Post #657918 by AceExplorer on Mon, Nov 5, 2012 7:38 PM

Lemon Extract vs. Bacardi 151 "Burn Test" Results

I went to the store and bought lemon extract, 2 ounces, for just under $5. I tested with three different soak-up materials, plus one surprise. Here are my results, with my conclusion at the very end.

I used 1/4 teaspoon of Bacardi 151 and 1/4 teaspoon of lemon extract in all tests except with the spent lime shell where I used 1/2 teaspoon due to the sheer size of the lime shell.

1. Crouton, 1/4 tsp of burn fluids. Bacardi 151 gave a nice orange flame 2" high which took a full 2 minutes to drop down to 1/4" high. It was burned out at 2m 30s, the crouton was half black and not entirely burned up, and the crouton definitely left a burnt bread small behind. Lemon extract gave a nice orange flame 3" high for 2 minutes before dropping down to 1/4" high. It burned out at 2m 20s, the bread was left completely black and left burnt bread smell behind but with a pleasant and very light lemony scent.

2. Sugar cube, 1/4 tsp of burn fluids. Bacardi 151 burned with a blue hard-to-see 1.5" flame. It burned down to 1/4" after 1m 20s. It burned out completely at 1m 30s and left the cube slightly melted. The lemon extract burned with a nice 3" yellow flame and took 1m 10s to burn down to 1/4". It burned out at 1m 25s and left quite a bit of melted and caramelized sugar stuck to the plate.

3. Spent lime shell, 1/2 tsp of burn fluids. Bacardi 151 burned with a 3" hard-to-see flame, reached 1/4" height at 2.5 minutes and was burned out by 3.5 minutes. Lemon extract burned with a nice 3" yellow flame and achieved nice full-flame coverage of the lime shell. It reached 1/4" height at 2.5 minutes and burned out completely by 4 minutes.

4. Small broccoli floret, 1/4 tsp of burn fluids. Bacardi 151 burned with a 3" orange flame. It burned down to 1/4" in 1m 35s, then burned out at 1m 50s. The lemon extract burned with a nice 4" yellow flame and reached 1/4" flame height at 1m 40s. It took 2m 20s for the flame to burn out. In both cases there was a tiny but negligible amount of "burned broccoli" smell.

Conclusions: Lemon extract is surprisingly 83% alcohol and consistently outperformed Bacardi 151 in both color and flame height. It also often contributed to a nice aroma even though it was very slight. This is the burn fluid of choice in my opinion and is VERY flammable due to high alcohol content. (Kids, get your parents to help you!) Croutons were nice and effective but had too much burnt smell at the end in my opinion. Sugar cubes -- do not use with the very hot-burning lemon extract -- the carmelized sugar really stuck to the glazed plate and was difficult to clean and remove. Broccoli worked suprisingly well and was a fun improv in my test. Lime shells were nice and had quite a bit of capacity for the flammable liquid. My final preference was for the lemon extract with the lime shells - you can't beat the combination of bright-colored flame and fluid capacity of the lime shell. Also, since lemon extract is very flammable, it's nice to have it contained within the lime shell.

There you have it. I hope this research helps.