Cooling Beer Using an Air Duster

In the quest to cool beverage cans this project investigates the effectiveness of using an air duster can.

The contents in an air duster is in liquid form and compressed. When it leaves the duster it rapidly expands, hence why it's used to blow dust. It also absorbs heat as it expands.

The Air Duster was able to cool a beer can from 24c to 2c over 9 minutes. The Air Duster canister was inverted and squirted against the can enclosed in in a lockable plastic container. After squirts of about 5 - 10 seconds the case and can was shaken and moved around for about 2 minutes to mix the coolness into the can's liquird. The Air Duster was completly used to cool one can down to 2c. It would be more economic if an Air Duster could be used to cool multiple cans.

Air duster canister
Plastic container with a clipped locks on lid

Tools:
Drill
Drill bit

To make the Air Duster Beer can cooling system:

• A hole was drilled in a container with a drill bit the same size as the air dusters dispensing tube.
• A series of small holes were drilled into the dispensing tube. The end was blocked off with the tip of a bamboo skewer, so the spray would go directly onto the can.
• The container has a lockable lid, this is required to prevent it blowing off when the air duster is used. If the container being used doen't have a lockable lid, tape should be wrap around it to keep the lid on.

Care should be taken when using this system as the liquird is very cold and shouldn't come in contact with skin.

Between squirts of about 5 seconds from the up turned Air Duster canister, the container and can was shaken and moved rapidly around for about a minute to mix the coolnees though out the beer in the can.
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In an attempt to cool two beer cans from one Air Duster Canister, a larger contained was tried, the cans were cooled to 11c.

Using this container to cool 2 cans seperately, where each receive half an Air Duster canister, succesfully cooled the first can to to 8c and the second to 12c.

The cans were washed in cold water after being removed from the container just to be the safe side.

It's great that an Air Duster canister can be used to cool beer. But you are unlikely to want to do this very often as an Air Duster canister costs between $10 and $17.

Even if you are successful in cooling 2 beers with one canister the cost won't be less than about $5 a can. An expensive way to cool beer.

There are a few scenarios where it might be useful:

- You are very rich.

- You really want a cold beer and have no other way of cooling beer e.g. on the later part of a multi day hike.

- Your main source of cooling beer only takes it down to say 8c and you really like your beer at 4c (e.g. lager) then it could be used to boost the coolness and a canister will then likely be able to do this over a few cans. E.g. an air canister cooled a soda can from 12c to 3c in six minutes, using 139g of a 220g can.