# Built in icebox



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

nice addition to a cabin or home.this should be in all homes.this guy is a member here and does some of the best top notch work on his projects.first part of vid he is catching up on life doings so skip to the 5minish mark to see the "guts" of video.




[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w68z-YJvei4&list=UUItDmit6Yy5-hazNSdoDYuA[/ame]


----------



## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

That was nice to see very nice work. How does he get the ice bottles frozen ? Does he have electric freezer that he uses in the warmer months, if so why does he put stuff in the (ice box) or was that just to show it would work in the winter? I got lost as to what you do in warm days if you still need to have a way to freeze water.


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

its his remote off grid cabin so he freezes salt water bottles and brings them in on visits.i can see a person in an off grid/solar set up using on a tiny freezer for freezing meats and a few salt water bottles to rotate in and out of icebox.....or thats what i have in mind for an off grid situation.....i am gathering ideas and thoughts from across the globe. i am about sick of my local electric corps manipulations.

p.s. he has a 400watt solar system he is going to install at this cabin in future.currently he uses 2 car batteries he charges for his lighting needs and computer work he does there.


----------



## KentuckyDreamer (Jan 20, 2012)

I do so love the look of real wood. Did you happen to notice the bathroom sink counter? Gorgeous. 

Elk, if the grid ever goes down, I may not remember all the details, but I have taken so much from the videos you post.


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

you know much of that wood in his cabin...at least here in my area would be considered cull...because of the blue stain in it...in fact if a pine log looks aged and has the stain...at one time they didnt want to even buy ay local mills(not sure now as i dont work in timber industry)...out west the stained pondersoa is highly valued.

i am taking a real hard look at my life....the future....and gathering info from every source possible.....there might be a huge coming change to my way of life...even more than is currently.


one of J.C.'s saying is the old stuff is designed to last...modern stuff is designed to fail.....truer words have never been spoken i will add this part to it..... and fail on so many levels from products to personal relationships.


----------



## mrs whodunit (Feb 3, 2012)

Nice workmanship!


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

p.s.....kentuckydreamer watch in a few days i am thinking of doing a rambling elk rant about certain road blocks i have ran into the last few weeks on a few projects and on searches i am currently doing and what has happened....but i might not too....roflmao.


----------



## kycountry (Jan 26, 2012)

Elkhound, We used to store ice for most of the summer in a barn stall. We'd put a layer of saw dust on the ground, layer of ice from the pond, another layer of saw dust, and so on.. We took chainsaws to cut the ice into blocks then log tongs and horses to pull them out. We don't have winters like we used to, but we're thinking of going back to the ice house setup to save some electric $$...


----------



## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

Great video (as always)! So basically you're saying from scrap wood (sure beautiful for scrap, lol) and free styrofoam he made that?? Basically all he had to buy was the shelving, vinyl lining and maybe the hinges, good job!

From his accent, I thought he must be in the northeast, Maine, Vermont or somewhere, but the winter temps he talked about didn't sound cold enough for that, lol.

That would work great in the winter here, but not sure how it would hold up in the 110-115 degree, high humidity Oklahoma summers. I know ice bottles in a regular cooler will melt in just a couple of hours. I just don't know if there IS a good solution off the grid here in the summer. 

I've been researching spring and ice houses. I know my grandma had a spring house, and unless you buy ice or build some sort of space to make your own ice blocks in the winter there's no hope of an ice house here, the ponds and lakes just don't freeze over. But I haven't given up yet, lol!

Since he has the composting toilet and had a ewer and basin instead of a sink, I assume he has no running water at all. I'm going to check out his videos and see what he does for water. That's been an issue for me also for my future tiny house.

Thanks for the great resource Elk, already joined his YouTube channel!


----------



## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Elk, you're such a tease....dropping hints about changes and leaving us hanging. :sob:


----------



## 36376 (Jan 24, 2009)

That was really neat. I'm going to have my husband look at that and see if we can't modify it to suit our home. Thanks for sharing this.


----------



## BlueRose (Mar 7, 2013)

Elk whats going on?


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

manygoatsnmore said:


> Elk, you're such a tease....dropping hints about changes and leaving us hanging. :sob:





BlueRose said:


> Elk whats going on?



oh nothing i have not talked about ...going off grid....but when i say off grid i want it to be as far off as possible.oh dont get me wrong i will remain grid tied for what if's.but that cost is minimal cost.my power here was so cheap now a company bought out my local company and its been nothing but a steady climb and due another jump soon.its out of hand.

i dont even want to use propane if i can keep from it. i have used less than one grill bottle in 2 years now of propane.

i want this ice box built in on north side of home.

i want woodfired hotwater


people design homes for looks and such...i am talking a home thats designed for utility first....i.e. a hand pitcher pump at kitchen sink along with regular faucet.

a cistern than can catch rainwater or be filled from my well or be filled from me driving to various spots on property getting water and dumping in cistern during heavy flow. i talked with my uncle about the old cistern on my grannys back porch.he told me how it had a roughly one foot square box filled with charcoal to filter the water as it came in off roof or from being hauled in.he said the gutter had a flip leaver on it for letting dirt get off roof before diverting into tank.


another interesting thing he told me about was how there was 2 windmills there and it had batteries at bottom it charged for a bit of 12nolt lighting.

i am about to pull a forerunner...but its going to take time.


----------



## BlackFeather (Jun 17, 2014)

cool.


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

this is where i am headed...radical simplicity....!!!


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jygPava2lGo[/ame]


----------



## kycountry (Jan 26, 2012)

O.K. Elk, spill the beans here... :gaptooth:

You got my pea sized brain running laps around and around in my head.. 
Hand hewed log cabin, Ice box, old gardening techniques by hand, wood hot water, grid tied solar,..... I want to see some notes on your research :happy2:


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

kycountry said:


> O.K. Elk, spill the beans here... :gaptooth:
> 
> You got my pea sized brain running laps around and around in my head..
> Hand hewed log cabin, Ice box, old gardening techniques by hand, wood hot water, grid tied solar,..... I want to see some notes on your research :happy2:



i have spilled them for years on here in all my posts of pictures,videos and rambles.....roflmao

you have seen and do see much of the old things i see here in the mtns.....best thing i can say is blend of the old with new and outside the box eyeball for a new design.....you know how things are site and situational specific.....well that nice cold spring water you have......you need to pipe it straight into a super insulated fridge or freezer in your kitchem....in an upright fridge i would fill it from top to bottom with coppercoils and in bottom have a box of water like old springhouses had in them to set items down in.this is just one thought...i have many....some are doable others are not...some i can do myself...others out of my brain cell reach....but i like to explore the avenues of as many as possible.


----------



## kycountry (Jan 26, 2012)

You mean like the old whiskey barrels that used to set in the yard with spring water running through them to "quick chill" the old milk cans until the milk wagon could pick them up? Or how the over flow from the cistern used to be gravity fed to the garden?? 

btw, I still got some of the old wooden butter presses and cheese boxes too 

I haven't showed all I got to show yet, have to feed it along a little to keep a topic alive and pry information by inspiring people with new "old way" ideas..


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

kycountry said:


> You mean like the old whiskey barrels that used to set in the yard with spring water running through them to "quick chill" the old milk cans until the milk wagon could pick them up? Or how the over flow from the cistern used to be gravity fed to the garden??
> 
> btw, I still got some of the old wooden butter presses and cheese boxes too
> 
> I haven't showed all I got to show yet, have to feed it along a little to keep a topic alive and pry information by inspiring people with new "old way" ideas..



yes..we had concrete troughs filled with water to set milk can down it..bt same thing...imagine that chill barrel inside a insulated fridge in bottom with coils above it to add that much more coolness from those coils to be captured by the fridge.but i think a horizontal pop cooler is best so the cool air wont roll out on to the floor every time a person opens it up to get a drink or mayo or a pickle or whatever.

theres tons of creative ways to do things....my best spring is at bottom of hill......so i gotta adjust .


----------



## kycountry (Jan 26, 2012)

The only problem I see with the spring water cooling is lowering it another 11 degrees to hold the 45 (or maybe 40.. cant remember) degrees that is recommended temp to hold food at. Evaporation cooling from the coils could possibly lower it a number of degrees but I can't seem to grasp the concept of mathematical calculations to even start to figure out how much.. Another is through ice but at what point does the water quit cooling and actually works as a heater... again, the math problems lol

I know we used to cool everything in the springs, but if milk went bad, we'd make butter and then have butter milk... it's one of those things I wish I'd really payed attention to growing up.. 

But you do have me searching craigslist for an old freezer/cooler..... :whistlin:


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

see heres a thought....who says its gotta be a certain temp....just let it be whatever the water temp naturally is and go with it.after all if it was good enough in the past at that temp why not now.?see theres another thing...milk going bad...i remeber butter having a much better taste than real butter does now.butter use to have a kick to its flavor....the last time i had that taste was from a certain amish family in late 90's before they moved away.i was buying butter with friends and i mentioned butter use to have a kick to it and was not this mild tasting stuff. the woman said you like the stuff my husband likes.she called it sour butter.she said they didnt offer it to general public but since i asked and described it like i did she would sell to me .they moved so its a lost taste once again.i am sure the food police would be all up for that type butter....roflmao.


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

check out this ice house in u.k. i seen one that hd a hole at the top where workers could drop ice through it into the holding area.its basically a brick silo.this guy talks about importing ice from the north but the one i seen was located next to a nice size pond on an estate where the cut blocks of ice in winter and put in the icehouse.it even had an underground tunnel in it from kitchen for the kitchen help to travel back and forth via.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE2vvrAs2m8[/ame]


----------



## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

Once upon a time, while I still lived in the big city and before I moved back home, I saw an amazing icebox.

There was an avenue that was THE avenue in the city and on it were mansions, all in a row.

They had one open for an estate sale or something and I got to go in. No one else was there, just me and the guy running it.

First of all, there was a Tiffany chandelier, but anyhoo..

I walked back to the kitchen, and you know in the British TV shows about Victorian kitchens etc.. how the kitchen ceilings are about 18 ft high?
Yeah. Like that.
I stepped down marble steps into the kitchen that was just as huge with the same big wooden table in the center and the fireplace and the massive farm sinks etc..

And along one wall, floor to ceiling and side to side, was all icebox!
Beautiful, thick dark wood. 100 different doors with the huge latches in brass and the hinges too. There was even a big rolling staircase like in libraries for reaching the top to put in the ice and to reach the highest cabinets.

It was amazing beyond description.
It is a sight that I will never forget.
That entire kitchen was like a fantasy.


----------



## kycountry (Jan 26, 2012)

elkhound said:


> see heres a thought....who says its gotta be a certain temp....just let it be whatever the water temp naturally is and go with it.after all if it was good enough in the past at that temp why not now.?see theres another thing...milk going bad...i remeber butter having a much better taste than real butter does now.butter use to have a kick to its flavor....the last time i had that taste was from a certain amish family in late 90's before they moved away.i was buying butter with friends and i mentioned butter use to have a kick to it and was not this mild tasting stuff. the woman said you like the stuff my husband likes.she called it sour butter.she said they didnt offer it to general public but since i asked and described it like i did she would sell to me .they moved so its a lost taste once again.i am sure the food police would be all up for that type butter....roflmao.


Elk, we still make that type butter 

We set the cream out when we get close to a gallon for about 3 days to let it sour. then we shake it in jars until we get butter, pour the butter milk off and "wash" it in ice water, salt to taste, and press it into the butter molds..

I think the trick to get where you want to go is canning or curing most of the meats.. Also using smaller jars close to serving sizes for katsup, or other things requiring refrigeration after opening, and making home made mayo and other things as you need it.

Brine pickles, salt pickles, and fermented pickles, cabbage, and others were also used to preserve garden produce that can be stored at room temps after opening was also a major part of their diets. 

I still have all the recipes for most of the above and a "sugar" cured ham recipe if I can find it lol.. The hams were rubbed with a sugar/salt rub and wrapped in brown paper and ties with wax tie string.. In summer months, they would lightly smoke the hams as they drew in the sugar/salt to keep flies and other insects off them.. winter months they kept them barely above freezing..


I'll see if I can find the recipes if you would like to try them.. Most of what we do is a mixture of old way canning with a modern twist added.


----------



## MamaTiger (Jun 11, 2008)

I'm interested. Please post!

Much of our problem is that we live in the deep humid, hot south. No springs that I am aware of, though I do know that my family did use a well bucket to lower some items into the well to keep them cooler. Nothing freezes here and truthfully we hardly ever get below freezing temps for more than a couple of days.


----------



## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

Kycountry, I'm not Elk, but I'd love to see those recipes! Pretty please?


----------



## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Me, too, please?


----------



## kycountry (Jan 26, 2012)

Between Elk, Downhome, going through seeds, and a few more.. they got my project book filled up.. But I'll see what I can find. someone might have to remind me in a day or too lol


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

heres a place filled with many recipes...i mentioned in PP's salt thread the old morton salt curing book...mine is from 1942.they still print a version but i have not seen it.



recipes galore

http://lpoli.50webs.com/Sausage recipes.htm#DRY


----------



## elkhound (May 30, 2006)

i will be straight up and honest..my one grandaddy couldnt cure a ham...he poured the salt to it....way over kill and he wouldnt listen....a few years ago after his death my granny got to talking and a story came out about right after they got married he salted a whole hog they had killed and cut up....it rotted...for whatever reason...lack of salt..to warm temps place of curing...he made a mistake and from then on he over killed it.no wonder he argued so much with my buddy who done 100's of hams every winter and you wouldnt believe how little cure he used...but half the county would get my buddy to cure hams from hogs they killed every year.

i had a friend once who had 3 hogs and his salt curing house is not insulated....it got super cold and the meat kept freezing...when its frozen it cant cure...it stayed frozen entire winter here and when spring came he let it sit a bit but got afraid of amount of cure it took in so he sliced all of it and wrapped and put in freezer.just another example of having infrastructure to function under various conditions.

my old book tells how to hog,beef,sheep,turkey,chicken and more.its filled with information that you just dont see today.


----------



## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

Thanks Elk, saved that site! Now off to see if I can find a copy of the Morton's book.


----------



## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Elk, that is a really neat site - I bookmarked it. I have a copy of the Morton's book around here somewhere, not as old as yours, I think, but maybe 60's? Okay, now I have to go find it. I'm supposed to be filling buckets with grain, ya know. 

eta: Found it - copyright 1958. It's older than me, if not by much, lol!


----------



## BlueRose (Mar 7, 2013)

Thank you Elk. I have so many sites bookmarked I will never get all the info printed out


----------



## michael ark (Dec 11, 2013)

Here is one of my favorite quick cure recipes.http://www.mortonsalt.com/for-your-home/culinary-salts/recipes/229/german-style-cured-pork-chops-gepockelte/ 
I cure them 4-6 hours some times over night to get a more hammy flavor.:thumb:
You can slice off a small pice and cook it to see if it it to salty.If it is just soak it in water and change the water a few time.Recheck or just go with it.I use their smoke cure to do this one but any cure will work .Just use that cures recipes.


----------



## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Michael, that recipe looks really good. I think I'll be pulling some pork out of the freezer after I finish eating up the leftover salmon roast and chicken in my fridge.


----------

