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Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

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Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#31

Post by jlgreco »

paultannenbaum wrote: post #26
jlgreco wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Salt, and water to increase the contact area with the can/bottle (unless you want to wait for the ice to melt).

Since we are going off on a tangent, a cool camping hack when you don't have ice is to stuff a beer in a tube sock, dunk it in water, and hang/tie it to a tree branch in the shade. If there is even a touch of wind it will be nice and cold in 10 minutes.

Evaporative beer cooling.. very clever. I wonder if there is a market for a product dedicated/optimized for this (incorporated drawstring/hanger, ideal material, etc.)

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#32

Post by derekp7 »

I can't find it online, but there was an article covering this topic in the April 1989 (if I recall) issue of Radio Electronics, referring to modifications to reverse a Microwave to turn it into a Macrowave oven to cool things fast. Of course, it was their annual April Fools article, but very entertaining none the less.

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#33

Post by leephillips »

tehwalrus wrote: post #13
forgottenpaswrd wrote: post #6

This shaking is certainly going to make cokes to explode when open.

it says it uses a Rankine Vortex[1] where a substantial amount of the velocity profile is zero - thus it doesn't "disturb carbonation". As others have pointed out, this is exactly what a lot of other "fast chill" tech already does. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rankine_vortex

It says that, but the flow inside the can will be three-dimensional and not well modeled by the Rankine vortex. And no, the Rankine velocity profile is nowhere zero.

This gadget exploits a common technique for enhancing heat transfer; another example are pipes designed to transport fluid while also causing it to come to thermal equilibrium with the environment as quickly as possible: these pipes sometimes feature rifling which spins the fluid as it flows through them.

If this doesn't lead to carbonation explosions it's because the spinning is not very fast and doesn't lead to much shear.

In short, this is very well understood, in fact utterly routine, technology.

EDIT: On second thought the combined canned fluid + bath fluid together might roughly be considered Rankine-like; this might be what they mean. In that case the fluid inside the can would be in (very roughly) solid-body motion, which implies little agitation (shear).

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#34

Post by lightblade »

staunch wrote: post #16

It's cool, but I doubt it will compete on price:performance with a bucket of ice.

I have some doubt on that, but I can't give you any numbers.

With price, you have to consider the energy cost of freezing the ice.

With performance, this thing is less like a microwave and more like a convection oven. A bucket of ice chills the content from outside to the center. This machine creates a spinning vortex inside the beverage container, bringing the warmer center to the outside to be chilled by the surface (by which this machine blows cold water over it).

The idea behind the machine is pretty simple actually. I think this belongs in the clever invention category.

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#36

Post by aaren »

paultannenbaum wrote: post #26
jlgreco wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Salt, and water to increase the contact area with the can/bottle (unless you want to wait for the ice to melt).

Since we are going off on a tangent, a cool camping hack when you don't have ice is to stuff a beer in a tube sock, dunk it in water, and hang/tie it to a tree branch in the shade. If there is even a touch of wind it will be nice and cold in 10 minutes.

This is much more elegant than the spinning trick, as it doesn't require energy input.

Works really well in deserts, if you keep the sock in the shade.

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#37

Post by toomuchtodo »

jlgreco wrote: post #31
paultannenbaum wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since we are going off on a tangent, a cool camping hack when you don't have ice is to stuff a beer in a tube sock, dunk it in water, and hang/tie it to a tree branch in the shade. If there is even a touch of wind it will be nice and cold in 10 minutes.

Evaporative beer cooling.. very clever. I wonder if there is a market for a product dedicated/optimized for this (incorporated drawstring/hanger, ideal material, etc.)

"Billy Mays here for Beer Sock!"

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#39

Post by petercooper »

coderzach wrote: post #22
jostmey wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reverse microwaves? The author of the post must be completely, 100% scientifically illiterate.

I think she meant reverse microwave oven. As in, rather than heating fast, it cools fast.

Yeah, I think it's just a pragmatic layman's term for a good headline. I've complained over the years to my wife I'd like a "reverse microwave" for exactly this use, so it certainly clicked with me.

Re: Reverse Microwave Chills Beer In 45 Seconds

#40

Post by derekp7 »

xutopia wrote: post #18
staunch wrote: post #16

It's cool, but I doubt it will compete on price:performance with a bucket of ice.

If you add salt to the ice it'll chill even faster.

Didn't mythbusters do an episode on this once? Fastest way to cool a beer, or something like that? They concluded that the fastest was to use a CO2 fire extinguisher.
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