It is not always easy to cool drinks at a barbecue or garden party in summer temperatures without electricity or a refrigerator. Even if you have a larger refrigerator, it often happens that it is already filled with food for the garden party or other everyday foods. This could lead you as a host to look for clever ways to cool alcohol and soft drinks. Otherwise, the summer heat could be a real killjoy, but you shouldn't give up hope in such cases. You can be strategic in preparing your party by considering the following options.
What alternatives to refrigerators can be used to cool drinks?
Although options are sometimes limited, there are a few steps you can take to keep warm drinks cool in summer weather. The first logical solution is, of course, to fill large ice buckets or other containers with ice. You can then position these nearby so that bottles and cans stay ice cold and your guests don't get lukewarmDrink beermust. However, many people make the mistake of adding the ice first so that they can then use it to cool the drinks. The better alternative would be to keep the ice cubes frozen until you have placed the bottles and cans in the containers. This essentially creates an ice-cold barrier between them and the warm air.
In addition, you should cool your drinks long before the party starts so that they are already cold in the cooler. Alternatively, if the fridge is full, you can store the bottles in a cooler place such as a basement or garage if you have these. It is also advisable to fill the cool box to the brim so that no warm air flows in and stays inside when you close the lid again. Actually, the cold air produced by the ice will cool your drinks, which is why you should also keep the containers insulated. But what other tricks are there that can help you?
Moisten kitchen paper or use party balloons to cool
A clever and quick trick is to cool the liquids in glass bottles with damp paper towels. You can do this by moistening the desired number of paper towels in the ice water from the cooler. Then wrap the bottles with it and leave them somewhere in the shade or next to the ice bucket for about 15-20 minutes. If it's too hot outside, at least the drinks won't get warm. There are also specially designed bottle sleeves that can be used to keep liquids warm or cold. You can even try using thermoses for this.
Additionally, you can try balloons forWater bombs in summerto fill and freeze. These can then be placed in a cool bag or box along with glass bottles and beer cans and frozen again after thawing. This way you can reuse the party balloons, making different sizes to fill any free gap. These are practical and inexpensive options if you need to cool drinks without a refrigerator or electricity for cooling devices.
Can you cool drinks with salt and ice?
Another hack you can try if you are a fan of science is the combination of ice and salt. This allows you to chill some drinks in 10 minutes or even less. This happens by salt lowering the melting temperature of ice, causing it to drop below freezing. When salt is added to ice cream, salt begins to melt at lower temperatures than it should normally be.
Over time, this absorbs all the heat from the surrounding area and cools anything nearby. You can try the trick in advance by filling a bowl with ice, letting it melt slowly until it reaches a temperature of 0°C, and then adding some salt. This will cause the salt to dissolve in the ice water, with salt water having a melting point of -10°C. This is significantly lower than the temperature of the ice.
In this way, the ice begins to melt quickly, absorbs heat and cools down again. If you want to cool drinks for your garden party, you will need a cool box. Fill this halfway with water and ice before placing the bottles or cans inside. Finally, add about a handful of salt, depending on the size of the box, and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes.
Use frozen fruits such as grapes to cool the drinks
If you want to serve sparkling cocktails or wine spritzers at your party, frozen fruit pieces could act as ice cubes. These will keep the drinks in your guests' glasses colder for longer and then provide them with a fruity snack. In addition, grapes can be frozen, although it takes quite a long time to harden. So try putting the grapes in the freezer the day before the party. However, before you do this, you should also remove the stems, rinse the grapes and blot them with a cloth.
It is best to freeze the dried grapes on a tray. Shortly before the party, you can transfer the grapes to a freezer bag and then use them for any drink. Depending on the cocktail or wine, you can also choose between white grapes for white wine and red grapes for red wine, although you can also opt for seedless varieties. This means your guests will snack on the refreshing pieces of fruit without having to nibble on the seeds. In addition, other fruits such as berries can also be frozen to make delicious and vitamin-rich ice cubes and to treat party guests to in the summer.
