[BAMS]

Alright another sick but exciting thought sparked my interest for my Gore Haunt dinner night for this coming Halloween.

Lobotomy Punch Bowl - the idea of making a full bodied zombie prop sitting in a restraining chair and then two options for dispensing the beverage, inside the head I will fit a bowl with maybe some dry ice to chill the beverage and give it a smoldering effect through the nostrils, ears and eyes. So the first option is to make a refill/access port some where on the back of the head, and at the front I will have a horse syringe (buy from local pet stock and feed store) sticking in through the skin to draw back the liquid and dispense into shot glasses, or the second option is to just have the crown of the head removable and use a glass or clear plastic laddle to gather the beverage and put into cocktail glass.

Not sure which way I would go yet, shots or full cocktail drink.

Btw going shopping this weekend to start gathering modeling and mould makeing gear so photos should be coming very shortly.

 

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That sounds completely gross. I have a feeling that you'll take that as very encouraging feedback.

 

[BAMS]

oh!!! absolutely, sort of the feedback that makes me smile

 

[fontgeek]

Anybody with half a brain could see that the zombie will have to have a huge head to hold a bowl big enough to hold enough punch never mind the dry ice.

You might consider using more of a standard punch bowl for the punch, and a "brain" mold to create the ice in, you can have the restrained creature sitting there, all strapped in, maybe even squirming, with his/her head sitting wide open, with no brain in it.

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.

 

[Hairazor]

I love the punch in the head idea! Perhaps some tubing, with a pump, running up through the back of the creature into the "punch bowl".

 

[Pumpkin5]

:jol: I love the idea of a full zombie body with a head that dispenses shots. (I think that punch would take up too much room....but a really toxic shot drink just may work beautifully.) You could probably construct something that held one of the cheap acrylic drink dispensers that you see everywhere this time of year. And to make it work for your zombie...think Frankenstein type head to make it fit around the dispenser. You could come up with a great design, maybe even a monster/zombie thing with a black tongue that hides the spigot that "spews" out your drink concoction. Creepy is good....zombie is better... I can't wait to see what you come up with. Such an exciting concept!

P.S. I have a great toxic shot recipe that I put in test tubes a few years ago for a Halloween party if you want it...it will knock you on your rear!

 

[Doc Doom]

Sounds like a great idea, am anxiously awaiting pics! Just keep in mind that, over time, using dry ice directly in the punch beverage itself will change the flavor (and not in a good way).

 

[BAMS]

@ Fontgeek - not sure if I have half or a quarter of a brain, but none the less I used the term punch bowl as an initial title, so the other half of the brain knows that I am going to have to work around a particular style, shap and size of "holding vessel"

@ Hairazor - yeah someone that I mentioned it to suggested something like IV tubing out of the head with a lil tap, but then I countered his idea with the laws of gravity against me, but the pump idea...that just sparked more ideas into it, IV drip bag on the side, hose running up sleeve and a pump to circulate the beverage between the head and the IV bag.

@ Pumpkin5 - Yeah sorry guess using the word punch was a foul idea, as the shot will be something along the lines of Vodka and Midori mix or similar, would love to hear your recipe for the Toxic shot

@ Doc Doom - I forgot about the whole taste altering side effect of Dry Ice, being a home brewer I might use the pump Idea I mentioned above and have it going though a copper coil in an ice bath just to chill the drink for consumption

 

[fontgeek]

The brain thing in my post was a play on words/pun.
As to the size of the bowl/vessel, you still would have the same issue though.
Another option is to have your pump setup made to look like you are draining off the zombie's blood. You'd still have him/her strapped down to a chair, but you'd make it look like you had the zombie giving blood. Having the zombie still struggling or squirming would still help sell the effect
As far as the flavoring by the dry ice? Keep in mind that that material, CO2, exists only as a gas or a solid, it's the same stuff used to carbonate your soda and beer (on tap), so it's not going to do any more flavoring than the carbonation already does to your drinks.

 

[BAMS]

The brain thing in my post was a play on words/pun.
As to the size of the bowl/vessel, you still would have the same issue though.
Another option is to have your pump setup made to look like you are draining off the zombie's blood. You'd still have him/her strapped down to a chair, but you'd make it look like you had the zombie giving blood. Having the zombie still struggling or squirming would still help sell the effect
As far as the flavoring by the dry ice? Keep in mind that that material, CO2, exists only as a gas or a solid, it's the same stuff used to carbonate your soda and beer (on tap), so it's not going to do any more flavoring than the carbonation already does to your drinks.

Are you familiar with the camel packs that hikers use, its a bladder in a small area (ie backpack), the idea I have is the same principle but with and injection port in the forhead (injection port could be anything from a plug made up of aquarium silicone or anything else that self heals, I use this injection port tech in another hobby that I have and confirm that it works successfully). With the recirculation via the pump, the bladder in the head only needs to hold a very minimal amount, and with an external reservior, it can be done, its just a matter of how creative the "half brain" lets me be...

 

[Doc Doom]

As far as the flavoring by the dry ice? Keep in mind that that material, CO2, exists only as a gas or a solid, it's the same stuff used to carbonate your soda and beer (on tap), so it's not going to do any more flavoring than the carbonation already does to your drinks.

I originally thought the same thing. It might have to do with how much dry ice you use, how long the ice is in the punch and how long the punch sits there. I've typically always used a lot of ice to get a lot of fog and have kept replacing the dry ice to keep the effect going. In my experience, unless the punch needs to be refilled frequently, by the end of the night it is always slightly acidic tasting. I now use a smaller bowl of water in the center of the punch bowl and just put the dry ice in it.

 

[BAMS]

Yeah Doc I am with you on this one 100% just didn't consider it when I started my thoughts on this.....

For those that think that Dry Ice is just a simple form of solidified CO2 they are 99% right, but for that 1% is the reason that Soda and Beer, when forced carbonated, uses a form of CO2 called Aligal CO2. Aligal packaged atmospheres (Nitrogen, CO2 and Oxygen) are a food grade gas for the food and packaging industry. I am sure that the dry ice which one of its few purposes was cool packaging for the long term (2-3 days) transport of perishables which does not come into direct contact with the perishables, nor does the gas form when it melts. This dry ice would contain contaminant to a ppm level that could alter the flavouring of foods and beverages.

 

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@fontgeek: Thanks for clarifying your "half a brain" comment! I knew you weren't a bad guy!

@BAMS: Glad you're sticking to your guns, even if the concept makes me queasy! I'm sad to hear about the dry ice taste issue. I've used it only in "bubbling chemistry vessels" in the background of my party-bar, mainly because when I picked it up from my local ice distributor I wasn't convinced that it was produced under hygienic conditions. The blocks were shrouded under layers of burlap that looked like discarded bedding from someone's dead goat. Delicious!

 

[Haunted Bayou]

Not to stray too far off-topic but why is some packaged dry ice called 'food grade'?

I wish I could help with your problem but I think this is out of my technical knowledge. If I run into something on the net, I'll post it for you.

 

[BAMS]

I have added this link, the info in this link is probably the most broken down to a level that most people can understand rather than going into refinement and purification details.

http://chemistry.about.com/b/2013/06/14/different-types-of-dry-ice.htm

As with anything if it is labelled "food grade" then it has been through a purification process (ie filtration, pasturization, sterilization or a combo of these or other methods)

So now about.com has simplified it, but I will make it a little more difficult with the chemistry side of CO2 and why it gives the acidic taste that Doc mentioned.

Now fontgeek is correct in saying that CO2 exist in 2 states, a gas (most common) and a solid (not so common due to temperature and pressure requirements), CO2 has no liquid state, with exception to Supercritical CO2 which is beyond my knowledge, and is used to strip caffeine from coffee for the ever so popular decaf. However it is absorbed into water rather easily, but when this happens it actually converts to carbonic acid which is a mild acid but still bearing the flavor and the odor that is typical of acids. Now all that is based on Pure CO2, that has been refined and rid of its contaminants, which they dissolve from the Dry Ice into your liquid to consume tainting the flavor as well.

BTW - I have come up with a theory of a plan to get the beverage of choice from one location to the dispensing location without the aid of a pump and not having to put any bowl or bladder in the head. I will try and test this over the next weekend and if it works as I am hoping

 

[Hairazor]

Can't wait to hear what you come up with!

 

[BAMS]

haha, I am sitting here reading old post learning more and more about the locals on this forum, so I am quick to jump on a reply....

I will try to describe my idea, I will test it and photo it or video it or both. Basically I am thinking that I will build a cavity in the torso region with a 2 litre glass bottle that will have a stopper fitted to it with a pre-cut hole to fit aquarium tubing through it. I will put one of those air pump check valves inline at a location that will not allow the bottom half of the tubing to lose its liquid. I will mount my head on this torso/cavity via some steel pip and flanges, sort of the same principle as mask makers use a cheap tool instead of foam armatures to place their latex mask over to paint the details on them. but in this case I will use the pipe at a conduit for the aquarium tubing, and at the dispensing end I will plug it with aquarium silicone to that it self heals after it has been injected and mount that to the inside forehead of the head and an "X marks the spot" on the outside. the check valve and the silicone plug will hopefully keep the fluid in the upper tubing without letting it fall back into the jug. Only trouble I see at this stage is that it will have to be primed to get the beverage to the upper part of the tubing by means of vacuum or by hand with the syringe, but once its primed hopefully it will not have to be primed again unless I change the bottle.....remember though this is for shots (30ml) so 1.75 litres will go for a while.

 

[Pumpkin5]

:jol: I like your idea BAMS, but I was thinking of something more like this...

This as the head, and of course, you could come up with a body to go with him....just a thought, but your idea sounds equally wonderful. (by the way the artist that created this lovely creature is Thomas Kuebler, and he is EXTRAORDINARY!) Watching the shots "glug" out of his brain cavity would add to the "UCK" factor tremendously.

 

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Now we're trying to add to the "uck" factor? Drinking a zombie's bodily fluids just isn't enough anymore?

 

[azscoob]

I few years ago I used some of my homebrewing stuff to serve rum punch...

I Made a big batch of rum punch to fill a 5 gallon corney keg that went into my kegerator to keep cold, I pressurized it with just enough psi of co2 to be able to push it through a cobra party tap (5-6 psi) on a serving hose that led to a corpse head on a platter on top of the bar, the tap was hot glued into a pvc pipe that was painted to look like a rusty pipe and protruded from the forehead.

Grab a glass, place under pipe, open tap and enjoy the "corpse blood"!