Tag: clear

Carved Ice Balls: Starter Molds

Here's a method that gets ice balls started using the cooler method for making clear ice. This comes courtesy of Dave Michalowski, for I saw it on his Facebook page and asked if I could steal his pictures to share. Thanks Dave!

He says, "I am using the round containers for the ice balls. I got them at the Container Store and they work perfectly. I believe they are three inches across and will snuggly fit into most old fashioned glasses. I saw off the end off the cylinder so the air doesn't get trapped in the bottom."

Dave carves his spheres from the cylendars using a Japanese paring knife, something I've not been brave enough to try yet.

An index of all of the ice experiments on Alcademics can be found here.

June 21, 2011
Stovetop Ice Balls: A First Attempt

Now that we know one way to make crystal clear ice, what are we gonna do with it?

One thing I've wanted to attempt is to make ice balls. These can be carved by hand, but that's a lot of work. The big copper ice ball makers make lovely ice balls, but these cost a ton of money. I've been trying to think of a new solution.

When they send bars the copper ice ball makers, they send an ice cube tray that makes a big enough cube to use in it. Unfortunately that tray produces cubes that are cloudy in the center, for reasons described earlier on this site.

I am a big enough nerd that I have brought my own clear ice to a bar that had the ice ball maker to produce a clear ball. It was lovely.

So I made a first attempt at another way of creating ice balls with conventional equipment: The Stovetop Ice Ball Method.

Don't get too excited: So far it doesn't work.

The theory is that I'll start with a clear block of ice and melt it into a heated metal bowl, creating a half-sphere. Then I'll turn it over and make another half sphere joining that one to form a complete sphere.

I bought a bowl at Ikea that's probably four inches in diameter – too big for a glass but fine for an experiment. I sat the block of ice on it, and set the bowl on the stove burner.

Click the link below (if you see one) to keep reading.

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May 5, 2011
Cutting Blocks of Ice with an Icepick

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 Zimmerman and Jim Romdall. During the talk one of them (Evan I think) mentioned how you use an ice pick to cut apart a block of ice the easy way.

I cringed thinking of all the time I'd spent sawing when this way is like 1000 times easier. I hope I can save you from the same fate.

1. Start with your slab of ice. The one in this picture is about 5 inches thick.

2. Tap a line across the top where you want the ice to break. The ice will chip off and form a little groove.

3. Tap in one point in the center. Poke hard. Poke poke poke.

4. The ice should break in two roughly along the line. Hooray!

5. Repeat the process to break it into smaller pieces.

An index of all of the ice experiments on Alcademics can be found here.

November 1, 2010
Does Distilled Water Freeze Clearer than Tap Water?

In my last set of icesperiments, I froze, melted, and refroze (tap) water to see if it became clearer on successive refreezings. It did not.

This time I compared tap water with distilled water to see if one would freeze more clearly than the other. I froze it, then melted and refroze it four more times. Though neither froze super clear, there were differences:

The tap water seems to freeze either clear or not clear, where the distilled water freezes in more of a bubble starburst. But in the end I'd say there's not enough of a difference to matter.

After the break, a closeup of the distilled vs. tap ice.

The icesperiments shall continue!

An index of ice experiments on Alcademics can be found here.

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August 28, 2009