Chest Freezers

[Diggin It]

That would last me more than a lifetime since I rarely eat beef. Like almost never. Pork on the other hand ......

 

[2LaneCruzer]

More food for the batteries!

I never understood why distilled fluid is supposed to be pure, but alcohol is distilled and is not just water.

I'm not sure what you are asking. Distilled liquid is not always completely pure; it depends on what the original mixture consists of. When a liquid mixture is heated, say alcohol and water, the liquid with the lowest boiling point comes off first...in this case alcohol, and it is relatively pure...so condensing it gives you a relatively pure alcohol. Further distillation will make it even more pure. The water and other higher boiling point liquids are left in the vessel.

Distilling water works the same way; at 212 degrees (or thereabouts) the water vaporizes, and when condensed it is pure; leaving the dissolved salts in the vessel.

The principal works for all kinds a mixtures, but it does get complicated. There are mixtures called azeotropes where the theory doesn't work so well. Most of the pure water we used in the laboratory, was "deionized", not distilled. It was run through a system that actually removed the solids, leaving pure water...much like a water softener, except the water softener substitutes sodium ions for calcium, magnesium, etc.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

It is one good reason to own a freezer, as the frost free fridge freezer is not great.

I believe the ice water to be totally distilled. It is only water vapour condensed.

I would say that is probably correct, if the freezer was completely empty and 100% clean. However, the ice could well be contaminated to a small degree, from stuff in and around the freezer.

 

[oldballs]

Now that my family is gone, I cleaned out the 1950's Sears chest freezer ( about 3 ft x 5 ft x 2 ft) and store tractor and equipment parts in it....lid up and disconnected. Those top sliding baskets are real handy. There is plenty of room for my needs of distilled water, antifreeze, motor oil, HST and Gear oil, spark plugs, filters, etc...:thumbsup:
Cheers,
Mike

 

[Industrial Toys]

Duplicate post

 

[Industrial Toys]

I wanted a small black freezer. If I were not so fussy, freezers can be had dirt cheap and free for the picking up on classified adds. It turned out to be a gift from my lady friend anyway. I guess she was tired of digging around in my bottom fridge freezer on her hands and knees.lol There is the odd thing in there, but I don't miss it one bit.

 

[Motorboatin]

The chest doesn't do that, and it's also easier to pack full.

And it is impossible to access anything on the bottom without unpacking it. I gave up on chest freezers years ago

 

[Industrial Toys]

Yeah, that can be frustrating. But at least that chore is done standing up. And also, when adding stuff, it would make sense to unload the thing as much as necessary and keep like stuff together, but who does that?

 

[Motorboatin]

You don't want a frost free chest freezer!

What you put in it, won't last near as long in a frost free.

SR

Just about all chest freezers are manual defrost. When I was shopping for a new freezer I only found one chest with auto defrost and it was a commercial unit

I ended up with an upright and it has a vacuum pump that sucks out all the air after the door closes. Ive been storing game in my freezers for more than 20 years and always kept track of the dates due to freezer burn. I don稚 have a problem with the new freezer and just pulled out some venison that was dated 2016 last week with no freezer burn

 

[Lnk]

While a chest freezer is a pain to get stuff out of the bottom when full. We just fill it with rows of like stuff with the burger on one end, roasts, steaks, filets go in a basket hanging on top. We also make sure it is almost empty before buying the next supply. Other than not being sure how big a cow we are getting:licking:, we have a good system.

 

[Industrial Toys]

That vaccume system is most interesting. Is a unit like that more efficient for energy? You would think, evacuating the walls would make more sense. Or is it the freezer burn issue, which I don't even know what causes that.

 

[Motorboatin]

That vaccume system is most interesting. Is a unit like that more efficient for energy? You would think, evacuating the walls would make more sense. Or is it the freezer burn issue, which I don't even know what causes that.

Freezer burn is caused by air reaching the food and dehydrating it

 

[Industrial Toys]

I thought even sealed food eventually succumbs to it. To what extent is the air evacuated?

 

[rangerfredbob]

Yeah, Jersey and Holstein are WAY different in size for reference...

 

[TnAndy]

We raise most of our food, and in addition to canning those items appropriate for canning (beans, tomatoes, carrots, fruits, etc) plus root cellar for potatoes/etc, we freeze quite a bit, especially meats. Raise couple pigs/yr, run thru a large beef about every 18 months, I'll do a catfish harvest couple times/yr, and put 25-30 6-7 broilers in freezer once a year. All our meat is home butchered and sealed in vacuum bags.

Freeze strawberries (15-20gal/yr), blueberries 4-5 gallons, because freezing about the best way to keep them (other than jam), things like broccoli, wife makes up things like casseroles and freezes them...that kinda thing. Wife will often buy things like bulk cheese on sale, or butter, and bring it home, divide into like quart size vac pouches, then seal/freeze.


As a result, we've 'grown' into having 2 uprights (18cf and 15cf) and 6 chest models (7-9cf). We prefer small chest units and more of them so as we use the food out, we cut it off. By spreading the food out, it lessens the potential loss if one fails (never had one fail yet though). Currently, we're using 5 chest units, and about to empty/cut off one of them. The largest upright, we rarely use except when we kill a large beef and need the space to quick freeze it. All the units I set on 3/4" plywood bases with casters so they are easy to move around, and when it comes time to defrost, I can roll out in the driveway and hose them out easy.

Part of 'freezer' row:

Wife does a GREAT job of keeping a running inventory, on each freezer, plus an Excel spreadsheet. She goes out couple times a week and pulls stuff out for meals the next several days, then let's that thaw in the house fridge.

Have small freezer alarm on each unit....not super happy with the amount of noise they put out....you'd never hear it in a basement, but I haven't run up on a LOUD one yet.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Impressive!

 

[bunyip]

We vacuum pack for long term and use those cheap freezer bags from the supermarket for the short term, the cheap ones seem susceptible to freezer burn but the heavy vacuum bags are a lot more immune.
Looking for a decent label that doesn't fall off after a nasty lasagne surprise, does not taste good when made with pet mince.

 

[MossRoad]

And it is impossible to access anything on the bottom without unpacking it. I gave up on chest freezers years ago

Ours has three slider trays that hang on top. And 6 divided compartments below. I keep ground beef in one compartment, other beef in the second, pork in the third, poultry and fish in the fourth, and various veggies in the fifth and sixth. There's also a shallower compartment over the motor/compressor where we keep a couple dozen containers of freezer jam, loaves of sliced bread, and garlic bread. Getting something from the bottom of one of the compartments isn't much different than getting an item off of the back of a shelf in an upright, as far as the amount of items I have to move.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Still never really got an answer where to best mount my probe. I would like it through the side. It's bone chilling cold here, minus 35c wind chill. Good time to put the food outside.

 

[MossRoad]

Still never really got an answer where to best mount my probe. I would like it through the side. It's bone chilling cold here, minus 35c wind chill. Good time to put the food outside.

Sure you did. Several people suggested the probes that just run a wire out the door. No need to drill anything.