Category: ice

  • Does Refreezing Clear Air-Free Ice Result In a Large Clear Block?

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    This is an experiment in my ongoing project to make clear ice. I've figured out a way to do it using an Igloo cooler. This experiment is an attempt to make clear ice without one.  A long time ago, I tested the theory that freezing, thawing, and refreezing water makes clear ice blocks. After 13…

  • Cutting Blocks of Ice with an Icepick

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    update 2021 Better ice cutting pictures are on this post. To cut the large blocks of clear ice that I make at home using and Igloo cooler (methodology here), I have always busted out the saw I bought for that reason.  However, last week I gave a talk on ice at Portland Cocktail Week with Evan…

  • More Fun with Ice: The Time Bomb

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    The fun with ice continues! In ongoing experiments freezing things in ice, I decided to try freezing food coloring in the middle of an ice cube. Then when the ice melts, the coloring will release and change the drink.  Click on the link below to see how I did it and what happened. 

  • Using Salt Walter as an Insulator to Make Clear Ice

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    This blog post is a continuation of this experiment. In this experiment, I wanted to test out another way to insulate an ice cube tray to make clear ice. Inspired by a comment from another blog entry by a reader named Gael, I decided to try salt water as an insulator rather than just plain…

  • Making Clear Ice Without a Cooler

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    In a set of experiments, I showed that you can make clear ice by controling the direction of freezing. The container I've been using for this is an Igloo cooler. When using it, the ice freezes from the top-down and all the cloudiness in the ice forms at the bottom of the container rather than…

  • Freezing Objects in Ice

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    As you know I've been making clear ice at home. I've got a lot more experimenting to do, but for now I thought I'd try freezing a bottle inside a block. I started with a mini bottle of Chambord, since it's the flashiest one I own. I tied a piece of fishing line around the…

  • A Homemade Giant, Crystal Clear Ice Cube Tray

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    As you're probably aware, I've been dabbling in experiments making clear ice at home. [update: An organized index of ice experiments on Alcademics can be found here.] The way I've found that works best is to freeze ice in an Igloo cooler with the top off. (Please read the post before you tell me to boil…

  • Ice Meets Chainsaw

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    Ice nerds got a real treat this Tuesday, for Andrew Bohrer from Seattle was guest bartending in San Francisco along with Amanda Womack from Cask.  He brought chainsaw Thursday to the city in order to chop up giant blocks of clear ice from an industrial ice maker into big cubes that could be further cut…

  • Percent Cloudiness in Top Frozen Block Ice

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    I'm somewhere along the process of creating an ice cube tray that takes advantage of the top frozen ice that I make in an Igloo cooler. As the cooler lid is off when I freeze water in it, the water freezes from the top down like a pond in winter. The cloudy part of the…

  • The Double Rainbow Cocktail

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    I decided to create a drink to honor the best video of the weekend, "Yosemitebear Mountain Giant Double Rainbow 1-8-10". (Scroll down to see it if you haven't already.) It's guaranteed to make you say, "DOUBLE COMPLETE RAINBOW! What does this MEAN?"   The Double Rainbowby Camper English  1 ounce vodka1 ounce St. Germain elderflower liqueur4…