dry ice

[Esteban Ohh]

so bacon in a ziplock bag in a cooler with dry ice will get carbonated and ruined?

[SquirrelHead]

so bacon in a ziplock bag in a cooler with dry ice will get carbonated and ruined?

All I keep picturing is Han Solo now.

[usurpedus]

so i followed a fellow posters recommendation and for my 'freezer cooler' used 25 lbs dry ice and surrounded it with about 3 bags of chipped ice(and then sprayed with a bit of water over it).

it was awesome.

from monday through saturday the thing was an icebox(used a coleman ultramax cooler.. 64 qt I think). i even opened it a couple times a day, accidentally left it in the sun.. forgot to raise it on 2 x 4's etc. it was my pride and joy every time I opened that thing and found that everything that needed to stay frozen was still rock solid.

thank you! will definitely be doing that again.

[Jesus]

Still can't find the bigger blocks.

I found an ice cream supply place that sells theirs for 40 cents a pound!!!

Shop wisely!

Not bad. Where?

Best I found (thanks to http://www.dryiceDirectory.com ):
*Airgas Dry Ice
731 B West Cutting Blvd
Richmond, CA
(510) 237-5114
Robert Farris, Manager
http://www.airgasdryice.net
8-4-M-6 60 lb = minimum. JUST $15!!! - in 2011.

[canexplain]

Hi there. I read the 1st 6 pages or so and then back from here for a few and was sort of surprised I didn't read this anywhere. It's sort of the "rules" for the Roo and such. Maybe it is different at BM and I am always up to learn being a virgin ..... So just saying ie: If you sleep on the ground, sleep above your cooler etc.... cr****

Store Dry Ice in an insulated container. The thicker the insulation, the slower it will sublimate. Do not store Dry Ice in a completely airtight container. The sublimation of Dry Ice to Carbon Dioxide gas will cause any airtight container to expand or possibly explode. Keep proper air ventilation wherever Dry Ice is stored. Do not store Dry Ice in unventilated rooms, cellars, autos or boat holds. The sublimated Carbon Dioxide gas will sink to low areas and replace oxygenated air. This could cause suffocation if breathed exclusively.

http://www.dryiceinfo.com/safe.htm

[trilobyte]

Apparently you weren't reading those pages too closely - the site you linked was mentioned in the second post on the first page

[canexplain]

Apparently you weren't reading those pages too closely - the site you linked was mentioned in the second post on the first page

Lolz you are so right. I didn't hit the link but I did read the posts I tried hehehe but useful info is good to be repeated eh ..cr****

[mulch]

So it was already mentioned, but I feel obliged to tell my story...

The day after hurricane Katrina. Im from New Orleans but now live a couple of hours north of town and had two of my aunts from New Orleans staying with me. The power was out but we were safe. I made my way to the ice house nearby to get ice for the food as we wondered how long the power would be out. The line was long, and nobody realized that they had dry ice too, but I frequented the place. When I got to the front of the line, I bought almost all that they had. A hundred pounds. I had a few friends who would want some for the freezer and such.

Driving home, my wife commented that we should give some to Kim and David, neighbors. I replied in what seemed like an anxious exasperated tone. She said it was no big deal not to get so excited, there was plenty to go around. I responded in an anxious tone that I wasn't anxious, no problem, as I panted and seemed disturbed about sharing our precious ice. Within a few blocks we realized that we were hyperventilating and feeling dizzy and such, and seeing that we are both brilliant doctors we finally realized that we were about to join the Darwin award's next publication.

Rolled the windows down, caught our breath, and laughed.

[Martiansky]

My sister and I were contemplating using dry ice and her concern was,
Does dry ice make the plastic in the coolers brittle?
I didnt see any mention of dry ice having any effects on anything other then bare skin and the fumes.

[mytripod]

I've never had a problem with dry ice, although after that fun story I'll remind myself never to ride in the same space with a hundred pounds of the stuff (it rides in the back of my pickup). Wrap it in newspaper or paper bags to maximize the length of time it lasts. And remember that cold goes DOWN. Put frozen stuff under the dry ice and cold stuff on top. And keep veggies and fruit away from it. I use a Yeti cooler and put dry ice in it the day before packing for departure. Once a yeti gets cold, it stays cold. I only bought a couple of bags of ice all week, mostly for my iced drinks, even though I didn't buy much dry ice to start with.

[Martiansky]

Thank you very much for the info, Mytripod.
I appreciate it alot and will let my sister know.
No more worries about brittle plastic cooler MOOP!

[BBadger]

We froze a good portion of the eggs we bought accidentally, so really do make sure you want things ice-cold, not just refrigerator cold.

[mytripod]

I'm a bit curious about frozen eggs. I've frozen egg whites before, but never tried using a whole frozen egg. lol. Were they raw? I took hard boiled eggs, which were nice handy food snacks. Frozen hard boiled eggs could be considered deadly weapons.

[VultureChow]

Does the smokeshop and/or Walmart in Fernley have dry ice reliably?

[FIGJAM]

Most walmarts have dry ice now, but it's $1.39 a pound.

[International Incident]

Does the smokeshop and/or Walmart in Fernley have dry ice reliably?

I'm also looking for a cheap place in Reno/Fernley that has it mate. When/if i track one down I'll message you! But it is good to know that it is at Wallymart if we need it.

[Thecatman]

Most walmarts have dry ice now, but it's $1.39 a pound.

L think it might be a little cheaper at Crystal Ice on 4th St, just west of Keystone Ave, in Reno. The people there are very burner friendly.

[Risque Rascal]

My experiential pros and cons on this. I brought dry ice the first year I went in 2009.
Pro:
Dry ice is excellent at freezing every thing in your cooler solid and keeping that way a long time.
Cons:
It takes a lot to go several days. You can find calculations for it online, but when I started my cooler was half full of dry ice to get through burn week.
It can crack your cooler. The cooler's plastic gets so cold and hard is can snap under duress.
Its expensive.
And (while not usually an issue on the playa) you do have to keep the area ventilated to prevent CO2 poisoning.

I have since found for my self freezing a number of (preferably square) snap top food containers at home get me the first several days. I then buy (for what only one block of dry ice costs), my ice from Artic Village.

[Thecatman]

Dry ice is excellent at freezing every thing in your cooler solid and keeping that way a long time.

In 09 I had an ice chest in the bed of my pick-up truck where I was sleeping. I had soda, beer, milk etc. in it. Around 3:30am while I was sleeping there was a loud pop and bang.
I thought some inebriated person trying to find their way back to their camp was trying to get in. Turned out a can of Ginger Ale froze and exploded. I was deafening.Took ten years off my life.

[FIGJAM]

At least you had enough venting in the space so the co2 did'nt kill you in your sleep!

People please be careful with your dry ice!

[whatevan]

So after going over this thread for the last couple of days(so much information) this is my plan for dry ice this year. This will be the first time I have ever used dry ice, and it is for a very important occasion, so if anyone has any other tips or critiques, please let me know.

So I plan on buying a 150 quart coleman cooler, and filling it with 50 pounds of dry ice. I need the dry ice to keep a wedding cake frozen from Sunday morning until Wednesday afternoon. From what I've read, plan for about 7-10 pounds a day, so I want to give myself an extra buffer.

So I guess my question would be, is the size of the cooler overkill? We aren't really planning on keeping anything else frozen, just the cake. Also what would be the best way to pack it? would 2 blocks on either side of the cake, or a big block underneath or on top?

Thanks for all the great advice in this thread, and any replies, and if anyone wants to stop by for some ice cream cake we will be holding our wedding reception at the Midnight Poutine camp on Wednesday afternoon!

[BeeWeeDee]

Not knowing how big the cake is makes it difficult to say whether on not the 150 qt. cooler is overkill. A flat sheet cake vs. a three tier brides cake....

I would suggest the cake be placed at the bottom of cooler and some support ( heavy cardboard box) on top surrounding it. Then place the DI on top. Cold air and CO2 will sink to the bottom.

[whatevan]

The cake is going to be a 16 inch round cake. no tiers, just your standard store bought ice cream cake. My worry about placing the dry ice on top is it crushing the cake. Would placing 2 blocks on either side of the cake work as well?

[theCryptofishist]

What are the inner dimensions of this cooler? I'm sure that's going to have a bearing on how you'll arrange things.
But building a box out of wood. not even a box, but out of something strong enough to bear weight and large enough to put the cake under.

[Canoe]

How much dry ice to throw into a 5 gallon drink cooler to chill the drink down, not freeze it?

[BeeWeeDee]

Easy peasy!

5 gallons of water @ 8.31 lb/gal = 51.55 lb

You want to cool it from roughly 85 F down to 40 F or a difference of 45 degrees drop in temperature.

It takes 1 BTU to drop the temperature of 1 lb of water 1 degree F. So.... 51.55 lbs and a drop of 45 degrees takes 1870 BTU.

Every pound of dry ice will take up 247 BTU changing from a solid to a gas. That implies that you will need 1870/247 or 7.6 pounds of dry ice.

Hope that helps.

[Canoe]

Thank you.
Now I know how much I can add without it freezing.

[MoonBunny]

Dry Ice can be great,
especially if you want to have that frozen fruit ice cream bar mid to late week.
Handle dry ice with care and caution. Wrap it before placing in your cooler to reduce sublimation.

Frozen water works well for keeping things cool.
Going to Arctica can be a good time.

My suggestion is both have their purposes.

Me? I just got some emergency blankets to use as a reflective insulator for my coolers;
I'm on the playa, not in an RV or a portable office

[Canoe]

...Me? I just got some emergency blankets to use as a reflective insulator for my coolers...

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... 66#p945250

[Swope904]

So would it be safe to say in a 100qt+ cooler 60-75 pounds of dry ice would be optimal to last all 7 days?