How to make transparent ice?

For any occasion, I want to surprise guests and make dishes, drinks not only tasty, but also beautiful. And the easiest and most affordable option to decorate them is to serve original ice. It can be made different in shape, color, size, but the most important nuance in such a seemingly simple matter is to take high-quality water and properly prepare it. Then a beautiful presentation of the dish, the drink will be provided - you can easily surprise guests or just people close to you, and they will thank you with their enthusiastic words of gratitude. How to make transparent ice at home the same as in any bar? Consider the options below.

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How to get transparent ice?

In fact, everything is simple - ordinary physics:

• If there are no air bubbles in frozen water, it will be transparent.
• If there are many bubbles in the water, it will turn cloudy when frozen.

Why is this happening? When freezing, the liquid solidifies unevenly, and starting from the edge. Therefore, layer by layer, water accumulates all the air in the center. And when the air has nowhere to get out, and the center begins to freeze, the very muddy middle appears. Therefore, to make the ice transparent, you need to remove the air from it. There are several options for this.

Ice Maker - Professional

You can always purchase a special device for freezing water, which is used in most bars. Today there are many different options for ice makers - from simple home models to large professional ones.

The essence of the device is that the water in it hardens in layers, giving no chance for air to get inside. But this device is quite expensive.
entertainment, and if you do not need a lot of ice, you can do it with improvised means.

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Home Ways

Experienced bartenders know exactly how to make transparent ice at home, without using special equipment. There are several simple methods for this.

Method one

For this option you will need to prepare:

• clean water passed through a filter, or purchased in a store, but without gas;
• a boiling container, such as a pot;
• molds for freezing.

Creating ice using this method involves several steps:

1. To clear water of excess salts and suspensions or to take already cleared.
2. Pour liquid into a container and boil.
3. Cool it at room temperature.
4. Boil water again - this will leave more air.
5. Cool the water, pass it through the filter.
6. Pour water cooled to room temperature into molds and freeze.

Important! Ice obtained in this way is more transparent than freezing ordinary water.

There is also a method in which you do not need to boil water.

Second method

In order to make transparent ice at home without boiling, you will need:

• pure water (it is better to filter it several times or buy it);
• large capacity for freezing;
• molds for ice.

What to do with all this:

1. About two liters of clean water are frozen in a large container, after which, a frozen block is taken out (the easiest way is to dip a bowl in warm water and turn it on a lint-free towel).
2. Further it is possible to break off the ice from the edges with something sharp, gradually getting to the muddy middle, which is not needed. There is also an option when the middle with air is washed with water.
   Next, the mined chopped pieces are again laid out in forms, wait until it melts, and again sent to freeze until cooked.

Method three

If the functions of the freezer allow, you can use slow freezing. To do this, set the temperature in the chamber to -1, wait until the camera picks it up, and put the prepared water in the freezer. In this case, it is better to wrap the forms with cling film.

Important! Such freezing lasts about a day, but then all the air has time to completely get out of the water, and the ice will turn out to be smooth and beautiful.

Fourth method

This option involves creating a salty environment. First you need to prepare a saline solution from sea or ordinary table salt.

Steps to make transparent ice:

1. Water is poured into the container and salt is added - the required concentration of the solution is achieved experimentally, since the freezing conditions are different.
2. The salt should completely dissolve in water.
3. Next, the capacity is put in the freezer at a temperature of -1 or -2 degrees, but not lower.
4. After - you should wait about ten minutes, put in a salt solution forms filled with water.
5. Such freezing will occur about 12 hours.

Important! This method is considered the most effective. Also, its advantage is that salt water can be kept in the freezer constantly, and ice is frozen as needed.

These methods will help you prepare crystal clear and beautiful ice for drinks, without bubbles. And it will definitely not be worse than in the coolest bars. If you don’t have an ice mold on hand - do not worry, it can also be done independently, at home.

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Making an ice mold

There are a lot of ways to make ice without a mold, it all depends on your
fantasies. Here are some interesting options:

1. If it is assumed that the drink will be consumed without mixing it in mixes or cocktails, then there is an option to immediately freeze water in the drink serving container. At the same time, note that the dishes should be resistant to temperature extremes and compression from the cold. Also, its walls must be absolutely dry. For such freezing, an amount of clean water is poured onto the bottom of the dishes, and put in the freezer for a day at a temperature of no higher than minus two degrees. Serving drinks in a transparent dish, in addition to the necessary cooling, is also very unusual.
2. To get frozen water in the form of round pieces, you can take plastic glasses of various sizes. Water must be poured only on the bottom, 0.5-1 cm high, and frozen. If you lay the bottom in half or 4 parts with plastic, you can get ice in the form of halves or quarters of a circle, respectively.
3. Plastic bottle caps or metal caps are also an interesting option that can replace round ice tins. True, you may have difficulty getting it out of the lids.
4. If the same ice is not needed, you can use a plate of assorted sweets. Choose substrates that do not crease or leak. As a result, you will get interesting forms of sweets.
5. There is also the option of using as a form a children's designer or molds for sand. Remember to rinse, degrease and sanitize any form well before use.
6. An ordinary plastic bag is easy to turn into a mold for freezing. Just pour a little water into it, tie a knot, pour more water, tie another knot and so on until the bag runs out. Of course, the form of freezing in this way will not be even, but if you follow the rules of preparation, then transparency and the absence of bubbles are guaranteed.

You can use any of the options you like or create your own to make transparent ice and shapes for it.

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Recommendations

To prepare transparent and clean ice, you need very little, but do not forget about additional recommendations:

1. Water absorbs smells well, so when cooking, pay attention that there are no smelling foods nearby.
2. You can also use a thermal bag to freeze. Just put the molds in the bag, and put it in the freezer at a temperature of about minus 8 degrees. Water will freeze in the opposite way, from top to bottom, which means that air will come out of it differently. Such ice may be slightly cloudy from above, but not in the middle. So - if you leave the ice in the bowl for a short time at room temperature, the muddy water will melt.
3. When using boiling, it is better to take the dishes from stainless steel. Aluminum containers are not suitable for this method.
4. Do not pour hot water into plastic molds, and do not put uncooled water in the freezer. Otherwise, the mold may melt, and the refrigerator may leak.
5. If you want to surprise guests, make fruit ice: beat the fruit with a blender and add juice, sugar or syrup to them. After - pour the mass into molds and freeze.
6. When serving ice without drinks, the best option would be to use a special bucket - cooler.
7. It is more convenient to take ice with forceps, so it does not melt ahead of time.

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Stock footage

Use all the tips and tricks, properly prepare the water, and you will surely surprise your loved ones with a beautiful serving of any soft drinks.