Professor calculates optimal glass shape for preserving chill in beer glasses

Claudio Pellegrini, a professor of thermal and fluid sciences at the Federal University of São João del-Rei in Brazil, has calculated the optimal shape for a beer glass to keep the beer cold for as long as possible. He has written a paper describing his analysis of beer glass shapes and posted it on the arXiv preprint server.

Prior research and a lot of anecdotal evidence suggests that beer consumers prefer their beverage cold—generally as cold as possible. Many such beer drinkers also prefer to consume their beverages from a clear glass—doing so allows for enjoying the look of the beer as it is being consumed and makes for an easy and tasty consumption.

Unfortunately, the two desires represent a conundrum—drinking from a glass allows the beer to lose its chill very quickly. Because of that, beer glass makers have developed a variety of designs meant to retain as much chill as possible, for as long as possible.

In this new effort, Pellegrini put such designs to the test by calculating the optimal glass design, based on physics principles, for keeping a beer cold in a drinking glass.

In his work, Pellegrini did not include external factors, such as the warmth of a hand holding the glass, or the types of glass used. Instead, he went for the basics, testing nothing but shape to determine heat transfer rates.

To determine such a shape, he began by starting with the simplest model—a glass with a smooth curve, fixed around a vertical axis—one with a standard height, radius and base to top ratio. He also assumed an insulated base, ensuring that heat loss would occur only out the top and sides.

He also assumed a fixed starting beer temperature for all testing purposes, and that the glass would have negligible thermal resistance. Such a scenario ensured that changes in heat transfer would be a direct result of changes in shape.

In doing his calculations, Pellegrini found, unsurprisingly, that the best shape is also the one that is the most popular—a glass with a small base that grows wider as it approaches the top, such as the pilsner.

He also acknowledges that the true best result is one where the glass is so small that the beer is consumed in one or two quick gulps, but he insists drinking beer in such an ugly fashion misses the point of drinking beer altogether.

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