Making ice last long time

1

1tfl

New member
I had forgotten this trick...

Last year my brother brought home quartered elk from his hunt out west. It took 3 days to drive home and he had the meat in two large 120 qt. ice chest. To make the ice last longer he "salted" the ice.

He put a layer of ice on the bottom then spread a handfull of salt on the ice then put the meat on top of it (meat was in sealed industrial plastic bag so it wouldn't get all wet) and all around it with more salt. He then covered everything with ice and more salt. I think each ice chest held 6 bags of ice plus about 1 pound of salt. Those ice lasted 3 day drive plus 2 days in his garage before he took it out and there was still plenty of ice left.
 
Um...

Salt melts ice. "Ice Melt" is essentially rock salt.

If you want ice to last longer, buy Dry Ice. It's quite common in popular hunting areas.

The salt will turn ice into water and the water will be at a lower temperature than water will normally be.. in other words it lower the melting point. The water being colder than normal water (ice temperature) will have more surface area in contact with the meat (or whatever you're cooling) and will cool it faster but the ice will not "last longer".
 
That's what we do on long fishing trips. Make some salt water in the cooler and put a bunch of ice in it. Try to avoid opening the cooler as much as you can to.
 
Brian Pfleuger said:
Um...

Salt melts ice. "Ice Melt" is essentially rock salt.

If you want ice to last longer, buy Dry Ice. It's quite common in popular hunting areas.

The salt will turn ice into water and the water will be at a lower temperature than water will normally be.. in other words it lower the melting point. The water being colder than normal water (ice temperature) will have more surface area in contact with the meat (or whatever you're cooling) and will cool it faster but the ice will not "last longer".
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It may melt the ice, but it results in a brine solution that approaches 0 degrees F...

Ever made homemade ice cream? Same principle applies...

In the end though I'd probably just use dry ice were it available. :)
 
Salt does melt the ice in the beginning but then the water will be cooled below 0 degrees so rest of the ice in contact with the water melts slower.
 
It may melt the ice, but it results in a brine solution that approaches 0 degrees F...

Ever made homemade ice cream? Same principle applies...
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Yes, I have but the point in that is maximum heat transfer due to water having a greater surface area than the ice (no wasted air space).

In theory, the ice might last slightly longer because the specific heat capacity of water is much higher than ice but you're trading a much lower temperature of the ice compared to the water.

In any case, the difference is small and if it's important to keep things cold, CO2 is much better and less potentially messy.
 
We just take a very small piece of Dry ice, ~10-20% of the size of the real ice and put it on the bottom, wrapped in a towel. That seems to solidly double to triple the life of the ice.
 
Interesting thread......

Used to be that the guys beach seining would toss a layer of ice in their boats and then a layer of salt. Fish go on top and then another layer of ice and more salt.

The salt caused the ice to both melt and solidify. The melting on the top caused the VERY cold water to filter through the fish cooling them more effectively.

As for lasting longer......I'm having a hard time with the physical science of this.

Seems to me that the amount of heat transfer necessary to return the ice to a liquid form is the same whether it is a cubic foot of ice at 20 degrees or a cubic foot of ice at 20 degrees with salt tossed on it.

Of course the act of tossing the salt on it has the effect of melting the ice causing a FASTER thermal transfer and therefor cooling whatever is around it faster ( Or should I say "draining the heat from whatever is around it faster? ) hence the freezing of the cream into ice cream.

All this said.......I'll admit that I don't know the real answer.....confused as usual.
 
My father was old school from Hungary. He would buy a block of ice and wrap it with straw and a plastic bag then drop it in the cooler along with whatever he wanted cold. Usually a bottle or 2 of pre-mixed manhattans. Lasted forever. Also with the elk meet I would have allowed the brine to contact it. Washes the blood (game flavor) out and gives it an outstanding flavor.
 
I use dry ice, whenever possible.

Last year, I split 40 lbs between 3 cheap coolers, with the dry ice in double plastic bags and wrapped in a paper bag, then placed on top of the cooler contents. Even though it was an exceptionally warm Elk hunt (we hit 80 degrees more than once :eek:)... The 2 coolers that were always kept out of the sun and were opened as little as possible were well-chilled and still had fragments of the dry ice, 5 days later. Some of the frozen foods were still rock-solid, as well.

And, of course, we didn't have to drain the water, repack the ice around contents that were relocated, or deal with soupy cheese, ever...

It is MUCH more expensive than bagged ice in my area (up to $1.79 / lb), but the added convenience is worth it if I have the money.



Some other ways I extend the life of ice in my food coolers:
-Pre-chill the coolers. I buy a bag or two of ice, at least 24 hours before the coolers will be filled, and let that ice get the cooler chilled. That way, the ice added with the food doesn't just melt off while getting the cooler to temperature.
-Really-deep-freeze anything you can. About a week before any hunt, I set my freezer to -8F, and put as much "hunting food" in as possible. The extra 40 degrees below freezing helps keep stuff chilled for up to an extra 2 days, even in a cooler that's opened regularly and has run out of ice.
-Keep the cooler not only in the shade, but on ground that does not get sunlight. Putting the cooler on a warm surface is just as bad as leaving it out in the sun. This isn't always possible, but I do my best - even shoving coolers 2 feet under a trailer on Antelope hunts (because that's the only 'full' shade for 20 miles).
-Add frozen water bottles. I use the -8F variety, of course. The frozen water bottles act as an additional ice pack, you can drink them when they're thawed, and (if still frozen or well-chilled) they can be used to pack around meat on the trip home.
 
There is a type of cheap cooler that is about 1 1/2 to 2 on of hi-density,hard Styrofoam.Great insulation.

I agree dry ice is a great supplement,though you may end up freezing your meat.I have no experience with the salt,but it may freeze the meat,too.

Old school trucking butcher meat across country,there was something about layering it in sawdust,whether with ice or dry ice,I do not know.When block ice was harvested from frozen lakes with a saw,it was saved for hot weather in sawdust.

As with winterizing a house,infiltration of warm air is a robber.

Tape the cooler to seal out air exchange.

There is a restaurant supply outfit "Farmers Brothers".Thet sell bulk spices,etc in large rectangular plastic jugs with widemouth tops,probably 1.5 gallon size or so.

When I was river tripping a lot I would deep freeze those and use them for ice.The coolers stayed dry,so did the food.The water and ice could be accessed for happy hour.I also had similar jugs filled with salted water,little carrots,blanched broccoli,radishes,etc...a little ranch or bleu cheese,some pretzles...I threw a good happy hour.Spare frozen jugs were packed in taped coolers with dry ice.Ice resupply.

Deso-Grey Canyon,5 days out,summer,Utah desert,fellow river rat approached me as though handing me contraband...gave me a Hagen Daz bar
 
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Tape the cooler to seal out air exchange.
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+1. We hunt Wyoming every few years and use dry ice along with duct tape to seal the cooler. Additionally, I layer my hunting coat over the cooler to provide and extra layer of insulation for the 36 hour drive home.
 
When I was a teenager on a YMCA canoe trip in Northern Ontario...the base camp on an island on Lake Temagami, had a log cabin icehouse that was filled with 24" square lake ice blocks, that were layered in sawdust.

A large burlap coffee bean bag {that you can get free from large coffee houses} is an excellent insulator from the sun, when you throw it over a cooler or water jug.
 
Another idea that worked for me when hunting many miles from a paved road was to take those quilted moving blankets that the moving companies get rid of from time to time - wrap a cooler in one of those, keep it out of the sun and the ice will last like a very expensive Yeti cooler
 
I was fortunate enough to work in some high class restaurants in my younger day.. Lobster and crab that is flown to fancy restaurants is stored in what they call a 7 day cooler. I did manage to snag 2 of them. They work very well and do keep ice for a long time. By looking at them all they appear to be is a styrofoam cooler that is 5 inches thick.
 
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