We’ve all been there, hosting a dinner party, BBQ or party and need the ice to stay frozen for longer so everyone gets a cool drink. There’s nothing worse than a warm white wine or beer, wouldn’t it be great if all of your ice stayed frozen for much longer? There are some simple steps you can take to keep your cocktails cool and your beer chilled! Check out these 8 ways to keep ice from melting.
1. Use a container that is light in colour
If you are storing ice in a bucket, try to get the lightest coloured bucket or container that you can. If you can find a container that is reflective – even better! Light colours absorb much less heat which in turn will slow down the rate in which your ice will melt. A Nylon or Styrofoam container will keep the ice cool for most of the day, a plastic container will keep it cool overnight. Try to avoid metal containers as they retain heat and will make the ice melt faster.
2. Line your container with aluminium foil
Aluminium foil is highly reflective, so lining your container with foil has been proven to keep ice cooler and stop it melting for longer. Simply line your container with one layer of aluminium foil before you put the ice into it and it will work its magic for you!
3. Wrap your container in a towel
If you don’t have a good container or ice bucket simply put your ice in a container you do have and then wrap the container with a clean towel. This will insulate the container and keep your ice cold for longer and of course stop it melting as fast as it would without the towel.
4. Use boiled water for your ice cubes
If you make your ice cubes with boiled water instead of standard tap water the amount of bubbles in the water will be greatly reduced. This in turn will make the ice last longer and as a bonus your ice cubes will be crystal clear! If you are using plastic ice cube trays let the water cool down a little to avoid melting the trays!
5. Make larger ice cubes
If you can get a larger ice cube tray that makes much bigger ice cubes or something like a muffin tin the cubes will melt much slower than crushed ice or normal sized ice cubes. Pour your boiled water into the larger tray or tin and freeze it as you would a normal cube tray.
6. Store your ice container in a cool area
If possible store your ice in the coolest room or area you have, near a fan or by an air conditioner are perfect. Don’t put the container in direct sunlight, if you don’t have a cool room place the container in the shade, under a tree for example. Also do not put hot food or beverages next to the ice container. Ice will absorb heat from the air around it as it slowly melts, so making the surrounding area as cool as possible will slow down the melting considerably.
7. Line your container with frozen ice packs
The frozen ice packs you can buy almost anyway these days will help keep your container cold, of course greatly slowing down the time it will take to melt. If your container is large pre freeze empty plastic bottles full of water and insert these into the container around the ice as well.
8. Keep the container full of ice
Fill up the ice levels in the container as often as you can, this way there is always fresh ice for your guests and the temperature in the container will stay cool. This is especially important if you don’t have large ice cubes or only have a smaller container.
