Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Replacing ice blocks with brine bottles?

nimgoldman - 29-12-2018 at 04:40

I usually fill about a dozen tupperware boxes with water and let them freeze to provide a coolant for a water resevoir used in distillations.

When ice is needed to cool down water for a condenser, I put the tupperware box under a stream of hot water to pop the ice block out.

A single distillation run can easily eat several ice blocks and I found it inconvenient to refill the boxes every time.

I thought maybe filling glass bottles with brine will make life easier, as one only have to move them between freezer and the water bucket wihtout the need for refilling.

What do you think? Do you use a different approach?

Sulaiman - 29-12-2018 at 06:31

The latent heat absorbtion of melting ice (334 J/g) will be lost,
replaced by 4.12 J/g.C specific heat capacity
means that
for the same 'cooling energy' your brine would need to be cooled to
- 334/4.12 = - 81oC ... unlikely.

So you will need a lot more sub-zero brine than ice.

Tsjerk - 29-12-2018 at 06:47

Use something the can withstand the brine freezing and allow it to freeze, this way it would be much more efficient.

morganbw - 29-12-2018 at 08:15

I try to keep about a dozen 500 ml water bottles frozen.
To use I place one bottle in each corner of a mid-sized cooler
with the water and pump.
Repace as needed and place the used ones back into the freezer.

Ubya - 29-12-2018 at 09:10

Quote: Originally posted by morganbw  
I try to keep about a dozen 500 ml water bottles frozen.
To use I place one bottle in each corner of a mid-sized cooler
with the water and pump.
Repace as needed and place the used ones back into the freezer.


i do the same but with freezer ice bricks, i have more or less 20 of them (my mom uses them to travel with perishable food)

Tsjerk - 29-12-2018 at 10:32

Quote: Originally posted by Ubya  


i do the same but with freezer ice bricks, i have more or less 20 of them (my mom uses them to travel with perishable food)


Those are perfect for this purpose.

XeonTheMGPony - 29-12-2018 at 10:54

I make 1 pound pucks and load the freezer up, for other things I wait till winter where I have unlimited -20 coolant! colder if not so lucky

nimgoldman - 1-1-2019 at 11:00

Thanks, Sulaiman. I forgot that melting ice takes up so much heat.

Yes some kind of reusable closed container will be great. Due to water expansion, some of the containers I used torn apart so I will try the heavy duty plasic ones for ice as other suggested.

happyfooddance - 1-1-2019 at 12:50

Quote: Originally posted by nimgoldman  
Thanks, Sulaiman. I forgot that melting ice takes up so much heat.

Yes some kind of reusable closed container will be great. Due to water expansion, some of the containers I used torn apart so I will try the heavy duty plasic ones for ice as other suggested.


I use various bottles, gatorade 24 oz and 32 oz are great, durable, wide mouth, and can even be somewhat flattened (hard to explain but works marvelously).

One important thing is to fill them just under full, to allow for expansion.

Herr Haber - 3-1-2019 at 08:00

Quote: Originally posted by Ubya  
Quote: Originally posted by morganbw  
I try to keep about a dozen 500 ml water bottles frozen.
To use I place one bottle in each corner of a mid-sized cooler
with the water and pump.
Repace as needed and place the used ones back into the freezer.


i do the same but with freezer ice bricks, i have more or less 20 of them (my mom uses them to travel with perishable food)


I do the same but with gel bags I got from my equipment supplier.
I gave away the yellow gel to my parents and kept the blue ones as my freezer doesnt freeze enough.