Thread: Fastest Way to Chill a Drink

By Becky Worley | Upgrade Your Life – Tue, Jul 3, 2012.



The heat of the summer is upon us. And I'm sure I'm not the only one asking: What's the fastest way to chill a drink?

Fridge

Depending on the starting temperature, cooling drinks in the fridge takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. Not nearly fast enough when you're parched.

Freezer

To speed the process, you can wrap a wet paper towel around them and stick them in the freezer. That's faster — like 20 minutes. And the physics of the wet paper towel is pretty interesting. It works the same way that perspiration cools you down: evaporation draws the heat away from your skin — or away from your drinks. Just don't let your drinks freeze all the way.

But 20 minutes is still too long.

Ice water

Putting your drinks in a bath of ice water chills them even faster than a freezer. Why? Because water conducts heat more easily than air. Compare sitting around in a 68-degree room to sitting around in a 68-degree tub and you'll quickly see what I mean.

To make sure, I started with cans of soda that had been sitting outside — about 78 degrees. After eight minutes in an ice bath, they got down to 50°F. That's way better than the fridge or freezer, but 50 degrees is still a bit too warm to be refreshing.

The Solution

I had read that putting salt in the ice water can chill your drinks even faster. Why would this work? Salt water has a lower freezing point than fresh water (which is why salt is often put on roads to prevent icy conditions), and adding salt to a bowl of ice water actually decreases the temperature of the water.

Still, I had to put this to the test. Sure enough, after 8 minutes in salted ice water, the drinks dropped to 44°F. Ah, nice!

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upgrade-...180054349.html

comments

If you just spin the can (or bottle) in ice (not ice water) for about 2 minutes, you will be drinking an ice-cold beverage the fastest.

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Did you watch the myth buster? They show Adam and Jamie trying to freeze beer the fastest way. And their solution was to use salt and ice.

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This can also be used to save the food in your freezer if the power is out. Get a 5 lb bag of ice, and some water softener salt. Put half a cup of salt in the ice, and put it in a waterproof container on the top shelf of the freezer.

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people, friends and neighbors. I am almost 70 years old and I have known about this since I was around 7 years old. A little update...if you use rock salt instead of table salt it is possible to actually freeze beer in a cooler. If it wasn't for us old -hits you younger kids wouldn't stand a chance.

thanks