We flew from Texas up to Rhode Island to visit some friends, and I wanted to take some homemade ice cream with us. Actually our friend had jokingly asked me to bring some, so it got me wondering if it really was feasible. It turns out, it is!
Ice cream is great, except for that whole melting thing. I’ve been able to transport it in the car for an hour or so pretty easily by just packing pint containers in a cooler so that the containers are completely surrounded by ice. Transporting it on a plane however, was going to be a fun challenge! I needed to figure out what kind of container to use, where to get the dry ice, how much of it to get, and if the airline would even let me take it. And after all that, I just knew I’d end up with several containers of ice cream soup. At least it would be homemade.
Dry ice is carbon dioxide (CO2, the same thing we exhale) compressed into solid form. When it “melts”, it changes from a solid directly into a gas without going through the normal liquid form — as opposed to how normal ice changes from solid to liquid to gas as it melts and then evaporates. This process of going directly from solid to gas is called sublimation, and is a handy thing when transporting ice cream.
Another handy thing about dry ice is that it’s -109 degrees F (-78 C). That’s minus one hundred and nine degrees! Which, coincidentally, is approximately one hundred and nine degrees colder than my freezer! Needless to say, you need to use gloves when you handle this stuff. I was lucky enough to find a grocery store near me that sold it in 10 pound blocks for pretty cheap. A company comes by once a week and refills the freezer, kind of like the normal ice freezers you see everywhere except that these are more like a deep freeze you’d have at your house, with a lid on top.
Another interesting point is that whole carbon dioxide thing, and the fact that it’s the same as what we exhale. That means it’s fairly safe, but it also means you’ll suddenly find yourself suffocating if you’re foolish enough to stick your head down into a freezer full of dry ice at the grocery store, trying to pick out a big piece — not that I would know anything about that — cough cough. ;-)
Ok, so I’d worked out where to get the dry ice at least. Next was the airline’s rules, since they have fairly strict limits. We were flying on Northwest, which at the time, allowed up to 5.5 pounds of dry ice to be carried in a “vented” container. The container can’t be airtight, because the gas from the melting (I mean, sublimating) dry ice has to escape somewhere. At the time I did this last year though, the airline didn’t let you take that much dry ice in carry-on luggage, so I had to check the bag. That made things even more complicated, because I had to think about the container a bit more. I ended up using one of those Playmate coolers with a flip top, because it was fairly sturdy but not airtight. I had read that packing all the extra air pockets full of towels made the dry ice last a lot longer, so this was about the right sized container to take several pints of ice cream. And I added straps around the outside to make sure it didn’t flip open at some point during the trip.
The next task was to figure out how much dry ice I needed. This was a bit harder, because the rate of sublimation depends on a few different factors. I did find this web page at Continental Carbonic though, that has a nice table showing the number of pounds of dry ice needed to transport frozen food a particular number of hours. Since I calculated that it’d be about 12 hours from the time I packed the container at home until the time I unpacked it in Rhode Island, it looked like the 5.5 pounds I was allowed to use would be about right.
I later did an informal test with a 7 pound block of dry ice in the same cooler at room temperature, with the dry ice completely surrounded by towels to take up the airspace, and calculated the rate of sublimation to be 1 pound per 5.75 hours, or about 2.7% per hour. It could probably last even longer in the cargo hold of an airplane at high altitude because of the lower temperature.
I decided to do a test run the night before, to make sure this was all going to work (because, yes, I am an ice cream geek). I got the dry ice from the store and packed up the cooler. First a layer of towels on the bottom, then the ice cream with more towels stuffed into the empty spaces, then the dry ice on top, and then more towels over the top of the ice. The next morning, it was a successful test and everything was frozen rock solid. But of course, I had to go buy more dry ice again. Back to the store, which luckily still had more of it, back home to weigh the ice and cut it down to 5.5 pounds (a hammer works well for that job), and pack everything once again. I put a note inside saying what it was, and how much dry ice I had, just in case it got searched. I also put signs on the outside, clearly stating that it contained dry ice, which was another requirement of the airline. And off to the airport we went, with the clock now ticking. Today would not be a good day for airport delays.
When I stepped up to the airline counter, all ready to hand off my precious cargo, the lady took one look at the dry ice sign and said, “Oh, that can’t go on the plane.” What?? After a bit of frantic explanation and a couple of phone calls where she checked with her supervisor, everything was ok, and my heart rate slowed back to normal. And off the cooler went down the luggage belt, into the depths of the airport.
We unfortunately had to change planes along the way, and I just knew something would go wrong there too. As the baggage handlers were moving all the luggage between planes, I had visions of chocolate, vanilla, and various other flavors of homemade ice cream spilling out across the tarmac in a work of modern art.
But lo and behold, it arrived in perfect condition, with the container sitting upright, straps still on, riding along the belt with the other luggage. I realized later that it probably looked like a container full of body parts or something, so I have a feeling it was handled fairly carefully. :-)
When I opened it up back at our friends’ house, there was still quite a bit of dry ice left. The ice cream was so cold (approximately minus one hundred and nine degrees, I’d guess) that the plastic containers started cracking when I tried to open them. I actually had to put them in the fridge for a few minutes to let them warm up. After that they were absolutely perfect, just like I’d taken them out of my freezer at home.
Mission accomplished, and our friend that requested it was thrilled! :-)
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I’m that friend and can attest to the ice cream being deeee-licious! This man knows his stuff so those of you looking for ice cream advice came to the right blog :)
Awesome story! We got several containers of samples in the office the other day and I put the extra dry ice in the freezer. :) It wasn’t there a few hours later.
I really enjoyed reading your dry ice adventure. :)
I’ve traveled with ice cream or kept it frozen solid in the back of my car all day during 100+ degree Texas heat. I use the insulated containers that I carry my lunch to work in – the ones that have mylar linings are most effective. I select a soft side cooler that zips completely closed that is appropriate to the size of container I want to keep cool. Place one frozen blue freezer pack (the hard plastic ones) in the bottom of the bag. Place ice cream container(s) in the bag, pack small freezer packs on each side and another, similar to the one on the bottom, on top. This enables transport of the ice cream and keeps it frozen solid for about 2-3 hours at room temperature.
One day I needed to take my ice cream with me after work and had to keep it cool all day in the back of my car. I used the insulated lunch bag packed as described above and placed it is a 34 qt cooler surrounded by large freezer packs. My car was parked in a parking garage all day in temperatures in excess of 100 degrees and was still frozen solid when I arrived at my destination. I’ve traveled by car around the state and carried ice cream with me in this manner.
I’ve used dry ice for camping for years. It can be expensive but a necessary evil for air travel. Dry ice is most effective when it is placed in the bottom of the cooler, cover with a couple of paper grocery bags, then pour one bag of ice over the top. The ice will freeze solid and anything sitting on the bed of ice will freeze or stay solidly frozen for a couple of days. The great thing is that the ice will not melt for a few days so the cooler stays much colder than with ice alone and you don’t have to worry about the contents floating in water the next day.
I need to fed ex overnight 2 pints of ice cream. If I follow you calculation above, 4 24 hours, I would need 5lbs ish of dry ice. How big is that? I feel like having that much dry ice will necessitate a huge box? Has anyyone doen this?
Happy I found this site!
Susan: I don’t think 5 lbs will be all that big. I think the standard blocks I buy at the grocery store (Kroger has it in my area) are around 10 lbs, and from memory, I’d guess they’re about 12 inches square, and about 2 inches thick. Be sure to check with FedEx though, to see what their limits and restrictions are.
Good luck,
Russell
Thank you for the photo of the cooler bag. I was trying to figure out what type of container to put the ice cream and dry ice in for travel. Will 5 pounds of dry ice be enough to keep 4 1-quart containers of ice cream frozen for 12 hours? I’ll be leaving my house at about 7 AM but I don’t get on the plane until about 3 PM and getting to my destination at about 7 PM. If I buy additional dry ice, how much should I purchase – I’ll likely purchase the dry ice around 7 PM the previous night.
tell the truth
Hi everyone, im ready to ship some 100 3.5 oz ice cream cups being delivered to a
regional airport in haiti then put on a plane for 50 minutes then a 20 minute truck ride.
the temperatures here run about 80-90 degrees.
What could be the best way to keep this frozen the whole time? i dont have access to dry ice.
My idea at first was to take the boxes from ice cream truck , then transfer them to a
Xtreme 70 quart cooler. would this be ok ? or should i do something else?
Thanks
Very good story but I’m wondering about the part where you buy dry ice in a grocery store. That would mean that store has a minus 109 degrees freezer on hand! Because if he puts the dry ice in a normal freezer that dry ice will evaporate completely and I think he will loose lot’s of money…
Daniel: The grocery store actually just has a large cooler that’s supplied by the dry ice company. It’s not actually a freezer, but you’re right, a normal freezer wouldn’t be nearly cold enough. And you’re also right that the dry ice does eventually evaporate if it stays in the cooler long enough. The company comes by once a week or so to replenish the supply and take away the empty plastic bags from the ones that evaporated.
You can find out more about the company, including where they might sell dry ice in your area, here:
http://www.airgas.com/content/products.aspx?id=9002008002008
Thanks,
Russell
I need to keep ice cream (rocket pops, ice cream sandwiches, cones etc frozen until they are served at a school function. Right now it’s very cold outside, consistently below 32 degrees and that day will prob. be around 25 degrees – is that cold enough to keep the ice cream frozen? Or should I get some dry ice? And if I use the dry ice – will it make the ice cream so hard that the kids can’t eat it?
My daughter is having a beach birthday party and really want to Ben & Jerry’s ice cream cake. Can I transport and hold it in a cooler for 3 to 5 hours with a piece of dry ice? Can I also wrap the dry ice in fabric and place it right on the cake table for 3-5 hours without cake melting?
Thank you!!
Thanks Russell for your time and effort!!
And most of all, passion!!
It gave me ideas of how to travel and use dry ice for my outdoor parties.
Always feel bad not to have ice cream for bday parties.
jo-california
I read what Dawn G. of Miami wrote. That is my question as well. I am getting an ice cream cake and
want to know what container to transport it in and how
long it will stay frozen using dry ice. I plan to hold it only about 1 hour. Gonna do that 1st week of June.
Thanks
I would like to send a gallon or a couple of pints of ice cream to a friend that is a cancer patient. I live close to Blue Bell and he isn’t getting Blue Bell, which he loves in his area yet. I will be shipping UPS over night and am wondering how much dry ice shall I need and actually what type of container/box to ship it in? Can anyone tell me?
Thanks,
Barbie
How many hours we can store & frozen the items in cooler bag.
We are having my granddaughters 3rd birthday Sunday. It is going to be 102 degrees. We want to have popsicles and ice creams on hand.
What type of cooler should we buy?
How much dry ice to keep it cold for approximately 20 hrs?
Asked my daughter and boyfriend to pick up some ice cream, but they aren’t coming home directly…so she said it would melt. I called her back and told her to just put it in back of his truck (truck bed) because we’re in the middle of this Arctic blast (Winter Storm Grayson…lol), and even in Alabama it is 26°F and dropping. So will it not just stay frozen if kept in back of his truck for approx 2 hours? Opinions? Just wondering. Thx!
Thanks for the tips to transport ice cream with dry ice! Dry ice is one of the coolest things people have invented and distributed widely, no pun intended. As someone who loves ice cream, traveling, and dry ice, this sounds awesome!
Folks
Thanks,Theses are great stories and dry ice is a fantastic product to ship frozen. Coldkeeper’s manufacturers a thermal box liner vented to ship dry ice in 8, 10, 12 and 14 size cubed boxes
Please look up our web site if you need to ship http://www.coldkeepers.com
Thanks