Copilot:
I accidentally bought 'lactose free' cream cheese. What's different about it?
Not much, really. Lactose-free cream cheese is essentially the same cream cheese, but the manufacturer has added the enzyme lactase, which breaks down the milk sugar (lactose) into simpler sugars before you eat it.
You may notice a few small differences:
Slightly sweeter taste: When lactose is split into glucose and galactose, the result tastes a bit sweeter, even though no sugar has been added.
Same texture: It should spread and cook almost identically to regular cream cheese.
Similar nutrition: Calories, fat, and protein are usually very close to the standard version.
Easier to digest for people who are lactose intolerant.
For someone who tolerates dairy normally, there's no drawback to eating it. You can use it on bagels, in cheesecake, dips, frosting, or cooking exactly as you would ordinary cream cheese.
So if you accidentally bought it, you've almost certainly not wasted your money. In fact, unless you compare them side by side, many people wouldn't notice much difference beyond a faint extra sweetness.
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Everclear; if I mix a shot of Everclear with water to make it 80% alcohol, is it safe to drink?
No. If you mean 80% alcohol by volume, that is not safe to drink as a shot. It is twice the concentration of ordinary 40% spirits and can cause rapid intoxication, alcohol poisoning, severe irritation, vomiting and choking.
There may be some confusion between 80% alcohol and 80 proof:
80% ABV = 160 proof, dangerously concentrated.
80 proof = 40% ABV, the usual strength of vodka or whisky.
A Canadian standard drink is about 43 mL of 40% spirits.
Adding water reduces the concentration, but does not remove any alcohol. For example, an ordinary 44 mL shot of 95% Everclear contains approximately 2.45 Canadian standard drinks, even after dilution. To dilute 95% Everclear to roughly 40% ABV, one part Everclear needs about 1.4 parts water, producing about 2.4 times the original volume. Do not drink the whole mixture as though it were one normal shot.
If you have already swallowed it and are very sleepy, confused, vomiting repeatedly, breathing slowly or irregularly, having a seizure, or difficult to wake, call 911 immediately and do not leave the person alone. In Québec, you can also contact the Centre antipoison du Québec at 1-800-463-5060.
What is 'proof'??
“Proof” is another way of stating how strong an alcoholic drink is.
On American bottles, the conversion is:
Proof = alcohol by volume (ABV) × 2
So:
80 proof = 40% alcohol
100 proof = 50% alcohol
151 proof = 75.5% alcohol
190 proof = 95% alcohol, which is the strongest common version of Everclear
Canada generally uses% alcohol by volume, rather than proof, but American spirits often display both.
So when you originally said“80% alcohol,” that meant 160 proof, not 80 proof. If you meant the strength of regular vodka or whisky, you meant 80 proof, or 40% alcohol
So alcohol (spirits) is sold as a solution in water...
Exactly. Drinking spirits are primarily a solution of ethyl alcohol, called ethanol, and water, usually with flavouring compounds as well.
For example, in 100 mL of 40% ABV vodka, there are approximately:
40 mL of ethanol
60 mL of water and small amounts of other substances
Distillation produces a more concentrated ethanol-water mixture. The distiller then commonly adds water to reduce it to the desired bottling strength. Adding water lowers the concentration, but the total quantity of ethanol remains unchanged.
That explains the terminology:
40% ABV means 40% of the drink’s volume is ethanol.
In the American system, that is 80 proof.
95% ABV Everclear is approximately 95% ethanol and 5% water.
Diluting it to 40% ABV makes it comparable in concentration to regular vodka, but a given amount of the original Everclear still contains the same total alcohol.
One small chemistry wrinkle: ethanol and water molecules pack together unusually closely, so their final volume is slightly less than the two starting volumes simply added together.
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