Especially in summer, it’s very useful to know some tricks to cool down wine, beer and other drinks faster before serving them at the table and quenching your thirst.
There are many methods for refrigerating wines and drinks faster, but we’ll suggest you the most simple and effective ones to save your dinners with friends or your parties, whether they are indoors or outdoors.
First method: how to cool down a drink with water and salt
1. Take a tureen or a sufficiently large glass jug, and fill it with a mix of water and ice. Use the following proportions: 50% water and 50% ice;
2. Add a generous handful of coarse salt: the sodium and chloride ions contained in the salt will polarize the water molecules, removing the heat and lowering the temperature;
3. Immerse the cans or bottles in the solution you have obtained. Quickly mix the water with a wooden spoon: by exploiting the principle of thermal convection, you will cool down your drinks faster;
4. Wait for a few minutes until the temperature inside the bowl has dropped sufficiently. Repeat the operation several times to obtain an even fresher solution.
Second method: how to cool down a drink with kitchen paper
1. Take your can or bottle and wet it with plenty of cold water;
2. Get one or more sheets of kitchen paper and repeat the same operation under cold tap water;
3. Wrap the drinks, still damp, with wet kitchen paper;
4. Place everything in the freezer, choosing the fastest freezing shelf: instead of waiting 10-15 minutes, your drinks will be cold in just 2 minutes.
Third method: how to cool a drink with water balloons (ideal for garden parties)
1. Get some water balloons, the ones used in summer. Fill them with water and place them to cool in the drawers of your freezer. Leave them to freeze for a few hours, preferably overnight;
2. Take a small plastic tray: you will need it to create your own swimming pool of frozen balloons;
3. Fill the tray with frozen balloons and place your drinks between one balloon and the other: it will become your portable freezer, which you can place in the garden to drink comfortably, without going back and forth to the kitchen.
Now you know our tips to cool your drinks faster: you just have to follow them whenever you need them, to face the hottest days or simply to get an iced drink when you have little time available.