How to make clear ice?

For any holiday, you want to surprise guests and make dishes, drinks are not only tasty, but also beautiful. And the easiest and most affordable option to decorate them is to submit the 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 quality water and prepare it properly. Then a beautiful serving of food and 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? Let's consider the options below.

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How to get transparent ice?

In fact, everything is simple - the usual physics:

• If there are no air bubbles in the frozen water, it will be transparent.
• If there are a lot of bubbles in the water, it will turn out to be cloudy when frozen.

Why does this happen? When freezing, the liquid freezes unevenly, but 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 - that very murky middle appears. Therefore, to make the ice transparent, you need to remove air from it. There are several options for this.

Ice maker - professional version

You can always buy 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 work of the device is that the water in it freezes in layers, not giving a chance to get air inside. But this device is quite an expensive
entertainment, and if you do not need a lot of ice, you can do with improvised means.

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Home methods

Experienced bartenders know exactly how to make clear ice at home, without the use of special equipment. There are a few simple methods for this.

Method one

For this option, you will need to prepare:

• clean water passed through the filter, or purchased in the store, but without gas;
• boiling vessel, for example a pan;
• molds for freezing.

Creating ice in this way involves several steps:

1. Water should be cleaned of excess salts and suspensions or taken cleaned.
2. Pour liquid into a container and boil.
3. Cool it at room temperature.
4. Boil the water again - so more air will pass.
5. Cool the water, pass it through the filter.
6. Pour the water that has cooled to room temperature in molds and freeze.

Important! The ice obtained in this way is more transparent than the freezing of ordinary water.

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

Method of the second

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

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

What to do with this:

1. About two liters of clean water are frozen in a large container, after which, the frozen block is removed( the easiest way is to dip the bowl in warm water and turn it over a lint-free towel).
2. Then you can chop ice from the edges with something sharp, gradually getting to the muddy middle, which is not needed. Also there is a variant, when the middle with air, is washed out with water.
   Next, the extracted chopped pieces are again laid out in the molds, waiting until it melts, and again sent to freeze until ready.

Method third

If the functions of the freezer allow, you can use slow freezing. To do this, it is necessary to set the temperature -1 in the camera, wait for the camera to dial it, and put the prepared water in the freezer. In this case, it is better to wrap the form with food film.

Important! This freeze lasts about a day, but all the air will have time to completely exit the water, and the ice will be smooth and beautiful.

Method Fourth

This option involves the creation of a salt environment. To begin with, you need to prepare a salt solution from sea or ordinary table salt.

Steps to make clear ice:

1. Pour water into the container and add salt - the necessary concentration of the solution is achieved by experiment, since the conditions for freezing are different.
2. The salt must completely dissolve in water.
3. Then put the container in the freezer at a temperature of -1 or -2 degrees, but not below.
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 the salt water can be kept in the freezer constantly, and freeze the ice as necessary.

The above methods will help you to prepare crystal clear and beautiful ice for drinks, without bubbles. And it certainly will not be worse than in the coolest bars. If you do not have a form for ice at hand, do not worry, you can also do it yourself, at home.

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Make ice form

Ways how to cook ice without form, very much, it all depends on your
fantasy. Here are a few 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 the water in the serving bowl. In this case, note that the dishes should be resistant to temperature changes and compression from the cold. Also its walls must be absolutely dry. For such a frost, the amount of pure water must be poured onto the bottom of the dishes, and put in the freezer for a day at a temperature not higher than minus two degrees. The supply of beverages in a transparent dish, other than the necessary cooling, is also very unusual.
2. To obtain frozen water in the form of round-shaped flasks, you can take plastic cups of different sizes. Water should be poured only on the bottom, 0.5-1 cm high, and freeze. If you put the bottom in plastic in half or in 4 parts - you can get ice in the form of halves or quarter circles, respectively.
3. Plastic bottle caps or metal covers are also an interesting option, capable of replacing molds for round ice. True, you can have difficulties with its extraction from the lids.
4. If you do not need the same ice, you can use a variety of chocolates. Choose those substrates that will not fade or leak. As a result, you will get interesting forms of sweets.
5. There is also an option of using as a form of a children's designer or molds for sand. Do not forget to thoroughly rinse, degrease and disinfect any form before using.
6. Conventional plastic bag can easily be turned into a mold for freezing. Simply pour a little water into it, tie a knot, pour more water, tie another knot and so on until the bag is finished. Of course, the form of freezing in this way will not be smooth, but if you follow the training rules, transparency and absence of bubbles are guaranteed.

You can use any of your favorite options or come up with your own to make transparent ice and shapes for it.

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Recommendations

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

1. Water is well absorbed in odors, so when cooking, please note that there is not a lot of smelling products near.
2. You can also use a thermo-bag for freezing. Just put it in the bag of the form, and put it in the freezer at a temperature of about minus 8 degrees. The water will freeze in the opposite way-from the top down, and hence the air will leave it in another way. Such ice can be a little cloudy from above, but not in the middle. So - if you leave ice for a short time in a bowl at room temperature, muddy water will melt.
3. When using boiling, it is better to take the dishes from stainless steel. Aluminum tanks are not suitable for this method.
4. Do not pour hot water into plastic molds, or place unheated water in the freezer. Otherwise, the mold can melt, and the fridge can flow.
5. If you want to surprise guests, make fruit ice: whip the fruit blender and add juice, sugar or syrup to them. After - pour the mass over the molds and freeze.
6. When feeding ice without drinks, the best option is to use a special bucket - a cooler.
7. It is more convenient to take ice with forceps, so from does not melt ahead of time.

Use all the tips and advice, properly prepare the water, and you are sure to surprise the loved ones with a beautiful supply of any soft drinks.