3D Printing

Spin Chill turns beverages cold in 60 seconds

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Spin Chill's Beerouette flash-chilling a bottle of beer (Photo: Spin Chill)
A hybrid Chill Bit that works with cans and bottles alike (Photo: Spin Chill)
Spin Chill's Beerouette flash-chilling a bottle of beer (Photo: Spin Chill)
Another view of the Spin Chill Chill bit in operating position (Photo: Spin Chill)
Early design sketches for the Chill Bit (Image: Spin Chill)
Spin Chill's Chill Bit in action (Photo: Spin Chill)
Early prototype for the Spin Chill Beerouette (Photo: Spin Chill)
Early design sketches for the Beerouette self-contained beverage spinner (Image: Spin Chill)
The waterproof Beerouette in action (Photo: Spin Chill)
View gallery - 8 images

Since the earliest days of brewing beer and making wine, the search has been on for an easy, affordable method of chilling drinks quickly without diluting them in the process. Florida-based start-up Spin Chill claims to have a solution to this vexing problem with a portable device that (literally) turns beverages ice cold in 60 seconds.

Spin Chill aims to radically shorten the time required to cool a canned or bottled beverage – 20-30 minutes if you simply put the container in the freezer. To solve this problem wouldn't seem to require more than a little planning ahead, but somehow running out of cold beer always seems to come as a surprise. Spin Chill brings this cooling time down to less than a minute.

Spin Chill's Chill Bit in action (Photo: Spin Chill)

Invented by Ty Parker and Trevor Abbott at this year's AngelHack hackathon, the basic principles of Spin Chill have been known since access to ice became common. If you spin a can in a tub of ice, it cools faster, because in spinning the can you cause convection in the can, while at the same time considerably increasing the surface area of the can that is actually touching ice.

A hybrid Chill Bit that works with cans and bottles alike (Photo: Spin Chill)

The prototype was adapted from a power drill, a baby's bottle, and a great deal of duct tape, taking second place at the competition. Later refinements included using 3D printing to print the attachment known as the Chill Bit, which connects the power drill to a beverage container. The latest version of the Chill Bit will spin both cans and bottles.

The waterproof Beerouette in action (Photo: Spin Chill)

As very few of us carry power drills around to parties or while tailgating (the inventors are mechanical engineers), the next logical step was to develop a self-contained unit for spin chilling. The resulting Beerouette is waterproof, and can spin a can or bottle to near freezing in less than a minute without requiring any attention while operating.

Doesn't all this spinning cause carbonated drinks to foam over when opened? Actually, you get less foam. When the can or bottle is spinning, the tiny bubbles in the carbonated liquid rise to the top of the spinning liquid, which is on the rotation axis, where they coalesce into a single large bubble. When the spinning stops, that large bubble is at the top of the can or bottle, where it can escape without fanfare when the container is opened.

The Spin Chill products allow a beverage to be cooled essentially down to the temperature of the ice in which they are spun. If the ice is melting, the limit is a bit above freezing. However, if the ice is fresh from the freezer, a beverage can be cooled below the freezing point. Beer Slushies, anyone?

Spin Chill is currently rising funds on Kickstarter to bring the idea to market. The company's video pitch is below.

Source: Spin Chill

View gallery - 8 images
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12 comments
steve rose
An easier way without spending money is to put water into a bucket of ice and then your bottle or can
Mahyar Emadipoor
Very cool idea for chilling ur drink less than 1 min !!!
Dvorák Bence
Advice: use salted ice. - http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2005/03/mythbusters_cooling_a_sixpack.html
Slowburn
Just use well salted ice and submerge the container in the liquid ice mix. using an Ice Bucket that held only three cans and three teens kept pulling cold beverages out by putting room temperature cans in when we did.
Sue Hadden
Nothing new. 1969 we used a bloc of ice, spun beverages, old tech
mick2d2
Brilliant idea, when you forget to refill the fridge with beer! I think a bucket of water and ice would take more than a minute to cool your beer.
Mac McDougal
This device will create happiness, awe, and elevated levels of impairment worldwide. I'm in!
DonGateley
"somehow running out of cold beer always seems to come as a surprise"
LOL! Quote of the year.
DonGateley
There must be some odd hydrodynamics going on due to the spinning to speed the heat flow. Otherwise it would be no quicker than immersion.
Bryan Paschke
Not only has it been done, but it's been done and refined: http://www.amazon.com/Cooper-Cooler-Beverage-Chiller-Brushed-Silver/dp/B0000U3CIW