Another Twist on the Quick Chill

Here's a twist on the cold beer hack I spotted over on lifehack.org this morning. That post suggests using a tray full of salted ice water in the freezer to quickly chill a room temp beer. If, like me, you haven't got any room in your freezer, a trick that I've used to good effect in the past to achieve similar results is as follows:

1. Pour a sink or bucket full of cold water, some ice and some salt. Make it deep enough that the entire bottle (or can) of beer can be submerged including the air trapped in the neck of the bottle - that's crucial.

2. Grasping the bottle top in your fingers, spin it back and forth keeping it as vertical as possible. Higher rpm is better but don't strain yourself - you're chilling a beer after all ;).

3. A couple of minutes of that will drop the temperature to a respectable degree.

4. Dry off the bottle and add a side of nacho chips, chicken wings or pizza to suit. Enjoy.


I think spinning keeps the beer from foaming, and also keeps moving the warm beer in the middle of the bottle out to the sides where it's nice and cold. The part about submerging the air in the bottle neck is crucial since this can inhibit the chilling effect.

If you're good, you can spin two at once and enjoy that beer with a friend. :)

While you should be able to do it with cans, spinning them might be more difficult. I don't normally drink canned beer, but give it a try. What the heck.

My personal recommendations for a hot summer day are Pilsner Urquell, Creemore Springs or a nice Sam Adams.