Drink Chilling Time Calculator
How long a can or bottle takes to reach drinking temperature in the fridge, the freezer, or a bucket of iced water.
A drink cools toward its surroundings exponentially — Newton’s law of cooling — with a time constant that depends on the container and how well the cold reaches it.
How the drink chilling time calculator works
A drink cools toward its surroundings exponentially — Newton’s law of cooling — with a time constant that depends on the container and how well the cold reaches it. Still air in a fridge is slow; iced water carries heat away many times faster, and a little salt in the ice water drops it below zero. The constants here are typical measured values for a 375 ml can and a 750 ml glass bottle; heavier bottles take longer.
Formula: t = −τ · ln((T_target − T_env) ÷ (T_start − T_env))
Worked examples
| Inputs | Time to chill | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Can from 25 °C to 6 °C in the fridge | 94 min | about 94 min |
| Same can in iced salt water | 4 min | about 4 min |
| Bottle of white from 20 °C to 8 °C in the freezer | 8 min | about 8 min |
FAQFrequently asked questions
Why is iced water so much faster than the freezer?
Water carries heat away from the can about 25 times better than air, even though the freezer is colder. The freezer only wins once the drink is already near freezing.
Why add salt to the ice water?
Salt lowers the melting point, so the bath can sit a few degrees below zero — a bigger temperature gap and a faster chill. Spinning the can in the bath speeds it up further.
Will a drink in the freezer burst?
Cans and full bottles can split once the liquid freezes and expands, typically after 45–90 minutes. The freezer row estimates when the drink reaches 0 °C; set a timer well before that.
How accurate are these times?
They are typical values for a standard can and a glass bottle. A thick bottle, a crowded fridge or warm surroundings take longer — treat them as the right order of magnitude, not a stopwatch.
Where these figures come from
- US FDA — Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures — the internal temperatures the roasting calculator targets
- NIST SP 811 — Guide for the Use of the International System of Units — the exact weight and volume conversions used throughout
- US Food and Drug Administration — food safety and labelling standards
Last checked: September 2026. Baking ratios follow standard baker's percentage practice; roasting guidance follows published safe internal temperatures.