This week I take a look at how to rapidly chill your beer in the shortest time possible so you can enjoy it with friends. We’ve all been there. The party is in an less than an hour and you need to rapidly chill your beer down to serving temperature before the guests arrive. Putting your beer in a typical refrigerator can take as much as 4-6 hours to reach serving temperature. But what is the best way to safely take beer from room temperature to 40F (5 C) quickly?
Why The Freezer is Not The Best Option
The first idea that comes to mind for most people is to simply put your beer in the freezer for a short time to chill it down. The freezer has a constant temperature slightly below freezing, so the temperature differential between the beer and freezer should get you there quickly, right?
Unfortunately in the freezer, your bottles or cans emit heat by conduction and convection. This happens through the surface of the bottle or can. However air is not a great conductor of heat, so it can take 30-60 minutes to chill the beer. Using another medium to conduct the heat like water is more efficient and will chill the beer more quickly. Also you run the risk of freezing the beer and bursting the bottles or cans if left too long in a freezer.
The Fastest Option – Salt, Ice and Water – 5 to 7 minutes
Water is a good conductor of heat, so immersing your beer in an ice bath will chill it much more quickly than a freezer. If you add a generous handful of salt to your cooler, the solution will chill even more quickly. Salt dissolves the film of liquid water on the surface of ice, effectively lowering the freezing point below that of the ice. So ice that is in direct contact with salty water melts more quickly, absorbing large amounts of heat as it transitions from ice to water.
To make a salt-ice bath, start with a medium size cooler. Add approximately equal parts of ice and water, and then add 2-3 tablespoons of salt per quart (or liter) of water. Stir the mixture until it dissolves and immerse your beer completely in the mixture.
Ice in a salt water bath can chill your beer very rapidly, often in as little as 5 to 7 minutes. If you want them to chill even more quickly you can swirl or mix the ice around the beer to create convection in the ice-water bath. Since the bath won’t easily drop below freezing, you also avoid the risk of freezing the beer.
Water and Ice In A Cooler – 15-20 minutes
If you don’t have any salt, but have ice and a cooler, adding water to your cooler can still deliver cold beer quickly. Add enough water to immerse the beer, and its not a bad idea to periodically mix or flip the bottles/cans to get good convection in the cooler. Adding the water is important as it conducts the heat away from the beer and melts the ice more quickly resulting in a significant improvement over ice alone. This method also eliminates the risk of the beer freezing.
Wet Paper Towel in a Freezer – 10-15 minutes
If you are lacking rock salt and a cooler, you can still use your freezer to chill your beer quickly. In this case, wrap each beer in a wet paper towel or cloth and put them in the freezer. The water from the towel will rapidly evaporate and also conduct heat away from the beer. This method works about 2-4 times faster than simply putting the beer in the freezer and letting the air around the containers operate.
Set a timer for 10 minutes and check the beer. It should take about 10-15 minutes to reach serving temperature, then remove the beer from the freezer and put it in the fridge. Failing to set a timer and leaving the beer in the freezer too long can lead to the bottles or cans actually freezing, and they could burst, so be sure to closely monitor them while they are in the freezer.
What is the Right Serving Temperature?
While you may think colder beer is always better, it turns out that different beer styles actually are best at different serving temperatures. Here are a few popular beer styles and the best serving temperatures:
- Light Lagers and Pilsners: 38 F (4 C) – Colder temperatures generally bring out their crisp, refreshing flavor and accent noble hops.
- Wheat Beers – 40 F (6 C) – This accentuates the phenolics, as well as higher carbonation levels in many wheat beers
- IPAs and Pale Ales: 45 F (7 C) – These styles benefit from a slightly warmer serving temperature which accents the rich hop aromas and flavors.
- Stouts and Porters – 55 F (13 C) – These flavorful complex beers need a warmer serving temperature to unlock the rich malt flavors. Serving them too cold actually hides the depth of the roasted malts.
- Strong Ales and Barley Wines – 55-60 F (13-16 C) – Warmer temperatures accentuate these high ABV beers with rich malt flavors.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s article on chilling beer quickly. Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog. If you want to take the guesswork out of brewing, please try my BeerSmith recipe software from BeerSmith.com. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter or my podcast (also on itunes and youtube) for more great tips on homebrewing.
