Today’s headlines feature some frightening stories about food handling – whether we’re reading about recalls on chicken, salmonella or E. Coli scares, or even tainted pet food.

You might ask why we’re talking about safe food handling on an Irish Carbonic blog (it’s a fair question, after all). The answer comes down to two words: dry ice.

If your business operates in the food manufacturing and processing industries, you’re constantly shuttling food in and out of food plants, and much of that movement is done via a cold chain that’s kept that way using dry ice and dry ice containers.

Dry Ice And Food Safety

If that’s true for you, it’s critical to always do three things:

• Strictly follow FDA guidance and regulations – Information about food safety programs, manufacturing processes, industry systems, and import/export activities can be found on the U.S. FDA website.
• Use high-quality dry ice – Always use impurity-free dry ice for jobs that include a food production or food-handling component. The best way to ensure that you have top-quality dry ice? Buy it from Irish Carbonic.
• Clean your dry ice containers and food production equipment regularly – Daily maintenance is the key reducing bacterial or fungal cells and preventing them from moving among your facilities. If you need dry ice containers for your food handling facility, give us a call – we’re help you source them.

Irish Carbonic sells quantities of dry ice ranging from individual portions of dry ice rice pellets to massive 10,000-pound commercial deliveries in block form – available for pickup or convenient delivery to your location. Contact us today to learn more!

Yes, the holidays are about gathering in celebration with people we love and reflecting on another year gone by.

But let’s be real: it’s mostly about the food.

If you can’t be with your family or friends this year but what to share the joy of the season by cooking or baking something special, that’s a great gift idea. But how do you get it to them if your dish is perishable?

The secret to safe food shipments

Simple: use dry ice.

Dry ice is the perfect way to send perishable foods by mail this holiday season – but you need to take special care if you want your precious cargo to arrive safe and fresh. Here are some basics to shipping with dry ice – if you need further help or explanation, contact us. Always remember to follow dry ice safe handling instructions!

• Start with the right packing materials – Heavy duty corrugated cardboard, plastic, or wooden boxes will stay insulated, protect your food, and keep dry ice bags from breaking.
• Add a Styrofoam lining – Constructing a Styrofoam liner for your shipping box will add further insulation and protection. A disposable cooler works great – just don’t seal it!
• Pack to retain the cold – Wrap food in plastic or paper bags prior to packing. Pack the food and dry ice together tightly, using newspaper or cellulose to minimize gaps and provide insulation. Packs of dry ice should be on the bottom, followed by food items. Alternate between dry ice and food items, filling in gaps with bubble wrap and newspaper until the box is full. If you’re using a Styrofoam cooler, do not seal it completely as this can prevent the package from releasing pressure.
• Double check your shipping address – Dry ice will eventually sublimate (disappear as it turns into a gas, since dry ice doesn’t melt); when it does your food will spoil.
• Follow hazardous material instructions for shipping – This is the biggie: dry ice is considered hazardous material, so it needs to be marked properly prior to shipment. Ask for the following labels at your post office or from your courier (FedEx, UPS, etc.):
  • A label that says “Dry Ice” or “Carbon Dioxide Solid.”
  • A label that reads UN 1845 (indicates hazardous materials).
  • A label that indicates the net worth of dry ice in your container (keep track of how much dry ice you use!)
  • A Class 9 label – This indicates that the package contains dry ice – they’re free at most post offices and from your courier. Put the Class 9 label on the same side of the package that contains the UN 1845 label.

  Once your labels are complete, be sure to ask for the proper paperwork, which could include a shipper’s declaration (a slip that includes basic information about yourself and the recipient).

• Other considerations – Dry ice lasts a maximum of about three days; overnight shipping is usually best, especially when shipping items like meat. Do not choose options that take more than two days to ship. And be prepared for extra regulatory costs – Call your local post office or courier for details.

Need dry ice to ship your holiday treats? We’ve got it available for pickup at each of our convenient Irish Carbonic locations in Buffalo, Rochester, and Columbus, OH. Contact us to learn more.

If you’re a bar or restaurant owner, you have probably heard about or even considered adding nitro taps as demand for complex and flavorful craft brews continues to grow.

But how much do you know about nitrogen beers and the qualities that set them apart from other brews? Here’s a nitro beer Q&A to get you started.

What is “nitro beer”?

The term “nitro” refers to nitrogen – the gas used to carbonate certain kinds of craft beers. Most nitrogen beers contain a mix of gases – typically 30 percent carbon dioxide and 70 percent nitrogen. One distinguishing characteristic of a nitro brew is its distinctive head – the result of nitrogen’s inability to dissolve in liquid (Guinness – an Irish Stout – is perhaps the most well-known nitro brew).

What nitro beer varieties are available?

Most of the nitro beers available today tend to be malt heavy stouts and porters rather than IPAs, because nitrogen typically responds better to grain-based brewing. But that is starting to change as brewers search for new and exciting ways to create products that will stand out from the crowd. Cream ales, nitro IPAs, and double altbeirs have recently started to become more commonplace.

What do I need to add to my bar if I want to offer nitro brews?

If you’re considering adding a nitro tap to your bar, you will need to invest in three things: a system to deliver blended nitrogen gas, a creamer faucet ( a specialized tap for nitrogen beer) and glassware made for nitro brew pours. The spout of a creamer faucet includes hundreds of small holes that filter the beer as it pours, creating the creamy, thick head your customers are looking for.

Spread the word with TapHunter

If you choose to jump into the world of nitrogen beer, be sure to spread the word to your customers so they can get their unique nitro brew experience from you rather than your competitors in the months and years to come. Registering with a beer-hunting app like TapHunter is a great way to get on the map (literally!) with beer connoisseurs in Buffalo, Rochester, and beyond!

Ready to jump into nitro beer crafting for your bar or restaurant? The beer experts at Irish Carbonic can help, with custom nitrogen tap installations, blended gas cylinders and onsite gas blending solutions, and ongoing beer tap maintenance services once your system is up and running. Contact us to learn more, or to request a FREE, no obligation estimate on a nitrogen beer tap installation today!

We all have that neighbor that goes all out on Christmas – you know, those Grizwold wannabees whose house you can see from space in satellite photos.

Sadly, you may never get to be that neighbor (or not so sadly, once you see their electric bill) – but that doesn’t mean you can’t own Halloween, with a little help from dry ice.

Imagine terrifying trick-or-treaters with a foggy-floored front porch, or delighting your party guests with a smoking punch bowl. Yes, dry ice is the perfect way to eat, drink, and be scary this Halloween – whether you want to make a smoking witch’s cauldron, a foggy Jack-O-Lantern, or even some creepy-but-cool boo bubbles.

Dry ice is inexpensive and easy to use and – just be sure to follow these simple precautions when handling it, and be sure to read these instructions to get the most dry ice fog for your buck!

Halloween is coming – creep it real with dry ice from Irish Carbonic.

You don’t need an enGRAVEd invitation – just stop in and stock up on dry ice at our convenient store locations today!

IRISH CARBONIC
1444 Clinton Street | Buffalo, NY 14206
(716) 827-2727 | Map & Directions »

IRISH CARBONIC AND PROPANE
535 Buffalo Road | Rochester, NY 14611
(585) 254-6844 | Map & Directions »

IRISH CARBONIC
772 Marion Rd | Columbus, OH 43207
(800) 884-0072 | Map & Directions »

If you really want to up the ante on your Halloween displays and parties, there’s nothing better than creating creepy, foggy effects with dry ice. But how much dry ice will you need for this year’s holiday spooktacular, and how do you make that fog effect last as long as possible?

Tips For Dry Ice Shopping

Based on our experience, you can make a two-pound block of dry ice produce fog for about 20 minutes by following these four tips:

1. Use the right water-to-dry ice proportions – Aim to combine dry ice with water at a ratio of about one gallon of water to two pounds of dry ice. Use a thick, rectangular chunk of dry ice, and put it in a bowl large enough so that the water submerges the dry ice to a depth of about half an inch.
2. Use a deep bowl – Ideally, you want a thick, plastic bowl at least three times as deep as the dry ice block you’re using. A deep bowl will allow fog to gather before it spreads, which will generate a fog with a relatively uniform thickness.
3. Use a small fan – Dry ice fog effects will start to dissipate about two to three feet from the bowl; to extend that range and direct the fog, use a small fan on a low setting.
4. Recycle the water – If you want the dry ice effect to last, keep refreshing the water; stagnant water will not stay carbonated – the key to a great and lasting fog effect.

It is important to note that although the fog is just water and C02, you should always allow for adequate ventilation when using dry ice in general, and particularly for fog effects. And, as always, follow your dry ice safe handling instructions!

Be the ghostess with the mostest this Halloween – stop in and stock up on dry ice for your Halloween party at our convenient store locations! Contact us today to learn more.

IRISH CARBONIC
1444 Clinton Street | Buffalo, NY 14206
(716) 827-2727 | Map & Directions »

IRISH CARBONIC AND PROPANE
535 Buffalo Road | Rochester, NY 14611
(585) 254-6844 | Map & Directions »

Dry ice is some cool stuff – literally – at -109.3 degrees Fahrenheit. But what you can do with it is even cooler.

Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide – the gas that makes your drinks fizzy (and the stuff you breathe out when you exhale). Dry ice does a lot of other things, too, including making some awesome displays for Halloween (more about that in a couple of weeks…stay tuned!).

Dry ice safety

Experimenting with dry ice can be fun for kids – but you need to be careful with it. Dry ice is so cold that it will actually burn you (like frostbite)! Always follow safe handling instructions for dry ice, including these:

• Never touch it with your fingers – use tongs or gloves
• Never put it in your mouth
• Never lock it in a closed or sealed container – it can explode as it sublimates (turns from a solid into a gas).

Fun dry ice experiments for kids

Here are some fun experiments your science-loving kids can try with dry ice. Have any more? Let us know!

• Disappearing ice – Place a regular ice cube and a cube of dry ice side by side on separate plates for one or two hours; when you return, the ice cube will leave water behind; the dry ice will have completely disappeared.
• Smoke bubbles – Add a few drops of liquid dish soap in a tall glass of water. Carefully place the dry ice into the soapy water using gloves or tongs. With the liquid dish soap in the mix, the soap in the water traps the CO2 and water vapor to form a bubble. Try adding food coloring to the water for colored bubbles.
• Floating dry ice bubble – Fill a deep baking pan or aquarium with about one inch of water, then add a few pieces of dry ice using tongs. The dry ice will “smoke” as the CO2 and water vapor combine. If you blow bubbles (from a bubble wand) into the tank, the bubbles will appear to float in midair inside of the container; they are actually floating on CO2.
• Bubbling beverages – Filling a bowl or pitcher with your juice of choice, then add a few pieces of dry ice using tongs. As your drink begins to bubble, the juice will become carbonated – just like soda.
• Inflate a balloon – Put a deflated balloon over the opening of one of your bottles and watch it grow. The balloon catches all the carbon dioxide gas as it sublimates. Since carbon dioxide is denser than air, it will also sink to the ground.

Need dry ice for your latest experiments? Irish Carbonic has it at our convenient Rochester and Buffalo locations. Contact us today to place your order!

Tired of serving up the same-old drinks at your Buffalo- or Rochester-area restaurant or bar? We’ve got a sure-fire solution that will add a little flavor to your fall drinks menu: bulk beverage syrups from Irish Carbonic.

Irish Carbonic offers a full range of syrups and flavored drinks for just about any container or delivery system, including bottles, ultrapack cartridges, bag-in-box, and more. Not set up to take on these delicious drinks? We can help you there, too, with professional beverage system installation and maintenance service for the full gamut of dispensing systems, plus beverage grade bulk CO2 deliveries and more.

Our bulk beverage products include:

• Juices — Our 100 percent juice, juice blends and juice drink products are available in a wide range of flavors in bag-in-box, ultra pack cartridges and bottles.
• Sodas — From Royal Crown Cola (RC Cola) to Dr. Pepper/7-Up products, we’ve got it all in both post-mix bag-in-box and Figal containers (premix Figal containers are also available). We also feature the full line of Johnnie Ryan beverages—a cane-sugar-sweetened line of syrups and fountain mixers made locally in Western New York.
• Frozen Mixes — We feature the full line of Royale Brands frozen mixes for your margaritas, mojitos, and other cocktails, available for use in your blender or jet spray beverage dispenser.
• Sparkling Ice — Sparkling Iced teas, lemonades, waters and essence drinks in more than 20 fruitful flavors are available.

Add a splash of flavor to your bar or restaurant with delicious beverage syrups from Irish Carbonic – or let us install or maintain your dispensing equipment to keep the drinks flowing, properly carbonated, crisp, and fresh all fall and winter long. Contact us to learn more or to get a FREE, no obligation estimate on a beverage system installation today!

Keg care basics for your bar or restaurant

A foamy or stale keg pour is a bartender’s nightmare – and it’s not great for your customers, either. If you want to avoid bad pours and get more life from your kegs, keep in mind the following tips:

• Let the keg settle after moving it – If you move your keg, give it some time to settle down. If you don’t, you’ll probably experience excessive foaming when you tap it. Just like soda, beer is carbonated – and just like soda, it will foam when you shake it. Try to let your keg sit for at least an hour after you move it.
• Keep it at the right temperature – Because keg beer is unpasteurized, it should stay refrigerated to between 34 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit at all times.
• Keep it fresh – A keg of beer will typically retain its full flavor from anywhere from 30 to 45 days after tapping, but that window is very much dependent on storage conditions and the type of beer in the keg. For example, hoppy beers and those containing more alcohol will last longer because hops and alcohol inhibit bacteria growth (see “keep it clean” below).
• Keep it clean – There are two root causes of spoiled beer in your keg. The first – microorganism growth – is unavoidable; about the only way to prevent it is drink the beer in your keg before the little critters do their damage (see “keep it fresh” above). If you have a more sophisticated set up that includes beer lines, it’s imperative to keep them clean with professional beer line cleaning to keep bacteria, yeast, and mold at bay.

  The other cause of spoilage is oxidation – typically caused by the presence of oxygen leftover by the pumping process. Oxidation will flatten the beer, giving it a sour taste that can make it undrinkable. Again, professional beer line maintenance is your friend here.

Follow these simple tips to get fresher pours for longer from your kegs. Enjoy!

Our 10-point beer line cleaning system uses a time-tested combination of solutions and procedures that virtually eliminate microorganism buildup and mineral deposits that can lead to foamy, skunky pours. To learn more, give the beer line experts at Irish Carbonic a call today!

As you might expect, summer weather and dry ice blasting don’t mix very well: hot summer conditions here in Buffalo and Rochester can make it difficult to protect the integrity of your dry ice supply, not to mention keeping cool the air needed to cleanly propel the dry ice chips during the blasting process.

To make matters worse, many manufacturers of dry ice blasting machines don’t give you much guidance when it comes to dry ice blasting in hot weather – the only specs they typically address in their literature are inlet temperature and dew point of the blast pressure air.

But here at Irish Carbonic, we’re all about the helping our dry ice customers (or even people who might one day become Irish Carbonic dry ice customers). So we’ve put together a list of seven tips to consider if you’re faced with a dry ice blasting task during hot weather.

Seven dry ice blasting tips for hot weather

1. Keep insulated containers closed and wrapped until you are ready to use them.
2. Avoid placing dry ice containers in direct sunlight.
3. Cover the insulated containers with a blanket for further sun protection and an extra measure of insulation.
4. Once you open the insulated dry ice containers, restore all the packing materials (including the plastic liner and cardboard topper) before re-closing the lid.
5. Consider staggering your dry ice deliveries during periods of extreme heating rather than getting the full delivery at once.
6. Install a permanently fixed or portable aftercooler dryer to your plant air system between the air source and the inlet of the dry ice blasting machine; the aftercooler will drop the air temperature enough to encourage moisture condensation in the heat exchanger, which will then be pulled out of the air stream by the water separator.
7. Install a coalescing filter after the water separator to remove any aerosolized oils and other contaminates not removed from the air stream by the water separator. This will help you avoid freeze ups in your dry ice blasting machine’s dosing mechanism.

Need dry ice for your ice-blasting project? Contact the dry ice pros at Irish Carbonic today for your next dry ice delivery!

With a little planning and a few blocks of dry ice, you can bring your favorite frozen foods just about anywhere – even on a summer camping trip.

But how long will that dry ice last?

As you might know, dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide, the same gas that we breathe) does an amazing job at not just keeping food cold, but actually keeping it frozen – and if it is packed the right way, it will last a surprisingly long time.

How long dry ice lasts depends primarily on two factors: how it is stored and the size of the brick. The following table for how long dry ice lasts is based on an average five-pound brick of dry ice that remains whole (not broken into pieces):

• In a cooler – 18-24 hours
• Outdoors – 3-5 hours
• In liquid – 15-45 minutes

To put it another way, if stored properly (that is, in an insulated cooler…see below), dry ice sublimates (turns from solid form to gas form) at a rate of about 5-10 pounds every 24 hours. That means that if you need about 15 pounds of dry ice for the next day, you need to buy 20-25 pounds the day before. This is why it’s important to buy your dry ice as close as possible to the day you’re going to need it. Plan accordingly!

Dry ice safety reminders

• Always follow dry ice safe handling practices!
• Store dry ice in a cooler with the loosely closed. NEVER use an airtight container: the build up of carbon dioxide gases as the dry ice subliminates could cause the container to burst!
• Keep the cooler in the coolest, most well-ventilated area possible.
• NEVER store dry ice in your freezer! It will cause the thermostat to shut the freezer down.
• NEVER leave dry ice in your closed vehicle or in a closed room. Also keep your windows down in the car as you are transporting any of this substance.
• To dispose of dry ice after storage, leave it outside or in a bucket of water in a well-ventilated area.

Need dry ice for your next summer camping trip? We’ve got you covered! Visit one of our convenient locations to pick up yours today.