You can make these arguments about literally any prepackaged product. I’m not defending this ice, but come on. You can make anything yourself, so long as you have the equipment, time, and money. Paying for someone else to have done it for you is about convenience, and is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.
If you’re into making fancy ice, then you can get into making your own purified water using complete combustion. If you’re into making purified water with complete combustion then can get into making your own hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. If you’re into making your own hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen then you can get into making your own universe.
I have a very well stocked home bar and enjoy making fancy cocktails. My tiny ass freezer barely has room for the 5lb bag of ice I keep in there, let alone space for a fuckin mini cooler to make clear ice in. I also lack prep space to carve ice in my kitchen. You can make fancy drinks without fancy ice. It'll still taste the sam, it just won't look as pretty in the glass
Yes... First step buy fancy ice maker that freezes ice in one direction, second step make fancy ice, third step put it in the glass, fourth step pour whiskey on it
these arent occult secrets that take years of study and meditation
You just need to keep the water agitated as it freezes to prevent bubbles forming in it, and they sell machines specifically for this that would pay for themselves in no time over buying pre-made fancy ice cubes. They even have ones that make spheres.
you can also freeze the ice in an insulated container with no lid. that makes air bubbles and impurities collect at the bottom, after which you can cut that part off.
That may help slightly, as it lowers the water’s ability to hold dissolved gasses. So boiling it beforehand will force out a lot of the gas that would have become air bubbles. But it’s not perfect, and results vary a lot. There are two main ways to get clear ice:
Keep it moving while it freezes, so the air bubbles can escape
Insulate it so it only freezes from one direction.
Basically, the air bubbles cause foggy ice. And air bubbles tend to get trapped because water freezes from the outside (where the cold air is touching it) first. This forms a hard shell, which then traps the gas and causes foggy ice. By agitating the water, you ensure that it doesn’t start freezing until all of the water is ready to freeze. It prevents the shell from forming first, meaning gas can escape the center of the cubes as it freezes.
For the second method, by insulating it, you ensure that the water freezes from one direction. For instance, if you fill an ice chest/cooler with water (effectively insulating it from the sides and bottom) and throw it in the freezer without a lid, the top half of the cooler will be clear ice and the bottom will be foggy. Because as the top freezes, the gas is able to escape down towards the bottom of the cooler. So your ice doesn’t get murky until the gas runs out of room at the bottom of the cooler.
That does exactly what I said in the second method. It insulates everything except the top, so it freezes in one direction. So I guess thanks for proving my point?
You win that's right. I read the first part and checked out because it's Rube Goldberg clear ice. Directional freezing is the way and everything else is stupid noise.
The practical answer is directional freezing. Put the mold for the thing you want to be clear in a small cooler (or buy an insulated mold thing), be sure there is a hole in the bottom, fill it with water and put it in your deep freezer. Voilà clear ice for whatever purpose.
You don't need to agitate it or boil it or use special water, just use tap water and the right set up and it works fine.
A bartender I worked with made his in a little igloo cooler, of course then you one big block that you have to cut into functionally-sized cubes. But he would also do cool shit like suspend pine needles into it the block so each cube had a little sprig coming out of it after they were frozen and cut.
It's not hard, it just isn't particularly efficient or convenient. The standard method is to use a bunch more water that you want to become actual ice, make it in large insulated blocks, then chop at the end. I have a little insulated tray that makes two at a time. They come out pretty clear, but at least half the water used is essentially waste to create a clear cube. The top half being still ice, but full of little bubbles, not clear. If I was throwing a party, as people are want to do on summer weekends, and I wanted many many big clear ice cubes then I'd seriously consider buying a box load.
To get clear ice you have to freeze it slowly, basically just at the freezing mark (32°C/0°F) which is a warmer temperature than most people have their freezer set to. It's not difficult in an objective sense, it just requires rubbing a couple of brain cells together and a tiny morsel of effort which is apparently more than a lot of people can muster.
No. You need to freeze in in an insulated container with only one side exposed so it all freezes in 1 direction. Impurities get pushed to the opposite side and you are left with clear ice.
I had a few bourbons last night and over-commented to be sure. Mea culpa. I spent quite a lot of time learning to make clear ice and I had to navigate all of this BS to get to the easy solution.
As a critique of your comment, I didn't resort to ad hominem I was talking about the comments themselves.
At the same time, there's a little bit of pot and kettle action going on here which is not lost on me.
I left literally one comment on this entire thread, if that's the same as me having my knickers in a twist and calling people dumb as shit for having methods that differ from my own, then I guess I'm a pot.
Did I call it an ad hominem? Not all insults are ad hominems. "You're wrong because you're dumb as shit" is an ad hominem. "You're dumb as shit because you're wrong" isn't.
You didn't premise your conclusions upon the insults, so I wouldn't call them ad hominems. It's still an overreaction though, not to mention unnecessarily rude.
Go reread. I never called anyone "dumb as shit", just the comments. Rude? Sure I'll own that though.
I'm pretty sure you left more comments than one on what I wrote. Your commentary sure has the feel of "pretty worked up" but I won't pretend to be a psychologist and tell you it's a sign of mental illness: that's a thing that's reserved for real assholes on the Internet.
Edit: Yeah I left 4 comments in one chain and you got me twice. Seems like you have the same kind of itch to comment when the mood strikes. If you've got an excuse I'm sure I'll hear about it.
Believe it or not some of us like pretty things to enjoy for ourselves, not to put on social media.
And big clear ice melts more consistently in a way that better maintains coldness longer while maintaining a slower pace of dilution. It does make a difference to flavor.
Some towns still get water to their houses through leaded pipes. This is the most economical way for those people to get water. Others don't trust their water even if it technically meets EPA standards. And some places just have water that tastes really bad.
Most of America gets water from a tap and maybe filters it.
Others don't trust their water even if it technically meets EPA standards.
Less "don't trust the water", more "don't trust the EPA". And under this administration, who can blame them.
It's a shame that our options are "Lead and PFAS" or "Microplastics and probably PFAS" (not to mention the plastic waste itself and the wild inefficiencies of transporting water by fucking truck of all things)
I happen to live where the tap water is excellent. It's from ancient, underground aquifers. The only issue is a little bit high arsenic, which I filter out, but that's not really necessary, I've been told.
It's not sustainable, eventually the water will run out, but for now, it's pretty good.
So, no, this American doesn't buy water in plastic jugs.
Mine expects me to filter literal shit out. More months than not we get boil orders for "high fecal coloform bacteria". And the notices come weeks after the testing; so that always makes you feel good.
They probably have a well, this no water company. My water is crazy high in iron and manganese, our softener needs to be replaced and a new filter needs to be installed before we can drink from our well. Pain in the ass but at least all our grey water is cost of pumping electricity only.
Have you never heard of such a concept? Some people do it because they are going camping or in case the water goes out in a storm or rarely if the water from the tap is of dubious quality.
I grew up in a farmhouse that had contaminated well water. We got all of our drinking and cooking water from jugs. It fucking sucked because it was inconvenient as hell
I mean, yeah of course, but preparing camping supplies and going for groceries seems not quite the same thing.
As a European, being longer than maybe a weekend cut off from external help (or the general concept of a natural disaster as a possible occurence) is not really a thing. Worst that happens is some flooding near rivers and the coast on rare occasions.
Dubious water quality is also not a problem people have to deal with on a frequent basis, at least in germany. You can give your landlord major shit if you don't have access to proper, clean water. (If you own your place it is your problem of course)
Putting aside for now, the fact that making crystal clear ice requires specially filtered water that is very carefully and slowly frozen with fancy equipment.
The real question is why does anyone think this is what they need in life. They only people I have seen that insist on such things are whisk(e)y snobs that drink their whisk(e)y on the rocks. They claim that cloudy ice has impurities in it that affects the flavor of the drink.
While technically they are maybe correct, my reply is-- "Shut up and drink your whisk(e)y neat like God and the Irish meant it to be consumed. The water is already in it."
Noe that the water can just be tap, and the equipment isn't super fancy. If the water looks clear, you can make clear ice from it.
It's called directional freezing, you stick water in freezer insulated on all sides so that it freezes from the top down instead of outside in.
If you have larger ice, you'll see the white stuff is in the middle, the last area to freeze. Directional freezing causes that to be at an end instead of in the center, and you either pull out the ice before the end freezes, ideally, or cut off the end.
I have an ice mold that doess this and it provides break off points to break the clear ice off the unclear ice.
It does take a while though and the bulky insulation takes a lot of room in the freezer.
You need proper water to start. The high iron and calcium laden water that comes out of my well won't ever make clear ice without some serious filtration. And the proper freezing it is a slow process that takes extra time and effort.
Personally, I can't be bothered. My cloudy ice cools my iced tea just fine without any extra effort.
I love this comment. On one hand I don't hate the idea that this exists and it's an obscure aesthetic thing. If someone wants to make super fancy cocktails then fine, whatever. On the other hand,
“Shut up and drink your whisk(e)y neat like God and the Irish meant it to be consumed. The water is already in it.”
I was being a bit tongue in cheek there. After all, it's your whisk(e)y and not mine. So have it as you want it. But just don't be a snob about it. It's just the Water of Life.
I don't know, I've also heard that a few drops of water "opens up" the whiskey. My dad was an alcoholic who loved whiskey. He would order it with a few drops of water. Ice would do the same thing.
Yes, a few drops, and I mean drops, of water can change the flavors of the whisk(e)y. It really doesn't matter to me. Depending on the water you might use can matter also. "Branch water" is historically the water used by bourbon drinkers. Branch water refers to using the same water that was used to make the bourbon to add to your glass. I have no idea if it matters or not. But that's folktale.
Adding ice can do the same thing along with dulling flavors due to the chilling of the bourbon, except melting ice is not under control. It goes from perfect to just a bad glass of water as it melts over time.
Not such fancy equipment. I used to make it in a lunchbox cooler with our very hard tap water; that eventually cracked but I have been rocking one of these for a decade now.
I would agree about those cubes. The problem with them is you often only get 2 in a set. Making it hard to share with friends.
Bourbon is a different drinking experience than Scotch. Bourbon is generally bottled between 2 and 6 years giving it more 'bite'. This is due to the new oak barrels that must be used and the warmer climate. Scotch is barely getting started by that point. Since they mostly use used bourbon barrels that coupled with a cooler overall climate, imparts a 'smoother' flavor.
Using ice dulls some of the flavors and as it melts dilutes the whisk(e)y to take the edges off the bourbon. A decent scotch or Irish doesn't need ice.
Because doing things a scale every day makes it way harder than your 4 cubes. I while I would never buy their ice cubes, I can see why they charge the ridiculous price they do.
I got square ice cubes if I want them. They might not be as pretty as these clear cubes, but they do the same thing, cool and dilute whatever you are drinking.
The argument can be made, (and I wouldn't fight you too hard on it), that I'm an uncouth barbarian, and I will never understand. But I just don't think it's something people really need, and they can easily live without.
Side note: That would make an excellent exposition for an apocalyptic horror, like a zombie film. Some industry billionaire infects themselves with a parasite or virus that's been dorment for millions of years...
"This summer, the rich fuck over humanity one last time..."
That's absolutely why it's being sold. I bet some high end bars just purchase ice like this in bulk. Not surprising they thought there would be a consumer market for fancy ice as well.
I've tried it, I've worked with several cocktail bars and bartenders on this, everyone I talk to who actually has to do it can agree it doesn't actually work. The companies that produce this ice are using directional freezing, not simple boiling.
And to OP's point that this is supposed to represent some kind of collapse of society, I'm pretty sure that boiling water before freezing is much more wasteful of energy than just directional freezing.
When it's 2 for $1 or something it's fine if you're out. This crap where they filter it pure then add back in the same shit shit took out and charge you $25 is insane.
Until you need like 1000L at once or 10kg of ice.
Go find place in your freezer to cool down 10L of clear ice.
Spoiler: This won't be only 10L of space you will need.
Idk what you are trying to tell me in response to my parent comment.
My point was that bulk amounts of ice or water in bulk has it's needs even if you could run the tap for 1000L into a water dispenser.
Having it quick and accessible vs having it cheap(er) and labor/resource intensive (after all, 1000L of water doesn't freeze for free)
It comes in two pieces, a bottom tray, and a grid that is hinged and has a handle. Then, to break the ice, you just torque the handle, which shifts the grid angle, forcing each cube to move and come free. Works best if you move the ice to a different container at this point but you don't have to.
If you do a search for "metal ice tray", it should come up in the images (to avoid linking an amazon image).
I like it better than the plastic trays for this. Both can be a pain in the ass but in different ways. Plastic trays can snap when you bend them (haven't had one snap in half but I have had one snap some of the structural supports) and often the ice just settles back in its place after you loosen it and you need to "bounce" it a bit until the ice turns in the cavity so you can grab it. With the metal tray, it doesn't just free the ice easily when you break it (though still easier than the bouncing game) and if you lift the grid part out, you'll probably need to use a different container or just leave the grid off until you make new ice.
It's to minimize surface area, making water dilution in cocktails a slower process. An ice sphere would be ideal for this but it's better than ice from your freezer in that specific task.
Here in Europe you'd see expensive SUVs, like Porsches and Range Rovers, parked outside the Aldi all the time. Lot's of rich people are penny pinchers especially old money who inherited their money. They would probably buy these ice cubes if they have to impress their friends with their Japanese whiskey that they only drink when guests are at their home.
Lol I saw these at my Aldi too. It's pretty dumb at first but I have seen ice cubes for sale at liquor stores for making mixed drinks.
Regular tap water usually doesn't make perfectly clear ice and most trays are a lot smaller than 1.8" cubes. I wonder if the tray is reusable? If you were planning on a cocktail night and knew what you were looking for, this might not be as dumb of a buy as you think, especially if it was a one-time need.
It just looks especially silly at Aldi, a grocery store that prides itself on affordable products and doesn't sell liquor lol
Yeah, you want it to freeze on one end first to push out the bubbles. And even then it just pushes the bubbles to one end so you'd have to chip/cut away at them if you want perfectly clear ice.
I have molds for that style ice cube and I can't be arsed to use them, let alone care about the bubbles.
The trays to make clear ice usually have a compartment that's sacrificial (where the non-clear part of the ice goes and is cut off) from what I've seen.
Yeah, there's no better way than directional freezing. Either you freeze big old slabs in a way that pushes the dissolved gases (and many dissolved solids) away from the crystal structure of slowly freezing ice and then cut it after the fact, or you directionally freeze something that has an outlet to push the gases down so that you pull the frozen ice from the top compartment before the bottom compartment freezes.
one big cube won't melt nearly as fast as several smaller ones, so your 'beverage' won't get watered-down as much.
and yea. it is a silly item for aldi. might just be one of those "we'll see if it sells or not" things. they often have odd things there that never come back.
You don't get the giant cubes the fancy folks like at the gas station. These are those giant cubes you use for whiskey and shit. Personally if I was into that I'd just buy the stainless steel cubes you can just freeze
Sometime ago I went to a friend's house and they had that exact product, but it was a pre-melted version. Saves a lot of time. We used it to make all kinds of drinks.
I mean, when we had hard water we just put it through a tap mounted filter. Not sure why anyone needs water to be clearer than that.
I'm firmly in the camp that if you're so concerned with appearances that you need to buy special ice cubes for a party, you need to reassess priorities.
I have two regular-sized ice cube trays from the same people, that I’ve been using for the last six years or so, and they are perfectly satisfactory. FWIW
At one time I owned some brightly colored, ping pong ball sized refreezable drink coolers. They were plastic and good for slightly less then one drink. Someone actually bought them at a yard sale I had.
I love how that article fails to provide any actual pictures of clear ice. and the only picture they do include was made in the fancy directional tray and absolutely has non-mineral turbulance :)
I knew someone at a bar who would use 4 foot lengths of PVC tubes. They'd fill the tubes and freeze them. The bottom half would be clear and the top half would have all of the impurities etc. (or maybe the other way?). The dirty half would get smashed for the well and the clear part would get polished into spheres.
Tell me more about how freezing water is the end of civilization.
Just because people are paying a premium for it doesn't make it any worse than the bags of ice at the grocery store.
Ice was one of the first things humans used to keep things cold, and was super important on the path to refrigeration and freezing.
While I know a lot of technologies are overused, and capitalism twists them to disgusting ends, but refrigeration is a massive boon for making food last longer. Most American families just have ones far larger than they need and as such they end up wasting food instead of getting fresh food regularly and using it all up before it goes bad in the fridge. I personally enjoy a small fridge.
Also, freezers and refrigeration are an integral part of the medical sciences.
Anyway, personal opinion, this is pretty innocuous compared to like, jet travel between Seattle and Portland.
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If you are into fancy looking cocktails this product makes sense. Making clear ice cubes at home is not easy.
If you are into making fancy cocktails then you can get into making fancy ice
You can make these arguments about literally any prepackaged product. I’m not defending this ice, but come on. You can make anything yourself, so long as you have the equipment, time, and money. Paying for someone else to have done it for you is about convenience, and is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.
Almost done making my ISS, shouldn't be too many leaks when I'm done with it. I'm using the expensive duct tape after all.
SMH my head, of course you should be making the duct tape yourself 🙂↔️
If you’re into making fancy ice, then you can get into making your own purified water using complete combustion. If you’re into making purified water with complete combustion then can get into making your own hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. If you’re into making your own hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen then you can get into making your own universe.
I think I did it wrong, I ended up with an apple pie.
Mine turned into people. Oh, god :(
Référence for those who dont know : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s664NsLeFM
Shit, what do I do now? I think I've just become God of my own pocket universe.
Edit: I watched The magicians once, but most of what they did didn't seem to work out.
I have a very well stocked home bar and enjoy making fancy cocktails. My tiny ass freezer barely has room for the 5lb bag of ice I keep in there, let alone space for a fuckin mini cooler to make clear ice in. I also lack prep space to carve ice in my kitchen. You can make fancy drinks without fancy ice. It'll still taste the sam, it just won't look as pretty in the glass
One step at a time
Yes... First step buy fancy ice maker that freezes ice in one direction, second step make fancy ice, third step put it in the glass, fourth step pour whiskey on it
these arent occult secrets that take years of study and meditation
There's even a market for small scale, at home ice makers like this. They're pricey certainly but not as stupid as paying $5 for ICE.
Worth noting that the fancy ice maker is just like a 30 dollar ice tray, with insulation and silicone mold.
It does take a long time to make a little ice compared to normal freezing.
You just need to keep the water agitated as it freezes to prevent bubbles forming in it, and they sell machines specifically for this that would pay for themselves in no time over buying pre-made fancy ice cubes. They even have ones that make spheres.
you can also freeze the ice in an insulated container with no lid. that makes air bubbles and impurities collect at the bottom, after which you can cut that part off.
You are the only person in the thread to get this right. Nobody else actually has done it and it shows.
Or be lazy and put that side on the bottom of the glass.
yeah but then your drink will taste like silt
Isn't this the reason for using hot water to make ice?
That may help slightly, as it lowers the water’s ability to hold dissolved gasses. So boiling it beforehand will force out a lot of the gas that would have become air bubbles. But it’s not perfect, and results vary a lot. There are two main ways to get clear ice:
Basically, the air bubbles cause foggy ice. And air bubbles tend to get trapped because water freezes from the outside (where the cold air is touching it) first. This forms a hard shell, which then traps the gas and causes foggy ice. By agitating the water, you ensure that it doesn’t start freezing until all of the water is ready to freeze. It prevents the shell from forming first, meaning gas can escape the center of the cubes as it freezes.
For the second method, by insulating it, you ensure that the water freezes from one direction. For instance, if you fill an ice chest/cooler with water (effectively insulating it from the sides and bottom) and throw it in the freezer without a lid, the top half of the cooler will be clear ice and the bottom will be foggy. Because as the top freezes, the gas is able to escape down towards the bottom of the cooler. So your ice doesn’t get murky until the gas runs out of room at the bottom of the cooler.
That does exactly what I said in the second method. It insulates everything except the top, so it freezes in one direction. So I guess thanks for proving my point?
You win that's right. I read the first part and checked out because it's Rube Goldberg clear ice. Directional freezing is the way and everything else is stupid noise.
This is overly complicated.
The practical answer is directional freezing. Put the mold for the thing you want to be clear in a small cooler (or buy an insulated mold thing), be sure there is a hole in the bottom, fill it with water and put it in your deep freezer. Voilà clear ice for whatever purpose.
You don't need to agitate it or boil it or use special water, just use tap water and the right set up and it works fine.
Each of those things uses physics.
Sounds like work. People buying this ice likely either don’t care or don’t want to spend the time.
I’d never buy this, because I don’t even use ice, and if I did, I wouldn’t care about its shape. Seems silly to me.
But I can’t disparage anyone who sees that market, and that means it’s worth doing as a business, to some degree, probably.
A bartender I worked with made his in a little igloo cooler, of course then you one big block that you have to cut into functionally-sized cubes. But he would also do cool shit like suspend pine needles into it the block so each cube had a little sprig coming out of it after they were frozen and cut.
why is it hard to make?
It's not hard, it just isn't particularly efficient or convenient. The standard method is to use a bunch more water that you want to become actual ice, make it in large insulated blocks, then chop at the end. I have a little insulated tray that makes two at a time. They come out pretty clear, but at least half the water used is essentially waste to create a clear cube. The top half being still ice, but full of little bubbles, not clear. If I was throwing a party, as people are want to do on summer weekends, and I wanted many many big clear ice cubes then I'd seriously consider buying a box load.
thanks for this explanation too
To get clear ice you have to freeze it slowly, basically just at the freezing mark (32°C/0°F) which is a warmer temperature than most people have their freezer set to. It's not difficult in an objective sense, it just requires rubbing a couple of brain cells together and a tiny morsel of effort which is apparently more than a lot of people can muster.
alr ty, i was too lazy to search the question and i was not bothered to use AI for this.
Isn't it as simple as just boiling the water and then freezing it?
No. You need to freeze in in an insulated container with only one side exposed so it all freezes in 1 direction. Impurities get pushed to the opposite side and you are left with clear ice.
This is the answer. Directional freezing creates clear ice.
There are so many dumb as shit comments in this thread about agitating and boiling and purifying water and you've got the actual answer, thank you.
There are more ways than 1 to do it. Yours is not the only way of doing it. Though it is the most inexpensive.
You've really got your knickers in a twist over this. Is this something deeply personal to you?
Calling people "dumb as shit" cause they have different methods than yours is wildly arrogant, and doing is so incessantly touches on mental illness.
I had a few bourbons last night and over-commented to be sure. Mea culpa. I spent quite a lot of time learning to make clear ice and I had to navigate all of this BS to get to the easy solution.
As a critique of your comment, I didn't resort to ad hominem I was talking about the comments themselves.
At the same time, there's a little bit of pot and kettle action going on here which is not lost on me.
Have a great day.
"pot and kettle"
I left literally one comment on this entire thread, if that's the same as me having my knickers in a twist and calling people dumb as shit for having methods that differ from my own, then I guess I'm a pot.
Did I call it an ad hominem? Not all insults are ad hominems. "You're wrong because you're dumb as shit" is an ad hominem. "You're dumb as shit because you're wrong" isn't.
You didn't premise your conclusions upon the insults, so I wouldn't call them ad hominems. It's still an overreaction though, not to mention unnecessarily rude.
Go reread. I never called anyone "dumb as shit", just the comments. Rude? Sure I'll own that though.
I'm pretty sure you left more comments than one on what I wrote. Your commentary sure has the feel of "pretty worked up" but I won't pretend to be a psychologist and tell you it's a sign of mental illness: that's a thing that's reserved for real assholes on the Internet.
Edit: Yeah I left 4 comments in one chain and you got me twice. Seems like you have the same kind of itch to comment when the mood strikes. If you've got an excuse I'm sure I'll hear about it.
Packaging makes sense, too. We’ve been buying bagged ice forever. In this case, your ice has stricter quality control.
I have no need for this, but there’s clearly a market for it. I can’t disparage anyone for finding a market.
You don't need a separate production chain made specifically for your homemade drink to look fancy on your auntie's photo!
Believe it or not some of us like pretty things to enjoy for ourselves, not to put on social media.
And big clear ice melts more consistently in a way that better maintains coldness longer while maintaining a slower pace of dilution. It does make a difference to flavor.
I'd view it as handy thermal mass, useful when shipping other frozen items.
That box is a bit easier to stack than a bag of ice like most other grocery stores have.
And much more expensive.
I'd drink pisswater ice before I'd pay 5$ for 4 fucking ice cubes.
It emphatically is easy... But a clear ice mold for the less than 5 dollars and make unlimited cubes.
You obviously haven't actually tried it, else you wouldn't write this, so why talk?
My store also have Unfrozen Ice Cubes
Americans buy water in plastic jugs??
Not always. Sometimes we buy them in little plastic bottles in packs of 24-48!
Some towns still get water to their houses through leaded pipes. This is the most economical way for those people to get water. Others don't trust their water even if it technically meets EPA standards. And some places just have water that tastes really bad.
Most of America gets water from a tap and maybe filters it.
Less "don't trust the water", more "don't trust the EPA". And under this administration, who can blame them.
It's a shame that our options are "Lead and PFAS" or "Microplastics and probably PFAS" (not to mention the plastic waste itself and the wild inefficiencies of transporting water by fucking truck of all things)
What, you Europers just drink it from the ground? Where the dirt is? Like savages?
Water? Like from the toilet?
Atleast its not like from the toilet.
It still ain't got dem electrolytes.
I'm from Austria. My tap water comes from the mountains. ⛰️ 💦
We use bottles... But yes, generally you can just drink your tap water.
Only artisanal wooden buckets for you then?
Mine comes from 347 feet below my yard.
You must get your water out the toilet
I happen to live where the tap water is excellent. It's from ancient, underground aquifers. The only issue is a little bit high arsenic, which I filter out, but that's not really necessary, I've been told.
It's not sustainable, eventually the water will run out, but for now, it's pretty good.
So, no, this American doesn't buy water in plastic jugs.
Wait, there’s arsenic and the customer has to filter it out? What do the water company do then?
Mine expects me to filter literal shit out. More months than not we get boil orders for "high fecal coloform bacteria". And the notices come weeks after the testing; so that always makes you feel good.
They probably have a well, this no water company. My water is crazy high in iron and manganese, our softener needs to be replaced and a new filter needs to be installed before we can drink from our well. Pain in the ass but at least all our grey water is cost of pumping electricity only.
Did you miss the part where the mention it was a safe level?
Sometimes it's safer that way https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis
we also import the ones that sells it in fancy glass bottles that are usually more elaborate.
Drinkable tapwater must be socialism
Have you never heard of such a concept? Some people do it because they are going camping or in case the water goes out in a storm or rarely if the water from the tap is of dubious quality.
I grew up in a farmhouse that had contaminated well water. We got all of our drinking and cooking water from jugs. It fucking sucked because it was inconvenient as hell
I mean, yeah of course, but preparing camping supplies and going for groceries seems not quite the same thing.
As a European, being longer than maybe a weekend cut off from external help (or the general concept of a natural disaster as a possible occurence) is not really a thing. Worst that happens is some flooding near rivers and the coast on rare occasions.
Dubious water quality is also not a problem people have to deal with on a frequent basis, at least in germany. You can give your landlord major shit if you don't have access to proper, clean water. (If you own your place it is your problem of course)
What I'm getting at is these large plastic jugs of water are not just purchased routinely by the majority of the population when grocery shopping.
I keep a couple jugs around for in case we lose power. We're on well water and without power we don't have tap water.
I need to get a bunch of "fresh, never frozen" stickers to put on bagged ice.
“Vegan” stickers on a bag of ice would be silly
Certified gluten free!
which is basically tapwater that is either reverse osmosis, or distilled.
Putting aside for now, the fact that making crystal clear ice requires specially filtered water that is very carefully and slowly frozen with fancy equipment.
The real question is why does anyone think this is what they need in life. They only people I have seen that insist on such things are whisk(e)y snobs that drink their whisk(e)y on the rocks. They claim that cloudy ice has impurities in it that affects the flavor of the drink.
While technically they are maybe correct, my reply is-- "Shut up and drink your whisk(e)y neat like God and the Irish meant it to be consumed. The water is already in it."
Noe that the water can just be tap, and the equipment isn't super fancy. If the water looks clear, you can make clear ice from it.
It's called directional freezing, you stick water in freezer insulated on all sides so that it freezes from the top down instead of outside in.
If you have larger ice, you'll see the white stuff is in the middle, the last area to freeze. Directional freezing causes that to be at an end instead of in the center, and you either pull out the ice before the end freezes, ideally, or cut off the end.
I have an ice mold that doess this and it provides break off points to break the clear ice off the unclear ice.
It does take a while though and the bulky insulation takes a lot of room in the freezer.
You need proper water to start. The high iron and calcium laden water that comes out of my well won't ever make clear ice without some serious filtration. And the proper freezing it is a slow process that takes extra time and effort.
Personally, I can't be bothered. My cloudy ice cools my iced tea just fine without any extra effort.
I love this comment. On one hand I don't hate the idea that this exists and it's an obscure aesthetic thing. If someone wants to make super fancy cocktails then fine, whatever. On the other hand,
Love it
I was being a bit tongue in cheek there. After all, it's your whisk(e)y and not mine. So have it as you want it. But just don't be a snob about it. It's just the Water of Life.
I don't know, I've also heard that a few drops of water "opens up" the whiskey. My dad was an alcoholic who loved whiskey. He would order it with a few drops of water. Ice would do the same thing.
I was recently in a pub which had water bottles from the different regions of Scotland, so you could add drops of the same water it was made from.
Also, a pipette to exactly measure the amount of water added. It was excellent.
That would be completely wasted on me, but very cool.
Yes, a few drops, and I mean drops, of water can change the flavors of the whisk(e)y. It really doesn't matter to me. Depending on the water you might use can matter also. "Branch water" is historically the water used by bourbon drinkers. Branch water refers to using the same water that was used to make the bourbon to add to your glass. I have no idea if it matters or not. But that's folktale.
Adding ice can do the same thing along with dulling flavors due to the chilling of the bourbon, except melting ice is not under control. It goes from perfect to just a bad glass of water as it melts over time.
Not such fancy equipment. I used to make it in a lunchbox cooler with our very hard tap water; that eventually cracked but I have been rocking one of these for a decade now.
https://www.clearlyfrozen.com/
All you need is directional freezing. My ice comes out crystal clear in big ol' blocks like that.
To be fair - I would charge $5 a tray too. It takes a day & a half and space in my freezer. But it is an easy, cheap, and fun hobby
But then these cooled-down granite cubes are better because they don't dilute the liquor.
BTW why drink Americans their Whisky with ice? I've never seen that in Scotland.
I would agree about those cubes. The problem with them is you often only get 2 in a set. Making it hard to share with friends.
Bourbon is a different drinking experience than Scotch. Bourbon is generally bottled between 2 and 6 years giving it more 'bite'. This is due to the new oak barrels that must be used and the warmer climate. Scotch is barely getting started by that point. Since they mostly use used bourbon barrels that coupled with a cooler overall climate, imparts a 'smoother' flavor.
Using ice dulls some of the flavors and as it melts dilutes the whisk(e)y to take the edges off the bourbon. A decent scotch or Irish doesn't need ice.
I drink literally everything on ice right now because
But also do like whiskey better diluted, I can taste it better when it's not so strong. Stretched out I can enjoy it.
You don't need specialized equipment. It's easy enough to be done at home.
definitely just for astethic reasons
Well it looks nice too so if you host a party I get it
You just need tap water, a plastic insulated lunchbox and a timer.
Now do it at a commercial scale.
Why? I only want 4 cubes.
Because doing things a scale every day makes it way harder than your 4 cubes. I while I would never buy their ice cubes, I can see why they charge the ridiculous price they do.
That's interesting. I popped into this thread to help figure out why some of my ice was extra clear.
I think this batch froze slowly. Thanks
Right‽
Sometimes you want to entertain and square ice cubes are a nice touch
I got square ice cubes if I want them. They might not be as pretty as these clear cubes, but they do the same thing, cool and dilute whatever you are drinking.
The argument can be made, (and I wouldn't fight you too hard on it), that I'm an uncouth barbarian, and I will never understand. But I just don't think it's something people really need, and they can easily live without.
Why would I buy frozen ice cubes? I have no time to microwave, I'd rather buy fresh ones
You need to try the grass fed free range ice cubes.
I have fresh ice cubes every day, so I literally had a tap of the stuff installed in my kitchen.
I get mine freeze dried, it's so convenient.
So you basically just have to add water and it's done? Nice!
"Enlarged to show detail"?? Wow
Title of your sex tape
Why don't they just put these things into the ocean and solve global warming?
ONCE AND FOR ALL!!
Bad news, everybody!
Is this a freezing kit or actual ice? Because freezing your own ice that looks like that can be difficult.
It appears to be in the freezer so I'd say it's 100% actual ice.
Ew. I like my ice fresh.
I like my ice millions of years old so I have it flown in from a glacier I'd never touch cheap shit from aldi that's for the low class folk.
The longer it's been frozen, the fewer times it's been pee.
Side note: That would make an excellent exposition for an apocalyptic horror, like a zombie film. Some industry billionaire infects themselves with a parasite or virus that's been dorment for millions of years...
"This summer, the rich fuck over humanity one last time..."
That's absolutely why it's being sold. I bet some high end bars just purchase ice like this in bulk. Not surprising they thought there would be a consumer market for fancy ice as well.
Here's a video showing how it's made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET8mqVGDQ1s
Sweet, thanks for this, I was curious but had never researched.
Fancy ice is definitely a thing, you can do it at home but not that easily
They do sell machines for at home use but they're 100s of dollars for a few cubes a day.
You can just boil water and get it pretty clear or boil distilled water and get it really clear.
That doesn't work. Pouring boiled water into trays still doesn't get all the dissolved gases out.
Same with distilled water. It's dissolved air, not solids, that cause the cloudiness.
Boiling the water gets the dissolved gases out though.
Look, if you can pull it off, great.
I've tried it, I've worked with several cocktail bars and bartenders on this, everyone I talk to who actually has to do it can agree it doesn't actually work. The companies that produce this ice are using directional freezing, not simple boiling.
And to OP's point that this is supposed to represent some kind of collapse of society, I'm pretty sure that boiling water before freezing is much more wasteful of energy than just directional freezing.
I remember when buying bottled water seemed ridiculous.
It still does to me
When it's 2 for $1 or something it's fine if you're out. This crap where they filter it pure then add back in the same shit shit took out and charge you $25 is insane.
Until you need like 1000L at once or 10kg of ice.
Go find place in your freezer to cool down 10L of clear ice.
Spoiler: This won't be only 10L of space you will need.
But they don't stock 10l of them. 10l of ice has always been available in like the freezer in the front of a store. For parties and shit.
Idk what you are trying to tell me in response to my parent comment.
My point was that bulk amounts of ice or water in bulk has it's needs even if you could run the tap for 1000L into a water dispenser. Having it quick and accessible vs having it cheap(er) and labor/resource intensive (after all, 1000L of water doesn't freeze for free)
Ultra pure slow melting.... ok... it melts just like regular water
Extra micro plastics infused for the smooth slower melt
Though if you're using a plastic ice cube tray to make ice cubes, there's a good chance you're bringing your own microplastics.
Source: got a metal ice cube tray and noticed that weird "old ice" flavour and subtle sheen on the drink surface as it melted is no longer there.
The old ice flavor is bacterial biofilm on the plastic tray, metal is easier to clean
Any nutritional value to that biofilm?
Are you able to twist the metal ones to free the ice? The flexibility of plastic makes that the best way to free the cubes.
It comes in two pieces, a bottom tray, and a grid that is hinged and has a handle. Then, to break the ice, you just torque the handle, which shifts the grid angle, forcing each cube to move and come free. Works best if you move the ice to a different container at this point but you don't have to.
If you do a search for "metal ice tray", it should come up in the images (to avoid linking an amazon image).
I like it better than the plastic trays for this. Both can be a pain in the ass but in different ways. Plastic trays can snap when you bend them (haven't had one snap in half but I have had one snap some of the structural supports) and often the ice just settles back in its place after you loosen it and you need to "bounce" it a bit until the ice turns in the cavity so you can grab it. With the metal tray, it doesn't just free the ice easily when you break it (though still easier than the bouncing game) and if you lift the grid part out, you'll probably need to use a different container or just leave the grid off until you make new ice.
Probably a true claim, because surface area
It's to minimize surface area, making water dilution in cocktails a slower process. An ice sphere would be ideal for this but it's better than ice from your freezer in that specific task.
Who is this person? Is he the same guy spending thousands on a free game?
Here in Europe you'd see expensive SUVs, like Porsches and Range Rovers, parked outside the Aldi all the time. Lot's of rich people are penny pinchers especially old money who inherited their money. They would probably buy these ice cubes if they have to impress their friends with their Japanese whiskey that they only drink when guests are at their home.
Block ice can cost that. But it also lasts 10 days in the right cooler.
This is an impulse buy
I wouldn't be surprised if this made a real debut
Frozen water... 🤔
This is the name of a place in the Netherlands, I tried to Google these cubes but no luck, I'm very curious.
Ecosia seems to have done better: this appears to be a bit from "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt", a Netflix show.
Duckduckgo also managed to find it quick
It is also the place Brooklyn is named after
What the fuck....... My co worker put a video of this.... On snap like 11 hours ago from Aldi's. Like, this could be a screen grab of it.
They're 4 square cubes of clear ice and Aldi wants like $5 for them.
These work so much better than the unfrozen ice cubes they sold last week.
Bro, I'll mail you 4 for $4. You just freeze it again once it shows up. HMU if interested.
Do you provide the square mold for refreezing, or do I need to purchase that separately?
*Mold sold separately
Ha. It says "keep frozen."
Lol I saw these at my Aldi too. It's pretty dumb at first but I have seen ice cubes for sale at liquor stores for making mixed drinks.
Regular tap water usually doesn't make perfectly clear ice and most trays are a lot smaller than 1.8" cubes. I wonder if the tray is reusable? If you were planning on a cocktail night and knew what you were looking for, this might not be as dumb of a buy as you think, especially if it was a one-time need.
It just looks especially silly at Aldi, a grocery store that prides itself on affordable products and doesn't sell liquor lol
Tap water can make clear ice. It’s a matter of how it’s chilled.
Yeah, you want it to freeze on one end first to push out the bubbles. And even then it just pushes the bubbles to one end so you'd have to chip/cut away at them if you want perfectly clear ice.
I have molds for that style ice cube and I can't be arsed to use them, let alone care about the bubbles.
or you can keep water moving and cool from one side only, then remove water from above when you're done, no need to chip away bubbly ice
I think before babying my ice cube tray for a day I'd just buy 4 for $5 when I want clear ice.
The trays to make clear ice usually have a compartment that's sacrificial (where the non-clear part of the ice goes and is cut off) from what I've seen.
Yeah, there's no better way than directional freezing. Either you freeze big old slabs in a way that pushes the dissolved gases (and many dissolved solids) away from the crystal structure of slowly freezing ice and then cut it after the fact, or you directionally freeze something that has an outlet to push the gases down so that you pull the frozen ice from the top compartment before the bottom compartment freezes.
one big cube won't melt nearly as fast as several smaller ones, so your 'beverage' won't get watered-down as much.
and yea. it is a silly item for aldi. might just be one of those "we'll see if it sells or not" things. they often have odd things there that never come back.
if i saw these i'd leave them in the bread section
Ah, yes frozen ice
You people are idiots
$5 for four cubes?!? Maybe if they were as big as my cooler.
Welcome to the new Golden Age
Some filks apparently don't know you can buy a 20lb bag of ice for like, a dollar, outside of every gas station.
You don't get the giant cubes the fancy folks like at the gas station. These are those giant cubes you use for whiskey and shit. Personally if I was into that I'd just buy the stainless steel cubes you can just freeze
Those stainless steel ones don't keep your drink cold very long, and you actually want water in whisky.
TIL, thanks for that info.
A dollar?! Those bags are $5.99 + tax now. 🫠
Most people who drink whisky on the rocks, for example, aren't going to want to do it on that ice.
Sometime ago I went to a friend's house and they had that exact product, but it was a pre-melted version. Saves a lot of time. We used it to make all kinds of drinks.
I buy mine dehydrated to save on shipping, just add water.
Also if you buy it in bulk (no packaging) shipping is free.
For that price I can get a giant bag at the supermarket... And with just a little patience I can freeze my own.
Wait until the find out about refrigerators
I thought these were reusable freeze packs made to look like ice cubes. It's actual ice...
People here acting like they've never bought something stupid and useless.
Square ice cubes made with clarified water are a real pain to make at home unless you have all the tools
If you like to entertain, it's much easier to just buy the cubes and store them in the fridge.
"Clarified water"?!?!
Ok. I know Canada has great water supply, but where do you live that your water needs to be " clarified"?
Filtered, whatever.
Hard water isn't great for fancy ice cubes
I mean, when we had hard water we just put it through a tap mounted filter. Not sure why anyone needs water to be clearer than that.
I'm firmly in the camp that if you're so concerned with appearances that you need to buy special ice cubes for a party, you need to reassess priorities.
It's $5 for a dozen cubes to put into a glass that cost $20 full of booze that cost $200.
If you want crystal clear ice cubes!
I must be stupid or something but if they were ice cubes wouldn't they melt before you get home
When you buy Popsicles, do they melt before they get home?
2-pack of 8-cube silicon large ice-cube trays::
I have two regular-sized ice cube trays from the same people, that I’ve been using for the last six years or so, and they are perfectly satisfactory. FWIW
$9.99 on Amazon
Edit: why is this getting downvotes?
downvotes cuz thats not gonna produce clear ice
If the packaging is a reusable mold then this makes sense.
Imagine all the AI prompts you could buy for $5!
Guess you've never bought a bag of ice before 🫠😵💩👎
Except 300g of ice is easy to make at home. You buy bags of ice because that's more ice than your freezer can make in a day
Valid point
That's a hell of a lot different than buying a box of 4 cubes.
At one time I owned some brightly colored, ping pong ball sized refreezable drink coolers. They were plastic and good for slightly less then one drink. Someone actually bought them at a yard sale I had.
Secret recipe!
https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Clear-Ice
I love how that article fails to provide any actual pictures of clear ice. and the only picture they do include was made in the fancy directional tray and absolutely has non-mineral turbulance :)
I started using an insulated lunch cooler in the freezer to make clear ice. Its great!!!
How does that work?
The key to clear ice is that it freezes from the top down. The cooler insulates the sides and bottom.
Slowly.
Seriously.
All you need is to make the ice freeze slowly, and when it's all frozen you just melt off the not clear part and you've got clear cubes.
You could also set your freezer to just below freezing and achieve similar results.
I knew someone at a bar who would use 4 foot lengths of PVC tubes. They'd fill the tubes and freeze them. The bottom half would be clear and the top half would have all of the impurities etc. (or maybe the other way?). The dirty half would get smashed for the well and the clear part would get polished into spheres.
We need to kill the billionaires and their politicians sooner than immediately right now
"The end of civilization"
: shows image of the peak of civilization
Tell me more about how freezing water is the end of civilization.
Just because people are paying a premium for it doesn't make it any worse than the bags of ice at the grocery store.
Ice was one of the first things humans used to keep things cold, and was super important on the path to refrigeration and freezing.
While I know a lot of technologies are overused, and capitalism twists them to disgusting ends, but refrigeration is a massive boon for making food last longer. Most American families just have ones far larger than they need and as such they end up wasting food instead of getting fresh food regularly and using it all up before it goes bad in the fridge. I personally enjoy a small fridge.
Also, freezers and refrigeration are an integral part of the medical sciences.
Anyway, personal opinion, this is pretty innocuous compared to like, jet travel between Seattle and Portland.