I made an "at-home" version of this with a tiny Igloo cooler, a couple silicone ice molds with small holes punched in the bottom, and two sticks to suspend the molds at water level. Cost about $30 and makes 8 perfect cubes every two days.
I always wanted a clear ice block freezing system! a clear ice block freezing system would be perfect for my home bar. Might get a clear ice block freezing system.
Man if they had like a half system, I would legit think about picking one of these up. I have a pretty big mostly empty deep freeze in my garage and would love something like this. But that 48 cube one is freaking huge.
Cool, a block freezing ice system clear 😁. Now I just need it to be 1/8th the size, come with a fitting cooler box included and not cost almost as much as a PS5 XD
100%. This strikes me as something that they could probably easily adapt their current design to a smaller version, more fit for home use, then scale up production and drop the price to around $60-100. I would definitely be interested. Not paying $300 for something that will be a pain to fit in my garage freezer though. Thankfully, their website FAQ says they are working on a prototype for home use.
They have small 4 cube systems for 40$ on Amazon. You can get two of those and not have to buy a cooler. It's actually cheaper. I have one of the clear ice 4 cube trays and I do the Igloo Cooler for doing blocks. I like having both of those for the home bar. :)
Are you planning on testing the Wintersmiths Phantom Ice Maker? Makes a bunch of different forms of clear ice and is suitable for home bar sized freezers.
Interesting that the cooler doesn't need to be filled with water. I've seen people use similar devices on smaller coolers suggest that's important. Also cool to see that the individual blocks are completely clear! Some people claim that the little bit of non-clarity at the end is inevitable.
Awesome. Can’t wait til they develop a viable “at home” option. I’ve put off the whole clear ice thing because the time and effort just isn’t worth it. This could change things for sure!
I've been doing directional freezing in my tiny apartment for a few months now, but the last few times I would get bubbles... when you said make sure your freezer's not too cold - I can't believe I didn't think about that. I remembered I ignorantly upped the cold cause I was getting impatient.
Thanks for the review, I'm in! Please post a link for a chest freezer compatible with this specific cooler. Been searching but interior measurements don't seem to be listed anywhere by manufacturers. Thanks!!
"The Ghost Ice System makes clear ice blocks." I mean, it sounds like a neat idea, but I don't know that I care enough about clear ice to buy this and a cooler to basically break just for it. Oh, and a freezer, because I don't own one that I can stick a bloody cooler in.
I have a Clearly Frozen tray system. I don't get 100% clear ice, but by freezer is also not on the lowest setting...which I might try now. Might be the best home bar best tip.
Great review as always. Would one of those trays fit into a 5 quart cooler? Or also could they be cut so they would fit into a 5 quart cooler? Think it might be great to get this and share the cost with a friend if indeed one of the trays were fit into a 5 quart cooler.
@4:00. You could also stretch out the cooler over the course of a few days by filling it and freezing/unfreezing every 12 hours or so (in case you physically can’t do the stretching shown here)
i got so excited for a new ice video. the tumbnail of the ice looks incredible. but then got sad that i have to open my own bar to get this going haha. Amazing content though, looks super cool for bar owners to save on time and uppen the aesthetics of their drinks!
There are plenty of great products for home use. I use the Sunset Crystal Clear Ice Mould for spheres. They are almost perfectly clear and by the time you've poured a drink over it, it is perfectly clear and perfectly spherical. Very compact system, large spheres - drawback is it only makes 2 at a time but it's only like 30USD. Tons of options out there for home use.
Punch a few holes in the bottom of each well of one of these silicone ice trays or similar (lids off). Samuelworld Ice Cube Tray Large Size Silicone Flexible 8 Cavity Ice Maker or W&P Tray Extra Large Cube, Single, Charcoal or similar Suspend them in a Coleman FlipLid Personal Cooler, 5 Quarts with its lid off, about 3 inches from the bottom. I bend a coat hanger into a bridge shape to put the Samuelworld tray on, while the W&P tray sits on the lip of the cooler by itself. Ice freezes in about 24 hours.
Wonder if they had issues scaling this down or if they just didn’t think the economics would work out targeting home use? 12 cubes would be more than enough for a home bar, but maybe the price of manufacture isn’t much lower (I’m sure it’s much more than 1/4 the price for 1/4 the ice)
Couldn't you just buy two silicone ice block molds, poke holes in one and stack them? That way you get one mold of clear and one of cloudy? It would be a lot cheaper, and more practical for home use.
Not really, the cooler is needed to insulate the sides so the cold can only hit the top of the water and freeze downwards. It would be better to look for a cooler that fits in your freezer then a silicon mold that fits inside THAT cooler
Great review. I see the sellers website recommends buying 2 sets. How many cubes of clear ice will a bar go through on an average night? Would there be some on the rocks cocktails that wouldn't use clear ice?
It really depends on how popular the bar is and how freely they use their clear ice. Some high end bars use clear ice for everything, shaking, crushed ice, etc. Others only use it for serving clear cocktails on a rock -- Negroni, Old-fashioned, that kind of thing. This company's website gives a projection of cost savings assuming 30 clear cubes used per day. That seems pretty conservative for me, but I guess a smaller venue that only uses the clear cubes for very specific drinks could maybe land around there. A busier bar that uses thee cubes more freely could go through a LOT more.
If I'm understanding it correctly, the cube trays have holes in the bottom and all the water goes right through them until the cooler is filled first. I admire the concept, but it seems wasteful to fill an entire cooler for 48 ice cubes, and then you have to wait for the cooler to thaw out before using it again. Like Leandro said, probably good for a bar or restaurant.
That is how most of those system work. They need to push all the impurities and air bubbles down and out the mold so the top can be totally clear. So it is needed. Normally what I will do is take any ice on the bottom of my cooler(not this one) and chop it up for shaking/stirring drinks.
Yeah, reaffirming what the other response said: You *need* to "waste" around 1/3 or more of the water to get the clear ice. The directional freezing method (exposing only the top of the water to the full power of the freezer and letting the ice freeze downward) forces inert gas, minerals, and other impurities to the bottom of the cooler where it is the last part of the water to begin to freeze. Every home use clear ice product/method employs the same principles. The only other alternative is something like a Clinebell, which uses motion and agitation to separate the impurities. But those cost thousands of dollars and are squarely designed for industrial use. IMO, the loss of a few quarts of water is a pretty fair sacrifice for the quality and yield on this product. I just wish they will make a cheaper, smaller version better suited for home use.
I've been playing with silicone molds in a little Igloo freezing system. So far I have to float them (blowing bubbles with a straw under cube molds whose open faces are facing downwards) or find some way for the molds to be kept near the top where the clear ice forms. They hold up extremely well and really reduce the time because I don't have to chisel / cut the ice. Still, I need a better way of keeping the off the shelf ice molds suspended near the top of the lidless Igloo cooler. Any ideas?
Any thoughts on cleaning silicone ice molds. I love in an area where the water is very “hard.” After a few use with filtered tap water, a residue forms, and the ice has a slightly off smell.
@@freepour I use a faucet filter, but they still get the residue. Your reply makes me think I should get a new mold and experiment with bottled water to see if any change. Cheers!
if you are breaking the insulation of the cooler then couldn't you just find a tote that these would fit in? I guess I am asking is the fact that you are using a cooler important or were they just designed to fit in that cooler?
I was so excited. But, yeah, not really practical for home use, and also honestly, not for people who don't have good arm strength. I have the regular non-clear silicone molds, and it is pita getting a ice out of those things. I do wonder if my freezer wasn't set to 0°F if it would be easier to remove them, but I'm not going to do that because that's my home freezer.
You know I don't mind a video where you test a gadget with a little more thought put into it before filming. Ideally maybe there would be first impressions and also like a week of testing to put things through the ringer. Really figure out if a gadget can perform or not cause if it can't even with troubleshooting then it really isn't work buying. Also Would love a home use version of this.
So the reason they made this one is because you can already buy the smaller home molds on Amazon this is for a business model. I have developed my own method that is the same as a clinebell ice machine just in a cooler unit . My blocks are 8" thick and wide by 14" of sold completely clear ice that I put in my deep freezer to make. I get 96 2" cubes out of each block. And I can make 2 blocks at one time in my freezer. It only costs me 30 dollars per unit.
The pictures on their website look like 2" x 2" square, with options for either 2.5" or 3" tall. So similar width to a standard 2x2 inch mold, but around 25-50% taller. Which, IMO, is a great size. Should fit in any rocks glass without needing to carve the corners, and that extra height will ensure a tall wash line and even slower dilution.
If it takes 3 days to freeze it is 16 blocks per day. So probably too small for a bar and it is to big for home use. I don't really see the customer base.
And they are somehow charging $300 for silicone molds without supplying the cooler. I'm not sure how they came to the conclusion that this product would ever be worth it for a bar or over enthusiastic home use. You could buy any other $15 silicone ice mold off Amazon, poke holes in it, and put it in a cooler--I've done it several times and worked honestly a bit easier than what's going on in this video. Feels like a big swing and a miss for this review.
This is made for use in a business? 72 hours to make enough ice for 48 drinks assuming you use 1 cube per drink. I guess this is maybe viable for a business if your bar is small and slow?
Well no if you have a walk in freezer as most restaurants do, you can keep this freezing on a rotation and just stockpile your ice that way you always have enough. This is great for bars who don’t mind a little extra elbow grease and don’t want to go through a specialty ice company or don’t have that option
ıt takes 3 days for freeze cause of bulk that means productivity is not good. 10 pieces ice mold tray freeze apprx. 16-18 hours and 5 of them makes 50 ice cube. 5 trays is around 190 dollars, this system is 350 dollars. Not acceptable. I love the idea but must develop even about price.
300 bucks for a big ice cube mold that doesnt even fit the cooler they designed it for... also it doesnt come with the cooler lol. I think they need to refine some things haha
This system with the cooler included goes for $342 today. The Coleman party stacker 48 is roughly $30. So....you’re paying $300 for a bunch of silicone? Maybe I missed something but this seems like one of the biggest ripoffs ever
$300 would seem reasonable if they actually made their own insulated storage container instead of making you buy a specific cooler. That much money for what just amounts to a really big set of silicon ice trays when a price of $50 a piece would have been reasonable.
FWIW, the cooler only costs around $25-30. I guess they are charging more because of a combination of: - Recouping R&D costs - Dealing with economies of scale - High quality inputs / inefficient production environment - Lack of competition in their specific market niche If they do want to enter the home user market, they'll need to address those elements to be competitive. Conceptually though, I think it's pretty doable. I'm gonna keep an eye on this company for sure, and hopefully sometime in the not too distant future, they have a product that makes around 12-18 cubes for a smaller cooler at under $100.
When you guys said some iteration of “clear block ice freezing system” for the 18th time in the first 30 seconds of the video, I typed this comment and then moved on with my life.
This product isn’t ready for prime time. It’s huge, expensive, impractical, and takes forever. 48 blocks in 72 hours? Good review, very mediocre product.
