Looking to purchase a new cooler


 
D

Darren Collins

New member
Some advise please. Looking to purchase a cooler to rest brisket et cetera.

Was looking at buying a Coleman or similar quality brand, but what size would you recommend? Is a 100QT to big?
 
Coleman Xtream for a great cooler for a good price. I like my Engel but kinda high dollar. I have a 65 qt. Coleman I would say 62 qt or bigger.
 
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Go cheap. If you put an old beach towel in the bottom and then have one to cover your wrapped bbq, you will be good for hours and hours. I use an old Igloo that has been retired from beverage duty and it works fine. It will eventually start to stink a bit, so you don't want to return it to guest service.

Jeff
 
I think the size would depend on how much meat you are trying to hold. The more air space you have, the less efficient it will be. I have a couple cheap 48 quart coolers I use and can put as many as a dozen butts in each if needed.
 
Cheap sounds like the right direction to me for the purpose. Don't get me wrong, I am as serious cooler guy as I am kettle cooker! I have nine coolers, most of which are serious, no Yeti (yet) too much money. My coolers spend the bulk of their time waiting for filling, until recently I had not done the towel and drop in a cooler technique. I am pretty well sold on it now. For that, I have used one of my smaller "back seat" coolers for single butts. I could get two in there. I'm not looking to do twelve or anything near that number.
 
I have a couple of very thick but small styrofoam boxes, originally used for medical purposes (possibly organ transport? - my FiL got them from the hospital he worked at) that are just the right size for one or maybe two butts. The material is easily 2" thick all around and the lid fits very tightly. If I'm doing more than two butts or something larger (e.g.: a brisket), I'll use an old Coleman cooler we inherited from someone. The hinges are broken and it's pretty beat up, but it still works.

So, if you can find a cheap thick styrofoam box of the right size, that would be your best bet. Or, get any cheap cooler and buy some 1 or 2" thick styrofoam sheet insulation and cut it to size (do it carefully; those bits go everywhere).
 
Just thought of the shipping coolers that places like "Omaha Steak" use, that would be just right for now or two butts! And you get the steaks too!
 
i use a regular Coleman cooler. In terms of stinking I always store my cooler with the lid open when not in use. I have never noticed a stink lingering.
 
They never stink, just smell "different"! Hahahah.!
That said, I might go along with the "dedicated" cooler as long as space allows.
Three grills, nine coolers, something is out of whack, don't you think?
 
Not to be forgotten is a genuine Cambro food carrier. When Maryann and I were practicing for competition BBQ, decided to go the Cambro route. A new 300MPC series unit. Used ones occasionally come up on e-bay.

One of the best purchases I have made. And the interior smells delicious... like BBQ.
 
Bob makes a very strong case, those cambro units will last for many, many, years. So will any GOOD cooler, it comes down to how much do you want to invest. For me, since I have enough stuff to worry about, I would go cheap, like cheap enough to see if any friend had gotten Omaha steaks recently. I am a cheap so and so!
 
Thank you all for the replies.

Cheap is the way I would like to go, but over here in the UK, cheap ones are either insulated bags or only big enough to carry a few cans. Even the cheap Igloo 48QT that SteveCK mentioned works out at £46/$65 compared to the $16 at Walmart. I'm not adverse to spending the equivalent of say $100 for a descent one, just dont want to get one with the wrong internal size for example, as Greg said "The more air space you have, the less efficient it will be" And those dedicated food carriers look amazing, but they are so expensive over here, we have a brand similar, but certainly don't look as good quality.

I did find a Thermos cooler http://www.thermos.co.uk/product_details.aspx?ProdID=1449&CatCode=ICE&q= at a reasonable price, but was not sure if it would be big enough, it's 32L, don't know what the equivalent QT that would be. I may do 2 briskets or butts at some point, but in the main, it'll only be 1 at a time, just enough to keep the family happy.
 
32L is about 40 quarts, should be fine for two or three butts, remember, the bigger the towel the less dead air space, if the one you linked is in the cricket pitch (sorry, bad sports analogy translation, couldn't resist) get it. Once you have the right or, at least some additional, equipment every job becomes a little less stressed and you can have more fun. Just bite the bullet and do it, your time using the tools will be much more fun than shopping for them!
 
You could buy a sheet of EXTRUDED foam insulation (like the pink stuff) and a roll of duct tape and make your own just the size you need.
 
I go 4.5 hours easy with this setup. and the bag takes care of the stink so I can reuse cooler for beverages. I've got a rolling cooler, I throw a towel in the bottom, I wrap my meat in foil, then in a towel, then place in a huge ziploc bag. I'm talking a bag big enough to hold a 14LB packer brisket. Place that on top of the towel, then fill the rest of the cooler with an old comforter.
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
32L is about 40 quarts, should be fine for two or three butts, remember, the bigger the towel the less dead air space, if the one you linked is in the cricket pitch (sorry, bad sports analogy translation, couldn't resist) get it. Once you have the right or, at least some additional, equipment every job becomes a little less stressed and you can have more fun. Just bite the bullet and do it, your time using the tools will be much more fun than shopping for them!
Click to expand...

Thanks Timothy, you did lose me for a second, as i cannot stand cricket, but i know where you're coming from. We have a lot of BBQ downtime here as the weather is not the finest. When we do have a few nice days, the law of sod inevitably rears its ugly head, and we are at work. I need to move to a better climate for sure.
 
No problem Darren, I'm not a big sports guy but, I very much hate the "give me a ballpark figure" question. It forces a, usually un thought through response. Weather is a factor here too, Michigan can be freezing in the morning and miserably hot by evening. Or bright and sunny in the morning and cold and lousy by evening. Since my (go to) grills are both kettles, I roast my Christmas turkey, ham, goose, roast beast of most any stripe in sometimes several inches (sometimes feet) of snow. Sally forth into grilling, damn the weather!
 
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