Re: Burning Jet fuel to cool Beer?

I've given this story some thought, because on the surface it would appear
that any burning jet fuel would only be able to heat the beer, not cool it.
It could be that the beer was simply cooled by being underground, which 
is part of the basis of modern, energy-efficient air conditioners.
If that is the case, the jet fuel is merely a convenient timer.

Two other effects are possible.  One is that the heat from the jet fuel 
somehow created a cooling environment in the ground itself, involving 
a thermodynamic cycle with a working fluid of the water and/or air
that are trapped in the dirt itself.  The other is that the beer itself 
is responsible, with the carbon dioxide dissolved in water/alcohol being 
the working fluid.  If the burning jet fuel did cool the beer more than 
being buried in the ground would have anyhow, then there must be some 
mechanism involving a phase change (like water/alcohol evaporating) or the 
expansion of some gas (carbon dioxide or air) to remove energy from the 
beer itself, resulting in a drop in temperature.  

We've never heard of such an effect, and looking into the relevant books
and literature I can't find a scientific reference to it.  It would make a
good demonstration to a physics class, though, if it works.  To separate
effects in the beer from effects in the ground, you could try two different
experiments as follows:

	The first would be the obvious direct test.  Take three beer cans and bury
two of them in the ground.  Children should definitely not try this,
because they can't purchase alcohol (and the alcohol in the beer may be the
important cooling component) and shouldn't go messing with gasoline for any
reason.  But if your friends were in the army, you may be old enough to buy
beer and do this.  Pour gasoline (not very different from jet fuel) over
one of them and light it.  I would remove the topsoil from both burial
sites first, so you can cover the unsightly digging and burn-marks later. 
Dig them up (lit one first) and see which is cooler, and if they're cooler
than the original.  If it's not that cool, then it's folklore and not a
real effect.  To cool the beer, put it in the fridge.  If the one that was
under the fire is cooler, then tell us!

If the effect is in the heating and cooling of the beer itself, you can
test that a much simpler way.  Fill a sink with lukewarm water and put two
beer cans in it (not bottles!) for a while.  Heat some water on the stove
and after you've boiled one and taken it off the heat, put one can in. 
(This is why not bottles, they might explode dangerously!)  Then throw it
back in the lukewarm sink with the original and wait.  If it returns to a
cooler temperature than the original, it would be because inside the beer
can some phase change was robbing it of heat at the same time that the sink
full of water had returned it to near its original temperature.  It may
take several attempts to get the warm temperature of the sink just right. 
There should exist a temperature where the beer can goes from slightly
squeezable to very firm with just a small change in temperature.  This
pressure drop as it cools again might result in a corresponding drop in
temperature.  This may explain the cooler beer.  If this experiment fails,
but the one in the ground works, then you have isolated the effect to
something in the dirt itself.  

Any college physics textbook, no matter how old, should contain all the
information about phase changes you need to understand the basic processes
of heating and cooling, as well as phase changes (but you may already).