Can You Freeze Soda?

Want to know if you can freeze soda?

Below is a short guide that highlights the whole process of freezing soda.

I will show you the right way to do it, as well as highlighting the pros/cons and other useful information!

So, let’s get right into it.

Can You Freeze Soda? (Cans, Plastic Bottles & Everything Else)

Yes, you can freeze soda, but is this something you want to or should be doing? We will look at this in-depth below.

Soda by itself freezes really well, however, there are some dangers in placing specific types of soda containers in the freezer.

These are:

• Cans
• Plastic Bottles
• Glass Bottles

But before we look at each soda container in-depth, you first need to understand what happens when soda is frozen.

What Happens When You Freeze Soda?

There are two things that we need to be aware of when soda freezes.

• It Expands
• It Creates an Immense Pressure

1. It Expands

Soda is mostly made from water and it will naturally expand as it freezes.

Whatever container is holding the freezing soda, will need to be able to expand or have enough free space to handle the increase in volume.

While this works for plastic bottles, this is often not the same for metal or glass bottles/can.

You will find that they may explode inside the freezer, causing a mess that is not fun to clean up.

2. Increase In Pressure

The second thing that happens when soda is frozen has to do with the carbon dioxide or CO2 gas contained in the liquid that’s responsible for the little bubbles that give it its fizz.

Soda is mostly made of water and as it freezes, it will try to push the carbon dioxide gas out of it.

Sciencing.com states that what happens is that there is a combination of pressurized gas trying to escape and ice filling a space too small for it is too much for the container, and the strain makes the soda can or bottle explode. bottle eventually bursts.

What Happens When You Freeze Soda?

There are two things that we need to be aware of when soda freezes.

• It Expands
• It Creates an Immense Pressure

1. It Expands

Soda is mostly made from water and it will naturally expand as it freezes.

Whatever container is holding the freezing soda, will need to be able to expand or have enough free space to handle the increase in volume.

While this works for plastic bottles, this is often not the same for metal or glass bottles/can.

You will find that they may explode inside the freezer, causing a mess that is not fun to clean up.

2. Increase In Pressure

The second thing that happens when soda is frozen has to do with the carbon dioxide or CO2 gas contained in the liquid that’s responsible for the little bubbles that give it its fizz.

Soda is mostly made of water and as it freezes, it will try to push the carbon dioxide gas out of it.

Sciencing.com states that what happens is that there is a combination of pressurized gas trying to escape and ice filling a space too small for it is too much for the container, and the strain makes the soda can or bottle explode. bottle eventually bursts.

So now that you know the 2 things that happen to soda as it freezes, let us see if you can or should be freezing soda in different containers.

You Can Freeze Plastic Soda Bottles: Exercise Caution

I freeze soda in plastic bottles all the time.

I generally use 16 oz Coke, Sprite and Mountain Dew and have no problems. It is like when you freeze water bottles, the elasticity of the bottle allows it to accommodate the expansion of the liquid, without itexploding.

For 2-liter soda bottles, I would strongly advise against freezing it.

The bottle contains too much liquid and with the amount of expansion that will take place, there is a high chance that the bottle could explode.

Do Not Freeze Soda Cans: It is a Really Bad Idea

Soda cans will explode if left in the freezer.

It is not a good idea and you should not try it.

While plastic has the elasticity to expand as the soda’s volume increases, a soda can does not. what will happen is that they will expand as they get frozen and eventually they will explode.

You will end up with a messed up freezer and guess what?  You will have to spend a lot of time cleaning it out! That doesn’t sound fun to me.

A quick look at Twitter I was able to find a couple people who had to endure the pain of exploded soda cans in their freezer.

Aside from having a messy fridge to clean up, you could also get hurt.

Back in 2012, a young boy got seriously injured from an exploding soda can, that had been frozen.

Livescience.com carried the article, where the highlighted the young boys plight:

“According to the boy’s mother, he took an intact can of cola out of the freezer on the night of Aug. 25. The moment he popped the tab, the top blew out, propelling shards of aluminum into his face and sending him to the hospital where he reportedly received 31 stitches on his face and 7 inside his mouth.”

There is just so much evidence saying don’t freeze cans, but if you wanna try it out, record the outcome and let us know!

How to Freeze Soda & Also Make It Slushy?

One of the cool things about freezing soda is that you can make your own homemade slushy.

It can turn out perfect, once you do not leave it in the freezer too long, to where it is frozen solid.

You can use any soda, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Sprite, Mountain Dew, etc, once it is in a plastic bottle,

Note: You should always use plastic bottles, as cans could explode.

Thawing Frozen Soda

Thawing frozen soda is not difficult and once you take it out of the freezer you generally can let it sit at room temperature for a couple of minutes, where it will quickly defrost from ice back to liquid.

There are a couple more options available and I go into these in more detail in my how to thaw frozen soda guide.

Some of the methods we look at are

• Thawing overnight in the refrigerator
• Thawing in a water bath

Wrapping it up

As you can see, you will be able to freeze soda, it just depends on if it is in a glass bottle, plastic or can.

Now I wanted o hear from you.

Were you able to successfully freeze soda? Was there anything you learned Let me know in the comments below