Beer Freezing trick

[Jay-qu]

who has seen the instant beer freezing trick?

 

If your not familiar with it, watch this:

 

YouTube - 10 sec Freezing Corona by Ivan & Gent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYcpveAT8JY&NR=1

 

Now, how does this work?

[Boerseun]

Prolly just supercooled!

 

Turning the bottles upside down might initiate the freeze, but the molecules are smoothly rolling around. Tapping the one bottle with the other initiates the shock which tells the molecules "how" to freeze!

 

You can do the same with normal water, if you're careful. Just chill it in the fridge without bumping it (I've found putting it down on a piece of rubber in the fridge works pretty good - the biggest problem is in removing it from the fridge; you always end up bumping the bottom). Once its chilled beyond the freezing point, and you tap it with a spoon or something hard, the whole thing freezes solid, instantaneously!

 

Another really cool instance of this is walking over a cold lawn on a really cool, windless winter morning. Before, it's just grass. When you walk over it and look back, you can actually see the frost spreading from your tracks, as the shock of your footsteps initiates the freezing!

[Jay-qu]

what exactly is going on on a molecular level that stops the actual freezing until the shock?

[Jay-qu]

ok, so maybe this thread would be better titled supercooling, a quick google search came up with this awesome trick!

 

YouTube - Supercooling Experiment 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSPzMva9_CE

[Boerseun]

To the best of my knowledge, the molecular structure of water makes it pretty difficult to crystallize. It's also a pretty unique crystal, seeing as the solid form takes up more space than the liquid form.

 

The surest way to get supercooled water to do its thing is to drop in a piece of ice, the 'seed crystal' providing a handy matrix for the supercooled water to fix to. But a quick shock is way cooler!

 

(IDEA!!! I'm gonna take a glass filled with supercooled water and drop it on the floor. The ice should be pretty awesome, freezing in a kind of a splash pattern as the glass breaks!)

[Mercedes Benzene]

To the best of my knowledge, the molecular structure of water makes it pretty difficult to crystallize. It's also a pretty unique crystal, seeing as the solid form takes up more space than the liquid form.

 

The surest way to get supercooled water to do its thing is to drop in a piece of ice, the 'seed crystal' providing a handy matrix for the supercooled water to fix to. But a quick shock is way cooler!

 

I remember seeing a demo like this once, but I don't recall exactly how it worked. Inversely however, you can superheat water past the boiling point without it actually "boiling". It must be distilled water however, since there are no particles to act as nucleation sites. Then, as soon as you drop something in there, like a drop of tap water, the whole thing explodes in a fit of steam and super-hot water.

I don't know what is happening to the beer though.

[Boerseun]

I remember seeing a demo like this once, but I don't recall exactly how it worked. Inversely however, you can superheat water past the boiling point without it actually "boiling". It must be distilled water however, since there are no particles to act as nucleation sites. Then, as soon as you drop something in there, like a drop of tap water, the whole thing explodes in a fit of steam and super-hot water.

I don't know what is happening to the beer though.

This happens quite regularly in microwaves! And not necessarily with distilled water, either. I think distilled water is required when the heat is applied from one side only. Heating a cup of coffee in a microwave, the water heats all over. The liquid is nice and quiet, until you remove the cup from the microwave. Everything's all good, until you put it down on the kitchen counter. All of a sudden, the mug violently boils over, almost as if all the water exploded at once! Beautiful mayhem! Dangerous as hell, though. I've burnt myself quite a few times with it.

[Jay-qu]

back to supercooling though - how does one go about supercooling water?

[Mercedes Benzene]

back to supercooling though - how does one go about supercooling water?

 

The only thing I can think of is dipping it in a liquid gas...

otherwise, I think it would take too long to cool.

[Mercedes Benzene]

I also just noticed...

that color is WAY off to be Corona. I don't think it's actually beer in there.

 

Unless of course it isn't supposed to be corona.... but the bottle certainly looks the part.

[Boerseun]

That's beer, all right.

 

I've had quite a few beers freeze instantaneously on me after forgetting it in the freezer for a tad too long. And quite a few actually exploded, when you twist the cap to open the (apparently liquid) beer, the twisting cap vibrates the supercooled liquid and it solidifies instantaneously, suddenly becoming too big for the bottle.

 

It might look cool and all, but this is no trick and no smoke-and-mirrors! This is a true's Bob, bona-fide lager-killer, and I'm talkin' from experience here.

[Hill]

Now, how does this work?

 

Seems if you get something supercooled by not disturbing it as the temperature reaches and then goes below freezing, then give it a shock by jarring it, it should freeze instantly. I tried this with water after watching a Watch Mr. Wizard show when I was kid.

 

If the bottles were filled with water, I'd think freezing would shatter them. That they don't must have something to do with the carbonation.