Am I gonna win this bet?

Hey Gang,

My folks are spending their first winter away from Indiana, out in Arizona. My dad left a few bottles of MGD in the fridge in his unheated garage. I told him he'd come back to a few exploded bottles. He claims the fridge will maintain a constant temperature of 38* (or whatever). I told him he was all wet, that the fridge only protects foods and beverages against warming, not against freezing.

I bet him a case o' beer -- MGD if he wins, my choice if I win. Am I gonna win?

Depends on temps and how long. Eventually the fridge will equalize with outside temps. It can't keep something at 38 indefinitely if the outside temp is BELOW 38°. Fridges do not heat (from the factory). Their insulation only SLOWS temperature exchange.

For what it's worth though, I've had 4 can's of Soda sitting outside on our picnic table since august. They've yet to explode for heat or cold.

If it gets cold enough, yes. A garage isn't going to get quite as cold (assuming attached garage) as the outside air, since it gets warmed from the house. Then the fridge will take a little while to get as cold as the air outside it. So, if it gets cold enough outside to get the inside of the garage far enough below freezing long enough to get the beer in the fridge to freeze, you'll win.

The beers will probably freeze.... If they'll explode is the gamble.

you'll probably lose. i left a few cans out on the porch for a few days in wisconsin (sub-freezing), and they didn't even freeze.

motobrewer said:

you'll probably lose. i left a few cans out on the porch for a few days in wisconsin (sub-freezing), and they didn't even freeze.

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Were they cans of Everclear?? I've thrown Bud Select in the freezer for friends that dropped by unexpectedly, and they froze solid in less than 3 hours when I forgot about them. Regular side-by-side fridge/freezer too, not a deep freeze or sub-z.

you will probably lose, insulation doesn't care about hot or cold it just prevents rapid loss or gain of temperature. think in terms of your house heat in winter, a/c in the summer....

Is there any way you might be able to "help" it explode? (wink wink) It's not like its a waste of good beer or anything.

rj0715 said:

you will probably lose, insulation doesn't care about hot or cold it just prevents rapid loss or gain of temperature. think in terms of your house heat in winter, a/c in the summer....

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what does insulation have to do with it ? If you turn your heat off in the house and the temps are below freezing the inside will eventually get below freezing slower than no insulation but it will happen. Same thing with a fridge in an unheated area it will eventually get below freezing if the ambient is below freezing.


his bet is that the beer will freeze and burst. I don't know about bursting but it will freeze.

MrInternet said:

Were they cans of Everclear?? I've thrown Bud Select in the freezer for friends that dropped by unexpectedly, and they froze solid in less than 3 hours when I forgot about them. Regular side-by-side fridge/freezer too, not a deep freeze or sub-z.

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lol, no. it's entirely possible they froze overnight and thawed in the morning. but i grabbed one at 6pm one night and it was liquid.

yes but depends on the amount of time and the temperature difference. dont know either variable in this case.... but i will tell you that my father has a tub of Strohs beer that has been sitting outside for at least 3 years(he's to lazy to trash it) it is in cans and I'm sure it has frozen but none have burst....

Unheated garage + Indiana winter = freeze, but no guarantee of bursting. What I've seen is the dimple in the bottom distorting or inverting. May take a while and some cloudy weather.

If they were steel cans, they would burst.

cans take some more than bottles to burst . I have some cans that wont stand up the bottom is bowed out and the things just tip over, like a little built in pressure relief . These are cans of Coors lite sitting on their side on my back patio.

The OP states bottles of MGD. But maybe your folks have left the beer in there over the winter all the time. My garage will be 5-10° warmer than outside during the day as the sun hits it all day.

One of my genius roommates was drunk and put one of my homebrews in the freezer late one night because he wanted to cool it faster. He forgot about it and the next morning had exploded all over the freezer. It was a swingtop bottle so I don't know if that would have anything to do with it but I can tell you from experience that frozen bottles do burst.

This is the first winter they've had a fridge in an unheated garage, so there is no track record. However, the garage is in northern Indiana, where we have at least a few nights each winter that get down to -10*F. They are bottles, not cans, so there is no chance of them distorting without bursting.

I think I'll be a case o' beer richer come March!

You could always get insurance ,ball peen hammer comes to mind...

It will freeze, guaranteed. But will bottles break when they freeze? I'm not sure about that.

IceFisherChris said:

It will freeze, guaranteed. But will bottles break when they freeze? I'm not sure about that.

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Years ago I put a bottle of Bass in the freezer to chill quicker. I left it in a LITTLE too long. Not solid, just kind of slushy. I pulled it out, it exploded IN MY HAND! I have NEVER done that since! So yes, bottles will explode.

springer said:

You could always get insurance ,ball peen hammer comes to mind...

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You beat me to it! I have a small tack hammer that would "freeze those bottles" for sure.

my money would be on the cap cutting loose at the slushy stage.

I've forgotten about bottles in the freezer overnight and come back to shattered bottles so yea, if it gets cold enough for long enough they'll freeze and burst. It will probably take some extended sub-freezing time to get the ambient in the (presumably insulated) garage down to sub-freezing, and then get the ambient inside the fridge to sub-freezing, and then the glass in the bottle and finally the beer itself, which will need several hours to freeze solid enough to burst the bottle.

smash em, drink, em, get a case. a bottle of beer has shattered in the freezer in as little as 3 hours. I have also had bottles survive until the morning when, walking around with one eye open, I had that stomache dropping Oh $H!T moment.