TurboCool launched a Kickstarter campaign for their beverage cooling device that can supposedly cool your beer “in just seconds” without any electricity. It’s basically a salad spinner for beer.
I’m lukewarm on the TurboCool, but it seemed like an idea worth sharing. It’s essentially just a hand powered version of the Frost Boss. While that would come in handy on my annual canoe trip where there are no electrical outlets, there is also no natural supply of ice. At the end of the day, you still need a cooler full of ice and water to chill your drink, in which case why wouldn’t my beer already be in it? I’m fully capable of the replace what you take technique so there is never a lack of cold beer.
You also have the problem of its minimal cooling effectiveness. It takes two cups ice, three cups of water, and a minute of pumping to cool a beer just 12-15 degrees. Two minutes of pumping gets it down about 20 degrees. That might be fine if you’re in an igloo, but when your beer is starting at 80+ degrees that’s a lot of work for a beer that’s still warm. Hell, Coors Light’s cold activated can doesn’t even turn blue until about 40 degrees. Just putting a can in salt, ice, and water will drop the temperature in 5 minutes, and that involves no manual labor on my part.
At the end of the day, I won’t be backing TurboCool. It is an interesting idea though, and it’s certainly less of a hassle than Alton Browns 2-minute beer cooling technique.