Dry Ice

[Bluegreen kayak]

Back in 2016, when my sister and I made our first visit to DV, I was in charge of food. I wasn't sure that plain ice would keep stuff cold long enough so I bought some dry ice for our cooler. I can't remember now how well it did keeping the temperature down (I think it did okay) but what I will always remember is the funny metallic tang to the taste of our grapes, avocado, and other fresh foods. We initially thought the grapes had just gone bad until we found that taste in other snacks. Later on I noticed that if things were left out of the cooler, they eventually lost the weird taste.

My question is whether anyone else has experience and advice on using dry ice. Specifically I'm wondering whether putting it in a zip lock (carefully) would contain the gas, or if I kept it in water, would it freeze a shell around itself?

This has come up because, mirabile dictu, after years of offering to take family members camping in DV, someone has finally taken me up on it. My high school aged nephew will join me for a week. I'm excited because he enjoys outdoor adventures such as Boundary Waters, so I think he will have a good time. Then I remembered how much food that boy can put away; I'm going to need more than the small amounts I get by on. Wish me luck!

[Kauri]

I haven't had much experience with dry ice, but what has worked great for us for keeping things cold is double-bagging regular ice in two gallon ziplocks rather than just having it loose in the cooler. We recently purchased a new multi-day big cooler (from Canyon; it's a big improvement over our three smaller 25+ year old Igloo coolers) and that definitely has helped keep things cold longer. They also suggest pre-cooling the cooler with a bag of ice before using it on a multi-day trip.

[TacoLand]

Was just discussing dry ice a few nights ago when working out details for an upcoming 7-night DV trip – how long are you going down for? And congrats on taking a family member! My fondest memories of the outdoors and what really got me into them were my uncle dragging my ass into the Sierra and Black Rock Desert.

Anywho, after looking at the hassle of dry ice we settled on a two cooler system, one of which is a Yeti that will remain sealed until halfway through the trip. The sealed cooler is going to make use of these big ice packs I have from Engel – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZ4QVWK/ – which unfortunately seem to have skyrocketed in price. I use these on all my trips because melting ice in a cooler is a hassle. A lot of the food in this cooler will also be frozen, so I'm not too concerned about the contents getting funky before day 8.

The other cooler (hello, 15+ year old Igloo cooler) is going to use block ice (poor man's dry ice?) and will be filled with drinks, snack stuff like grapes, the first few days of pre-prepped meals, and so on. Plus, we can chuck more ice into it at Stovepipe Wells halfway through.

I don't think you want to keep dry ice in a sealed container as that weird taste is from it off-putting CO2 if I remember correctly ... if you don't let it vent it would probably expand and pop the bag or whatever airtight container you put it. And you can't put dry ice in water .... plus dry ice has a good chance of freezing and potentially exploding any liquids you have in the cooler like canned beverages. So, perhaps not the easy solution you're looking for?

[GowerGulch42]

I concur with TacoLand on the block ice. Normal amount of ice augmented with a couple blocks keeps even a cheap, crappy cooler cold for a week. I do tend to top off the bag ice halfway through but the blocks last for a long time.

[MojaveGeek]

The only time I was able to get hold of dry ice at a convenient time, I found that the food right next to the dry ice froze real solid, and produce too close to it got damaged due to the freeze. I did not notice any taste, but maybe because it was a styrofoam cooler so it didn't seal that well? This was an April time frame to some warmer parts of Utah. It did seem like a good idea though, because you get a good bang (degrees of cooling) per volume (cubic inches of dry ice). Oh, yes, I recall it also froze some drinks, not good for beers!

The block ice approach takes a bunch of volume, but because the surface area is smaller than when you use cubes, it will last longer - but won't cool so much as cubes. Probably as long as you start with well refrigerated food into the cooler, that's OK.

I often freeze in old soda bottles if I can, instead of getting block ice, because then you don't get the melt water all over everything. And you really don't want to throw out that cold melt water, it is thermal mass. The bottles, being round, are less than great for space management, but there are square water bottles you could start with.

I also try to freeze liquids I'm carrying, if they are amenable to such, such as juices and milk.

It's also very useful to pack the coolers carefully. Surround them with stuff (luggage) to limit air contact. I cover them with the extra coats, sleeping bags, whatever. Don't leave in hot vehicles if possible. If it's cold at night, leave 'em out but in a place where they will be shaded at sunrise.

[trailhound]

Before putting cans or bottles of beverages in a cooler, chill them in a refrigerator. That way, you don't use up ice getting them cold. They are already cold.

Anyone thinking about dry ice should know that the temp is -109F. Handle carefully. If immersed in water, it bubbles away producing a fog of CO2 gas. Great for Halloween and special effects but probably not for keeping stuff cold.

[TacoLand]

The CO2 gas rolling out of your cooler the first time you opened it would probably look pretty neat .... too bad the ice melted.

Mojave's point about filling old bottles with water and freezing those is a good one. One of my camping buddies fills big twist-top Rubbermaid containers with water and freezes, so he gets the advantage of block ice but when it melts he can see it for thermal mass (as Mojave said), plus it doesn't get everything wet. AND ... he can drink it.

Not sure what everyone else's cooler bottoms are like, but drinking melt ice out of mine wouldn't be my first choice for hydration.

[Bluegreen kayak]

Before putting cans or bottles of beverages in a cooler, chill them in a refrigerator. That way, you don't use up ice getting them cold. They are already cold.

Anyone thinking about dry ice should know that the temp is -109F. Handle carefully. If immersed in water, it bubbles away producing a fog of CO2 gas. Great for Halloween and special effects but probably not for keeping stuff cold.

The Halloween business is what prompted my question about putting dry ice in water. I was helping with such an activity at a historical site, and was carrying a bucket that was supposed to produce said fog from dry ice in water. Instead, the water around the ice kept freezing, and no fog came out. I had to very carefully break the dry ice over and over again to get anything. It made me wonder how long it would take the dry ice to disappear if it kept creating an frozen shield around itself.

My thanks to everyone for the great advice here. I have used water frozen in large rinsed-out juice bottles and it does work well. I would like something that lasts as long as possible.

[David_Bricker]

I have to relate my only story with dry ice.

My future wife and I were taking a trip from LA to Brice, Zion, north rim of Grand Canyon, south rim, Sedona and Phoenix, and back to LA. We stopped overnight in Las Vegas, and noticed our ice in our ice chest had already almost ran out. Knowing that our opportunity for replacement ice would be getting slimmer as we continued, I decided to get a decent amount of dry ice in Las Vegas.

On our way, somewhere slightly north of St. George, I asked my wife to grab me a soda. Already, everything in the ice chest was frozen solid, and most of the sodas has exploded. Of course, much of our produce was also ruined, and the meat ended up with the funky taste previously described.

I quickly learned not to line the cooler with dry ice!

I think if I end up in the future taking multi-day trips to the wilds, I will A) buy a fridge or B) use dry ice sparingly, in combination with block ice and/or separate coolers for certain foods.

David Bricker / SYR

[trailhound]

The Halloween business is what prompted my question about putting dry ice in water. I was helping with such an activity at a historical site, and was carrying a bucket that was supposed to produce said fog from dry ice in water. Instead, the water around the ice kept freezing, and no fog came out.

I have never tried to make fog but I recall instructions that say to use hot water. That way, fog is made before the water freezes.