Gizmodo
Are there any tragedies greater than really wanting a cold beer and only having warm beers on hand? Without thinking too long about it, I'm going to go ahead and say no, there aren't. That's why I'm excited to see this method of chilling a warm can of beer down to a frosty, drinkable temperature in about 20 seconds. Sure, it's much more expensive and stupid than just planning ahead and using a fridge, but when you're in a bind you're in a bind. [Book of Joe]
Chill a Can of Warm Beer in 20 Seconds
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3:15 PM on Mon Apr 14 2008
By Adam Frucci
8,291 views
74 comments
Comments
that's genius, and way better than what they came up with on mythbusters...
Most air dusters have bitterant in it. I hope the beer doesn't absorb the taste.
20 Seconds?
I don't thinks so...
funny video but completely impractical.
Been doing this for like 10 years... secrets out!
bleepity bleep bleep, people always ruin a good thing.
Does it chill the beer or just the can and the air around it?
A freezer is really cold too (and will get the metal can cold quickly), but it's not going to chill the liquid that fast.
yeah, that was in popular science last month.
cough plagiarism cough
That's IT?
Good luck with the frostbite you'll develop holding the can while it's emptying, not to mention the money you just wasted on a can of air to chill ONE beer.
(Also, drink isn't my preference.)
Personally I'd have more fun waiting for a humid day and using two inverted cans of air to simulate the Reaction Control System from a space craft, but that's how I roll.
To be honest, I used to do that until I visited Johnson Space Center and rode a real chair using that kind of system to move around on that classic "air hockey" flooring.
You don't need to pretend anymore after riding that thing.
@James: We used to have fights with compressed air like that...
...it kinda sucks when your arm freezes.
yeah but what about bottles? that's what I use!
Too bad those cans of compressed air arent cheap, especially if one is used to chill a single can of cheap beer. They must be high off the fumes.
Wow, tough decision: Do I want to forego my "huffing" later for a cold beer NOW?
i'm british. what do you mean "cold beer"?
hmm.. Methinks that the temperature that the thermometer is reading is actually just the cold air's temperature not the beer's. i just cant see how the liquid all the way on the inside is able to be cooled so quickly.. Other than that, A LOT of air dusters have a "Bitterant" added to them nowadays, so i would be careful if you plan on doing this, and make sure the one you are to use does not.
@James: If the can / bottle is closed it shouldntl.
I just make friends with the neighbors... One of us usually has some cold beer
That thermometer was only measuring the air temp. The internal temp of that beer wouldn't have dropped more than 5 degrees in 20 seconds.
@James:
LOL. When I first saw that I thought it sad bittorrent.
yah, i had the enjoyment of getting a face full of compressed can air at one point. no way i heck im gona fill a plastic tuperwear with this stuff. open it and vacate the room for a good 10 min, and see your beer room temp again
Looks like you're just making the can cold and living in denial.
@Dook_In_The_Urinal:
That's all you need.
Comcast slowing down teh airs!
Or, you could simply buy beer that didn't taste like piss to begin with.
Ahh...nothing like spraying a can of CO2 into a poorly ventilated room...
Wouldn't an application of Charles's Law be more cost effective and produce a larger volume of said, "cold beer"?
Thanks to people using these things as inhalants, those air cans are unrealistically expensive. It's cheaper to drive or walk to the store and buy cold beer. Quit being lazy and get off your bum!! And then sit back down and enjoy that beer...
Kmart used to sell a reuseable device that could lower your soda/beer 20 degrees in like 2 minutes for only $10.00.
This seems a bit better minus the cost of those air things
I'm Brazilian. what do you mean "cold beer"?
We drink beer way cooler than Americans!
And we drink BEER, not the "light" stuff.
There's a way to chill fast: ice + water + alcohol
a little bit dangerous, but if you need it, this is the fastest way
@GOKOR: The thermometer looks to be in the beer for the experiment. IF you were really doing it you wouldn't open the beer until after the chilling occurring so you could rinse it off.
PS: I like to have a nice cold beer so I use the freezer. But it takes too long so by using a thick plastic bag and a cylinder tupperware jar and screw lid with a beer sized whole cut from the lid, I am able to chill a beer to below freezing temperature in much less time by putting it in my homemade container with salt water, which a lower freezing point than my freezer's temperature.
Okay lets waste a ton of money just so we can save a couple minutes of time... Idiots...
Just put your cans in a salt water ice bath if you need them Faster than a normal freezer...
Can I use that method to chill the ATI Radeon X1900 video card in my Mac Pro? The Jet Engine sound effect coming from my Mac Pro while playing games on Boot Camp is only cool if I'm flying jets in MSX or LOMAC, but it just doesn't sound right when I'm kicking ass in HL2.
Full of shit.
The themometer is not even in the can. The air around the can drops in temperature not the can and its contents.
thats the kind of genius only a graduate from UC Santa Barbara would truly enjoy... and, if you inhale on the exhaust end you can get twice the buzz from one can of nattie ice! isn't the world grand?
As a former refrigeration tech that still has a few jugs of "freon" laying around, I could achieve this in mass with a whole case of beer... and I could be subject to a hefty fine by the EPA if I got caught.
This is called total loss refrigeration, and similar systems are still in use in the frozen foods industry. Though in those FF plants the refrigerant is pumped back out of the room for later reuse.
or get some liquid nitrogen, it will chill ur beer much much much faster
@strider_mt2k: Yeah, I'm with ya on this one.
Can of Air: $9
Can of beer: $1 or less
Time to heat up a nail, find a container to fit the beer, find a winter glove to prevent frostbite and hold the inverted air can...too long.
You can run across the quad to the MolBio or engineering building and put it over some dry ice!
Think.Prepare.Enjoy!
Salt + Water + Ice = frosty cold beer in 5 minutes.
if you are going to drink such bad beer, does not matter if is cold or not.
Am I wrong in remembering that if you drop a beers temp that quickly, it messes with the beer itself? I forget the exact thing, but lowering it too quickly does some funky things to the beer.
Incidentally, those air duster cans do not contain air ("air" = 80% nitrogen, 15 - 18% oxygen, and some trace gases) I don't have a can handy to read the contents but they contain a propellant very similar to the refrigerant in a modern "ozone safe refrigerator or AC unit.
@BloggyMcBlogBlog: While you're at it, make Coors Ice Cream?
Gack.
Liquid Nitrogen is available from almost any welding supply shop -- usually for free as its a byproduct.
Just bring a metal thermos and don't be an idiot and screw the lid on (use a rag very lightly tucked in) so you don't blow you arm off.
Once you get it home, its easy to find a way to use it to cool the beer. Just be careful not to pour it yourself anywhere that it may pool or get caught (like a watchband).
by the way, its the best way to make ice cream in seconds -- always perfect. Search the web for that trick.
@Spyvie: Tetrafluoroethane, according to the can I have in front of me.
Did anybody see the featured video afterward of a monkey peeing in its own mouth?!? OMG ROFLS!
There's such a thing as not cold beer? I'm Canadian, we've risen above warm beer and our beer is always ice cold.. Simply on principle.
What kind of jackass dosnt know a beer is warm just by touching it. Damn fool.
It may be warm, but I bet if he put it in his pooper, he would think it was bigger than 12 oz mofo!
Whiskey and even Red Wine taste GREAT at room temperature.
@jackfrost132
The Germans would certainly disagree with you... and they've been drinking delicious far longer than us in the U.S. or you dorks in Canada.
Just attempted this with a can of Coke.
Lesson 1-DO NOT USE can air with a bitter agent. I'm now going to taste copper pennies for a month.
Lesson 2-DO NOT USE can air more than 30 seconds as extreme cold will cause a carbonated beverage to asplode!
Just buy the Cooper Cooler:
[www.coopercooler.com]
available on amazon:
[www.amazon.com]
Ice + Salt + a little water = Much cheaper solution in about the same time.
Honestly, I have a little cooler that holds about 8 cans. I put the cans in, fill it with ice all the way up to the point where the lid won't close, pour enough water in to fill up all the air spaces (and melt the ice a little), sprinkle 1/4 cup of pickling salt all over the top of the ice-water soup, force the lid closed and go take a nice long dump. Presto! By the time I've birthed the chocolate mud baby and washed my hands, I have an eight-beer reward for my efforts.
Got ice but no salt? Roll the can (gently) on a bed of ice for, say, 20 seconds. The beer is agitated enough to evenly transfer its' heat out of the can.
You can't beat a CO2 fire extinguisher for sheer speed and manly satisfaction, but it is a little wasteful.