What options do I have to keep milk cool in an outdoor refrigeration unit.

November 30, 2005 11:23 AM

What options do I have to keep milk cool in an outdoor refrigeration unit.

I am selling Raw Dairy for a dairy farm at local farmers markets. I have a freezer unit attached to a flatbed pickup that is a 110 plug-in. The issue is that most markets do not have outlets and I need to keep milk below 40 degrees to keep authorities at bay. (It's unpasteurized and city officials are bureaucratic nazi's when it comes to this stuff) Keeping the truck running doesn't work (loud, exhaust doesn't jibe with our image of promoting health, I don't want to be sucking diesel fumes) The one option that comes to mind are ice/freezer packs but how well do these work? Do I have any any other choices that are relatively inexpensive, quiet and enviromentally wise?

posted by goalyeehah to technology (7 answers total)

Dry ice?
posted by GuyZero at 11:28 AM on November 30, 2005

There are propane-powered refrigerators. Or you could rig up some marine batteries to power your unit (pretend you're on a yacht). But when I see farmer's markets, they usually just use a bunch of ice packs. Depends how long you have to keep it cold, I suppose.
posted by jellicle at 11:36 AM on November 30, 2005

So the freezer takes standard 110v and the truck has some kind of generator? Or you're using an inverter? If it's an inverter then jellicle is right, marine batteries (which are designed to provide a constant draw rather than car batteries which are intended to deliver a lot of power for a short time) may be the answer, though when I was in Costco yesterday looking at them for my own purposes I noticed they're over $100 each. That buys a lot of ice and if you keep the freezer mostly full, even if it's just with gallon jugs you have filled with water, it'll keep a stable temperature a long time with the door closed.

There's a lot of ice makers on ebay but again I'm not sure the pricing is competitive. You can hit the local grocery for $20 and get quite a lot of bagged ice. Ditto the over $1,000 propane fridges they list which you'll have to make sure are up to the task of staying undeer 40 degrees.
posted by phearlez at 1:13 PM on November 30, 2005

I'd look at LP gas fridges.
posted by pompomtom at 3:28 PM on November 30, 2005

Do you have a walk in freezer somewhere? Pour about 5 inches of water in the bottom of a cooler and freeze it.

Otherwise freeze large blocks in plastic boxes and fill the bottom of the coolers, set one layer of milk right on the ice.
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:26 PM on November 30, 2005

If you want to get fancy, you could make an ice block mold that includes indentations for individual bottles of milk.
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:28 PM on November 30, 2005

I have an electric cooler that keeps an internal temperature 40 degrees below the outside temp. So you'd be good til 80 degrees F.

It's an igloo and it's not that cheap, but I love mine--it works as well as it says it does.
posted by recurve at 8:18 PM on November 30, 2005