Gear Review: Arctic Ice Cooler Packs

May 29,2024

I’ve long used plastic juice or milk bottle filled with water and frozen to keep the contents of my cooler cold on hunting or fishing trips. These solid blocks of ice not only melt a lot slower than a bag of cubed ice, but also contain the melted water so you don’t end up with a soggy sandwich or several inches of bloody water breeding bacteria in the bottom of the cooler. I’ve found these work even better than those blue gel packs, because they stay frozen longer and, most importantly, don’t leak some petroleum-based goo all over my food and beer. Earlier this summer I was sent a new style of cooler inserts to try, made by a company called Arctic Ice. Instead of petroleum goo, Arctic Ice inserts are filled with a biodegradable, plant-based phase-change material (PCM). I barely passed physics (and biology for that matter), but from what I gather, a PCM has the ability to store or release energy, often in the form of heat. According to the company's press materials: "When Arctic Ice approaches its melting point (that's the phase change) it begins absorbing more heat while stubbornly refusing to warm up. It holds a constant, pre-defined temperature (34ºF or 5ºF) until the entire cooler pack finally thaws."

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Arctic Ice Chillin Brew was specifically designed with the beer drinker in mind, but is excellent for cooling anything you want kept cold. Chillin Brews freezing point of 28 degrees Fahrenheit makes it uniquely suited for keeping beer or any other beverage at its coldest point possible. Chillin Brew is reusable for a lifetime, making it a very economical choice for years of colder than ice coolers.