OT - Clear ice spheres - How do you do it?

SmokeyLopey

Based on the video, @paqman, it looks like your primary shortfall is that you aren't using "the dew off a unicorn's horn during a full moon" or, "the dew off the east side of a mountain during a solar eclipse." You might check Amazon for these. And, seriously, thank you for starting a thread on a subject I didn't know I cared about, from which I learned something, and have a new project to try. We have been using the ice ball forms, but not striving for clarity in our balls.

JethroBodeen

Guess I'm a luddite too. I'm just happy to have ice and something to put it in. Not much worried about color or lack of.....

SonVolt

For some of us it's all about the process and the aesthetic. I gotta have that clear ice. It's stupid and overly particular, I know. Had a buddy in college that would drink red wine out of puke green colored Tupperware cup and it drove me crazy. How can you enjoy a wine out of a diarrhea green cup? I couldn't understand it.  In the same way, cloudy half-moon shaped residential freezer ice is always my last resort for cocktails. 

paqman

Here are some more pics to help you understand 








While the ice freezes from the top down, impurities are « pushed » down through the hole at the bottom of the silicone mold.


The « dirty » ice forms in the plastic container underneath the silicone mold.


That’s what the « dirty » ice looks like (kinda like regular ice cubes):

pgprescott

My rig has a much larger reservoir below the mold. Freeze 24hr and the area below the clear ice is barely frozen or not totally frozen. 

paqman

JethroBodeen said:

Guess I'm a luddite too. I'm just happy to have ice and something to put it in. Not much worried about color or lack of.....

The visual appeal is one aspect but the main benefit of clear ice is that it melts slower than regular ice.

ColtsFan

I'm totally doing to adopt the cooler method in the video. I use silicone molds now, but haven't been motivated to achieve clear ice 

pgprescott

ColtsFan said:

I'm totally doing to adopt the cooler method in the video. I use silicone molds now, but haven't been motivated to achieve clear ice 

This works great. I’ve also put holes in a silicone tray/mold and put it in the cooler for a uniform shape and size. Not sure that’s worth the effort. 

paqman

pgprescott said:

My rig has a much larger reservoir below the mold. Freeze 24hr and the area below the clear ice is barely frozen or not totally frozen. 

I’ve read that it can be a problem with the larger reservoir units if the water in the reservoir freezes because it can break the reservoir.  I’ve seen so many reviews about broken plastic containers.  One of the reason why I chose this one is the reversed pyramid shape of the plastic container.  When the ice freezes and expand below the silicone mold, it pushes the mold upward making it super easy to unmold and because of the reverse pyramid shape, it is unlikely to break like other units.  Really well designed.

paqman

ColtsFan said:

I'm totally doing to adopt the cooler method in the video. I use silicone molds now, but haven't been motivated to achieve clear ice 

The cooler method works, it just takes a $hit load of space in the freezer 😂

pgprescott

paqman said:

pgprescott said:

My rig has a much larger reservoir below the mold. Freeze 24hr and the area below the clear ice is barely frozen or not totally frozen. 

I’ve read that it can be a problem with the larger reservoir units if the water in the reservoir freezes because it can break the reservoir.  I’ve seen so many reviews about broken plastic containers.  One of the reason why I chose this one is the reversed pyramid shape of the plastic container.  When the ice freezes and expand below the silicone mold, it pushes the mold upward making it super easy to unmold and because of the reverse pyramid shape, it is unlikely to break like other units.  Really well designed.

I could see that but when I forgot mine a couple times it simply pushed the mold up. It should take the path of least resistance. 

pgprescott

paqman said:

JethroBodeen said:

Guess I'm a luddite too. I'm just happy to have ice and something to put it in. Not much worried about color or lack of.....

The visual appeal is one aspect but the main benefit of clear ice is that it melts slower than regular ice.

Right on. Even the high end ice makers that produce clear ice don’t produce very hard ice and it melts too quickly for the discerning cocktail drinker. The size and hardness of the ice produced is great. Clear is a great aesthetic. 

alaskanassasin

Do you guys vacuum seal your extra ice to preserve it?

paqman

alaskanassasin said:

Do you guys vacuum seal your extra ice to preserve it?

I first used individual ziploc bags but it left some marks so I switched to this:





Working well so far

pgprescott

I just hold it in an open Tupperware. It gets a slight fog on the outside which immediately goes away when wetted. 

Botch

SonVolt said:

Had a buddy in college that would drink red wine out of puke green colored Tupperware cup and it drove me crazy. How can you enjoy a wine out of a diarrhea green cup? I couldn't understand it.  In the same way, cloudy half-moon shaped residential freezer ice is always my last resort for cocktails. 

Only a few of us connoisseurs realize that cloudy ice, with its built-in air supply, help to aerate our fine Rothschilds Bordeauxs  quicker, allowing a 6-minute quicker quaff.  

GrateEggspectations

pgprescott said:

paqman said:

JethroBodeen said:

Guess I'm a luddite too. I'm just happy to have ice and something to put it in. Not much worried about color or lack of.....

The visual appeal is one aspect but the main benefit of clear ice is that it melts slower than regular ice.

Right on. Even the high end ice makers that produce clear ice don’t produce very hard ice and it melts too quickly for the discerning cocktail drinker. The size and hardness of the ice produced is great. Clear is a great aesthetic. 

Just how long are y’all nursing those cocktails? 😉

paqman

GrateEggspectations said:

pgprescott said:

paqman said:

JethroBodeen said:

Guess I'm a luddite too. I'm just happy to have ice and something to put it in. Not much worried about color or lack of.....

The visual appeal is one aspect but the main benefit of clear ice is that it melts slower than regular ice.

Right on. Even the high end ice makers that produce clear ice don’t produce very hard ice and it melts too quickly for the discerning cocktail drinker. The size and hardness of the ice produced is great. Clear is a great aesthetic. 

Just how long are y’all nursing those cocktails? 😉

🤷‍♂️

pgprescott

GrateEggspectations said:

pgprescott said:

paqman said:

JethroBodeen said:

Guess I'm a luddite too. I'm just happy to have ice and something to put it in. Not much worried about color or lack of.....

The visual appeal is one aspect but the main benefit of clear ice is that it melts slower than regular ice.

Right on. Even the high end ice makers that produce clear ice don’t produce very hard ice and it melts too quickly for the discerning cocktail drinker. The size and hardness of the ice produced is great. Clear is a great aesthetic. 

Just how long are y’all nursing those cocktails? 😉

I can get two out of one sphere. The second is nicely preseasoned. 

I bet you could get at least three! 🤪

GrateEggspectations

I bust balls, but it looks like a neat endeavour. Maybe clear ice is in my future. 

nolaegghead

As far as the "directional freezing" goes, in the world of chemistry and material science, I remember studying in college a purification technique called "recrystallization" that is used to remove impurities from chemicals. 

For example, you have a bar of some metal.  You sweep down the bar, melting the metal.  On that boundary where you have melting, the solubility of impurities carries them from one side to the other resulting in a more-pure base material.

This technique is used to purify chemicals, metals and, I believe, sugar.

SonVolt

nolaegghead said:

As far as the "directional freezing" goes, in the world of chemistry and material science, I remember studying in college a purification technique called "recrystallization" that is used to remove impurities from chemicals. 

For example, you have a bar of some metal.  You sweep down the bar, melting the metal.  On that boundary where you have melting, the solubility of impurities carries them from one side to the other resulting in a more-pure base material.

This technique is used to purify chemicals, metals and, I believe, sugar.

I work in the steel industry... I think we dump scrap into the furnaces in a particular order for these reasons. But I'm not a metallurgist so I could be way off. 

alaskanassasin

It’s how I purify beeswax. Heat it to a boil, let it cool and scrape the crap off the bottom.

sumoconnell

I got a clear ice maker.. it makes rectangular cubes that I like.  Some  folks mod the thing and take out the cube slicer( it's just wires) to make a large slab.   

https://www.homedepot.com/p/KitchenAid-18-in-50-lb-Built-In-Ice-Maker-in-PrintShield-Stainless-Steel-KUID508HPS/308704264

I went down the clear ice ball rabbit hole and at the end I was willing to buy an icemaker and be done with it.  We needed a volume ice maker anyway, this has been great.  It is noisy - constantly flowing water and random ice falls.  I wouldn't want it close to a bedroom, I have it in an outdoor kitchen.

paqman

sumoconnell said:

I got a clear ice maker.. it makes rectangular cubes that I like.  Some  folks mod the thing and take out the cube slicer( it's just wires) to make a large slab.   

https://www.homedepot.com/p/KitchenAid-18-in-50-lb-Built-In-Ice-Maker-in-PrintShield-Stainless-Steel-KUID508HPS/308704264

I went down the clear ice ball rabbit hole and at the end I was willing to buy an icemaker and be done with it.  We needed a volume ice maker anyway, this has been great.  It is noisy - constantly flowing water and random ice falls.  I wouldn't want it close to a bedroom, I have it in an outdoor kitchen.

😳

pgprescott

sumoconnell said:

I got a clear ice maker.. it makes rectangular cubes that I like.  Some  folks mod the thing and take out the cube slicer( it's just wires) to make a large slab.   

https://www.homedepot.com/p/KitchenAid-18-in-50-lb-Built-In-Ice-Maker-in-PrintShield-Stainless-Steel-KUID508HPS/308704264

I went down the clear ice ball rabbit hole and at the end I was willing to buy an icemaker and be done with it.  We needed a volume ice maker anyway, this has been great.  It is noisy - constantly flowing water and random ice falls.  I wouldn't want it close to a bedroom, I have it in an outdoor kitchen.

These are great for volume ice but they make “soft” ice. My brother and father both have a Scotsman and I wouldn’t mind having one either. They just don’t produce the larger hard ice that reduce dilution while producing the cooling desired by todays craft cocktail connoisseur. Many of the upscale bars and restaurants produce their own craft ice in their ice room or purchase it from a specialty purveyor. They all have ample access to commercial ice machines.  Believe it or not.