ClearlyFrozen Review: Easy, Affordable Clear Ice at Home
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- Chris Harrison from Liber & Co. tries out the ClearlyFrozen Ice Cube Tray, a $35 solution for making clear ice at home.
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ClearlyFrozen Ice Cube Tray: amzn.to/2GQHTMw
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I have one of those ClearlyFrozen units. The key to perfect cubes is to find the amount of time it should be in YOUR freezer. Try it a few times and track how long it’s in the freezer. For my freezer, 18 hours produces symmetrical cubes. 16 hours left the bottoms incomplete.
I think this is a really good point. Timing matters, so playing with the right amount for your freezer is a good idea. Once you find the sweet spot you're going to be producing clear cubes with ease!
Yes, it is going to be a good deal longer for my fridge in the garage. 18 hours and still only frozen maybe halfway down the cubes. But they are clear so far.
A friend gave me this as a gift. It works incredibly well. You just need to find the right amount time to keep in your specific freezer. I usually leave mine in for 12 hours, but have left longer and it still works just fine. I recommend using hot water from your faucet to free the hard tray from the ice inside of it. Then I spray the solid block that’s connected to the soft tray. Then I just pluck the cubes out of the soft tray from the bottom. The only downside to this is the cubes do get a little wet, and then sometimes they freeze together when I put them back into the hard tray for storage in my freezer. At least that’s what I use the hard tray for after making the ice. Then when it’s almost empty, I move them to the side in my freezer, and make more!
This is spot on with our experience. Thanks for sharing!
I purchased this after making clear ice with a small igloo cooler. The Clearly Frozen trays are a lot easier and will produce crystal clear cubes. I too get one that pops up out of the tray. I usually have to discard that cube because it's not all clear and not worth cutting the clear part off. Wonder why that happens? Thanks for the review.
A very comprehensive review and a very fair rating! I enjoyed watching this one!
Thanks, Dwight, glad you enjoyed it! ClearlyFrozen will be sending us one of their new products soon, so we'll have to review that one as well :)
If this is a 7/10, do you have a mold you recommend that would be a 10/10?
I have tried a couple of home brew methods for clear ice as well as one product for clear ice balls. The quality you got from this one is pretty bad compared to what you can get. But for the price it looks fine.
A really good one needs to have a deeper well under the ice tray for the “dirty” ice as well a bit more insulation for consistent freezing.
That sounds right! We've run a few more batches and while we have trouble getting clean squares, the clarity has been quite good. If there is some opacity in the ice, it is usually only on the outermost layer and melts instantly once we add liquid. ClearlyFrozen will be sending us a new product they are working on soon. We'll see how that one fairs!
@@liberandco another important factor is the freeze time. If you freeze the ice too long it will get more of the contaminations kinda climbing up to the clear part of the ice.
I have this product for almost a year now. I was getting clear, but ill-formed cubes a lot, while trying to give the right time frame. Instructions say 16-18 hours,
I couldn't find the right formula. Purified bottled water left rising air bubbles trapped in the ice. Unfiltered tap water will ruin the silicone, had to buy another tray. On and on it went. Filtered tap water (from my fridge) is best for clarity.
One night I put a tray in the freezer, went to bed and totally spaced it. Forgot about it entirely for 25-30 hours. I got it out of the freezer hoping the plastic didn't split open, it survived. Once I broke away the block of dirty ice and got the cubes out of the tray, they were absolutely PERFECT!
Perfectly formed, perfectly clear, I couldn't believe it. I've since made 3 more batches in this way and they've all come out the same.
All I've found the way to go for me.
My freezer is set at -2°F.
I think the instructions say 24 hours. It’s a real pain to get the plastic tray out of the styrofoam base and then you have to run hot water over the big hunk that’s on the bottom of the cube tray. But the results are great.
Yes, you're right about that! 24 hours. It is a pain! It takes a minute for the tray to heat up enough to get it out of the styrofoam. One thing we started doing once we get it out of the styrofoam is to take it outside and smash the ice on the bottom of the tray off by slamming it against a curb. A little aggressive, I know, and it could potentially crack the ice in the tray, but it usually works fine and saves time.
@@liberandcoyou’re going to need a nice, ice-cold cocktail after all of that work! 🍸
how do you store your ice cubes in the chest freezer without them clumping up?
We take them out and put them in a ziplock bag, which doesn't work great. They clump together if they melt a little and then freeze again while touching. This happens every time to us. I guess you could take off the styrofoam and white plastic tub and then keep the cubes stored in the blue silicon?
Store them in a brown paper bag
Each one goes in a ziploc freezer bag for 24 hrs. Then you can put them all in one large ziploc freezer bag.
I had that issue, and I found that if you have a separate plastic tray, like an ice catcher in your freezer, give the cubes some space so they don’t freeze together, and freeze the ice again for at least an hour. Then you’ll be able to place them in a ziplock without them sticking together. Although if left in the ziplock frozen for a long period of time, they will eventually freeze into a block. My suggestion is if you want to store it for future use, give the bag a shake every other day or so.
Everyone gets this wrong. They think the bubbles make it cloudy. That’s incorrect. It’s the minerals in the water that make it cloudy they don’t like to be frozen so they are the last thing to freeze. Hence why your ice cubes are always cloudy in the middle.
I work for an ice company that’s how I know
Yes, so true. The mineral content in the water really effects the cloudiness. If you can use distilled water it will turn out much better.
this is awesome
Thanks, Rehan! Glad you enjoyed it.
Why the "boner" cube? My thought is not enough water in the bottom? My first try was identical to yours.
Lol, no idea why there's often one cube that gets excited. It's happened to us a number of times, but not every time. If you test with more water in the bottom, let us know how it turns out!
My theory is that it’s due to the expanding ice around it. One of the cubes moves a bit and makes room for all of its buddies.
seems pricy for what it is
Yeah, and they have gone up in price. For example, the True Cubes system is currently $45 on Amazon. ClearlyFrozen at $39.99.
I don't see the need for it, just a waste of time IMHO.
We get that. It also takes up space in your freezer. But when done correctly, it does add a little something to a cocktail. We got some really nice cubes out of it for this video as you can see in this shot: th-cam.com/video/WP1EJVu2ZmU/w-d-xo.html