RTIC 20

fishlessman · October 2015

YEMTrey said:

DMW said:

Been traveling, so haven't been able to update. Monday evening I put 30 bud lights and 8lb of ice in the 20. The beer was in the beer distributors walk in fridge, so not sure exactly how cold the beers were going in. The ice was from the ice cooler at the distributor.

I put 15 on the bottom, dumped a bit of ice, then stacked the other 15 on top and dumped the rest of the ice in.

As you can see, more ice would have fit.
Here's what it looked like tonight when I got home:

Yep, no ice and a few beers gone that I drank last night while watching the world series.

I just dumped some more ice cubes in and a few ice blocks. Both were in my deep freezer, so I'm sure a bit colder than the ice freezer at the beer distributor.

I'm going to dump some more ice cubes from our fridge freezer in as well. I'll try to top it as full as possible with ice. I did not drain any water from it.

I hope this was just me not loading it properly Monday. We'll find out. It is sitting in our basement, probably sitting around 65* average.

Wow. I hope this isn't normal, as I'd expect it to hold ice for more than 3 days. I have a cheap $30 igloo cooler that does that.

ive never seen beer last that long, magic cooler

DMW · October 2015

fishlessman said:

YEMTrey said:

DMW said:

Been traveling, so haven't been able to update. Monday evening I put 30 bud lights and 8lb of ice in the 20. The beer was in the beer distributors walk in fridge, so not sure exactly how cold the beers were going in. The ice was from the ice cooler at the distributor.

I put 15 on the bottom, dumped a bit of ice, then stacked the other 15 on top and dumped the rest of the ice in.

As you can see, more ice would have fit.
Here's what it looked like tonight when I got home:

Yep, no ice and a few beers gone that I drank last night while watching the world series.

I just dumped some more ice cubes in and a few ice blocks. Both were in my deep freezer, so I'm sure a bit colder than the ice freezer at the beer distributor.

I'm going to dump some more ice cubes from our fridge freezer in as well. I'll try to top it as full as possible with ice. I did not drain any water from it.

I hope this was just me not loading it properly Monday. We'll find out. It is sitting in our basement, probably sitting around 65* average.

Wow. I hope this isn't normal, as I'd expect it to hold ice for more than 3 days. I have a cheap $30 igloo cooler that does that.

ive never seen beer last that long, magic cooler

I've been traveling, the cooler has been at home. The weekend is almost here.

SmokeyPitt · October 2015

I don't think @DMW's test shows bad performance and you will see the exact same thing with a yeti. Basically the ice-to-beer ratio was just too low. Assume the beer from the cooler was 40-42 degrees. There was much more beer than ice in the cooler. A certain amount of ice has to melt as the beer cools approaching 32 degrees. It doesn't matter how well the cooler is insulated, the ice has to melt to cool the beer.

In other words, there just wasn't enough ice in the cooler

.

Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist, or even very smart, I just drink a lot of beer.

DMW · October 2015

SmokeyPitt said:

I don't think @DMW's test shows bad performance and you will see the exact same thing with a yeti. Basically the ice-to-beer ratio was just too low. Assume the beer from the cooler was 40-42 degrees. There was much more beer than ice in the cooler. A certain amount of ice has to melt as the beer cools approaching 32 degrees. It doesn't matter how well the cooler is insulated, the ice has to melt to cool the beer.

In other words, there just wasn't enough ice in the cooler .

Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist, or even very smart, I just drink a lot of beer.

I'm pretty sure you're right, I need to try with just 24 beers and completely filled with ice. Maybe next week.

Thatgrimguy · October 2015

DMW said:

SmokeyPitt said:

I don't think @DMW's test shows bad performance and you will see the exact same thing with a yeti. Basically the ice-to-beer ratio was just too low. Assume the beer from the cooler was 40-42 degrees. There was much more beer than ice in the cooler. A certain amount of ice has to melt as the beer cools approaching 32 degrees. It doesn't matter how well the cooler is insulated, the ice has to melt to cool the beer.

In other words, there just wasn't enough ice in the cooler .

Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist, or even very smart, I just drink a lot of beer.

I'm pretty sure you're right, I need to try with just 24 beers and completely filled with ice. Maybe next week.

Did you pre cool the cooler? I found my 2nd bag of ice lasted MUCH longer in the 45 because all the beer and cooler was already ice cold. (I had also drank some of the beer so my ratio went up too.)

Thatgrimguy · October 2015

My 45 was left in my RV till yesterday. The ice had all melted (was added saturday and only opened once on wednesday afternoon for that picture) But, my thermapen was still reading 42 degrees. I dumped the water and added 20lbs of ice last night. I'll be in and out of it all day today and tomorrow though so we'll see if it can stand up to regular use for 2 days on 20lbs of ice. (outside in 75-80 degree weather)

HeavyG · October 2015

SmokeyPitt said:

I don't think @DMW's test shows bad performance and you will see the exact same thing with a yeti. Basically the ice-to-beer ratio was just too low. Assume the beer from the cooler was 40-42 degrees. There was much more beer than ice in the cooler. A certain amount of ice has to melt as the beer cools approaching 32 degrees. It doesn't matter how well the cooler is insulated, the ice has to melt to cool the beer.

In other words, there just wasn't enough ice in the cooler .

Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist, or even very smart, I just drink a lot of beer.

Oftentimes the voice of experience is better than a whole bunch of scientific mumbo jumbo!

bcsnave · October 2015

SmokeyPitt said:

I don't think @DMW's test shows bad performance and you will see the exact same thing with a yeti. Basically the ice-to-beer ratio was just too low. Assume the beer from the cooler was 40-42 degrees. There was much more beer than ice in the cooler. A certain amount of ice has to melt as the beer cools approaching 32 degrees. It doesn't matter how well the cooler is insulated, the ice has to melt to cool the beer.

In other words, there just wasn't enough ice in the cooler .

Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist, or even very smart, I just drink a lot of beer.

Did you drink that beer at a Holiday Inn Express?

lousubcap · October 2015

The fundamental issue with at least some of the above beer and ice tests is that the "beer" is light/lite. Life is too short for light/lite beer so that is clearly skewing all data, real and perceived.

fishlessman · October 2015

DMW said:

SmokeyPitt said:

I don't think @DMW's test shows bad performance and you will see the exact same thing with a yeti. Basically the ice-to-beer ratio was just too low. Assume the beer from the cooler was 40-42 degrees. There was much more beer than ice in the cooler. A certain amount of ice has to melt as the beer cools approaching 32 degrees. It doesn't matter how well the cooler is insulated, the ice has to melt to cool the beer.

In other words, there just wasn't enough ice in the cooler .

Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist, or even very smart, I just drink a lot of beer.

I'm pretty sure you're right, I need to try with just 24 beers and completely filled with ice. Maybe next week.

lousubcap said:

The fundamental issue with at least some of the above beer and ice tests is that the "beer" is light/lite. Life is too short for light/lite beer so that is clearly skewing all data, real and perceived.

its easier to shotgun a warmer budlight than to drink a cold one as well

Photo Egg · October 2015

fishlessman said:

DMW said:

SmokeyPitt said:

I don't think @DMW's test shows bad performance and you will see the exact same thing with a yeti. Basically the ice-to-beer ratio was just too low. Assume the beer from the cooler was 40-42 degrees. There was much more beer than ice in the cooler. A certain amount of ice has to melt as the beer cools approaching 32 degrees. It doesn't matter how well the cooler is insulated, the ice has to melt to cool the beer.

In other words, there just wasn't enough ice in the cooler .

Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist, or even very smart, I just drink a lot of beer.

I'm pretty sure you're right, I need to try with just 24 beers and completely filled with ice. Maybe next week.

lousubcap said:

The fundamental issue with at least some of the above beer and ice tests is that the "beer" is light/lite. Life is too short for light/lite beer so that is clearly skewing all data, real and perceived.

its easier to shotgun a warmer budlight than to drink a cold one as well

It's easier to pour out a warm bud light than drink it...

DMW · October 2015

^^^^^ +1000 - Bud Light needs to be ice cold to be drinkable. I like to have a decent beer around 50-55 degrees. Which is why I chose this swill for the test. Also, it's not that bad if it's ice cold and I want to reminisce about college.

Foghorn · October 2015

Photo Egg said:

fishlessman said:

DMW said:

SmokeyPitt said:

I don't think @DMW's test shows bad performance and you will see the exact same thing with a yeti. Basically the ice-to-beer ratio was just too low. Assume the beer from the cooler was 40-42 degrees. There was much more beer than ice in the cooler. A certain amount of ice has to melt as the beer cools approaching 32 degrees. It doesn't matter how well the cooler is insulated, the ice has to melt to cool the beer.

In other words, there just wasn't enough ice in the cooler .

Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist, or even very smart, I just drink a lot of beer.

I'm pretty sure you're right, I need to try with just 24 beers and completely filled with ice. Maybe next week.

lousubcap said:

The fundamental issue with at least some of the above beer and ice tests is that the "beer" is light/lite. Life is too short for light/lite beer so that is clearly skewing all data, real and perceived.

its easier to shotgun a warmer budlight than to drink a cold one as well

It's easier to pour out a warm bud light than drink it...

Touché.

fishlessman · October 2015

try shotgunning 30 sam adam rebel ipas in an inning of baseball and you will understand the reason for budlight, not that ive ever done that

stompbox · October 2015

SmokeyPitt said:

I don't think @DMW's test shows bad performance and you will see the exact same thing with a yeti. Basically the ice-to-beer ratio was just too low. Assume the beer from the cooler was 40-42 degrees. There was much more beer than ice in the cooler. A certain amount of ice has to melt as the beer cools approaching 32 degrees. It doesn't matter how well the cooler is insulated, the ice has to melt to cool the beer.

In other words, there just wasn't enough ice in the cooler .

Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist, or even very smart, I just drink a lot of beer.

You are dead on.... When you throw 24 cans of beer in the cooler, you have 24 cans of a large liquid volume that acts as a heat sink. So, until that is cooled down things cannot stabilize. It is only compounded if the cooler itself was not pre-chilled. That is even more volume and surface area that needs to be chilled.

tamu2009 · October 2015

If I remember correctly, YETI doesn't recommend throwing the ice water out. Just put more ice in. Obviously, you have to let some out or you run out of space pretty quick.

Also heard of adding ice cream salt (I think rock salt) to the water/ice mixture for supercooling effects that will solve global warming.

Thatgrimguy · October 2015

tamu2009 said:

If I remember correctly, YETI doesn't recommend throwing the ice water out. Just put more ice in. Obviously, you have to let some out or you run out of space pretty quick.

Also heard of adding ice cream salt (I think rock salt) to the water/ice mixture for supercooling effects that will solve global warming.

Yeah, I have heard that too. But habits be habits I guess. I didn't even think of it.

You got to be careful with the rock salt. I had a friend use a lot and freeze a cooler full of beer and a few exploded. (the water froze solid)

MJG · October 2015

I just don't get it but I think the excuses for why the over priced coolers don't work any better than my substantially cheaper Igloo are entertaining.

Photo Egg · October 2015

MJG said:

I just don't get it but I think the excuses for why the over priced coolers don't work any better than my substantially cheaper Igloo are entertaining.

The best way to learn or understand is to try them.
Find a store in your area with a good return policy on a Yeti. Buy one with about the same capacity as your cheaper Igloo.
Store them at same temp prior to use. Chill them each with a bag of ice for a few hours and then add equal amounts of drinks and ice to both coolers.
Let us know how your Igloo compares.

tarheelmatt · October 2015

MJG said:

I just don't get it but I think the excuses for why the over priced coolers don't work any better than my substantially cheaper Igloo are entertaining.

Navymom · October 2015

Received an email today saying the tan 45 that I ordered for my son would be shipping on or around Nov 13.

HeavyG · October 2015

MJG said:

I just don't get it but I think the excuses for why the over priced coolers don't work any better than my substantially cheaper Igloo are entertaining.

A website did some real world testing of coolers a few years ago. They found that a Yeti does not really keep ice much longer than a Coleman Xtreme which costs a fraction of the Yeti.

On the other hand the Yeti is built a bit tougher. So if one is in bear country or doing parachute drops then the Yeti might be worth the extra $$$$.

blasting · October 2015

HeavyG said:
A website did some real world testing of coolers a few years ago. They found that a Yeti does not really keep ice much longer than a Coleman Xtreme which costs a fraction of the Yeti.

That makes sense. I've used the Xtremes for years and am very pleased with their ice retention. However, using it daily 365, they don't last more than a year or two.

Living in AZ, coolers are a way of life. Probably time to pull the trigger on one of these RTIC units.

Lit · October 2015

I have 2 extremes. One is in the attic and the other is too big to fit in the attic but I tried. They are no comparison to the yeti. My yeti 20 full will hold ice longer than my xtreme that is 3 times bigger when it's full. The only good thing for the xtreme is it has wheels so when I take the mini places I put it on top in the carten and can wheel the cooler and the mini at the same time.