the cold beer epiphany

I love the viscosity of ice cold beer.  That observation and enjoyment has been around for awhile.  Both Chef K and Mike are also fans of beer that is on the verge of freezing up.  There is an art to rotating the beers in and out of the freezer depending on the drinking pace that keeps them right at this optimum point (not frozen, but ice cold).  Chef K just mentioned something in observation to this that we have all noticed in one way or another.  You can keep beer at right below the freezing point where it is still liquid.  Strangely, at this same temperature when you open the beer and tilt it or begin to pour it, it will begin to freeze up and sometimes even seal itself in under a little beer iceberg.  Is it the contact with the warmer air that somehow makes it freeze up or the agitation of the liquid when tilting the bottle?  This had us thinking about the magiqual that Seiji Yamamoto demonstrated via video at the ICC in New York.  The magiqual is a machine that takes liquids well below the freezing point, but keeps them in the liquid state.  Once the liquid is agitated by either tapping it onto a tabletop or pouring it, it begins to change to a solid state... actually more of a slushy highly viscous state.  So our question is, is this the same occurence.  If so, what makes the beer capable of this through normal freezing... is it the carbonation?  the alcohol?  Possibly the CO2 moving around on a molecular level keeps the beer in the liquid state for a few degrees below its normal freezing point?

Of course, we are not scientist... just chefs drinking ice cold beer.  It was just a curious observation, and one that we have never noticed with other liquids.

Comments

[Ford]

I believe the higher pressure inside the bottle is what keeps the beer from freezing--the freezing point is lowered. When the pressure goes back down after opening, the freezing point is moved back to normal (see the phase diagram of water: http://www.earth.northwestern.edu/people/seth/202/new_2004/classnote_figs/h20phase.jpg).
Of course, that wouldn't explain why it doesn't freeze until you start to pour it... maybe there is still more to it the problem.

[logicalmind]

If i recall, I am also not a scientist, the smooth surface of the inside of the bottle makes it difficult for the liquid to form the first ice crystal. If you agitate the bottle, it induces ice crystal formation and once that happens it produces a chain reaction of ice crystals.

I believe this is the inverse of the exploding water in the microwave phenomenon. If you microwave water in a very smooth glass vessel with a small surface area, the water will not be able to boil because no bubbles can form. Once you agitate the super heated liquid it causes a chain reaction of bubbles and the liquid literally explodes.

[James Mark]

Yea, this definitely happens with water - put a bottle in the freezer without moving it and it will stay liquid, but it will freeze up as soon as it gets shaken

[s]

easy....supercooling. "logicalmind" no this is not the inverse of the "exploding water in the microwafe", otherwise known as superheating.

[Ed]

Not for nothing, I have put plenty of water bottles in the freezer and they always freeze solid...super cooling is the phenomonon here, we know this...but what does the magiqual do specifically to make this re-producable every time? I suspect it is rapidity combined with low or zero vibration...

[Chris]

I have seen advertisements in the orlando area of bars that have 19degree beer. I have not yet been to these places since they are on the tourist strip of orlando but I might have to brave the german tourists and fanny packs to get a super cold one. I know they keep them in a seperate cooler to attain the low temp. If I ever make it there I'll have to snap a picture of the cooler they have. Later Chad.

[James Mark]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YLeL8XFBB_0

[chadzilla]

Damn! That 19 degree bar was our next step in this quest. Use digital thermometers to equate the exact temperature the beer is when this happens, then design coolers that hold beer at that point constantly... always leaving you with an ice cold slushy one. Too bad someone else is already doing it.
It's amazing how many comments a post on beer will entice.

[James Mark]

When I was apprenticing in Britain last year there was a large advert campaign by either Carlsberg or Carling about their supercold beer - it came out with a layer of slush on the top. I saw the same thing this past summer all over hong kong.

[Jim]

I don't think supercooling is the answer. Nor is the lack of nucleation sites. I've seen explained that what happens is energy goes into the system in the form of kinetic energy (tapping the bottle) which triggers bubble formation. Those bubbles take more (heat) energy out of the system when they form. This happens when the beer is right at freezing temperature, so the beer freezes instantly. This works without opening the beer... you can just tap the bottle. Here's a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_H5ZIoZSBo

[Me]

look at the freezing curve of water (its not a straight curve)...keeping water in the supercooled state (with no nucleus), i.e. not cooling it enough for it to start crystallizing is the trick. Then when its agitated enough and 3 water molecules randomly align themselfs in the right way they will lock together forming a crystal seed which will then grow and all the water will crystallize.....as far as i know!

[Me]

forgot to add, ofcourse alcohol will lower the freezing point and obscure the curve