Some while back I mentioned our experiments with ice packs for cooling
casks. I have now found a supplier of these things: Filton Brewery
Products of Eastbourne.

They do a rather neat design which comes as a sort of dry flat pack,
filled with a gel of some description. You soak these in water, then
freeze them. They can be re-used a few times. They come as individual
sheets, suitable for a firkin, or on a roll, to be cut to whatever size
you need.

The drawback is of course that you need industrial size freezers.
Alternatively, you need a big team of volunteers to take them home and
freeze them. I'm told by a landlord who's used them (at Jackson's Boat
in Sale, Cheshire, which is having a mini beer festival this weekend)
that you should buy 3 for every cask, so that you've got one on the
cask, one in the freezer and one in transit between bar and freezer.

Full details at <http://www.filton.net/acatalog/Ice_Blankets.html>. They
work out at around 4 pounds apiece. Filton's also do cooling saddles and
similar (see
<http://www.filton.net/acatalog/Cask_Cooling_and_Display.html>).

They will also hire out some equipment as well as sell it.
-- 
Neil Worthington, Urmston, UK
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