Liquid nitrogen cocktails

Odysseus · 08-10-2012 01:21PM #1

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 · 08-10-2012 01:22PM

That's Heston Bluementhal fucked.

My name is URL · 08-10-2012 01:23PM

How could anyone possibly see that as a good idea?

vicwatson · 08-10-2012 01:23PM

Why anyway, why? Bah !

davet82 · 08-10-2012 01:25PM

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

still better than a guinness one i suppose

admiralofthefleet · 08-10-2012 01:28PM

starbelgrade wrote: »

That's Heston Bluementhal fucked.

he countered with a bat blood and bulls bollox cocktail

GLaDOS · 08-10-2012 01:30PM

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

kowloon · 08-10-2012 02:17PM

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 · 08-10-2012 02:28PM

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

humbert · 08-10-2012 02:30PM

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 · 08-10-2012 02:30PM

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 · 08-10-2012 02:35PM

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 · 08-10-2012 02:37PM

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 · 08-10-2012 02:38PM

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 · 08-10-2012 02:39PM

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 · 08-10-2012 02:41PM

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 · 08-10-2012 02:42PM

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 · 08-10-2012 02:51PM

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 · 08-10-2012 02:51PM

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 · 08-10-2012 02:54PM

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 · 08-10-2012 03:13PM

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 · 08-10-2012 03:26PM

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 · 08-10-2012 03:29PM

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 · 08-10-2012 03:32PM

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 · 08-10-2012 03:33PM

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 · 08-10-2012 03:36PM

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 · 08-10-2012 03:37PM

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 · 08-10-2012 03:38PM

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 · 08-10-2012 03:40PM

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 · 08-10-2012 03:42PM

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 · 08-10-2012 03:44PM

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

Liquid nitrogen cocktails

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