Coleman Xtreme

[Chrisp1986]

Apologies for starting a new thread but looked everywhere for answers and can't find it!

Just bought a Coleman Xtreme and someone on here gave great advice on how to make sure drinks (and sausages) stay cool for the whole weekend. Does anyone have any advice? I seem to recall they suggested froze  water bottles instead of the 80s style ice packs? 

[Alvoram]

https://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/topic/212832-coolbox-advice-needed-coleman-vs-igloo/

[Johnnyseven]

You need to prime it in advance.

[Chrisp1986]

6 minutes ago, Johnnyseven said:

You need to prime it in advance.

How long for? Is that with frozen bottles?

[stuartbert two hats]

You can always pop up to the coop for extra ice now.

 

[Chrisp1986]

5 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

You can always pop up to the coop for extra ice now.

 

Ah true but this is also for Bearded which we leave for in 36 hours! 

[Johnnyseven]

12 minutes ago, Chrisp1986 said:

How long for? Is that with frozen bottles?

Yeah, just freeze water in plastic bottles and put it in there. When they defrost, refreeze them and keep doing it until it takes ages for them to thaw. A week/10 days will probably do it.

[Johnnyseven]

Also, make sure the stuff you put in there is already cold or preferably frozen. If it isn't it'll just suck the coldness out of everything else.

[hurdy]

7 minutes ago, Johnnyseven said:

Yeah, just freeze water in plastic bottles and put it in there. When they defrost, refreeze them and keep doing it until it takes ages for them to thaw. A week/10 days will probably do it.

Not heard of that before - how does it work? 

[Johnnyseven]

4 minutes ago, hurdy said:

Not heard of that before - how does it work? 

It just makes it cold inside instead of being the same temperature as the room you usually keep it stored it. Cold air sinks so it'll stay cold in there for a while if you close the lid. If you do it well you can still have ice in there after 4 days of festivalling. Also keep it in the shade at the fest, or put a tarp over it.

[Chrisp1986]

5 minutes ago, Johnnyseven said:

It just makes it cold inside instead of being the same temperature as the room you usually keep it stored it. Cold air sinks so it'll stay cold in there for a while if you close the lid. If you do it well you can still have ice in there after 4 days of festivalling. Also keep it in the shade at the fest, or put a tarp over it.

We set off to Bearded at 3pm Thursday.

[stuartbert two hats]

8 minutes ago, Johnnyseven said:

It just makes it cold inside instead of being the same temperature as the room you usually keep it stored it. Cold air sinks so it'll stay cold in there for a while if you close the lid. If you do it well you can still have ice in there after 4 days of festivalling. Also keep it in the shade at the fest, or put a tarp over it.

Presumably if you have a chest freezer, that would also do the job?

[Johnnyseven]

15 minutes ago, Chrisp1986 said:

We set off to Bearded at 3pm Thursday.

You'd better get busy then 😉

I'll be heading up Thursday too!

Edited May 24, 2022 by Johnnyseven

[jimmillen]

51 minutes ago, Chrisp1986 said:

How long for? Is that with frozen bottles?

Anything that’s properly cold works. When I can be bothered to get properly organised I use an old ice oblong ice cream container to make about 9 massive ice blocks - they fill the space inside the cool box more effectively than frozen bottles. You want to try to fill it as completely as possible for effective pre-cooling - I normally also squeeze in some packets of frozen veg or chips, stuff that doesn’t matter too much if it defrosts slightly. 🙂

How long…? Probably about 4-6 hours ish, you want long enough that the cold stuff you’re putting in sucks as much heat as possible out of the coolbox, but not so long that the whole lot starts to warm back up again. Depends a lot on ambient temperature, if the weather is cool you can probably leave it overnight but not for a whole day in the middle of a heatwave. 

If you really want to go to town, you can pre-cool twice, swapping out a fresh load of sacrificial cold stuff. 

Leave it till the last minute to load it up with drinks and food, and make sure everything going in is as cold as possible. For anything that shouldn’t be frozen like cans of beer & cider I chill them in the fridge for at least a day beforehand then get them in the freezer for a last boost of around 30-60 minutes… you want them as close to zero as possible!

If you put a cup of fridge cold water in the freezer at the same time you can use that as an indicator, when it starts icing up time to take the booze out. 

For anything that can be frozen, get it in the freezer for 3 days or longer so it’s well and truly frozen through. If your freezer has a “power freeze” or similar mode use this to get it even colder, mine gets down to about -25 doing this. 

I generally freeze a bunch of bottles of still water plus any still mixers or pre-mixed spirits like vodka & orange juice. These act as ice packs, no point wasting coolbox space on those silly plastic things. 😁

If you’re taking more drinks than fit in the coolbox & plan to replenish each day, then try to get the new cans you’ll be putting in as cold as possible first. Bit tricky if it’s scorching but putting under the tent groundsheet overnight works, as does a bucket of cold tap water. Even just taking them a few degrees below ambient helps. 

I’m not personally convinced about using loose ice cubes for packing a coolbox for Glastonbury. It helps fill up the box to avoid air space inside, but it makes it a lot harder to add & remove things. And unlike more normal camping trips, it’s less likely you’ll be sitting around at the tent wanting some ice for your cocktails… 

Try to mimimise how often you open the coolbox, this makes a big difference. 

If it’s really hot, then you might want to soak a towel and drape it over the coolbox before you head out for the day. 

I have a Coleman Xtreme myself and love it - so good to have cold drinks right through to Sunday 🍻

Edited May 24, 2022 by jimmillen

[Johnnyseven]

12 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Presumably if you have a chest freezer, that would also do the job?

It would, but you can't take it to a festival.

If you have a chest freezer, freeze as much water as you can and dump it in the Coleman for a day abd it should chill it down nicely.

[jimmillen]

38 minutes ago, Johnnyseven said:

A week/10 days will probably do it.

Bloody hell and I thought I was committed to coolbox preparation! 😂

[Johnnyseven]

Just now, jimmillen said:

Bloody hell and I thought I was committed to coolbox preparation! 😂

This is based on the fact that I have a massive cool box but only a smallish freezer, so I hqve to do a lot of rotating of water bottles until it's properly cold. If you have lots of freezer space and lots of water bottles it could take a fair bit less time.

[Twiggy553]

5 minutes ago, Johnnyseven said:

It would, but you can't take it to a festival.

If you have a chest freezer, freeze as much water as you can and dump it in the Coleman for a day abd it should chill it down nicely.

I think he meant you could put the entire coolbox inside the freezer to prime it

[Johnnyseven]

13 minutes ago, Twiggy553 said:

I think he meant you could put the entire coolbox inside the freezer to prime it

I must admit I didn't understand what he meant. This would only work if you could put the cool box in with the lid open or off altogether.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Johnnyseven

[stuartbert two hats]

36 minutes ago, Johnnyseven said:

It would, but you can't take it to a festival.

If you have a chest freezer, freeze as much water as you can and dump it in the Coleman for a day abd it should chill it down nicely.

I meant put the Coleman in the chest freezer. That will get it cold without having to freeze a load of water over and over.

[Crazyfool01]

Wrap it in a space blanket 

[Johnnyseven]

53 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

I meant put the Coleman in the chest freezer. That will get it cold without having to freeze a load of water over and over.

Yeah sorry buddy I misunderstood. Just make sure you put it in there with the lid off.

[Johnnyseven]

10 hours ago, Johnnyseven said:

Yeah sorry buddy I misunderstood. Just make sure you put it in there with the lid off.

For extra fast cooling also fill with frozen stuff!