If you are wondering whether you can put ice in beer, the real answer is… if you want to.
After all, it’s your beer! Drink it however you want to.
Ice in beer is not unheard of; Micheladas – a Mexican drink with beer, tomato juice, hot sauce, and lime – are frequently served over ice, and beer is usually served over ice in Vietnam.
So you will be in good company if you do want ice in your beer.
However, it’s worth noting that most beer connoisseurs do not drink beer over ice. Ice melts into water, and this dilutes both the taste and the potency of the beer.
Putting ice in your beer means that you’re not getting the full flavor, and the beer will be much weaker.
Neither of these is desirable for true beer lovers.
It typically takes several hours in the refrigerator for room-temperature beer to feel very cold.
So, if you don’t want warm beer, and you don’t want ice in your beer, and you don’t want to wait for your beer to chill, what is a person to do?
Read on for 6 alternatives to ice in your beer so you can enjoy a cold one as soon as possible!
Wine Globes or Whiskey Stones
Wine globes and whiskey stones are made from different materials, come in different shapes, and go by many different names.
They are little balls, stones, or pyramids made from metal or stone. Essentially, whiskey stones are ice cubes that never melt.
You can keep them in the freezer, so they are always cold.
When you put them in your beer – or other beverage, they will chill the drink without diluting it.
Compressed Air
Most people use cans of compressed air to clean computer keyboards or other electronic devices, but you can also use them to chill your beer in about 30 seconds!
Hold the can of compressed air upside-down and spray the bottle or can of beer until you see frost forming.
Damp Cloth
Wrap each bottle or can of beer in a moistened hand towel or paper towel, and then put them in the freezer.
As the moisture evaporates from the towel, it draws heat from the beer along with it, cooling it down more quickly. Your beer can be cold in 15 minutes.
SpinChill
The SpinChill is designed to chill beer in less than five minutes!
It spins the bottle or can of beer in a large bucket of ice, and it is engineered to do this without increasing the carbonation in the beer.
The spinning motion creates convection, which assists in heat transfer between the ice and the beer.
You can chill beer in less than 15 minutes with a SpinChill or similar device.
Ziploc Bag of Ice
This is not a terribly elegant solution, but it is quick and easy. A Ziploc bag of ice lets you chill an entire pitcher of beer at once, so it is well suited for a (very casual) gathering.
Fill a Ziploc bag with ice cubes, put it in a pitcher, and then fill the rest of the pitcher with beer.
We all know that ice chills beer, but now you can have a cold beer that isn’t watered down.
Ice and Salt
Mixing ice and salt is another method that’s great for a picnic or other group gathering when you need some cold beer.
Fill a bucket or cooler with ice, and then throw in handfuls of salt – the inexpensive kind is just fine.
Adding salt lowers the melting point of the ice, which means that the ice melts quickly, and the water stays ice-cold, chilling your beer faster.
Beers in the cooler will probably feel chilled in about 15 minutes.
Wrapping It Up…
You can and should drink your beer any way you want, and if that means you still want to put ice cubes in your beer, then enjoy it proudly!
However, since most people don’t want diluted beer, which is what happens when those ice cubes melt, it’s worth knowing other ways to chill your beer quicker than a refrigerator will.
Some of the best ways to chill beer quickly include putting it in a cooler with ice and salt, wrapping the beer in a towel and putting it in the freezer for a very short time, and spraying the beer bottles or cans with condensed air from an office supply store.
All of these cooling tricks can be accomplished with things you likely have around the house, and all of them will chill beer in approximately 15 minutes.
If you’re wondering why you can’t just put the beer in the freezer, it is because liquid expands when it freezes, and beer is carbonated.
These two properties combined mean that there’s a very good chance that the beer will explode in the freezer.
You won’t have any beer, and you will have a mess to clean up.
You’re much better off with any of the tricks we described above. Cheers/Prost!