For those that like ice. ..

[Harry in WashDC]

As I referenced on this thread in Nov. 2015, I have two ice ball molds my wife gave me.  They only get used in the Summer - perfect for putting one iceball in a double Old Fashioned glass then filling it to the rim with OGD 114 or Booker's.

 

For Christmas this year (2016), she gave me a Rabbit (tm) four-space ice mold.  If one follows the directions, even hot tap water produces relatively clear, slightly over-sized cubes.  I make a set, take them out of the mold, and put them in a plastic bag while awaiting the next "round" of cubes to firm up.  I use them mostly in gin and rum cocktails.  They are too big for, or are not needed in, the amounts per serving of bourbon I pour in winter.  I will have to wait for Summer to see how they compare to the iceballs in a double Old Fashioned Plimsoll glass.  I'm guessing it'll just be easier to keep doing what I've been doing than to learn a new ice thingee.

[Golferpimp1]

When I decided to up my ice game I bought the round molds and hated them. They would crack down the middle and took up way too much space in the glass.I have switched to a silicon tray that makes 4 large 2 1/2" cubes (similar to the one in the photo attached). I usually use bottled spring water. They usually freeze mostly clear. I tried to boiling thing but found the results spotty and not worth the extra effort. 

Same mold I have. Works great, but will warn the cubes may not fit in some glasses. I have to turn it sideways to fit into my yeti lowball.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

[Dbyrd]

I've been experimenting for the past few years on making clear ice. I've tried about every method i've came across online. My best results have been:

1. Distilled Water 

2. Boil Water 

3. Fill sphere 

4. Place in small hard sided cooler

5. Fill cooler with boiled distilled water to at least the level of the sphere

6. Place cooler in freezer

7. Put off using the ice sphere because its such a pain to get it out of the cooler........

 

It is probably more work than its worth, but i find it therapeutic for some strange reason. Plus the bourbon looks beautiful poured over IMO 

Edited January 30, 2017 by Dbyrd

[tanstaafl2]

On ‎1‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 1:17 PM, BDanner said:

When I decided to up my ice game I bought the round molds and hated them. They would crack down the middle and took up way too much space in the glass.I have switched to a silicon tray that makes 4 large 2 1/2" cubes (similar to the one in the photo attached). I usually use bottled spring water. They usually freeze mostly clear. I tried to boiling thing but found the results spotty and not worth the extra effort. 

 

 

 I make both round and square ones but don't typically worry much about clarity. I have 2 different sized round and square molds because as you note they can really fill up a glass! The smaller round ones do work better unless I am making a cocktail in a larger double old fashion sized glass (I rarely use ice with whiskey or spirits neat). But I have never had any issue with them cracking down the middle. Maybe I have been lucky!

 

I did get a new round mold recently that is supposed to make clear ice easier to make without all the directional freezing hassle. We shall see!

[Enoch]

On 11/23/2015 at 4:48 PM, Kalessin said:

Make sure that your dry ice is food-grade. Non-food-grade can contain benzene and other fun things...

I make my own using co2 from the brewery. Easy with a cheese cloth bag. But it is more for novelty than anything else.

Edited January 31, 2017 by Enoch

[Enoch]

As far as clear ice is concerned I use the method in the YouTube link below. It's easy and produces about 12 cubes a day. I have bought several special clear ice trays but have not been happy with the results. I use smaller cube silicone molds though. I have noticed that clear ice melts slower, mainly I think because it doesn't have bubble streams that cause fissures which cause the ice to break apart.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zcpFTih4jI

Edited January 31, 2017 by Enoch

[dcbt]

I don't do ice anymore but when I did, I used the baby food containers. I think it held six or eight 2oz portions, but they made for perfect ice balls. Found the idea from some bartender blog or another. I'll find the link to the exact product if anyone expresses interest, but it's on amazon.

[Enoch]

45 minutes ago, dcbt said:

I don't do ice anymore but when I did, I used the baby food containers. I think it held six or eight 2oz portions, but they made for perfect ice balls. Found the idea from some bartender blog or another. I'll find the link to the exact product if anyone expresses interest, but it's on amazon.

Showing my age. When my daughter was a baby, baby food came in glass jars. I was thinking how in hell could that work. But my wife informed me that was no longer the case. Funny.

[mosugoji64]

8 hours ago, Enoch said:

Showing my age. When my daughter was a baby, baby food came in glass jars. I was thinking how in hell could that work. But my wife informed me that was no longer the case. Funny.

 

HaHa! I was thinking the same thing! Guess that moves me into the old category 

[dcbt]

10 hours ago, Enoch said:

Showing my age. When my daughter was a baby, baby food came in glass jars. I was thinking how in hell could that work. But my wife informed me that was no longer the case. Funny.

Well, that's true.  But what I'm talking about is basically tupperware for baby food, not the original containers the food comes in, but storage containers for leftovers.  It's basically a hexago with divets to split the container into 2oz portions.  Found the link:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dbaby-products&field-keywords=Beaba+Multiportions&rh=n%3A165796011%2Ck%3ABeaba+Multiportions

Edited February 1, 2017 by dcbt

[jvd99]

Mrs. jvd99 just got me the Wintersmiths Ice Chest.  It runs $120 on Amazon.  I've been using those cheap plastic ice ball molds for ages and the ice is cloudy, not dense and uneven.  The Wintersmiths is a massive improvement.  My first experiment was with regular tap water and it produced 4 absolutely crystal clear ice balls, although two were not fully formed as I took it out of the freezer too soon, which is part of the learning process with each customer's freezer.  They are a little smaller than the cheap molds, but them seem uniformly rounder with less surface flaws.  There's still a seam, but its pretty minimal - I just shaved it off with a paring knife and threw the 2 good ones in the freezer to see how well they store. The only drawbacks are that the whole contraption is fairly large, takes up quite a bit of space in the freezer, and takes between 24 and 30 hours to produce 4 ice balls (hence the storage experiment).  This thing is pricey, but if you really value clear ice, or just have some money to burn, this is a good investment in your drinking pleasure.

[Kane]

1 hour ago, jvd99 said:

Wintersmiths Ice Chest

Interesting. I really like the design, but can't wrap my head around how and why a contraption like that can possibly help make clear ice from unprocessed tap water.

[jvd99]

It’s clear, not sure how it happens, but this is a high end bar worthy ice ball

 

 

 

Edit: there’s some massive distortion in this pic, this is a regular old fashioned glass, the sides should be straight vertically, not flared out at the top (nice camera Apple )

Edited March 11, 2018 by jvd99

[jvd99]

[EarthQuake]

I got this clear ice mold set off Amazon for $45: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07422QWCP/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

It works really well, I wrote up a post about it here: 

 

[EarthQuake]

12 hours ago, Kane said:

Interesting. I really like the design, but can't wrap my head around how and why a contraption like that can possibly help make clear ice from unprocessed tap water.

The idea with these (the wintersmith, the one I posted above, and various other similar designs) is that there are two compartments (top and bottom), you fill both and they freeze from the top down. The force from the freezing pushes the air bubbles into the lower section, leaving you with crystal clear cubes on top. The tray is insulated on the sides and bottom which is how it controls the freezing direction. With standard ice molds, it freezes from the inside out (all sides), which pushes the bubbles into the middle of the cube. This concept is explained in the youtube link @Enoch posted above.

 

This works with tap water just fine. Tap water is actually recommended with my mold and the manufacturers claim that the bubble removing process removes impurities in the water too (not sure if I believe that). No need to boil or use distilled water or anything like that, I've done various experiments with different types of water which have only ever produced marginally more clear cubes. Though if your tap water is gross, filtered water is a good idea.

 

If you don't plan to use the cubes right away, take them out of the mold and put them in a ziplock freezer bag. This way they will last a lot longer before taking on any plastic and/or freezer funk flavors. This frees up your mold to make more as well. 

Edited March 11, 2018 by EarthQuake

[EarthQuake]

As @jvd99 mentions getting the freezing time down will take some experimentation. I took a batch out that was about 80% frozen. I think it was about 24-26 hours or so for my freezer. And yeah, the mold takes up quite a bit of space, which is the only real negative I've found with it. Getting them out can be a bit of a hassle at first, but I've found that if you take it out and let it set for 5-10 minutes so it softens up a bit, it comes out a lot easer. Usually there is a bunch of ice stuck to the bottom of the mold when I take the top section out, but I run warm water over that until it melts off, being careful not to run the water on the mold itself. Then they pop out easily.

Edited March 11, 2018 by EarthQuake

[Bob_Loblaw]

I have a friend who makes very clear ice balls on his own.  He brings them to our poker games and I hate to say it, but there is a HUGE difference in melting speed.  So, now I plan on working on perfecting his process this summer.  It seems a little tedious, but he assures me that it ends up being pretty easy after a few attempts.  

 

If you fill a regular stand alone mold and stick it in the freezer the ice ball will freeze starting at the outside and work its way towards the middle.  Air bubbles get trapped inside the ice ball which is why the ice is cloudy.  To remedy this you need to create a heat sync that will force the ice to freeze starting at the top and work its way downward pushing all of the air bubbles out in the process.  Here is the setup my friend uses:

 

One large metal food service steamer pan with matching top perforated pan.  The bottom is a deep metal pan say 4 inches deep and the top piece fits over it like a steamer basket but is more shallow say 2 inches.  Here is a link to give you an idea. https://www.webstaurantstore.com/52489/stainless-steel-steam-table-pans-and-hotel-pans.html.  He fills the pan with water until it is 1/2 - 1 inch ABOVE the perforated holes.  The rubber molds he uses come apart in the middle and have a fill hole at the top.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007ACTN54/ref=asc_df_B007ACTN545400923/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B007ACTN54&linkCode=df0&hvadid=216574878909&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8718660936367000572&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021738&hvtargid=pla-350159134069  Fill the molds (he does 6 per batch).  Then using your index finger cover the fill hole opening and put the ice mold in your metal pan UPSIDE DOWN so that the fill hole is underwater and resting on the bottom of perforated pan.  Do not remove your finger until the mold opening is underwater.  Once you have the molds standing upside down in the pan you need to drain out the excess water until it just barely covers the bottom (upside down top) of the ice molds.  He uses a cheap plastic syringe for this.  If you leave the water level too high your ice molds will freeze to the pan and need to be chipped out.  

 

Now when you freeze your ice the process will start at the top of the ice balls because the water in the lower pan is absorbing the cold but due to increased volume will freeze much more slowly.  As the ball freezes any air is pushed downward and forced out of the fill hole at the bottom resulting in much clearer ice balls.  He estimates that he is able to produce 90% clear ice on average.  He has tried boiling water first and also using distilled water with no noticeable difference and no longer takes any special steps with the water.  

 

I will try to get some pics and repost my setup when I start doing this after the weather warms up.  Sorry for the long and somewhat repetitive post.

 

JVD - I looked into the Wintersmith when I first learned of the process and thought doing it myself would be too much effort.  I understand the Wintersmith works very well, but saw some complaints that the outer case may crack if the filled mold is left in the freezer longer then necessary for freezing.   Just a heads up from my google research and not at all personally verified

[Bob_Loblaw]

Update on this.  I had two large 8 cube black heavy duty silicon molds that I was using for regular large cubes.  Just to see how the heat sync process would work I took a large stockpot and filled it with about 4 inches of water.  I then took two empty beer cans, filled them with water and submerged them on their sides in the stockpot.  The  ice mold rested on top of the beer cans and the final water level was just about a quarter inch up the side of the ice mold.  After freezing for 24 hours I pulled it out.  

 

The rubber mold easily lifted out from the stockpot without any need to chip or melt its way out so that was a plus.  The cubes are 75% perfectly clear with the last 25% on the bottom very cloudy which makes sense as all the air was pushed down with no escape route.  I tried to create an escape by using a sharp knife to cut an "X' in the bottom of one of the squares, but it had no effect on the next batch of ice.  Plus I realized after the fact that when removing the frozen cubes I tend to push from the bottom with my thumbs which will probably split the entire bottom over time.  So I gave up for now and ordered my steam pans and sphere molds.  

 

If anyone knows how they would make a clean hole punch sized hole in the bottom of each cube in a heavy rubber/silicon ice mold I would love to hear ideas!  I will post a picture tonight of the square 75% clear cubes.

[rjg1701]

I keep it simple and cheap.  I either leave a bit or refill a 500ml water bottle to an appropriate size, freeze then cut the bottle away. Doesn't look too fancy but makes for a good hunk of ice.