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Experiments in Making Cocktail Ice

alcademics.com

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Re: Experiments in Making Cocktail Ice

#31

Post by leblancfg »

TrainedMonkey wrote: post #17
leblancfg wrote: post #2

Former bartender here. Having nice cocktail ice chunks at home isn't as complex as this might make it seem. No need for a clunky box in your freezer or costly gizmos. I keep a travel-sized coffee thermos in my freezer with about 2-3 inches of water at the bottom. Takes 18-24 hours to create one chunk. If you time it right, 90% of the water freezes, and the water impurities pool at the bottom – pop out the frozen chun…

Water expands when it freezes, in my head thermos is an extremely rigid structure, how do you stop it from rapturing?

Not an issue. It's only partially filled, less than half-way. As it forms, the ice floats and glides up the sides until it's like, 1mm higher than where it started.

Re: Experiments in Making Cocktail Ice

#32

Post by leblancfg »

zygy wrote: post #15
leblancfg wrote: post #2

Former bartender here. Having nice cocktail ice chunks at home isn't as complex as this might make it seem. No need for a clunky box in your freezer or costly gizmos. I keep a travel-sized coffee thermos in my freezer with about 2-3 inches of water at the bottom. Takes 18-24 hours to create one chunk. If you time it right, 90% of the water freezes, and the water impurities pool at the bottom – pop out the frozen chun…

Have a particular one to recommend?

Whatever's cheap and slightly conical – most will do. Worst case you let it sit for ~1h so it melts a little.

From 10 seconds of Googling, something like this: https://browzefactory.com/products/tumbler-stainless-steel-2...

Re: Experiments in Making Cocktail Ice

#33

Post by maherbeg »

I also recommend storing your specialty ice in a brown paper bag. It'll keep for a surprisingly long while without sticking to each other!

I have a premade directional ice kit and make 10 ice cubes per night and then throw them into the paper bags. We never run out of ice for weekend gatherings with this trick.

Re: Experiments in Making Cocktail Ice

#34

Post by burnished »

TrainedMonkey wrote: post #17
leblancfg wrote: post #2

Former bartender here. Having nice cocktail ice chunks at home isn't as complex as this might make it seem. No need for a clunky box in your freezer or costly gizmos. I keep a travel-sized coffee thermos in my freezer with about 2-3 inches of water at the bottom. Takes 18-24 hours to create one chunk. If you time it right, 90% of the water freezes, and the water impurities pool at the bottom – pop out the frozen chun…

Water expands when it freezes, in my head thermos is an extremely rigid structure, how do you stop it from rapturing?

Well you make sure it isnt baptized.

But also as the ice freezes I believe it becomes more buoyant and that rigidity causes the ice to be lifted up when it exerts force on the thermos interior.

Re: Experiments in Making Cocktail Ice

#37

Post by burnished »

Excellent work! I think it was this person that launched my own home ice making journey.

My process is simple and involves freezing in quart containers and then carving with a steak knife and rubber mallet. Watching the freezing process has been neat, at one point I get a shell that could be used as a glass by itself.

This might be covered by the literature but my observation is that the ice becomes cloudy late in the freezing process which makes me suspect the issue is small fractures or imperfections in the crystal as a consequence of mechanical forces - the ice tried to occupy an area that is just a touch too small. This doesn't gel with other folks observations however who see cloudyness before the ice fully finishes freezing.

Re: Experiments in Making Cocktail Ice

#40

Post by KevinGlass »

ir77 wrote: post #14

is it me or pretty much all of those icecubes are infested with air bubbles? i'd think the "cocktail ice" criteria would be to be 100% clear. I make my own ice, usually in the winter, because it's fun when it's -20 outside and i stock pile it in a deep freezer for the remainder of the year. process: + fill a small cooler almost to the top with water + leave the lid open and leave the cooler outside over night, or 2 n…

The author of the website not only describes this exact method but he also invented the method.

If you scroll to the bottom of this page you can see an example of perfect clear, if not smoothed, ice:

https://www.alcademics.com/2017/05/how-to-monogram-your-ice-...

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