dry ice

[scotto]

Do NOT buy Dry Ice from a Grocery Store...They are a real Ripoff...

Find a Local Ice Cream Dealer...You will get a much better price than at a Supermarket...

YMMV in other states as I am in Phoenix...

Scotto

[Dr. Pyro]

The Raley's just off the freeway in Loomis and Auburn has it for $1 a pound. Not such a ripoff really.

[Lostfolio]

Anyone have any advice on how much dry ice to get. I'm turning a couple of big ass (4 foot long) coolers into deep freezes.

[Sobretta Franjipan]

Hmmmm. Probably a stupid question but-ice cream dealer? As in a Baskin Robbins or something? If so then where the hell is that in Reno? I think most of us will be happy with Albie's where we can get other stuff if we need it too. Not one who likes to run all over Reno when I JUST WANT TO GET TO THE PLAYA!!

Thanks for the Albie's tip. Don't suppose the KMarts, etc have dry ice.

Wooo hooooo. Getting nervous...

[Dork]

Get it from your local Airgas supply house. Cheap and comes in convenient 25 pound blocks. The blocks are actually composed of 4 little sheets so if you want to spread it out for some reason you can.

I brought 50 pound last year in my cheap-o 104 quart cooler and it lasted Monday morning through Saturday morning. If you have a smaller and/or better cooler and take care of it one block might be enough to last the majority of the week. Total cost was about $21.

[unjonharley]

How will dry ice react to a metal container?

[synchronicity]

I usually keep my dry ice in a paper bag, to make it easier to handle.
That avoids direct contact. I have used it in an antique metal cooler (galvanized) with no negative effects.

[robotland]

How will dry ice react to a metal container?

It'll make it cold.......

but you're probably already anticipating that. The newspaper (or butcher's paper) idea is a good one, since dry ice can stick to metal sometimes....and against metal or glass it can make unholy squawking noises. Be careful of touching either metal chilled by dry ice, or the dry ice itself, without gloves. Avoid a completely airtight container- You can make a helluva loud bang with a little shard of dry ice and water in a two-liter bottle! If you've got a fair-sized hunk of it, be cautious of driving long distances in a closed-up vehicle as it will displace the breathable air with CO2.
(Unj, I know you're savvy....this is mostly posted for mass consumption!)

[hunter S]

Your dry ice will hold a little longer if you sandwich it in card board, it also helps keep a more cosistant temp. I use a heavey cardboard, a little duct tape, keep one end open for vent, place in bottom of cooler them layer of ice. Dry ice keeps reg ice frozen, I've kept Ice frozen for 5 day's or more this way. helps to open vent or water drain on cooler for gas release. No K-Booms !!!

[unjonharley]

Will it help to tape the dry ice in cardboard and run a straw sized vent to the outside. Guess it would be good to keep the cardboard dry, Say in a plastic cotainer. I'm trying to keep the dry ice from getting into the foods

[robotland]

You could make a groovy, high-tech enclosure for the dry ice out of Reflectix...(bubblewrap plus mylar)

[unjonharley]

You could make a groovy, high-tech enclosure for the dry ice out of Reflectix...(bubblewrap plus mylar)

~
Great I have a yard of that stuff around here some place.

[Bob A]

Last year I bought blocks of dry ice gave them one wrap of tin foil then wrapped them in heavy brown paper bags. Ducked taped the whole thing together. Put one layer on the bottom of the cooler and a block or two on top. Had the heavy-duty 7-day coolers. Venting wasn't a problem. The tin foil and bags were not completely air tight so gas could escape. And even thou those coolers are very tight sealing and insulated the seal was not air tight so gas expansion was not an issue. If you vacuum seal the dry ice then you will have a problem.

bob A

[XS]

Good one Bob A. Wrapping dry ice in foil is a great way to prevent the inevitable evaporation. Last year I found that painters drop cloth - the paper kind with a plastic backing - also works really well for evap-prevention. Be sure to duct tape it all secure.

I also used the hard core, heavily insulated cooler as a freezer compartment, with dry ice on the bottom and sides, frozen food items on top, and any air gap filled with bubble wrap, crumpled paper, or whatever to fill up the gap. It worked so wel that two days after getting home, I still had chunks of dry ice left in the wrapping.

Nothing like a popcicle on a hot playa afternoon, or better yet, ICE CREAM SUNDAES!!!

Live large, baby!

[robotland]

Just got a Rubbermaid marine cooler, to probably be my deepfreeze- It's a little smaller (2x2x3) and has a handy shelf-tray, plus two removable cupholders and an external top compartment! Very nice! On sale at Dick's for 25. (Says it'll hold 75 cans.)

[phil]

You can get dry ice at Crystal Ice 1345 W. 4th St. Reno (Phone 323-5145). Hours last year were 7 am to 5 pm seven days a week. 80 cents a pound in 2003, don't remember last year. Cash only.

Also Smith's Supermarket 1239 Baring Blvd (Phone 358-2500) Sparks (corner of Sparks and Baring - use exit 20 off Route 80, go north 2 miles to Baring Blvd). In the Baring Village Shopping Center, they are open 10 am to 7 pm Monday through Friday, and 10 am to 5 pm Saturday, Sunday and holidays.

And at Scolari's Warehouse Market 1360 Highway 40 E, Fernley, NV 89408 (7-10 pound blocks for 99 cents a pound in 2000) 575-1381 (It is easy to find off the I-80 Fernley exit, right next to the highway by the first overpass entering Fernley from the south, next to a MacDonald's.)

Other supermarkets have dry ice, but they haven't been stocked every time we've been by. If you're shopping for groceries at a place that sells dry ice, check before you buy stuff if that's a priority for you.

[Elemental666]

1st time burner and 1st time dry icer, just wanted to run my pan by you guys and get any feedback I can...

Here's my cooler: http://igloocoolers.com/products/Full%2 ... ssics/2762

On the bottom I plan to make a dry ice sandwich, like this
----- Cardboard
~~~~~ newspaper
++++++plastic backed painters cloth ducked taped around the blocks of ice


------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+++++++++++++++++
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-------------------------------

Then I was goning to ring the outside with bottles of water, put some ice in the middle building up about a 3-4" layer on the bottom, set my ice cream on the bottom of the ice pit and anything else to be frozen on top of the ice cream, I'll try to diagram that:

Profile:
| |XXMeat etc XX| |
| |XXIce cream XX| |
| |xxxxxxxxxxxxxx| |
^
Water bottles X=cubed ice

Top Down:
OOOOOOOOOOOO O=Water bottles
OXXXXXXXXXXXO X=Ice pit
OOOOOOOOOOOO



If I user 1-liter bottles of water then as we consume the frozen good we can also consume the water by setting it out and drinking or washing with it... Hey, what about diong something like bottling grey water and swaping out the frozen drinking water for grey water bottles, put my grey water to use until I can dispose of it off playa! Probably won't take care of all the grey water, but hey, it'll help right?

[diane o'thirst]

On the off chance the meat defrosts in your cooler, I'd put it under the ice cream. Restaurants always put uncooked meat on the lowest shelf in the fridge.

[Elemental666]

I don't really think I'm gonna have enough ice cream to cover the entire bottom so some of the thicker cuts can go between the tubs, the thinner cuts I would think should be fine right on top of the ice cream... but I'll remember to check it when getting in and out and move it if necessary, thanks.

[robotland]

For any Burners in the Midwest that have Meijer stores, I discovered that they now carry dry ice. (At least, the Kalamazoo outlets do.)

[geekster]

In California you can get dry ice at most Albertsons grocery stores. Dont worry about pressure in the cooler, it will push out the drain cap if it builds too high and relieve the pressure.

One thing we did last year was brought three different kinds of coolers. One for frozen stuff and one for cold stuff and one for snacks/drinks that would be gotten into a lot.

The frozen one would have the dry ice. Other things you can do as people have mentioned is freeze some water in water bottles. Another thing is eggs. Break your eggs into a mixer, mix them up but don't whip a lot of air into them, pour them into containers and freeze. When you are ready to go, put these into your frozen cooler. Each day, move a container of the frozen eggs to the "cold" cooler. They act to help keep the cold cooler cold and the next morning they will be ready to make scrambled eggs to go with the BACON that you are going to bring tons of, right?

Put anything people are going to be going in after repatively into the snack cooler.

Don't let whole eggs in the shell sit in melt water. The shells are porous and will allow bacteria through into the egg.

[robotland]

2 Liter bottle
a little water
crushed dry ice

Add ice to water. Cap bottle. Throw. Enjoy!

On a more practical tangent, I took an old soft-sided sixpack cooler and punched two 1" holes in the ends- Then I threaded some thin aluminum 1" dia. flexi-vent tubing (found at yard sale...not quite sure what it was for, originally!) through the holes, and around the inside of the cooler leaving room in the middle for a chunk of dry ice. (If you try this, be sure NOT to crush or kink the tubing!) Add a little battery-driven blower to one end, and you've got a little air conditioner! The air is cooled as it passes through the aluminum tubing, which is a very efficient conductor of the cold from the dry ice. Regular ice also works with this setup, but obviously not as well. Make your own briefcase air conditioner, and pretend you're an astronaut!

[unjonharley]

Pooping in my space suit on the desert would not be plesent.

[robotland]

Pooping in my space suit on the desert would not be plesent.

Ground control to Major Tom!

Fer Chrissakes, OPEN THE AIRLOCK, somebody!!!

[Martiansky]

How much does dry ice usaully cost and how much do you need per cooler?
I have a couple of thick walled medical type coolers that I'd like to pack some frozen chicken chests in and hopefully keep them frozen for a while.

[Karma]

One cool trick we figured out with dry ice was to put 6 or 7 of our water bottles(the small individual ones, not the big jugs) in the dry ice cooler and let em freeze. Then during the day when we went riding around the Playa, would put a couple in water holders on the bikes. Thru the course of wandering about the Playa, the frozen water would melt and everytime we took a drink we had ice cold water.
Kinda nifty and better then the warm stuff you wind up with 20 minutes after leaving camp.

[kidhack]

so i guess my friend's food last year got all filled with CO2 from being in a cooler with dry ice... stuff like hummus and vegies and crap like that.

sounds like she should put it all in something like ziplocks this time right? are ziplocks good enuf so her food isn't carbonized?

[synchronicity]

I would expect greater damage from the extreme cold of the dry ice, rather than the CO2 gas, to fresh or semi fresh items. I have accidently frozen beer solid and ruptured cans due to dry ice use. Use dry ice to keep frozen stuff frozen.

[phil]

Pooping in my space suit on the desert would not be plesent.

Ground control to Major Tom!

Fer Chrissakes, OPEN THE AIRLOCK, somebody!!!

For god's sake DON'T!!!!!

[dapete]

The last three years I've had ~20lbs of dry ice evaporate to about 5 over the course of 6 days. I store it in a simple stryofoam shipping box with about 2 dozen Its It and Eskimo pies on top. I'm very popular for about half an hour on Sunday afternoon.