Beer Glass Chiller: CO2 or the Freezer

Summary: Use the freezer for a tray of glasses. Use a Thrill when someone asks for one glass now: about ten seconds to −31°F, with nothing added to the beer.

The first sip from the freezer tastes like the freezer, and the rim is already wet. Thrill’s published comparison is the table below: how long it takes, how cold it gets, and whether anything ends up in the beer.

When does the freezer still make sense?

For a tray of glasses poured at once. Load the freezer earlier. The rim is often wet, and that water is the first thing in the beer. Uncovered glasses can also taste like whatever else is in the freezer.

When is a CO2 glass chiller the better tool?

When the pour is one glass, now. Press it onto a Thrill. Liquid CO2 takes the bowl to about −31°F in ten seconds and adds nothing to the beer. A glass from a closed cabinet often tastes like that cabinet. The blast is not a wash.

The 2021 manual says this is not a dishwasher. A 2014 University of Udine test, certificate 154/MC, reports the best result in that test by organism: Salmonella over 88%, E. coli over 87%, Listeria over 80%, and lower figures for the others. Wash the glass. Thin or re-glazed glasses can crack. If one does, stop using that type.

What do you give up with a Thrill?

A cylinder, and one glass at a time. The machine needs liquid CO2 from a siphon-tube tank. A beer-tap tank will not do it, and the tank is not in the box. If the party starts as a tray, use the freezer for that tray and keep the Thrill for the glasses people ask for after. How to buy the siphon tank.

On a kitchen counter, that is the Vortex Cube. On a raised bar, the Vortex Jet. Both are $2,500. If the stone is still a drawing, the flush one is the Vortex SBI. See them at 134 W 25th St, or start from the Thrill glass chiller page.