Dry Ice

[opossum]

Howdy,

Not absolutely sure which forum sub-heading to put this one in, so here it is.

I purchased 5 lbs of Dry Ice at Baskin Robins, an ice chain in the states & elsewhere (?). I dropped it in my Igloo ice chest within 60 seconds of the purchase & then when I got home put my remote temperature reader.

It was about 68 degrees F (20 C) in the house & I saw it drop about 1 degree every 5 mins until it hit 8.6 F (-13 C). I never opened the chest until I went to bed around 3 hours later to check something.

Should I expect a larger drop as Dry Ice is around -109.3 (-78.5 C)?

I'm basically, trying to make it COLD in the chest for my bonbons as they will be at the annual Luau Saturday where it is expected to be 91 F (32 C).

[mudbug]

I don't know about the drop but I do wonder why you purchased the dry ice so far in advance.

I would purchase the dry ice as close to the event as possible (a couple of hours before) and use it. Otherwise, the dry ice usually comes from a company that supplies 1-800 number where you can call and ask your questions.

[Nentony]

opossum, how big is the cooler and is it empty? How far away is the thermometer from the dry ice? Air and plastic are poor conducters. I would expect the dry ice should make your bonbons plenty cold. Put a cast iron pan in the cooler and see what happens.

Tony

[foodnfoto]

Dry Ice evaporates very quickly, even when stored in an ice chest. You should be careful, if you seal up the chest too much to avoid any air flow, the expansion of the carbon dioxide will cause the top of the chest to explode off. I've had this happen at one of my shoots.

Putting a cast iron skillet in the cooler will also produce some surprising results. It will be so cold that your hand will freeze to it when you lift it out and the lightest tap will cause the skillet to shatter.


I would not recommend using dry ice to keep chocolate bon bons cold. It will freeze them so solid within about 20 minutes that the chocolate coating to crack and fall off-they'll be so hard that no one will be able to eat them. You will also notice an accumulation of ice crystals on the surface of your bonbons. As they warm up these ice crystals will melt and ruin the finish on the surface.


What does work very well is to get some of those blue freezer packs that are sold in camping supply and some grocery stores. Make sure you freeze them very well for at least 24 hours. Then, just before you leave for the event, pack some on the bottom of your cooler, some on the sides, your chilled bonbons in the middle and some on top. You will loose very little chill during the transfer and storage process as long as you keep the cooler closed and out of the sun.

Good luck.

[opossum]

Howdy,

I purchased a round of Dry ice so early to find out what the effects would be.

Now that the event is over it worked out well. The temp outside was hot as predicted, hence the thought that I needed something to counter it 32 + -78 = ???

Well, the bonbons held up & were just about right. The air temp in the cooler stablized at about -10, so when people took them out & wandered around in the hot sun they were just about right when they sat down.

I don't think I'll be doing that again anytime soon. However, I did come up with a new idea on making bonbons (for the home cook) that I want to try out; production wise.

Oh, & it was a 120 quart cooler & I was sure not to make it air tight