4 Ways to Cool Beer Without a Refrigerator

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There aren’t many things more irritating than being in the position of having warm beer with no way to cool it. If the beer is warm, you’re more than likely sweating like crazy yourself, so what’s the point of that beer, then? Here are four methods you can employ to cool your beer when there’s no refrigerator around.

Wind Method
Bottles work best with the wind method. It’s super simple: put the bottle in a sock, thoroughly wet the sock, set the beer in a windy place. It’s better if you can hang it up to maximize exposure to the air. Let it be for 20-30 minutes and voila.

Here’s how it works—the process of evaporative cooling will chill your beer to a more enjoyable temperature. To change state from a liquid to a gas, water requires heat. It will take this heat from the beer, thereby cooling it. The same method can be conducted with newspapers in place of the sock. Without a steady breeze, this method won’t work well on a hot day.

Find Some Ice
Make it simple—you just need some ice and a bucket. Then add some water. Water and ice will cool beer faster than will just ice because of increased surface contact between the warm beer and the cold water.

River Plunk/Boat Tow
Just like it sounds. If you’re canoeing down a river or cruising in a fishing boat, find a way to secure the beers (a net, string, duct tape, etc) to the boat and drop em over. Do this well or you might end up saddened by your losses. Also, always practice safe boating!

No boat, but there’s a lake or stream nearby? Set the drinks in the edge and build a holding area for them with rocks or logs. Even in a lake they might float away, so figure out a good way to trap them. Pull them out in 10-15 minutes and you’ll have yourself some nice cold ones.

Burying
Ground is usually cooler than the air. Shade and ease of digging are two primary factors to weigh when considering a location to bury the beer.

Also, keep these two things in mind: deeper is colder and wetter is colder. Alternatively you can wet the ground around the beer. The time for this one is dependent on how cold the ground is. This method is likely to take a bit longer than the rest of these, so be patient.