait and let those bubbles calm down on their own.

科学家们建议，如果可能的话，最好还是等一等，让这些气泡自己平静下来。