How to make clear ice.clear ice

[artrix]

hello i want to make a number of ice glasses and i need to make them clear and bubble free. i know that you can make clear ice if the water is circulating in the container as it freezes but due the number of glasses i need to make this method is not possible.
i did think about doing a couple of experiments with partial vacuums and increased air pressure. what are your ideas? i have thought of making a vessel that would be air tight placing some water into it and pullling it down to half normal outside air pressure ie 7 psi as apposed to 14.7 psi. i would then place the conatiner into a freezer and leave over night to see if the air trapped in the water would be pushed out , leaving clear ice. i then thought about doing the same experiment with the same vessel but increasing the pressure to double or more of 14.7 psi and then placing the vessel into the freezer and letting it freeze. any isdeas on what i could expect? cheers...


i also hearda bout placing propylene glucol to the watre and letting it freeze any ideas regards that.

 

[sas3]

I think it you use distilled water and boil it first then let it cool to room temp before you freeze it the ice will be clear. Pour it gently so you do not get any more gas to mix in.
Boiling gets rid of some of the gas dissolved in the water.

 

[artrix]

nope tried the boiled distilled water idea and it didnt work...what about the vacuum or increased pressure idea?

 

[sas3]

I would think a vacuum might suck some of the gas out, give it a try.
Try building up thin layers, that is why icicles are clear.
Maybe it has to do with how fast it freezes.
Fast freezing = little or no crystals

 

[Mk]

A while ago I believe Danger (could easily be someone else) posted to put boiled distilled water in aluminum foil and put it in the freezer. We were discussing why there are bubbles in ice.

 

[Danger]

Wasn't me, Mk; I've never run into this problem before. I might have a solution based upon the circulating water, though.
Artrix, you said that you can't use moving water because of the number of glasses involved. I don't know whether you mean glasses full of ice or glasses made of ice.
In any event, I'm wondering about making a mould with several glass-shaped cavities out of something like silicone or really stiff gelatin. Use a small aquarium pump and a water reservois and stick the whole thing in your freezer (yeah, the pump cord will have to stick out through the door).
Once frozen, you can demould the slugs and fit them into your glasses (or demould your glasses and fill them with vodka. )

 

[artrix]

we need to make 100 at a time and we are still wondering how its done...it can be done as we have examples but no idea of how it was made. the process has to be time managable...its no use if we have to make them 5 or 10 at a time..

 

[Cyrus]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_oye/232825096/

 

[DyslexicHobo]

Wouldn't glasses made of ice water down your beverage?

 

[NEWO]

I think you will need to freeze the water very slowly in order to make sure it is clear, if you have ever noticed when messing around with liquid nitrogen if yo put a bottle of water into a bucket of the stuff, the ice you get out of it is "cloudy"

if you can try freezng it by starting at room temp, then decrease the temp at regular intervals until they are frozen solid. Gives the water time to rearrange the molecules.

 

[eaboujaoudeh]

what is the ice to be used for? or what is the size of ice u want? i think i have ur solution.

 

[Gokul43201]

This might help: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=59180

 

[Mk]

Even in that thread! It seemed like Chronos's solution (the one I referred to before, with Danger) was inconclusive.

 

[eaboujaoudeh]

pouring a thin slow moving water over a special evaporator plate would freeze the water fast and u would have a collecter that removes the ice off the evaporator and guides it into a dispenser..

 

[NEWO]

They want to make ice drink glasses if i have understood what they said. What you have given is just for basic ice formations. I think

I presume the person in question is using molds to shape the ice into glasses. In which case slowly cooling down the water from room temperature to freezing point should do the trick.

I'm talking over a time period of days not hours like normal ice formation

 

[Rickstanfield]

Damn, I know I'm resurrecting a dead thread here, but did you guys ever come up with any other methods that worked well?
I tried one using a cooler and some party cups, it seemed to work the best out of all the articles I found.
http://www.icedropmaker.com/2011/02/how-to-make-clear-ice-that-actually-works/

Anyway, just curious if someone else came up with a good method as I am still in search!

 

[NokturnL]

Well guys Very interesting ideas here...
To be honest I've tried many things. the only thing that seems to work is if u have access to an ultrasonic transducer, u can make a plate or similar viabrate as long as the ice is freeying. Due to the high frequency of the viabrations you won't get any air bubbles or surface deformation. Give it a try. :)

 

[firavia]

well if your glass of ice is subjected to the slightest temprature difference microscopic cracks will form due to heat stresses and I assure you it won't be clear at all.