8 Ways How to Keep Ice From Melting

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.