The directional freezing method is involved and takes practice but gives you the ice you want without the need for expensive equipment.CBFI Pure Ice Block Machine for Ice Sculpture But this poses a problem: you need to make distilled water first, and you will still not get the clear ice. You can get somewhat clear ice by freezing distilled. It should work fine even if you only leave it for 8 hours. If you don’t have an extra night free, try placing the ice cube in the refrigerator for about 12 hours. The higher temperatures slow down the rate at which the water inside the ice cube freezes, allowing more time for the liquid to push away impurities. The simplest way to achieve directional freezing without a cooler is to let your ice cube sit in the freezer at the highest temperature overnight. This way, guests could easily grab their own cup of frozen goodness when they were ready to drink. For our purposes here, we used plastic cups filled halfway with crushed ice and topped off with fresh fruit juice. Once all of the ice has been harvested, it’s time to serve! You can use the ice directly in drinks, or transfer it to another container so it doesn’t melt too quickly. But if you really love creating artful shapes, go ahead and add them now. We didn’t bother doing this step because we found that shaping the ice was unnecessary. If you’re feeling extra fancy, try making little swirls as well. Simply poke holes through each piece of ice. If you’d prefer, you can shape the ice pieces by using an ice pick. Repeat steps 3-4 again, this leaves blocks which are 2×2″ cubes.Take columns ready for second round of cuts made through center one way – enough room for human grip to keep balance.Once all length is marked, place serrated blade in indentations and hit back side creating cubes with columns that are about 2 inches wide. Measure the columns of about 2 inches wide. Measure the block and make identations with a serrated knife where you’ll meed to make cuts.Remove the ice block from the freezer and place it on a large cutting board.You have to cut it into ice cubes to be usable. Using the above method, you will get a huge ice block of mostly clear ice. Eventually, you will know how long it takes for it to freeze. The method takes practice so you should check on the ice every few hours to see the progress.

Ideally, you should leave some water at the bottom of the cooler - this is where all the impurities are left.

It will take up to 24 hours for the ice to freeze in the cooler.

Put the cooler inside the freezer without covering it with the lid.

First, start with an insulated cooler and fill it with water.

The upside over this versus buying a clear ice mold is that you’re typically able to get more ice out of it. The cooler method is a technique to make clear ice at home that you then need to cut into serving-size cubes yourself. The problem with clear ice molds is that they are small, and you can only get small amounts of ice using them. It’s a simple insulated sleeve that forces top-down freezing and pushing the impurities out of the mold. The way a clear ice mold works is by forcing the directional freezing through its construction. These molds are not expensive (though they will set you back more than regular molds), and they provide a simple way to make clear ice in your freezer. The easiest way to make clear ice at home is to get a clear ice mold. Although you can get somewhat clear ice by freezing distilled water (with minimal impurities), you can only get real clear ice using a directional freezer. The only thing that affects the clarity of ice is if it’s directional frozen. The amount of water used or what kind matters not.

In contrast, lakes cause most impurities to sink towards their bottom, leaving a thick layer of purer ice on top. The impurity of ice-making equipment leaves most ice contaminated at a low density in relation to their volume. Clear ice makers utilize the directional freezing method to freeze their ice, which imitates how lakes freeze from the top downwards. Many commercially produced ice cubes are cloudy and impure because of their fast freezing process. Ice made at home may have impurity, which scatters light these air bubbles create many surfaces within the ice scatter light, making it clouded and less elegant. Clear ice is made with no impurities or air bubbles so that when light travels through clear ice, it can travel in a linear path, allowing you to see through and adding elegance.

Making ice blocks at home