Tips on using your coolbox.

[junglist_matty]

Orange juice mixers taste fine warm compared with beers, fizzy alcho-mixers etc...

10x 2 Litre bottles (half and half) vodka and orange - 1 per day, 1 per night

fair enough to your camping comment, whatever floats your boat; I've paid a lot of money for a ticket and I'm not going to sit around a campsite when I could be out watching bands seeing as they start at 10am... and stay out till around 3-6am. I can pay £5 a night to go to a campsite and enjoy far more luxurious camping (i.e. car nearby, power points, nearby shops for cheap cold beers etc.); I consider Glastonbury and camping two different things all together.

[ukslim]

I only really drink beer but don't like cans and would rather not have to go to/pay at the bar all weekend... Anyone ever found anywhere you can buy plastic bottled beers you're allowed to take into the site?

[jameshunt]

If you pour it into a cup/glass, beer from a can tastes IDENTICAL to beer from a bottle.

I didn't believe it. Eventually I organised myself a blind tasting, and now I'm convinced. I think if you drink straight from the can, you taste the outside of the can - but pour it out, and it's fine.

So, buy cans, and take a plastic cup of some kind.

http://www.caravanstuff4u.co.uk/product1325.html

[ukslim]

I don't believe it. Ale in a bottle tastes very different to canned ale and that's not even considering bottle-conditioned ales.

[jameshunt]

I'll admit I've not tried it with bitter, although I don't see in principle why it would be any different.

I tried it with, I think, Kronenburg -- because my local corner shop had both the cans and the bottles on special offer -- and I was unable to tell the difference. I really expected to taste a difference; the question I was after answering was which one tastes better.

I don't think you've a right to refute that, until you've done your own blind tasting. Be thorough about making it properly blind -- double-blind if you've a scientific bent.

You can't get bottle-conditioned ale in cans, so it's sort of moot.

[crow]

I freeze those plastic flimsy lunchbox/takeaway trays you can get (4 for a £1) then pop out into plastic bags. Nice and thick to stay cool longer and less wasted space than plastic bottles.

Didn't even use a cool box last year, just two cardboard boxes (one smaller than other) and packed the space between them with hay, and any air gaps inside the 'cool box' with newspaper. Had ice until Saturday. If you focus on having ice, rather than cooling warm cans down, it will last longer. Then drink the melted water from the bags and burn the box/straw on the last day. Nothing to drag back!

[jameshunt]

...

You can't get bottle-conditioned ale in cans, so it's sort of moot.

[rachmac]

We have a cool backpack (small one just large enough to fit our bacon in) we freeze most of the bacon, stick cool blocks in and use a space blanket as extra protection to keep the cold air in the coolbag!

[ukslim]

I realise that you can't get bottled conditioned ale in cans. My point being that there is a significant difference between keeping ale in a bottle rather than a can. Otherwise there would be no bottle conditioned ales or they would also be available in cans. So not entirely moot as it underlines that there is a difference.

Edited May 27, 2011 by ukslim

[JodiB]

Ale from a CASK is different to Ale from a KEG.

Cask ale is live and cloudy. Upon delivery to the pub it needs to be vented and tapped. It is then left 48 hrs to clear before you can serve it. You then have about 5 days to drink it or it will spoil. You are left with a sediment at the bottom of the cask. Cask ale is drawn by hand with a pump called a beer engine. Cask ale is not gassy.

Ale from a pressurised keg is not live and never cloudy. Upon delivery it is ready to serve. Gas is required to serve it from the keg and it runs through a cooler unit before serving. It will last about 1 month before it spoils. It tastes different to real ale and is usually gassy. Keg ale is drawn by a regular powered pump like lager is. All "creamflow" bitters are keg beers.

What you generally find in bottles is Cask ale (real ale after it has cleared (conditioned) i.e no sediment from the cask and not gassy)e.g old speckled hen / spitfire / old peculiar.

What you generally find in cans is keg ale (gassy and sometimes with a widget) e.g worthingtons / john smiths / boddingtons.

Hope that helps.

[fur_q]

What you generally find in cans is keg ale (gassy and sometimes with a widget) e.g worthingtons / john smiths / boddingtons.

[ukslim]

Well, I've just bought some Brewdog Punk IPA in cans from Sainsbury's, so I'll report back on how it is.

Unfortunately they don't have the bottles any more there, so I won't be able to do a side-by-side comparison.

While I was there, I noted what other decent beers were available in cans. Spitfire, Speckled Hen, Ruddles, among others. When these are sold in bottles, they're not live either, so I'm 99% sure it's the same stuff in both cans and bottles. Neither glass nor the lining of a can will add or remove flavour to/from the beer.

[gizmoman]

Well, I've just bought some Brewdog Punk IPA in cans from Sainsbury's, so I'll report back on how it is.

Unfortunately they don't have the bottles any more there, so I won't be able to do a side-by-side comparison.

While I was there, I noted what other decent beers were available in cans. Spitfire, Speckled Hen, Ruddles, among others. When these are sold in bottles, they're not live either, so I'm 99% sure it's the same stuff in both cans and bottles. Neither glass nor the lining of a can will add or remove flavour to/from the beer.

[ukslim]

Not true, beer always tastes better from a glass bottle, cans do leak gas very slightly, if you open an out of date can of any fizzy drink you will notice it has less fizz than it should, glass bottles are much better, (pet bottles have the same problem)

[ukslim]

BTW I'm banging on about this, because I always used to buy bottles rather than cans when there was a choice, and sometimes I spent more than I needed to because of it. Then I did the blind tasting, and now I know that if it's the same beer, then it tastes the same out of either. I've saved myself some money, and carried less weight, as a result.

Cans are also greener, if they're being transported a long way, and being recycled.

A lot of the nicer beers on the market aren't sold in cans, of course, and a lot of the nastier ones are only sold in cans. Anyone in their right mind would rather a bottle of Innes & Gunn than a can of Worthington's.

Also, beware comparing things that aren't the same. (Sorry, off on a tangent) I was at Aston Uni in the 90s, where the Student Guild had Stones for 95p a pint. The Sacks of Potatoes next door had Stones for quite a lot more. But the Guild had kegs and the Sacks had cask, and there was a world of difference between them. And Stones in cans was different again.

Likewise, apparently you can get nice Boddington's in Manchester. I've never been there to try it, but it must be different from the bland nonsense in cans and pumps nationwide.

[gizmoman]

If it's out of date, then all bets are off. Surely crowns and corks also leak gas "very slightly".

These Brewdog cans have an expiry date of Dec 2011, which is pretty short I reckon, but clearly I'll drink them all within the weekend

If you're drinking straight from the can, I think you can taste the metal on the rim/top of the can, because you're touching it with your mouth.

If you've poured it, I think it's your imagination. I'm convinced you can't taste any difference -- see my previous post about blind-tasting lager.

[ukslim]

Ale from a CASK is different to Ale from a KEG.

(snip)

[ukslim]

Well, I've just bought some Brewdog Punk IPA in cans from Sainsbury's, so I'll report back on how it is.

Unfortunately they don't have the bottles any more there, so I won't be able to do a side-by-side comparison.

[Mr Ploppy]

Anyone keep food in their coolbox?

Been given a 24ltr coolbox and wondering if I can make use of it to keep food in. Was thinking fresh pasta would be a good one as needs to be refrigerated. Chicken breasts should keep for days would they?

Thats all I can think of. Any other coolbox suggestions.

[JodiB]

Anyone keep food in their coolbox?

Been given a 24ltr coolbox and wondering if I can make use of it to keep food in. Was thinking fresh pasta would be a good one as needs to be refrigerated. Chicken breasts should keep for days would they?

Thats all I can think of. Any other coolbox suggestions.

[Migraine]

I have an Igloo Island Breeze 60 and Glasto will be it's first outing, I'm wondering if I am going to have enough frozen stuff in it to keep the contents cool. I have managed to fit in 48 cans of cider 2 boxes of westons cider and 4 x 1 litre cartons of fruit juice.

I have got 2 stacks of 18 cans of cider on the left and right of the box seperated by the two boxes of westons in the middle 12 cans are on there side at the back of the cooler and then sat on top of the cans are the 4 boxes of fruit juice with makes it a pretty tight fit. Do the coolbox seasoned amongst you think that freezing the Weston's and fruit juice (2 x 3 Litres & 4 x 1 Litre) be enough to keep the rest cool (the cans of cider will be pre-chilled) and would I be best moving the fruit juice to the bottom and then just trying to cram as many icecubes on the top as I can.

[ark]

Anyone keep food in their coolbox?

Chicken breasts should keep for days would they?

[ark]

I unearthed my cool box from last year, and found some plastic bottles to which I had added salt, as salted water freezes at a lower temperature. Not sure where I got that idea from, but does anyone know wether salted water freezes at a lower temperature than freezer packs?

Most of the contents of my cool box will be liquid - OJ, water, milk, wine - no food at all

[StoneCircle]

I have an Igloo Island Breeze 60 and Glasto will be it's first outing, I'm wondering if I am going to have enough frozen stuff in it to keep the contents cool. I have managed to fit in 48 cans of cider 2 boxes of westons cider and 4 x 1 litre cartons of fruit juice.

I have got 2 stacks of 18 cans of cider on the left and right of the box seperated by the two boxes of westons in the middle 12 cans are on there side at the back of the cooler and then sat on top of the cans are the 4 boxes of fruit juice with makes it a pretty tight fit. Do the coolbox seasoned amongst you think that freezing the Weston's and fruit juice (2 x 3 Litres & 4 x 1 Litre) be enough to keep the rest cool (the cans of cider will be pre-chilled) and would I be best moving the fruit juice to the bottom and then just trying to cram as many icecubes on the top as I can.

[Migraine]

Cheers for the reply StoneCircle

I unearthed my cool box from last year, and found some plastic bottles to which I had added salt, as salted water freezes at a lower temperature. Not sure where I got that idea from, but does anyone know wether salted water freezes at a lower temperature than freezer packs?

Most of the contents of my cool box will be liquid - OJ, water, milk, wine - no food at all

Edited June 5, 2011 by Migraine