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Sometimes I only have 10-15 minutes and I have a water bottle out, but it's near room temperature. I need it to be near freezing, but I don't have time to do anything.

Usually I will just put it in the freezer until I have to leave, but that usually doesn't do much. Is there any way that I can get a regular plastic water bottle near freezing temperature (or at least feel like it) in 10 to 15 minutes?

It would only have to be one water bottle at a time, and it would be great it the hack could work for Gatorade bottles too. The water must stay in the bottle (it's a hastle to get back in).

Regular plastic water bottle

Alex
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michaelpri
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  • Have you read the very similar thread here? http://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/24/what-is-the-quickest-way-to-cool-down-a-room-temperature-drink-without-pouring-i/42#42 – J. Musser Dec 22 '14 at 22:38

6 Answers6

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Always keep one bottle of water in the refrigerator (or freezer if you prefer a block of ice that will thaw throughout the day). When it's time to go somewhere, swap your room temperature bottle for the cold one.

Before you argue that it doesn't answer the question, remember this is LifeHacks SE not Physics SE. This takes less than 10 minutes, doesn't require you to remove the water from the bottle, and works with Gatorade.

par
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    This is exactly the solution to the problem that I've been utilizing for years. A life-hack is a lifestyle change. 80% of my life hacks boil down to "be prepared". – dotancohen Dec 23 '14 at 07:00
  • Drink half a bottle and put it in the freezer. When you grab a new bottle, pour half into the frozen bottle, and leave the new half in the freezer for next time. – Tanath Mar 30 '21 at 04:59
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  1. Submerge the bottle in a bucket of ice water [1]
    Fill a bucket with ice water and add a pinch of salt, which helps the water absorb the heat energy from the can or bottle.
  2. Wrap your bottle in a wet paper towel and put it in the freezer [2]
    The wet paper towel outside the bottle will utilize physics to help transfer heat energy outside the bottle more quickly.
    enter image description here
Mooseman
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    If you have a bucket of ice water already, wouldn't there be no need to cool your bottle of water down? – Origin Dec 22 '14 at 22:46
  • @Origin OP says they have a freezer, presumably with ice. – Mooseman Dec 22 '14 at 22:47
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    I... don't see how that changes anything with my question about the bucket of ice water. – Origin Dec 22 '14 at 22:51
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    The OP wants a "near freezing" bottle of water. They have water and (presumably) ice, but they want the bottle of water to be cold because they "have to leave". – Mooseman Dec 22 '14 at 22:54
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    The water in the bucket could also just not be clean enough to drink. @Origin – Pops Dec 23 '14 at 03:45
  • Does this really use physics? I kinda wanted to ask on Physics SE, but... someone already did, long before Lifehacks SE even existed. (Somehow both of these posts use the same photo. Where'd you find it?) – Pops Dec 23 '14 at 03:49
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    For method 1., you want to add a lot of salt to the ice water bucket. The salt will lower the freezing temperature of water, so that the temperature of the ice water in the bucket is actually below freezing. The colder temperature will chill the water bottle faster. – Mark H Dec 23 '14 at 03:56
  • Meta-hack for method 1: stirring/agitation greatly decreases the cooling time, both by keeping fresh, sub-freezing salt water in contact with the bottle and stirring the bottle contents to maximize the temperature difference in contact. – Digital Chris Dec 23 '14 at 14:28
  • Where "a lot" of salt is roughtly 23% (in weight). Can get you ~20K deeper. – PlasmaHH Dec 23 '14 at 14:28
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    Meta-meta hack for method 1: always rinse off the bottle after using this method to avoid a nasty, salty first swig. (Disregard if imbibing some kind of margarita). – Digital Chris Dec 23 '14 at 14:30
  • If you can fit a fan in the freezer then blowing air on the wet-towel-wrapped bottle will cool it even faster. – Brad Dec 23 '14 at 21:48
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Fill a bottle about half full and lay it on its side in the freezer with the neck tipped up just enough so that the water doesn't block it. Just before you leave take it out of the freezer and fill with water from the tap. While you're out the ice melts and cools the water. You could rotate bottles through the freezer so there's always one ready :)

gsd
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We used to keep a container of very strong brine (water with a lot of salt dissolved in it) in the freezer for cooling beer bottles super quickly whenever The Thirst would strike. The brine could take a bottle from room temperature to freezing (we made a few beer slushies this way) in about 15 minutes. Problem was we didn't have a lid on the container and the salt water rusted out the door of the fridge.

stib
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Get some dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) or liquid nitrogen if you're cool. Dunk your water bottle into one of those for about 30 seconds for dry ice, 5 for liquid nitrogen. This will cool your bottle super-fast and even turn some of the water into ice. To increase the rate of heat transfer away from the bottle, cover pellets of dry ice with acetone. Acetone has a very low freezing point and can be purchased at most hardware stores.

Benjwgarner
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Origin
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    I don't usually have dry ice sitting around my house. – michaelpri Dec 22 '14 at 22:38
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    Well, you're obviously not cool then. – Origin Dec 22 '14 at 22:38
  • Not very hackish is it? Buy something really cold and dip it in? – Tim Dec 22 '14 at 22:53
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    @Tim That's pretty much the exact method the other answer uses: get something cold and dip it in. Or get something cold, wrap it with the something cold, and then put it in something else that's cold. – Origin Dec 22 '14 at 22:58
  • There is a difference between going out to buy something super cold, and putting it in something you already have... – Tim Dec 22 '14 at 22:59
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    @Tim Yes. One shows a lack of planning. The other does not. If you already own dry ice or liquid nitrogen, this is arguably more efficient and lifehackish than the other answer. – fbueckert Dec 22 '14 at 23:02
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    Hu? Who has a bucket of liquid nitrogen to hand? How do you keep it cold? – Tim Dec 22 '14 at 23:03
  • I submit that if you happen to have liquid nitrogen available, you also have a way of keeping it cold. Either way, it's as applicable as the other answer. More specialized, yes, but that doesn't mean it doesn't answer the question. – fbueckert Dec 22 '14 at 23:08
  • My local grocery store used to sell bags of dry ice. It was a little more expensive but it was a lot more fun. – apaul Dec 23 '14 at 03:55
  • @Tim - I keep my liquid nitrogen cold by keeping it in a bath of liquid helium. – Johnny Dec 23 '14 at 22:58
  • @Johnny Cool, bathing in liquid helium is always fun :) I always found shower sharing a little frigid when I used it tho... – Tim Dec 23 '14 at 23:06
  • Liquid nitrogen won't work well due to leidenfrost effect. – Tomáš Zato Mar 09 '16 at 10:06
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How about the best of both worlds? Wrap the water bottle with salt-water soaked paper towel then put it in the freezer. Make sure to make as much contact between the water bottle and paper towel as possible.

The absolute fastest way is (as stated by mooseman) to submerge the water bottle in an iced salt water solution. If that is unavailable, the paper towel trick is next best.

Steven Jirjis
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  • I understand the reason for salt in the bucket and why the towel thing works. I fail to see what good the salt would do in the towel, though. – Christopher Creutzig Dec 29 '14 at 15:08
  • Salt in the towel will lower the temperature of the water in the towel. Salt water will remain in liquid form even if its temp is below freezing. In this case, liquid contact is more efficient than solid in that when water on the towel freezes there will actually be less contact because of the crystals made when freezing (which create space for air). – Steven Jirjis Dec 30 '14 at 21:02
  • The goal of the wet towel is for the water to evaporate, and the salt reduces that effect. The enthalpy of dissolving NaCl isn’t all that large – sure, it does get the water a little bit colder for a short while (unlike some other salts), but nowhere near what happens with ice. I’m not going to make a prediction without a couple of experiments, but I would be less than surprised if the salt at this place wasn’t all that helpful. – Christopher Creutzig Dec 30 '14 at 22:52