Cooler Question - Brining

Uncle Fester

For my birthday, my bride got me a Cabela's Polar Cap Cooler (lower cost version of Yeti) to support my fishing/hunting plans. Looking over that beast, I was wondering about using it to supplement my fridge (not freezer) for doing things like brining a big Thanksgivng Turkey or other meats I plan to throw on the smoker.

If I wanted to keep the meat cool (without freezing it), how would that work? Frankly, I am more worried about the meat freezing than it getting up to an unsafe temp.

Surely, some of the hunters on this forum have lots of experience with modern coolers like mine. Thank you in advance for advice.

Btw - I am hoping to break the beast in with some offshore fishies this weekend.

early

Dry ice or big blocks of ice last longer.

Teach

Dry ice freezes stuff solid- - - -70 degrees F. below zero! Try freezing several half gallon milk jugs full of water and putting the jugs and all into the brine. They chill without diluting the solution.
Jerry

Diver43

Teach beat me to it. Frozen jugs or water bottles will keep your brine cold and fresh

CHIRO1989

Prechill the cooler over night with a couple of frozen milk jugs of water or just toss a 20# bag of ice in it, it will still be good to go in the AM.

NCFUBAR

Diver43 wrote: »

Teach beat me to it. Frozen jugs or water bottles will keep your brine cold and fresh

My wife buys fancy flavored sparkling water ICE that come in tall thin bottles (the Kiwi Strawberry is good!). I use those as freezer bottles because they fit nicely. I do also have "Blue Ice" reusable bottles that are thick walled plastic with whatever mixture Rubbermaid uses and they are at least 10 years old and still work as good as the day I bought them.

Jermanator

The frozen water jugs are a good idea but I use ice as part of my water when brining. I have 1 gallon pitcher I use. So for example if the brine calls for 2 gallons of water, I will fill the pitcher with ice, then add water to fill the voids, then add another gallon of water. Since the salt in the brine lowers the freezing temperature of the water, my brine starts out very cold-- in the 20's and stays cool enough to be safe (40 degrees and below) for the whole brining period.

bisley

My wife uses (and reuses) a huge zip-lock bag and sticks it in the refrigerator.

Uncle Fester

bisley wrote: »

My wife uses (and reuses) a huge zip-lock bag and sticks it in the refrigerator.

My fridge won't hold a full turkey + brining bucket + other Thanksgiving stuff (we host the family). If I want to brine a random chicken on the weekend, I can usually make it work. The

bisley

You can also use the bag with an ice chest.

HAWKEN

Unc, I don't see why it wouldn't work. I have kept ice for 5 days in a Coleman, and an addition of salt, both in or on the rub and a handful of rock salt should lower the temperature by 10% or so..........robin