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- Instant wine chillers
Anyone know anything about instant wine chillers for red wines? Thanks in advance Toni
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218 - Reply by ChipDWood, Dec 8, 2008.
I don't know about instant- but I DO know that a nice bath in a healthy mix of ice & saltwater is the quickest (practical) way to get something chilled, rapido style.
(All cred to Mythbusters for that one.)
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3027 - Reply by Philip, Dec 8, 2008.
Chip - good call on the salt water mix. The two keys there are:
- Water - if you just use icecubes there's less physical contact, the water fills in the gaps
- Salt - lowers the freezing point of water, this means the ice will melt and still be below 33 F
Deconut - do you mean electric blanket chiller things? I've seen them, but not used them.
I think that the ice/water mix (i dont even use salt) will take the edge off a wine in 15 minutes. Either that or (and yes ive done this), open the bottle and stick it in the ice bucket. But first pour yourself a glass or two and put the glasses in the freezer!
I dont want to potentially ruin a whole bottle by shocking it with the temperature change, and the wine in the glass has a lower volume so cools faster
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3 - Reply by Andrel, Dec 8, 2008.
I just received a RAVI wine cooler as a gift. It is simple, and works REALLY well:
You simply keep the inner part in the freezer, and when you need it simply put the Ravi on the bootle and Voilà! cloder wine!. Here is the url to their site: http://www.ravisolution.com/en/index.html .
André
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61
- Reply by deconut, Dec 8, 2008.
I saw 2 things - one is actually something that you attach to the top of the wine bottle and you pour the wine throught it (it looks similar to the aerators) - (you put it in the freezer for some length of time) - the other was an actual contraption that lets you put ice and water along with the bottle into it and it will spin the bottle and chill it - sounds very silly now seeing it in writing. I would imagine it would shock the wine either way, right? Neither sounds like a good idea to me for reds - I have a cellar but I have run out of room - instead of buying another unit, I thought one of these would be a quick fix - sometimes I just want a wine that I don't have in the cellar and it is a couple of degrees higher than I like it - Anyway..........thanks for all the suggestions - will try them! Toni
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1738 - Reply by Gregory Dal Piaz, Dec 8, 2008.
I've seen a few methods, the ice water bath is the easiest for most folks. I have a length of stainless steel rod in my freezer. I just insert it into a bottle i want to chill and the wine is ready to go in minutes, maybe 60 seconds to bring a room remp red down to cellar temp and 3 minutes to really chill a white.
The Ravi looks like a great idea and is inexpensive too!
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61
- Reply by deconut, Dec 8, 2008.
Thanks all - yes the Ravi - that is one I had seen - Andrel, have you used it with red? Greg, your idea sounds great as well - thanks guys! This is a great help! Toni
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- Reply by Andrel, Dec 10, 2008.
Deconut - Yes, I've used it with red wine - in fact, I just used it to bring the glass of red wine I'm drinking right now to a more adequate temperature (the bottle was not in the cellar).
As you control the speed of the flow by blocking the air intake with your thumb (what they call "the valve"), you can get the wine to the temperature you want quite easily.
André
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- Reply by deconut, Dec 10, 2008.
Andre - thanks but now I have 2 questions for you since are the official "user" - how many glasses does it actually chill? I have read many reviews on this since you sent me that link
(thanks by the way, very helpful) - some reviews on other sites say it is actually to heavy for the top of a bottle and does not chill enough glasses - what is your opinion? - thanks in advance! Toni
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113 - Reply by RachelNYC, Dec 11, 2008.
Greg, I really like the stainless steel bars idea! I have to get one of those. Umm where exactly does one find food grade stainless steel rods?
The Ravi looks nice, and doesn't look like it would take up too much room in the freezer either. Does it work well with a variety of different bottle types?
I have tried a couple of rapid chillers, neither have really worked out for me. One required ice (which I can't be bothered to keep in my house), and rotated the bottle with a continual stream of cold water flowing over it. It worked really well and could have the bottle chilled down in a few minutes... I just don't have an ice maker. The other one that I still have is electric and is horribly loud and really doesn't work so well. It is nice if the bottle just needs to maintain a temperature but not actually chilling it down from room temperature.
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3027
- Reply by Philip, Dec 11, 2008.
Greg - you keep a frozen stainless steel rod in your apartment? Wow, I would not want to be your burglar...
PS. The american term "burglarized" is not a real word. Along with deplane (as in disembark). Both make me snicker when i hear them. On the other hand lolz and wtf are clearly words at this point
