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where can you buy liquid nitrogen

post #1 of 16
7/2/09 at 7:22am
Thread Starter 
hi all, does anybody know where a retail consumer can get some liquid nitrogen (for ice cream making)? My dermatologist is too afraid to slip me some. I live in NYC. Thanks.
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post #2 of 16
7/2/09 at 7:47am
Have a look at WillPowder - Specialty Powders and Spices from Chef Will Goldfarb. He supplies chemicals to the "molecular gastronomy" crowd, so I wouldn't be surprised if he has that, too.
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post #3 of 16
7/2/09 at 6:10pm
eeediot,

anywhere that provides goods for commercial plumbers/pipe fitters/welders will (or **** well SHOULD) have liquid N2. Praxair comes to mind. I would think most would deal. The problem is storing the stuff. It typically requires a vacuum Dewar which can be expensive and dangerous in the wrong hands.

you might also be able to pull off the ice cream trick with dry ice, which can be stored for a day or two in a couple brown bags in a styrofoam container. Also avail at praxair.
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post #4 of 16
7/2/09 at 6:50pm
Dry ice is available at grocery stores in my area.
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post #5 of 16
7/2/09 at 7:05pm
well hey, there ya go! Never knew that. Good to know.
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post #6 of 16
7/6/09 at 3:23am
Probably Airgas. I doubt they'd furnish it unless you provide an appropriate container though. I doubt they'll just sell one gallon or so either.
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post #7 of 16
7/6/09 at 3:45am
you might be surprised Vodka. Sometimes the company might be very large, but the location is rather small, and they sometimes will deal with the public. I used to get about a gallon sized bucket of dry ice at a time from praxair.... which to them was peanuts, to me more than I needed, but vital. sometimes the guys will even give you what you need comp, simply because it's so small it costs them nothing. you just give them a fin for a round of coffee. never hurts to ask....

but youre right about the container. probably tough/expensive to come by for the average person.
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post #8 of 16
7/6/09 at 7:14am
I actually looked into this, you have to buy the container (empty), which you can get online, then there are companies who deliver liquid nitrogen and will come out to your house to fill your container.
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post #9 of 16
7/6/09 at 7:48am
there is a liquor store that sells it here.
maybe check one by you
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post #10 of 16
7/6/09 at 9:33am
Thread Starter 
Any idea what the costs are? of the container and the liquid nitrogen. thanks
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post #11 of 16
7/6/09 at 9:50am
I forgot the exact price, I think the container was about couple hundred bucks, and the N2 was at least a hundo.

So basically you can get a nice ice cream maker for the same price and/or serveral gallons of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
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post #12 of 16
7/6/09 at 8:37pm
The liquid nitrogen around here costs about 3.75 per liter, which makes it about 4 times as much as gasoline. Depending on the technique you use you will need about 2 liters to spin one liter of mix (it will require proportionately less as you have more mix to spin and of course it also depends on the temperature of your mix as well. Also, if you use a faster method to make the ice cream it will also require less liquid nitrogen... but the quality will generally suffer a little.)

The texture difference between ice cream made by a high-end machine and LN2 are almost indistinguishable, and requires a bit of finesse to get it to turn out without chunks of frozen globs so depending on why you're using it you may wish to stick with the cheaper (over the long term) method. The restaurant I'm at uses a 40L insulation container, so each fill up costs around 150 dollars.
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post #13 of 16
7/7/09 at 5:11am
N. A .s. A
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post #14 of 16
9/2/10 at 6:35am

I was curious...I was interested in finding liquid N2 because I saw show on food network I believe (idk which one), and the chef was demonstrating the anti-griddle as well as several other freezing techniques...He made an "inside out" ice cream cone, where he poured liquid ice cream base into a piece of plastic, rolled like an ice cream cone, and then dipped it into liquid N2, then poured a second layer and repeated, and then added chocolate, and other toppings, and rolled the outside in crushed pieces of cone. It was cool looking. You could really build some cool layers, or do some interesting insertions using liquid N2 as an instant freezing catalyst. I would only need enough to fill a Bay Marie (sp?) setup...Another words...I'd be dipping the liquid ice cream base directly INTO the N2, not using it to churn icecream in! lol. I'm also in NY (dutchess county)

 

-Bytemee495

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post #15 of 16
9/2/10 at 6:48am

Since in most states it is illegal to ship gases through  the mail. I would suggest looking in the local phone book for a gas distributor near where you live. Be extremely careful when you Dip because you can get serious burns.

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post #16 of 16
9/2/10 at 11:53am

Yea...I plan on wearing heavy duty layered gloves, and the mold sits into a dipping device, to keep my hands that much further away. I just thought you'd need a licence to buy N2 from a gas supplier. But if not. That pretty much answers my question! Thanks.

 

-Bytemee495

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