Cooling Drinks for Picnics

Cooling Drinks for Picnics

Need to cool drinks for a large group really fast? Here are a few instructions anyone can follow with what is generally at hand.

Generally cooling drinks for picnics by putting them in ice takes well over an hour. But there is a way to cool drinks like soda and beer in minutes, less than two minutes in fact if the proper mixture of ice, water and salt are used.

Take a container that is large enough to put in ice about ten inches deep. I like a five gallon plastic bucket for this. The container need only be as big as is needed to put some of the drinks in, they can be replaced as they cool. Add a half pound of salt for each ten pounds of ice in a five gallon bucket about fifteen pounds of ice, a pound of salt and about a gallon of water is a good mixture.

Add water so that the ice and salt to make an ice, salt and water mixture. Stir it but DO NOT STIR IT WITH YOUR HANDS or PUT YOUR HANDS IN IT. Ice water is 32 degrees but this brine mixture will hit about 12 degrees almost immediately. Immerse the cans in the mixture. They will cool very quickly and in fact if you let them in too long the beverage will actually freeze on the inside of the can.

If you take the cans out after a few minutes you can put them on ice to keep them cool and use the cold mixture to cool more cans.