Ice cream melts and beer gets warm in hot weather

And now for something completely different: An item about a major discovery by a reporter rather than by a scientist. The Edmonton Journal is a giant advertising flyer masquerading as a newspaper that's heading in the same direction as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Tucson Citizen; it will likely fold as a print newspaper and exist as an online-only collection of blogs. An example of the kind of story that frequently gets put on the front page is this ice cream "scoop" by Manisha Krishnan, published on July 11, 2012:

EDMONTON - With temperatures soaring Tuesday to 31 C in Edmonton, concerns about heat stroke and power shortages were top of mind for many.

But the Journal set out to address a couple of other important issues. Specifically, ­what type of ice cream can beat the heat? And how long does it take before a beer sitting in the sun becomes undrinkable?

Armed with samples, a thermometer and cameras, we captured the results of two experiments.

Here is what we discovered:


Experiment 1: Battle of the cones

Objective: Find out how long it takes for ice cream to melt in the sun.

Hypothesis: Treats that are frozen solid, such as Creamsicles, last the longest.

Results: Ice cream is usually great but the sweet, sticky remnants of it running down an enclosed fist is not...

...Experiment 2: Beer blues

Objective: Determine how long it takes for beer to become undrinkably warm.

Hypothesis: Around 15 minutes. Having said that, there are some people who might never find beer undrinkable.

Results: Drinking a cold beer is one of the most enjoyable activities to indulge in on a scorcher. But at what point do those rays start to ruin a delicious drink?

We settled down with a pint of Mill Street Organic Ale on a sunny patio at The Pourhouse Bier Bistro to find out. It was 31 C at 4:15 p.m.

The plan was to record temperature increases every few minutes and ask tester Jorge Lima, 19, to share his thoughts on the taste of the beverage.

The beer came out of the tap at 4 C. Eight minutes later it was up by 11 C.

“It’s still drinkable. It’s not at the temperature you’d want it to be,” Lima said.

By 4:40 p.m., the beer had reached about 20 C.

“It’s getting to the point where it’s not enjoyable any more. You’re just finishing it because you already spent the money,” said Lima, adding that the beer smelled a lot stronger and had a metallic after-taste.