What Is Dry Ice Used For?

There are a wide variety of dry ice applications. Below we list some of the common consumer and domestic uses of dry ice.

Chilled and Frozen Storage

Keeping Food Products at Chilled Temperatures

Maintaining produce at chilled temperatures

If you want to keep produce at chilled temperatures, then use smaller amounts of dry ice in the container and don’t place it directly on the food or drink, but rather in a side compartment or with some kind of buffer or packing between the dry ice and the food.

Gel packs are ideal if you only want to keep food and drink chilled without any risk of freezing. Soak Gel packs in water and then place in your freezer to prepare them. You can then distribute them evenly throughout your cooler.

Frozen Meat

Maintaining produce at frozen temperatures

If you want to keep your produce frozen then use dry ice. Dry Ice slices are ideal as they are individually wrapped and easy to distribute across your cooler or storage carton. 10kgs of dry ice would be suitable for 48 hours of storage.

Remember, the better insulated the container the longer the dry ice will last. Fill any remaining airspace in the container with newspaper or some kind of packaging. This helps to reduce the rate at which the dry ice sublimates (turns from a solid to a gas form).

Recommended Product: Dry Ice Slices

Image of Aer Lingus Plane

Airline Shipping

Dry ice is widely used for airline shipping and is identified by a Class 9 UN1845 label. We supply these labels on our online store. For assistance calculating how much dry ice you will require, please contact our team with the internal dimensions of your storage container and the expected shipping time. As ambient temperatures can impact the longevity of the dry ice, we recommend using slightly more dry ice than you expect to need or using a Thermosafe Insulated Shipper. These are available in two different sizes and because they offer a greater level of insulation they will hold the dry ice for a longer period of time.

Recommended Product: Class 9 UN1845 Labels and Thermosafe Insulated Shipper.

Special Effects

First Dance Dry Ice Fog Effect

Weddings

Create a romantic dancing-on-clouds effect for your first dance. Dry ice produces the perfect low-lying fog that flows across the ground. A dedicated dry ice smoke machine should be used with the dry ice. You can hire these from special effects companies like Team FX or Film Equipment Hire Ireland. The recommended type of dry ice is dependent on the type of dry ice smoke machine that you hire. Typically dry ice pellets or a 10kg block of dry ice is best. The hire company will be able to advise you which is most suitable.

Recommended Product: Dry Ice Pellets or Dry Ice Block (dependent on dry ice smoke machine type)

Champagne Tower Dry Ice Fog Effect

Champagne Reception

Dry ice is a spectacular addition to a champagne glass tower, creating a cascading fog effect. Always use ChilliSticks when adding dry ice to any drinks intended for consumption. ChilliSticks are specially developed to hold dry ice pellets safely in a glass without risk of swallowing the dry ice. Dry Ice should never be added loose into drinks – the extremely low temperature of the dry ice (-78oC) could result in internal injuries if consumed.

Recommended Product: Dry Ice Pellets and ChilliSticks

Halloween Special Effects

Dry ice can create a wide variety of fun Halloween themed effects, from cauldrons of bubbling fog to eerie graveyards! We love to see our customers creations each year and you can see some Halloween special effects examples and step-by-step instructions here. Pellets are the most popular form of dry ice at Halloween time as they are easy to use in small quantities and to create a number of different effects. Hosting a Halloween party? You can purchase different size party packs from our online store that include dry ice, chillsticks, insulated gloves and a dry ice scoop.

Recommended Product: Halloween Party Packs

Food and Drink Presentation

Restaurants – Food Presentation

Dry ice is sometimes used in the presentation of food in restaurants. Dry Ice pellets work best as you can add small amounts to serving trays to produce a fog effect around the food dishes. Add the dry ice pellets to warm water to produce the desired fog vapour.

Recommended Product: Dry Ice Pellets

Bars – Dry Ice Cocktails

Add Dry ice to cocktails and other drinks to produce a fun and unique fog effect. ChilliSticks are specially developed to hold dry ice pellets safely in a glass without risk of the dry ice being swallowed. You can preload them with dry ice pellets and then submerge the ChilliSticks in the remaining dry ice ready for use. Never add Dry Ice loose into drinks – the extremely low temperature of the dry ice (-78oC) could results in internal injuries if swallowed.

Recommended Product: Dry Ice Pellets and ChilliSticks

Making ice-cream with dry ice

Homemade Ice-cream

You can use dry ice to make homemade ice cream. Crush dry ice pellets and add them to the ice-cream ingredients until the mixture reaches the desired consistency. Carbon dioxide bubbles can become trapped in the mixture, resulting in a carbonated ice-cream. A home-made ice-cream recipe can be found here.

Recommended Product: Dry Ice Pellets

Agriculture

Freezebranding

With a temperature of -78oC, Dry Ice blocks or slices are most suitable for freeze-branding. Place the dry ice into a container and pour methylated spirits over the Dry Ice.

Place the branding iron into this super-cooled alcohol mixture. Once sufficiently cooled, press it against the animal’s hide. This applies the permanent brand mark without damaging the hide.

Recommended Product: Dry Ice Blocks

Contact Us

Our head office and manufacturing premises are located in Co. Laois, with depots in Santry Dublin, Little island Cork, and Portadown Armagh.

Unit 3 Portarlington Ind. Est., Portarlington,

Co. Laois, R32 XR7Y

+353 (0)57 862 3860

info@polarice.ie

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