Dry Ice for temporary Kegerator?

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bdimag

bdimag

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Anyone ever experimented with using dry ice to keep an enclosed space cold?

I'll be using the brickerator in about a month and will need a powerless solution for keeping the kegs cold... Last year it was ice, and it was kind of a pain to drain the water and then buy more ice (at the fairgrounds, so not necessarily cheap).

Dry ice would prevent that, plus the added benefit of having the whole trunk cold (thinking of the beer lines here).

30645d1311743158-hello-northern-va-brickerator.jpg

30646d1311743259-hello-northern-va-brickerator7.jpg

30647d1311743294-hello-northern-va-brickerator8.jpg
 
still wondering about the dry ice...

just put in an order for 90min ipa and arrogant bastard
 
Dry ice should work fine. I have used it camping several times. Cautions that go along with this (aside from the obvious do NOT allow contact to bare skin). Direct contact will cause plastic to become brittle distort it and it will crack, wrap it in a towel. Placing it above what you want to cool and it will act as a freezer, but near the base of the kegs it will refrigerate. It will cause condensation so expect the base area to get wet. Just for insurance, I would use some insinuation to keep it from contacting the kegs. A few layers of cardboard will work fine. Oh and by the way, great rig. I know that envy is a terrible thing but I Want One.
 
I almost hate predictive typing. That should have been insulation not insinuation. One other thing 2 pounds keeps a 60 quart cooler of food cold for 4 days with limited opening of the cooler. Always use ice for the beer cooler because I will not limit access to that.
 
I didn't see any insulation in the trunk. You should probably insulate the trunk as much as you can to make the dry ice last longer!
 
Last summer I reused some dry ice and a cooler I got from Omaha Steaks...dry ice works GREAT...but is powerful stuff and will be a freezer rather than a fridge pending the amount used I'd imagine. Dry Ice kept an ice cream cake hard like concrete all afternoon in a cooler in a hot car on a balls hot June day...powerfull stuff! Likely work great for ya as long as you don't under or over do it.
 
I use dry ice for a yearly, two-day camping trip that we go on and have been for the past three years, and will be doing something very similar for an upcoming event this weekend. I'm actually building my temporary kegerator right now. The thing you have to be careful about is the dry ice freezing whatever is close to it. We usually keep it separated from our food and canned beer with a newspaper or magazine or something like that - and handle it with a pair of good gloves.
I'll try to photo document my use of the dry ice this weekend and share.
 
Toymaker said:
I didn't see any insulation in the trunk. You should probably insulate the trunk as much as you can to make the dry ice last longer!
Click to expand...

100 lbs of dry ice might just frost up the ass end of that Volvo...now that would be a site on a hot muggy June day in VA.

Maybe some small chips of dry ice dopped down into the tower as well???
 
I use dry ice for a fermentation chiller. Never had problems with it cooling, as it lasts a decent amount of time. One consideration is that you'll want a way to vent the CO2 as the ice 'melts' (sublimes I suppose), especially out of the passenger area.

If you pass out in your car it'll be the beer that gets blamed, not CO2 inhalation.
 
Sounds promising now; I'm happy :) Insulation will be put in before the show this year, so yes, it wasn't in last year. I think i'll also throw on a digital thermometer.

so 2lbs in a 60qt kept it at about what temp? Maybe i can work an equation out of it lol...

Or maybe I just need to grab some and experiment? I wonder if I'll have to actively maintain (i.e. put more ice in, vent out cold air), or if there's a magic amount I can put in and keep everything @38*F for 3 days.... Or hell, if it's as simple as over icing it and continuously venting out air, i'd gladly hook up some 12v fans and install a proper vent. (or hmm -- one for cold air out, one for warm air in)
 
well 2 days actually... not that anybody stays on Sunday, but those who do won't be drinking before driving home.

does that help?:D
 
For the love of god, do not drive with the windows rolled up. Maybe I've seen too many episodes of CSI, but dry ice sublimating into pure CO2 (which is heavier than normal air so it doesn't float away if there's no wind to take it away) could be dangerous while driving a long distance in a sealed car.

Aside from that, good luck. Dry ice in a cooler is one thing...dry ice left in a hot trunk is another.
 
so 2lbs in a 60qt kept it at about what temp? Maybe i can work an equation out of it lol...


I don't have a thermometer in the cooler but the if I had to guess it maintains somewhere between 35 and 40f through HOT ambient temps at Coastal GA in July. The cooler is quite full at the begining of the trip as we are feeding at least 13 people. The butter never melts, the lunch meat and raw meat/raw seafood never show signs of spoiling and eggs stay cold. I don't put milk in there it gets kind of funky, I don't think it's the temp. as much as the CO2 released.
 
found a place close by that sells it, I think i'll do some experiments

the 2 things i'm thinking now are:
go overkill on the ice, and have the ability to raise the temperature via 2 of these --- one in, one out and a switch with 2 settings, exhaust-only and purge

or

smaller box inside being the main ice storage with a fan that essentially blows over the ice and out of the box (mini a/c?)

thoughts?
 
malkore said:
For the love of god, do not drive with the windows rolled up. Maybe I've seen too many episodes of CSI, but dry ice sublimating into pure CO2 (which is heavier than normal air so it doesn't float away if there's no wind to take it away) could be dangerous while driving a long distance in a sealed car.

Aside from that, good luck. Dry ice in a cooler is one thing...dry ice left in a hot trunk is another.
Click to expand...

If that were a Michigan Volvo you'd have enough rust holes in the floor of the trunk to let any CO2 out through there..Ventilation not necessary>>LOL
 
if anyone else is interested in using dry ice like this, i found a nice page: http://www.dryiceinfo.com/broken.htm

additionally, I am upgrading:
IMG_0979.JPG

(this is to make a T with the other tower i have... idea from the guy who did it with PVC :D)

Arrogant Bastard Ale
Dogfish Head 90min
Bud Light for everyone else
+spare keg hookup
 
As far as regulating temp put the keg in a water bath, it will keep the temp more steady, taking up extra cold when too cold by freezing and letting out the cold if the dry ice runs low.
 

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