Helium Beer: Australia's Legal Drinking Scene Explored

Helium beer has been the subject of fascination and intrigue since it first appeared in April 2014, when Stone Brewing released a video announcing their new Stochasticity Project Cr(He)am Ale with Helium. The video, which was released on April Fool's Day, sparked a wave of interest and curiosity, with people all over the world, including Australia, eager to get their hands on this unique brew. Despite the apparent demand, the question remains: is helium beer even a real product, or just an elaborate prank?

Helium beer is an April Fool's joke

The following day, on March 31, 2015, a German-language podcast called Die BierProbierer ("The Beer Tasters") released a video titled "Helium Beer Test." The video showed two men allegedly sipping on helium beer, with a noticeable change in their voices after drinking the beverage. This video has since been replicated by dozens of viral Facebook video publishers worldwide and has racked up millions of views.

However, despite the convincing nature of these videos, helium beer is not real and is, in fact, scientifically impossible. As Rick Blankemeier explains, there are three reasons why:

• Helium is not soluble in water, or beer, so you cannot carbonate beer with helium like you can with carbon dioxide or nitrogen.
• Adding liquid helium would be impossible, as it turns from liquid to gas at -220°F, which would result in frozen beer.
• Even if you could add helium to beer, it would cause gushing because helium is not soluble in beer.

So, while the idea of a beer that makes your voice high-pitched is certainly entertaining, it's nothing more than an elaborate prank.

It's not possible to carbonate beer with helium

It is not possible to carbonate beer with helium. While the idea of helium beer has captured the imagination of beer enthusiasts worldwide, it is nothing more than a clever April Fool's Day prank. The notion of helium beer first surfaced on April 1, 2014, when Stone Brewing Co. announced the release of Stochasticity Project Cr(He)am Ale with Helium. This sparked a wave of curiosity and excitement among craft beer lovers, who were intrigued by the idea of a beer that could make their voices sound funny.

However, the laws of science tell us that helium beer is simply not feasible. The primary reason lies in the nature of helium itself. Helium is a unique element with distinct properties that set it apart from other gases commonly used in carbonation, such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen. One key characteristic is that helium is not soluble in water. This fundamental incompatibility with water makes it impossible to infuse beer with helium successfully. Beer, being predominantly water, simply cannot mix or bind with helium.

Even if one could somehow infuse beer with helium, the result would be far from desirable. The extremely low temperature required to liquefy helium would instantly freeze the beer, turning it into a solid block of ice. Additionally, the insolubility of helium in beer would lead to gushing, creating a messy and unsatisfying drinking experience.

Some intrepid souls have attempted to create helium beer through experimentation. The team at Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) tried to "heliumnate" a stout beer by subjecting it to helium pressure. However, their efforts yielded no change in the pitch of their voices, and the stout looked and tasted no different from a traditionally nitrogenated stout.

In conclusion, while the idea of helium beer is intriguing, it remains firmly in the realm of fantasy. The scientific principles governing the behaviour of helium and its interaction with water present insurmountable obstacles. So, for now, we must accept that helium beer exists only in our imaginations and the occasional playful prank.

Liquid helium would freeze beer

Helium beer is not real and is, in fact, a myth. It is not scientifically possible, and adding liquid helium to beer is impossible as liquid helium turns into gas at -220°F, which would result in freezing the beer.

Liquid helium is a cryogenic liquid, and all gases, when cooled, condense. Helium does not freeze at atmospheric pressure. Only at pressures above 20 times the atmospheric pressure will solid helium form. Liquid helium is used in many cryogenic systems when temperatures below the boiling point of nitrogen are required. It is stored in vacuum-insulated flasks called Dewars, named after their inventor, Sir James Dewar.

Liquid helium boils at -268.93°C (4.2 Kelvin). Cryogenicists distinguish between two naturally occurring isotopes of helium: helium 3 and helium 4. Helium 4 makes up over 99% of naturally occurring helium, while helium 3 is the rarer isotope with a nucleus of two protons and one neutron. Both helium 4 and helium 3 can be cooled to below their boiling temperatures by reducing the pressure to below atmospheric pressure.

The idea of helium beer started as an April Fool's Day joke by Stone Brewing Co. in 2014, announcing their Stochasticity Project Cr(He)am Ale with helium. This prank sparked a worldwide demand for helium beer, with people inquiring about purchasing it and even requesting overseas shipping to places like Australia and Scotland. The prank was so convincing that it caught the attention of the urban legend website Snopes, which concluded that helium beer was not real.

Helium beer would cause gushing

Helium beer is not for sale in Australia or anywhere else in the world. The concept of helium beer first emerged as an April Fool's Day joke in 2014, when Stone Brewing released a satirical ad for "Stochasticity Project Cr(He)am Ale with Helium". The video showed two men drinking the beer and their voices changing in the same way as if they had inhaled helium. The video went viral, sparking widespread interest in helium beer and numerous copycat videos.

Despite the apparent enthusiasm for the product, helium beer is not scientifically possible. According to Stone Brewing's Rick Blankemeier, there are three reasons why:

• Helium is not soluble in water (or beer). It cannot be used to carbonate beer, unlike carbon dioxide or nitrogen.
• Adding liquid helium would be impossible, as it turns from liquid to gas at -220°F, which would freeze the beer.
• Even if helium could be added to beer, it would cause gushing because helium is not soluble in beer.

In conclusion, while the idea of helium beer captured the public's imagination, it violates the laws of thermodynamics and physical chemistry, and therefore cannot be produced.

Helium beer isn't available in Australia

However, it is important to note that these videos were all published on April Fool's Day and were intended as satirical advertisements. Despite the hype, helium beer is not a real product and is not available for purchase. The laws of science explain why this is the case.

Firstly, helium is not soluble in water or beer. Carbonation in beer is achieved by dissolving carbon dioxide or nitrogen, which are both soluble, into the beer. Helium cannot be used for carbonation because it is not soluble and cannot naturally bind to water molecules.

Secondly, liquid helium has a very low boiling point of -220°F (-140°C), which means it would freeze the beer. At this temperature, not only would the beer turn into a block of ice, but even pure alcohol would freeze.

Finally, even if helium could somehow be added to beer, it would cause gushing because it is not soluble. This would result in a beer that is not only flat but also full of large, fast-rising bubbles.

While the idea of a beer that makes your voice high-pitched is intriguing, it is not scientifically possible with current knowledge and technology. So, for now, helium beer remains a myth and a fun April Fool's Day joke. Australians and beer enthusiasts worldwide will have to settle for other unique craft beers to satisfy their curiosity and taste buds.

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