Behold the Glorious Index of Ice Experiments on Alcademics
March 17, 2014
This is a post to inform you of a new index page of the ice experiments here on Alcademics.com.
Many people come to this site searching for the secret to make clear ice but land on some page halfway though the effort, so hopefully this index will help guide people to an overview so they can skip right ahead to the answer.
The Index of Ice Experiments page is here.
So I love the Alcademics ice posts, which seem to have taken on a bit of a legendary status for people searching for cocktail stuffs on the internet, but everything requires a large freezer and/or cutting large ice cubes, which is quite a hassle.
This simple silicon ice tray - http://www.barproducts.com/perfect-cube-ice-tray-pack-of-2 - causes the water to freeze downward, leaving all the cloudiness and impurities at the bottom of the cube. Drop each cube on a hot skillet, cloudy bit down, for a couple of seconds, and you have a perfectly clear near-cube with way less hassle than all the awesome tech you've figured out.
Your custom tray no doubt creates a better product in the end, but for those of us who don't have the time/freezer space, this is a low-commitment solution to gorgeous old-fashioneds.
Posted by: Dave Grier | March 18, 2014 at 08:23 PM
I don't think the silicone trays force it to freeze downward (it doesn't in my freezer), but your set-up probably does- my guess it is sets upon something insulated-ish and the cold air blows from the top. In any case, I support the easy solution in every situation and you've found it.
Also, it doesn't necessitate having a large freezer, just that you don't waste all that lovely space for ice with food :)
Posted by: Camper English | March 18, 2014 at 08:43 PM
If it helps, I set the trays on the bottom of my freezer, so perhaps it's colder up top causing it to freeze downward? My freezer has a ribbed bottom which caused the trays not to sit flat, so they froze with protrusions on the bottom from the weight of the water and the softness of the trays. I tried to fix this by setting the trays on a cookie sheet and this caused the typical cloudy center, which I imagine is a result of an ice cold cookie sheet sitting underneath the tray. I don't know if these results are repeatable but if they help anyone else, that's my ice voodoo :)
Thanks for the work you've done, ice is truly our most underappreciated ingredient!
Posted by: Dave Grier | March 19, 2014 at 01:25 PM