A friend of mine has given me what he assures me is a very nice bottle of vodka. He also tells me that the proper storage of said bottle is in the freezer. Now I know that Alcahol freezes at a much lower temp than water, but what IS the freezing point and is my freezer likely to reach it?
Thanks.
I can’t help you with exactly what the freezing point is, but i have stored vodka in the freezer quite a lot and occasionally it does begin to freeze. I’ve never had it turn into a solid block of ice, but often it will develop shards of ice in it. In general, though, it just develops a lovely smooth viscosity.
No, your freeezer won’t make the vodka freeze. Your domestic freezer will typcially keep the temperature around -18 to -21 degrees C. Vodka contains ehtanol, which freezes at -117 degrees C, this is what prevents it from freezing.
mhendo, I believe what you experienced is some seperation of the water from the alcahol. This can happen over time, causing the water to freeze. The vodka itself will not freeze.
Thanks!
Mmmm… vodka…
thud
In my experience, vodka may become viscous, but wont ice over. Lower proof stuff, like schnapps, will ice over, particularly if it is close to empty. YMMV
It won’t ice over unless of course its your roommates Vodka which you have been sneaking little shots of and filling back up with water to hide the declining level…
Not that a conventional home freezer could reach it but if the alcohol gets too cold and you do a shot, you could cause some damage to your throat or… worse. This came from an Outward Bound instructor on a winter mountaineering course (that I did indeed trust) so do with it what you will.
Physics trick: If you have Dry Ice but no liquid nitrogen, you can still do the “frozen flower” trick. Crush some dry ice and put it in a cup, then add vodka. After it mostly stops bubbling, stick in your rose (etc.) for a few seconds, then slam it on the table. The flower will shatter. The vodka acts like a fluid coupling between the dry ice and the object being frozen. Cooling by conduction works much better through liquids than through air.
I too have heard stories about backwoods dwellers killing themselves accidentally; destroying their esophagus by taking a big slug of -20F alcohol. Not as bad as drinking liquid nitrogen, but possibly in the same catagory.
Hang on here, is not everything in the freezer the same temperature? Including the ice? I could swallow a shot of ice chips and I doubt anything bad would happen to me. For that matter, think of ice cream. Whatever the temperature of the vodka is, the ice cream is the same. Am I missing something here?
Thanks for reminding me, I’ve got some Grey Goose in the freezer. Got to enjoy that one of these nights. Mmm.
A liquid at zero degrees which flows freely over your esophageal epithelium quite rapidly, quickly lowering the temperature all around as it goes by will do far more damage than small bits of solids passing thru same esophageal tissue.
Liquid conducts heat away from tissue far, far faster than solids do.
QtM, MD
Rhum Runner,
The vodka is not at zero, it is at -20 C (or however cold your fridge gets). That would have to cause serious tissue damage. See samarms post.
Can someone find a liqid-solid T-x phase diagram for ethanol/water?
If you look at this diagram it will show you the eutectic point for the mixture. Ice will freeze out at some range of temperatures for a certain concentration. At 50% EtOH and -20C the water may not freeze out. And I think, from experience, it does not.
I did a quick search for the above phase diagram in our library - no luck. I would appreciate it if someone could find this diagram for me. I am now curious.
Note that removing bits of ice from partially-frozen vodka is actually a method of distilling and may well be illegal in your jurisdiction.
(Yes, we’ve had discussions close to this before. Search for the phrase `sugar wine’.)
yeah, you’re missing the first line:
“Not that a conventional home freezer could reach it…”
missing the first line isn’t a good sign.
D’oh! You are, or corse, correct. Vodka from home freezer = safe to drink. Vodka from liquid nitrogen = not safe. Sorry 'bout that. I’ll be leaving now.
I can tell you from experience that:
Vodka kept in your freezer CAN start to freeze over, even if it’s just the water seperating out over time.
Taking a large swallow of it in this state can hurt like a BITCH!
I didn’t have any permanent damage but it sure wasn’t fun.