'Nukular' water boiling on boat
 

Sometimes when using the microwave on the boat to boil water, the water
turns 'nukular.'

That is, when I take the coffee cup out of the microwave, and spoon some
instant coffee into it, the water "boils up" and overflows the cup.

This occurs maybe one time out of 20, but when it does, it makes a mess.
I typically fill the cup to the same level with jug water (no one should
drink water stored in a boat's water tanks!), use the two minute setting
on the microwave to boil it, and put in the same super teaspoon amount
of coffee.

What's going on here?

\

--
Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!
And don't forget to pay your taxes so the rich don't have to!

Doesn't have anything to do with being on a boat.

Water needs some little bit of something for the water vapor bubbles to
form on. If the water is really clean, and the cup too, you can heat water
to a couple of degrees over 212F because there are no little bits. Then
when you add the coffee, it boils a little. Solutions:

Spinkle a couple of particles of instant in the water before you heat it.

Don't heat it quite so much.

Don't use instant coffee. ;-)

Don't wash the mug. ;-)

(Actually, it's a Republican plot, Harry ;-) ;-)

--
Chuck Tribolet

http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/people/triblet

Silicon Valley: STILL the best day job in the world.


"Harry Krause" wrote in message ...
Sometimes when using the microwave on the boat to boil water, the water
turns 'nukular.'

That is, when I take the coffee cup out of the microwave, and spoon some
instant coffee into it, the water "boils up" and overflows the cup.

This occurs maybe one time out of 20, but when it does, it makes a mess.
I typically fill the cup to the same level with jug water (no one should
drink water stored in a boat's water tanks!), use the two minute setting
on the microwave to boil it, and put in the same super teaspoon amount
of coffee.

What's going on here?

\

--
Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!
And don't forget to pay your taxes so the rich don't have to!

Chuck Tribolet wrote:
Doesn't have anything to do with being on a boat.

Water needs some little bit of something for the water vapor bubbles to
form on. If the water is really clean, and the cup too, you can heat water
to a couple of degrees over 212F because there are no little bits. Then
when you add the coffee, it boils a little. Solutions:

Spinkle a couple of particles of instant in the water before you heat it.

Don't heat it quite so much.

Don't use instant coffee. ;-)

Don't wash the mug. ;-)

(Actually, it's a Republican plot, Harry ;-) ;-)


Ahh, it's a plot!

You know, I've told my wife over and over that my coffee cup isn't
"that" dirty, and I can reuse it...but noooooooooo....she insists I
scrub it out once in a while, to shake loose the penicillin growing inside.

Thanks, Chuck.

You know, I have varied the heat time...but I'll try dropping in a
couple of grains of coffee before I heat up the water. Instant really is
my only choice. My wife doesn't drink coffee, and I only want a cupful.
Cleaning up a one or two cup percolator isn't something I want to do.




--
Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!
And don't forget to pay your taxes so the rich don't have to!

John Gaquin wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message

..... Instant really is
my only choice. My wife doesn't drink coffee, and I only want a cupful.
Cleaning up a one or two cup percolator isn't something I want to do.

Have you tried the one-cup "coffee bags" of freeze dried? May not be
strong/weak enough for your tastes, etc.


Hmmm. No. Do they work like tea bags, meaning you drop them into a cup
of hot water? I don't drink particularly strong coffee...I use 2% milk
and a couple of artificial sweeteners...

--
Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!
And don't forget to pay your taxes so the rich don't have to!

"Harry Krause" wrote in message

..... Instant really is
my only choice. My wife doesn't drink coffee, and I only want a cupful.
Cleaning up a one or two cup percolator isn't something I want to do.

Have you tried the one-cup "coffee bags" of freeze dried? May not be
strong/weak enough for your tastes, etc.

John Gaquin wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message

Hmmm. No. Do they work like tea bags, meaning you drop them into a cup
of hot water? I don't drink particularly strong coffee...I use 2% milk
and a couple of artificial sweeteners...

Yes, they work like tea bags. I believe you place the bag in the water,
then nuke the contents together. You can probably adjust strength by
adjusting post-nuke steep time, much like tea.

Frankly, I haven't even looked for them for a couple of years because I had
no need. When I tried them at that time, they were acceptable - but not
ready for a feature write-up in Gourmet, if you catch my drift.




Indeed. Yes, I eat and drink nothing but gourmet fare while on the
boat...peanut butter and jelly, chicken salad, subs from subway, you
know...the high-class stuff. Oh...and diet cokes and water and about one
beer a month. with lime. Thanks.

--
Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!
And don't forget to pay your taxes so the rich don't have to!

"Harry Krause" wrote in message

Hmmm. No. Do they work like tea bags, meaning you drop them into a cup
of hot water? I don't drink particularly strong coffee...I use 2% milk
and a couple of artificial sweeteners...

Yes, they work like tea bags. I believe you place the bag in the water,
then nuke the contents together. You can probably adjust strength by
adjusting post-nuke steep time, much like tea.

Frankly, I haven't even looked for them for a couple of years because I had
no need. When I tried them at that time, they were acceptable - but not
ready for a feature write-up in Gourmet, if you catch my drift.

"Chuck Tribolet" wrote in message

Water needs some little bit of something for the water vapor bubbles to
form on. If the water is really clean, and the cup too, you can heat
water
to a couple of degrees over 212F because there are no little bits. Then
when you add the coffee, it boils a little.

I've encountered this with the microwave, also. You get a similar response
when freezing pure water -- rain aloft may be super-cooled but still liquid,
lacking what is called "condensation nuclei" - a bit around which to
crystallize. As soon as it impacts an aircraft, it instantly freezes to
the aircraft structure.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...

What's going on here?


Probably depends on which part of the bay you are dipping from to get your
water!
Some areas are "chunkier" than others!
Greg

Recommended coffee solution:

After over 20 years of experimenting with any number of ways to make coffee on
a boat, here's my choice.

1. Boil drinking water on the stove. (obviously, all bets are off if you're in
violent weather- but you won't want to be spilling coffee all over the place
any more than you would boiling water).

2. Put insulated carafe into empty galley sink. (in case something spills
during process)

3. Put plastic cone into the mouth of the carafe

4. Insert paper filter into plastic cone.

5. Spoon Starbucks into coffee filter- more or less according to taste.

6. Pour boiling water onto the coffee. It takes two or three "doses" of water
to fill the carafe without overruning the upper limit of the paper filter. Make
sure that the
mud and slurry in the filter begin to turn light brown during the second, and
particularly the third application of hot water. Coffee beans release acid
first, (the dark brown stuff), and sugars last, (the light brown). If you don't
get some light brown, you have used too many grounds and your coffee will be
bitter.

7. Dump the filter and spent coffee grounds into the trash, stow the pan, screw
the lid on the carafe, and you have a cup of coffee for now and about three
more cups for later in the day. Minimal muss and fuss, drip coffee taste, and
almost no cleanup required. (I've found that the insulated carafe will keep
coffee acceptably hot for
about five hours).

Instant coffee? How can anybody drink instant coffee? It's like stirring some
Swiss Miss into a cup of water and pretending it's hot chocolate. Not the same
thing at all. :-)

"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...
Recommended coffee solution:

After over 20 years of experimenting with any number of ways to make
coffee on
a boat, here's my choice.

1. Boil drinking water on the stove. (obviously, all bets are off if
you're in
violent weather- but you won't want to be spilling coffee all over the
place
any more than you would boiling water).

2. Put insulated carafe into empty galley sink. (in case something spills
during process)

3. Put plastic cone into the mouth of the carafe

4. Insert paper filter into plastic cone.

5. Spoon Starbucks into coffee filter- more or less according to taste.

6. Pour boiling water onto the coffee. It takes two or three "doses" of
water
to fill the carafe without overruning the upper limit of the paper filter.
Make
sure that the
mud and slurry in the filter begin to turn light brown during the second,
and
particularly the third application of hot water. Coffee beans release acid
first, (the dark brown stuff), and sugars last, (the light brown). If you
don't
get some light brown, you have used too many grounds and your coffee will
be
bitter.

7. Dump the filter and spent coffee grounds into the trash, stow the pan,
screw
the lid on the carafe, and you have a cup of coffee for now and about
three
more cups for later in the day. Minimal muss and fuss, drip coffee taste,
and
almost no cleanup required. (I've found that the insulated carafe will
keep
coffee acceptably hot for
about five hours).

Instant coffee? How can anybody drink instant coffee? It's like stirring
some
Swiss Miss into a cup of water and pretending it's hot chocolate. Not the
same
thing at all. :-)



I find the best way for camping and traveling in the boat coffee is I save
those 4 cup packs from the Hotels / motels. Boil a pan of water and toss in
the pack. Boil like a tea bag. No mess, little fuss.
Bill

Sometimes when using the microwave on the boat to boil water, the water
turns 'nukular.'

That is, when I take the coffee cup out of the microwave, and spoon some
instant coffee into it, the water "boils up" and overflows the cup.

This occurs maybe one time out of 20, but when it does, it makes a mess.
I typically fill the cup to the same level with jug water (no one should
drink water stored in a boat's water tanks!), use the two minute setting
on the microwave to boil it, and put in the same super teaspoon amount
of coffee.

What's going on here?

A quick search turned this up:
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasc...9/gen99795.htm

Also Sprach Harry Krause :

You know, I have varied the heat time...but I'll try dropping in a
couple of grains of coffee before I heat up the water. Instant really is
my only choice. My wife doesn't drink coffee, and I only want a cupful.
Cleaning up a one or two cup percolator isn't something I want to do.

Two words my man... "French Press." It's better than drip or perc coffee
any day, and you'll forget about instant forever. I could swear I've seen
a little 2-cup lexan one at West Marine, but you could probably get one
for half the price at a decent camping store. A quick google search found
this:

http://www.wholelattelove.com/Bodum/travelpress.cfm

which would be especially nice for the boat.

And how to use it:

http://www.ineedcoffee.com/99/05/frenchpress/


Dan



--
Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!
And don't forget to pay your taxes so the rich don't have to!

--
Microsoft Haiku #164

Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank.

If you use a vacuum bottle, and preheat with hot water (so your
hot coffee isn't warming the bottle), it should last a good
deal more than five hours. I don't drink coffee, but like
hot chocolate after the first dive (California cold water).
I make the hot chocolate about 6 a.m. and at 11 it's still
HOT.

--
Chuck Tribolet

http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/people/triblet

Silicon Valley: STILL the best day job in the world.


"Gould 0738" wrote in message ...
Recommended coffee solution:

After over 20 years of experimenting with any number of ways to make coffee on
a boat, here's my choice.

1. Boil drinking water on the stove. (obviously, all bets are off if you're in
violent weather- but you won't want to be spilling coffee all over the place
any more than you would boiling water).

2. Put insulated carafe into empty galley sink. (in case something spills
during process)

3. Put plastic cone into the mouth of the carafe

4. Insert paper filter into plastic cone.

5. Spoon Starbucks into coffee filter- more or less according to taste.

6. Pour boiling water onto the coffee. It takes two or three "doses" of water
to fill the carafe without overruning the upper limit of the paper filter. Make
sure that the
mud and slurry in the filter begin to turn light brown during the second, and
particularly the third application of hot water. Coffee beans release acid
first, (the dark brown stuff), and sugars last, (the light brown). If you don't
get some light brown, you have used too many grounds and your coffee will be
bitter.

7. Dump the filter and spent coffee grounds into the trash, stow the pan, screw
the lid on the carafe, and you have a cup of coffee for now and about three
more cups for later in the day. Minimal muss and fuss, drip coffee taste, and
almost no cleanup required. (I've found that the insulated carafe will keep
coffee acceptably hot for
about five hours).

Instant coffee? How can anybody drink instant coffee? It's like stirring some
Swiss Miss into a cup of water and pretending it's hot chocolate. Not the same
thing at all. :-)

Chuck Tribolet wrote:
If you use a vacuum bottle, and preheat with hot water (so your
hot coffee isn't warming the bottle), it should last a good
deal more than five hours. I don't drink coffee, but like
hot chocolate after the first dive (California cold water).
I make the hot chocolate about 6 a.m. and at 11 it's still
HOT.


There's an idea that appeals to lazybones me...


--
Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!
And don't forget to pay your taxes so the rich don't have to!

Marshall Banana wrote:
Also Sprach Harry Krause :

You know, I have varied the heat time...but I'll try dropping in a
couple of grains of coffee before I heat up the water. Instant really is
my only choice. My wife doesn't drink coffee, and I only want a cupful.
Cleaning up a one or two cup percolator isn't something I want to do.

Two words my man... "French Press." It's better than drip or perc coffee
any day, and you'll forget about instant forever. I could swear I've seen
a little 2-cup lexan one at West Marine, but you could probably get one
for half the price at a decent camping store. A quick google search found
this:

http://www.wholelattelove.com/Bodum/travelpress.cfm

which would be especially nice for the boat.

And how to use it:

http://www.ineedcoffee.com/99/05/frenchpress/


Dan




Interesting but my coffee tastebuds are plebeian, and the press is too
much fuss for me, especially on a boat. Thanks!



--
Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!
And don't forget to pay your taxes so the rich don't have to!

Also Sprach Harry Krause :

Interesting but my coffee tastebuds are plebeian, and the press is too
much fuss for me, especially on a boat. Thanks!

As were mine, before I moved to Seattle and discovered that good coffee
doesn't need milk and sugar added to mask the coffee's taste. :)

Dan

--
I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.

-- Senator Barry Goldwater, commenting on Jerry
Falwell's suggestion that all good Christians
should be against Sandra Day O'Connor's nomination
to the Supreme Court

Also get a good stainless vacuum bottle. Stanley's are junk anymore. They
were the first to bring out a stainless vacuum bottle, but they will not
keep liquid hot for 4 hours anymore. They must have changed something.
After trying 2, I went to a Thermos by Nissan and it will keep stuff hot
till the next morning.


"Chuck Tribolet" wrote in message
...
If you use a vacuum bottle, and preheat with hot water (so your
hot coffee isn't warming the bottle), it should last a good
deal more than five hours. I don't drink coffee, but like
hot chocolate after the first dive (California cold water).
I make the hot chocolate about 6 a.m. and at 11 it's still
HOT.

--
Chuck Tribolet

http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/people/triblet

Silicon Valley: STILL the best day job in the world.

Harry Krause wrote in message ...
Sometimes when using the microwave on the boat to boil water, the water
turns 'nukular.'

That is, when I take the coffee cup out of the microwave, and spoon some
instant coffee into it, the water "boils up" and overflows the cup.

This occurs maybe one time out of 20, but when it does, it makes a mess.
I typically fill the cup to the same level with jug water (no one should
drink water stored in a boat's water tanks!), use the two minute setting
on the microwave to boil it, and put in the same super teaspoon amount
of coffee.

What's going on here?

You need to be very careful with that method. Water in a cup, placed
in a microwave, can super heat, because of the slick sides of the cup,
the water doesn't boil until something breaks surface tension. There
are many instances of someone taking a cup of water out of a
microwave, and as soon as a spoon or something hits it, it violently
explodes, right in people's faces and bodies, causing severe burns.

basskisser wrote:
Harry Krause wrote in message ...
Sometimes when using the microwave on the boat to boil water, the water
turns 'nukular.'

That is, when I take the coffee cup out of the microwave, and spoon some
instant coffee into it, the water "boils up" and overflows the cup.

This occurs maybe one time out of 20, but when it does, it makes a mess.
I typically fill the cup to the same level with jug water (no one should
drink water stored in a boat's water tanks!), use the two minute setting
on the microwave to boil it, and put in the same super teaspoon amount
of coffee.

What's going on here?

You need to be very careful with that method. Water in a cup, placed
in a microwave, can super heat, because of the slick sides of the cup,
the water doesn't boil until something breaks surface tension. There
are many instances of someone taking a cup of water out of a
microwave, and as soon as a spoon or something hits it, it violently
explodes, right in people's faces and bodies, causing severe burns.

Aha! Yeah, I've done *that* too, but not on a boat. Thanks.
Obviously, I need a $2000 BoatSafe Water Boiling Device.

--
We today have a president of the United States who looks like he is the
son of Howdy Doody and Alfred E. Newman, who isn't smarter than either
of them, who is arrogant about his ignorance, who is reckless and
incompetent, and whose backers are turning the United States into a pariah.

What, me worry?

The show on Discovery Channel called "Myth Busters" did a segment on this.
They could only duplicate these results with distilled water. The regular
tap water would boil, but the distilled water wouldn't until something had
been added to the water for the bubbles to attach to. They put in a spoon
full of sugar and it almost exploded. They said that this was basically an
urban legend, but it could be done with distilled water. I guess if you
have really clean water and very clean cups it's also possible. In either
case, the show was interesting.

Regards.

Gary


"basskisser" wrote in message
om...
Harry Krause wrote in message
...
Sometimes when using the microwave on the boat to boil water, the water
turns 'nukular.'

That is, when I take the coffee cup out of the microwave, and spoon some
instant coffee into it, the water "boils up" and overflows the cup.

This occurs maybe one time out of 20, but when it does, it makes a mess.
I typically fill the cup to the same level with jug water (no one should
drink water stored in a boat's water tanks!), use the two minute setting
on the microwave to boil it, and put in the same super teaspoon amount
of coffee.

What's going on here?

You need to be very careful with that method. Water in a cup, placed
in a microwave, can super heat, because of the slick sides of the cup,
the water doesn't boil until something breaks surface tension. There
are many instances of someone taking a cup of water out of a
microwave, and as soon as a spoon or something hits it, it violently
explodes, right in people's faces and bodies, causing severe burns.