Dry ice

[Idahomnts]

Any body use it for cooler back at camp or truck? I've tried the search button, nothin on it, thinking about putting it in my cooler with regular ice to maybe extend the life of ice

 

[tttoadman]

I should qualify this with the fact that have just a simple igloo cooler. I took $90 of dry ice thinking it would last in the cooler an entire week if needed. I piled about 2-3 gallons of water in there thinking more of keeping it cold and removing the dead air. The dry ice was gone in 4 days, but I had solid water bottles in the cooler. I suppose what that really means is I extended the life of my ice by 4 days by having the dry ice. I don't know if I would spend that kind of money again, but those are my observations. The short answer is yes dry ice is good, but it only seems logical to have block ice or jug ice in the cooler with it so it can transfer the energy to it instead of leaking out as vapor for nothing.

 

[Beendare]

Dry Ice pretty much freezes meat solid in a short time....but doesn't last more than 3 days for me. Its great as it doesn't leave the meat soaking in a bunch of water. It does extend the life of you regular ice...but best not to let dry ice get wet.

Also; You want to put something between the ice and meat as it will burn meat in direct contact.

 

[Mischief209]

Wrap the dry ice in a bunch of newspaper to use for insulating purposes. Also set on top of the contents in the ice chest. Put a few frozen 2liters at the bottom and you can get 4 to 7 days depinding on how many times you open it. Air and water are killers of dry ice. Pack the cooler as tight as you can with the least amount of air space.

 

[lintond]

I put block ice in my cooler then put dry ice on top. It will keep the block ice fresh for multiple days as if it was fresh from the store. It's a good way to extend the life on your ice when hunting for 5-7 days, so you have a cold cooler when you pack out meat.

 

[PF_JM]

In a 105qt Yeti cooler 2 blocks of dry ice in the bottom and 3 bags of regular ice on top of that will keep for about 4 or 5 days in the back of my tuck in the Texas summer, that is even with accessing the contents pretty regularly in temps with highs around 100+ and lows around 85 at night. If I want it to last longer I soft freeze my water bottles before I put them in there. If you put the dry ice in water it won't last nearly as long. Like others have said, air space is the killer so try to fill it as much as possible with cold or frozen items.

 

[TexanSam]

Currently wondering about this myself since I'd like to have a way to keep some frozen meals to eat in the cooler for a week-long hunt

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

 

[archer wapiti]

It's a lot colder than wet ice (sublimates at -109); most deep freezes are -10 or - 20. As others have said, putting block ice on the bottom, then dry ice on top can extend the life of your wet ice. Remember that if there's still dry ice in your cooler when you get back with meat, the wet ice is also at -109 F and will freeze your meat as well. If you have a second cooler that is at air temp, it'll work to transfer some of that supercooled ice into the air temp cooler, and shortly after add meat to it.

Ultimately nothing will overcome a poorly insulated cooler for very long. If you have dry ice in your cooler and there's frost forming on the outside, get it better insulated either with styrofoam, sleeping bags, foil bubble wrap, or all the above. There's posts about this on this forum. Even the crappiest igloo can be fortified with more insulation in a couple of hours and for less than the price of a bunch of dry ice (about $2/lb in Albuquerque). Somewhere there's an optimum amount of money to spend on each.

 

[Rob T]

I just completed a six-night wilderness float trip and am now a fan of dry ice. We put cubed ice atop the dry ice and had nice chilled cocktails on the final night of our trip. The only problem we had is the dry ice toasted out fresh mint for Moscow mules.

 

[durangobrad]

Check out Cooler Shock on Amazon, ive been running it in my boat cooler all summer and its pretty impressive stuff. They are gel filled pouches that phase change at 18 degrees in stead of 32 degrees. I put one in my RTIC softside with a little water and some beers, it froze the water.

 

[Laelkhunter]

Will freezing a bear hide using dry ice cause freezer burn on the hide? Do you freeze the hide in a game bag or contractor bag?

As stated earlier, it is best to insulate with newspaper to prevent freezer burn. Wrapping the dry ice with paper (or towels) will prevent any damage caused by the ice coming in contact with hides or meat.