The Beer Bucket

The term "beer bucket" has fallen into misuse and abuse. It is often used to refer to a bucket full of ice with six (6) bottles of beer in it. Ever had a gin bucket? It's not an ice bucket with bottles of gin, is it? So why all the confusion about beer buckets?

A beer bucket is necessarily and inextricably a bucket filled with beer.

A recent breakthrough has led to the latest in beer bucket technology. It is inspired by those mugs, with hollow lining filled with liquid, that may be placed in the freezer to later house and chill a tasty liquid treat.

The ultimate beer bucket is a bucket-sized version of this mug: its lining is hollow, and it is frozen beforehand to keep the beer quite cold. In fact, this design is greatly improved by the addition of heat-exchange fins extending from the bottom of the bucket, also hollow and filled with freezable liquid. The heat transfer rate of these cool fins would be:

q_f = M*[sinh(mL) + (h/mk)*cosh(mL)]/[cosh(mL)+(h/mk)*sinh(mL)]

per fin, where

m=sqrt(hP/kA_c)
M=sqrt[hPkA_c(T_base-T_inf)]
h=convection coefficient over fin
k=conduction coefficient of fin material
L=length of fin
P=fin perimeter
A_c=cross-sectional area of fin

Additionally, why would one fill the fin with WATER when one could use a liquid of a similar freezing point, but a much higher heat capacity? This way, it would cool the beer to the same delicious temperature (about 3ºC) for much longer. Research is currently being conducted into the perfect fluid to use.

I hope that there are no further questions on the matter.