Enjoy A Refreshing Beverage With The Chilled Drink Calculator

Hackers are quite often the price conscious type, unwilling to pay jacked up prices for cold beverages when they can be purchased warm and in bulk for much lower cost. However, when guests are on the way and time is running out, it’s crucial to chill the drinks down to the right temperature, and fast. To take the guessing out of the process, [Álvaro Díez] and [Tibor Pal] collaborated to create the Chilled Drink Calculator.

It’s a resource jam-packed full of everything you need to know to get your drinks cold, pronto. Based on heat transfer equations and data from empirical studies, the calculator is able to show you just how long it will take to cool practically any beverage to any temperature. There are presets for different types of container and cooling method, as well as information on the ideal serving temperatures for things like wine, beer and soft drinks. There’s even information on helpful hacks to help cool things down more quickly – with the salt and ice bath being devastatingly effective with minimal equipment requirements.

Keep the calculator in your bookmarks for the next time your pals show up with a case of beer that’s been sitting in the sun all day in the back of a pickup truck (Authors note: looking at you, Terry). Alternatively, consider building an advanced cooling apparatus.

15 thoughts on “Enjoy A Refreshing Beverage With The Chilled Drink Calculator

  1. “your pals show up with a case of beer that’s been sitting in the sun all day in the back of a pickup truck “

    I read that line and almost puked at the thought….

    But at least he brought beer…..

    1. While most beer is consumed very cold to hide nasty tastes, in general beer is drunk much to cold. A quality beer at 8 degrees science is simply a waste because you can’t taste it. Some beers are best just below room temperature.

      But yeah, beer that has been sitting in the sun, luke warm with no fuzz… That is almost to much.

      1. Alcohol is alcohol, all I want is to get high. I don’t care about “craft beers” or “taste”. It’s a marketing wank like with audiophile-grade oxygen-free cables.

        1. Alcohol to get you high? What have you been sniffing?

          Anyway, it’s not about hipster craft beers at all. It is also true for normal German Weizen or Dunkel beers for example.

          Even if you are just in it for a drunken stupor, you might want to consider beer that taste good at warmer temperatures as these are often of better quality meaning you can huff more of it before you lose your diner.

    1. Spot on about those temperatures being off. Whiskey at 60-65F/Stout at 55F/Lager 42?

      If it’s a 3-year old or anything by JW/JB, 60-65 is a definite. It has to be cold to preserve the ‘taste.’ Some Japanese whiskeys like to be chilled, other with ice, and some just filtered through ice. Nikka is weird – it tastes best when the -glass- is chilled with ice before being poured at room temperature. Most good 9-12 year old scotches should be room temperature or just slightly below room temperature. Anyone who drinks a 12+ year scotch with ice is missing out – or is drinking something they should not have bought. Cognac is room temperature and rising.

      Stouts should be cool to the tongue, but not chilled the point where condensation forms on the glass. Porters should be served at room temperature. Chocolate Stouts need to be chilled to condensation.

      Lagers? American ‘Lagers’ (mass produced) need to be as cold as possible so you don’t taste them. Brit lagers should be a few degrees cooler than room temperature.

      And James Bond drinks wimpy martinis.

  2. fine but no mention of the good old (?) method used by some folks I worked with before I could legally have a beer – put the beer in a metal bucket and douse liberally with liquid propane -was quick – but caution don’t smoke

    The calculator did give me the answer I was curious about for a large pitcher of water in the Fridge – so my overnight has a bit of a cushion

    Thanks

  3. I don’t drink alcohol, but I disagree with the listed temperatures for soft drinks and water. Water should either be ice cold or ambient temperature, and soft drinks should be as cold as you can get them while still being liquid–and a little slush at the beginning is perfectly acceptable.

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