Why don't some cans of beers freeze?

jsmoke · 27 Apr 2017 at 13:03

Had this quite a few times, put 4 cans in freezer overnight, or at least for 14+ hours and find that 3 cans are rock solid and 1 can is still very liquid, i can drink the liquid can right away, small bit of ice in it, maybe 10-15% where as the solid can are about 70-80% ice, which you would expect. It would only make sense if liquid can had say 80%+ of alcohol in it but that surely can't be. Pretty stumped on this one.

EDIT: Spell corrector for title^

Semple · 27 Apr 2017 at 13:14

Hmm doesn't sound right. Theory would suggest the can that didn't freeze would have had a much higher volume of alcohol. Which i'd be quite doubtful of. Are they all the same brand? All unopened etc...

Buy 4 more and repeat experiment!

jsmoke · 27 Apr 2017 at 13:23

Semple said:
Hmm doesn't sound right. Theory would suggest the can that didn't freeze would have had a much higher volume of alcohol. Which i'd be quite doubtful of. Are they all the same brand? All unopened etc...

Buy 4 more and repeat experiment!

Seriously this has happened maybe 30 times, it's just as i described, tried a quick Google but nothing. Just to clarify, it's not always 3-1 sometimes 2-2, but definitely there is an obvious difference.

snips86x · 27 Apr 2017 at 13:23

Gotta love the title

jsmoke · 27 Apr 2017 at 13:25

snips86x said:
Gotta love the title

Lol, cannot = cans of.

touch · 27 Apr 2017 at 13:26

Maybe different pressures inside the cans?

In a pressure cooker you can heat water well over 100 degrees before it starts to boil.

HazardO · 27 Apr 2017 at 14:14

touch said:
Maybe different pressures inside the cans?

seabiscuit · 27 Apr 2017 at 17:19

Could be position in the freezer, so some further away from the (tech term here folks, so don't get too concerned if it gets confusing) freezy, cold making/heat stealing doodad. Or just demnons. Or it's insulated by pancakes.
Oooh, more likely supercooled fluids, but I'd expect it to turn to beer slushy when you poured (or maybe even opened) the liquid ones, as the bubles could nucleate ice crystals forming.

rexehuk · 27 Apr 2017 at 17:37

Did you write the title before or after drinking the 4 beers?

One More Solo · 27 Apr 2017 at 17:39

Why would you freeze beer overnight?!

FrenchTart · 27 Apr 2017 at 18:18

Totally could fix the thread title but I won't

As already posted, I wondered about the pressure aspect.

jsmoke · 27 Apr 2017 at 20:35

One More Solo said:
Why would you freeze beer overnight?!

Put in freezer yesterday to quick chill then never got round to drinking them hence left in freezer overnight.

FrenchTart · 27 Apr 2017 at 20:37

I've done the same myself tbh. Exploding beer/wine isn't great :eek:

Minibiker · 27 Apr 2017 at 20:57

rexehuk said:
Did you write the title before or after drinking the 4 beers?

Lol exactly what I thought,

Does seem very odd how some freeze more than others but have all been in go the same length of time

Rroff · 27 Apr 2017 at 21:03

rexehuk said:
Did you write the title before or after drinking the 4 beers?

I'm not as think as you drunk I am is entirely appropriate here.

jsmoke · 27 Apr 2017 at 21:05

I'll make a video next time and show how one can will pour right out of freezer while others will just mildly explode and foam like mad when opened.

Jean-F · 4 May 2017 at 13:00

FrenchTart said:
I've done the same myself tbh. Exploding beer/wine isn't great

You got that right, a few years back, my wife's brother rented a house in Orlando to take his grandkids to Disney.
My wife was pushing for us to go too, but wild horses couldn't drag me to that neck of Florida, so we rented a house between Lakeland FL and Plant City FL.
One evening we drove the 90 klm to Orlando, as her sister-in-law had called to say that she was bubbling up a mess of jambalaya and dirty rice.
When we arrived, I sat down in the kitchen with a glass of Jose Cuervo Especial, and noticed brownish stains down the door of their freezer.
Turns out dimbo, my brother-in-law, had put a case of Coca-Cola, and a case of Samuel Adams beers in the freezer, and left them overnight, resulting in an eruption of volcanic proportions.

Illgresi · 4 May 2017 at 19:22

If you guys check out this pressure-temperature chart for water, you'll notice that while boiling point changes significantly with varying pressure, melting point barely changes between around 700 Pa and around 30 MPa. Standard pressure is 100 kPa, with the pressure in a can being around 275 kPa. I think we can safely discount that pressure is having an effect.

Schizo · 4 May 2017 at 19:31

FrenchTart said:
Totally could fix the thread title but I won't

As already posted, I wondered about the pressure aspect.

I've changed it....my ocd was in overdrive

FrenchTart · 4 May 2017 at 19:35

schizo said:
I've changed it....my ocd was in overdrive

*changes it back