Dry Ice.....tell me how you use it.....

northGAcock

...I get the application when shipping frozen or refrigerated meat items. Do any of you use it in coolers (soft or hard) for maintaining temps? I know it is more of a chemical based product....so I assume there are some hazards. I saw it being sold in our new Kroger that recently opened....and was wondering how consumers utilized it. Sorry if this is a stupid question.....others may want to know also.

Legume

Rarely, but when I want to keep something frozen for a while and have limited space for ice or need to avoid ice-melt.  You can't really have it touching anything directly like cans, food in ziplocks, etc. that is not already frozen. Better for keeping things frozen than for keeping things cold.  No worries on the chemical bit, it's just frozen CO2 and turns (expands greatly) to gas.  Not great in a sealed environment, so they're careful with it on airplanes and I would probably think twice before adding a bunch to a gasketed cooler like a Yeti.

its sublime.

fishlessman

used it years ago on long boating/camping trips to keep food frozen for near a week, we were told to wrap it in paper and pack the cooler as full as possible. also used it in a giant pumpkin full of punch, looked great with all the fog pouring out of it, also looked great on a giant volcano built infront of the fraternity along time ago, smoke came out the top and we had a waterfall you had to walk up thru to get into the party

lousubcap

@fishlessman -  never that creative in college but did use it to keep the trash can of Purple Jesus punch well-chilled for the duration.  

Sea2Ski

Other than special effects at Halloween, I used it in a styrofoam cooler on a small boat. I surprised those who were on the boat on a insanely hot day with a water ice treat. Best I ever had.  That day was hot as hell with no shade, not even a Bimini top.  Caught a bunch of fish though!  

Eggcelsior

Sea2Ski said:

Other than special effects at Halloween, I used it in a styrofoam cooler on a small boat. I surprised those who were on the boat on a insanely hot day with a water ice treat. Best I ever had.  That day was hot as hell with no shade, not even a Bimini top.  Caught a bunch of fish though!  

Someone must be from Philly

fishlessman

lousubcap said:

@fishlessman -  never that creative in college but did use it to keep the trash can of Purple Jesus punch well-chilled for the duration.  

it was all out at the end of the year hand made totem poles, outside tikihut bar, pig roast, the waterfall came off the roof infront of the door cascading down the granit steps thru the volcano, pigs heads on tiki torches. large beer bar, full liquor bar, two barrels punch inside, two barrels punch outside, retired cops in uniform at the doors to make things fly when the real cops showed up. alot of work, alot of money needed to support the place. wish i never graduated i was 18, underage, running a beer bar, budweiser was delivering me 22 kegs a week every thursday to a bunch kids different times. we used to punch thru 20 kegs in two hours then shut the lights off, crowd would move to the next place. the last party of the year was always big. dont know how that place can support itself now, you just cant do that anymore

dopey

I like it for freezing fresh picked berries.  It makes them freeze faster and that keeps the ice crystals from becoming too big and destroying the cell walls as much.  Doesn't do much for the flavor, but they don't bleed as much when you defrost them.

chadpsualum

Legume said:

Rarely, but when I want to keep something frozen for a while and have limited space for ice or need to avoid ice-melt.  You can't really have it touching anything directly like cans, food in ziplocks, etc. that is not already frozen. Better for keeping things frozen than for keeping things cold.  No worries on the chemical bit, it's just frozen CO2 and turns (expands greatly) to gas.  Not great in a sealed environment, so they're careful with it on airplanes and I would probably think twice before adding a bunch to a gasketed cooler like a Yeti.

its sublime.

Maybe Yeti or RTIC should add a Pressure Relief Valve to their coolers.  That way the CO2 can sublime and not blow off your lid!

Photo Egg

We made a trip to North Caicos, Turks and Caicos Island a couple months ago.
We took 2 of the Polar Bear H20 soft coolers filled with frozen steaks, lunch meat and cheese. The airlines will not accept ANY liquid in the coolers so ice and freezer packs are no good. Wrapped 5-6 pounds of dry ice in brown paper, punched a few holes in it with a knife blade and placed it inside on the top of each cooler. 18 hours later still frozen solid.
We had to open and empty coolers and repack at security check point but they did not give us any major grief.

jdkeithbge

@Legume love the sublimation joke.

Darby_Crenshaw

Regular ice is also chemically based

i personally love chemicals. I'm dead without them!

Jupiter Jim

Do not put it in your refrigerator! It will freeze everything. We used it to keep fish and lobster frozen while driving to NC for the summer, do to antique shopping on the way it took us a week and always had some leftover when we arrived.

Killit_and_Grillit

I used it a lot when on long camping trips in Colorado. 

I I wrapped in newspaper and then put a flat cardboard box that was waxy from Costco on top. 

Then I loaded it down with all my food, drinks and ice. 

It kept meat cold for about 7 days total. But we had some fruit in there in their regular containers and it made it all go bad. Don't know why, but all of the fruit tastes chemically and had to be thrown out. 

YukonRon

I take what is left from the Food shipments, we get delivered, to the Science department at the local HS. They need it much more than we. I got a Yeti, it does what I need it to do. Now if you have an RTIC, I could see why you would need it.

nolaegghead

I take a plastic water/beverage bottle, put a little water in it, then dry ice, screw the lid on tight and throw it far away.

HeavyG

I take a little chunk of dry ice and place it on a metal spoon with a couple drops of water and listen to it sing.

Eggcelsior

poster

We use it here to shrink fit steel shafts into bores, or liquid nitrogen, but thats a little overkill sometimes. It also chills beer extremely fast

fishlessman

Eggcelsior said:

would that flash chill a case of beer

Raymont

I've used camping (5-7) day trip in Yeti. Dry ice in plastic bag, cardboard so it doesn't touch food. The dry ice only lasted ~2 days, but it kept contents really frozen. I sometimes use just to prolong regular ice.. dry ice + regular ice and you will easy go a week in a yeti having near full ice.. So in summary, dry ice is quite useful for keeping things frozen. 

WyBBQer

I have used dry ice when you need to keep things frozen or cold for extended period of time.  Never let dry ice touch the food, wrap in paper is the best.  Dry Ice on top keeps things frozen, Dry ice on bottom keeps things cold.  Don't know how that works but it does and has for me

Legume

nolaegghead said:

I take a plastic water/beverage bottle, put a little water in it, then dry ice, screw the lid on tight and throw it far away.

Haha, we used to do that in the lab using snap top eppendorf tubes but we had to use alcohol, they were so small the water would just freeze.  Sounds like a firecracker going off, just toss the. Under someone's bench or chair.

SciAggie

Legume said:

nolaegghead said:

I take a plastic water/beverage bottle, put a little water in it, then dry ice, screw the lid on tight and throw it far away.

Haha, we used to do that in the lab using snap top eppendorf tubes but we had to use alcohol, they were so small the water would just freeze.  Sounds like a firecracker going off, just toss the. Under someone's bench or chair.

I put it in film canisters and slip them under student chairs when they are not looking. Same effect. 

bill37

Line your cooler with cardboard, make sure the dry-ice is wraooed in heavy plastic and cardboard, Fill your cooler with frozen food. Put the dry-ice on top. close the lid and it will keep the food frozen. I use it on my trips from CO to KC,MO ( 600 miles) and they will be frozen the whole time.

Jeremiah

Once stuck a piece in the yeti for a trip up to PA. Upon arrival, opened said yeti to find all was frozen and one beer even busted. Do you know they don't sell beer in gas stations up there? My dad thought it was halarious as we drove to the local bar to get an overpriced six pack. 

nolaegghead

Eggcelsior said:

That's liquid nitrogen.  I had a dewar of that explode on me during a presentation in college.  Despite the broken glass everywhere, it turned out pretty good.

theyolksonyou

This thread is super cool

SciAggie

theyolksonyou said:

This thread is super cool

I see what you did there...

bgebrent

theyolksonyou said:

This thread is super cool

Lame Jason, it's just cold.

theyolksonyou

SciAggie said:

theyolksonyou said:

This thread is super cool

I see what you did there...

bgebrent said:

theyolksonyou said:

This thread is super cool

Lame Jason, it's just cold.

I'll be here all week.

 Then I'm going to Ron's.