In a bid to chill my beer quickly, I've placed my bottles in freezer only to find myself cleaning up a mess a few minute later.

In order to save myself from having this happen again, is it ok to leave beer in cans inside freezer for a longer time?

  • Put them in a cooler with ice and water. Also, if your tap water is cold, run tapwater over them in a tall container, the moving cold water cools very quickly. You only need to have it on at a slow rate, and it doesn't take long - about 5 minutes). Occasionally rotate and invert the bottles (don't shake or you know what'll happen). Can's cool off even faster. – Eric Deloak Nov 27 '15 at 17:46

Cans should be okay in the freezer for a long time, however they will probably dent outward as the water freezes. Bottles will pop the cap since that is the weakest part of the container.

All that being said, the quality of the beer may deteriorate from being frozen as the water will separate from the alcohol during freezing and they may not mix evenly when thawing.

  • No to mention that frozen beer loses most of its carbonation – jalynn2 Nov 13 '15 at 17:15
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    Bottles aren't as likely to pop a cap as they are for the glass to break, at least in my experience. The bottle cap is crimped over the lip of the bottle and makes a very good mechanical connection. When people over carbonate their home-brew they end up with bottle grenades because the glass fails before the cap pops off, which is the opposite to what happens if you over carbonate something in a corked wine bottle (unless the cork is secured with a cage). Perhaps it may be different with screw-top caps. – Dave Nov 18 '15 at 12:17

Chances are that your cans will also explode. Just leave them in the fridge.

Do a test: take one can and leave it in the fridge. Take another and place it in a plastic container. Close the container and put it in the fridge. The container serves no purpose apart form minimizing the amount of clean-up. After a few days, remove the can from the fridge. If it is still whole, put it in the fridge and mark it with pen so that you know which is which. Leave for two day. Both beers should now be at the same temp. Open them both and compare the beers.

There are many techniques for cooling cans quickly. I would rather do that than leave beers in the freezer.

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