dry ice?

[codycleve]

Ok so I had a great time reading the drain not to drain post and was curious about dry ice... Pros.. cons... Does any use it and does it work.... Packing tips... Amounts.. do you need to leave your plug out to not turn your cooler into a bomb...

[Avatard]

This post should be more aptly titled "to offgass or not to offgass"

Dry ice provides a slight weight advantage and will keep your ice longer. I never bring it because of cost considerations vs freeze your own jugs of ice

[lhowemt]

Dry ice will ruin all of your refrigerator goods, and i do believe if it doesn't just freeze them the high co2 concentrations turn many vegis weird. I've used it to keep a cooler froZen enroute to the grand. But pack the non frozen separately. At the putin the di is gone and i load everything in the cooler.

[mommydevo]

Do not pack a watermelon in a cooler with dry ice. That much I can tell you for sure.

[salmonjammer]

Dry Ice is around -100F. So anything in the ice chest will freeze SOLID. We do a yearly trip down the lower salmon ~ 6 days in 100+ temperatures. Have used dry ice several times with mixed results. One year a friend took a piece and put in his chest, froze the broccoli dip so hard it was like a brick. We have since used it as a 4-or 5 day chest. We take all the frozen main dishes that we will use on days 4-6, add dry ice, usually a block 6"cube, then fill remaining space with frozen milk jugs. Then 3 or 4th day out we open, devide all the ice and frozen food. We duct tape the cooler and shove in the bottom of someones boat, not opening until we seperate it out. It has worked fairly well. Good ice chest management work about a well. Just don't put dry ice in your chest with items you don't want frozen, including beer, as it WILL freeze them and will split the cans sometimes. We have had no issues with the CO2 expanding. Becarefull as it burns skin on contact!!!

[UserName]

Dry ice refrigerates if kept on bottom.. freezes if kept on top. Other words it freezes down... It is not necessary for trips under 4 days Id say.

[hduncan88]

Pack dry ice on bottom according to recommendations you can find where you purchase it then covered with a fairly thick layer of wet ice. You won't have freezing issues. I've had good luck with this method and nothing was strangely affected. I've also made the mistake of making the wet ice layer too thin and freezing pretty much everything on the bottom half of the cooler.

[codycleve]

I watched a video where you put the dry ice in the bottom then corrugated cardboard then wet ice... Might be the trick to not freezing everything... I launch on the middle fork on next Friday probably not the best time to test it... Might have to play around with it this summer..

[hduncan88]

Yes... I forgot to mention the barrier part. The dry ice at bottom covered with wet ice is almost foolproof if you have or can find a reflective insulator to put between the ice combo and food. I've used cardboard but have a reflective insulator pad that works better.

[carvedog]

The off gas does ruin veggies fo shore.

I tried it once. What a hassle. Good for making ice cream though. I have heard of some using it to make carbonated drinks. But why bother?