On a hot summer’s day, there’s nothing better than a cold beer. However, is the beer in your fridge cold enough to quench your thirst?
If you don’t think it is, perhaps you should put it in the freezer, but is this sensible? In this article, we will be taking a look at freezing beer and whether or not you should do it.
Should I Freeze Beer?
To be fair, we don’t think that it is a good idea to freeze beer even though it is possible to do so. Freezing makes the beer become slushy and lumpy. Another important factor is that freezing causes liquids to expand.
Bottles and cans of beer are usually filled to the top and when the liquid expands, it exerts pressure on the container. The worst scenario is that the bottle shatters or the can explodes and makes a terrible mess in your freezer.
If you are still determined to freeze your beer, remember that it takes a long time to freeze. It can take between two and three hours. If the beer has a high alcohol content, it will take even longer to freeze (see also Freezing Cider). This is because beer has a very low freezing point of -173F. This is in comparison to water which freezes at 32F.
Really, we can’t see why you would need to freeze beer as it usually has a long shelf life. If you want a really cold beer, you can put the can or bottle in the freezer for up to an hour. In this way it won’t freeze, but it will end up extra cool.
For What Length of Time Can You Leave Beer in the Freezer
Ideally, only freeze your beer for an hour maximum. If you leave it in for longer, not only does it have the chance of exploding, but it also loses its taste.
Defrosting Beer
If you have left your beer in the freezer for under an hour it should still pour out normally. However, if you have left it in for longer, you are going to have to take some steps to defrost it. It can be tricky and it may not work.
The first thing to do is to check the can or bottle. With a bit of luck your container of beer won’t have exploded. Study the bottle or can and make sure there are no cracks in the bottle or ruptures in the can.
If there are, the beer will probably have gone flat and will be undrinkable. In addition, if you have frozen a bottle, shards of glass might have gone into the beer and it will be dangerous to drink. The only solution is to throw the beer away.
If your bottle or can is intact, then you can start defrosting it. Don’t think that this will be easy. It is very time-consuming and you will probably wish you’d not bothered. A sudden temperature change is not good for beer. It can rupture the can or make the bottle crack.
So if it’s a hot day, it’s not a good idea to just put the beer on your countertop. In addition, don’t open the beer yet as it could explode.
The ideal way to defrost beer is to put the bottle or can in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge. In this way, the beer will warm up slowly and therefore should survive the process.
Unfortunately you may have to wait until the following day for the beer to defrost. You will also need to half-rotate the bottle every nine hours.
How Well Does Beer Freeze?
I think that this article has shown you that it really isn’t a good idea to put your beer in the freezer unless you keep it inside the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour.
To sum up, these are the reasons why you shouldn’t freeze beer:
- The can or bottle can explode in the freezer if you leave it in there for too long.
- Freezing beer can make it lose a lot of its carbonation and it will taste flat.
- Freezing beer can make it taste unpleasant.
- When you freeze beer, the ice crystals are mainly water. The alcohol and water separate with the water sinking as it is denser. The alcohol will float on the top so you will get a shot of highly concentrated alcohol. Perhaps you don’t mind this, but remember that eventually you will be getting just water. It won’t be quite the beer you would have been looking forward to.
In effect, our advice is not to bother freezing beer. You will come to regret it.
