Whiskey Ice Cubes: How to Make Clear Ice, Best Molds, & More (2024)

FAQs

How to make whiskey ice cubes clear? ›

1) Clear Ice in a Cooler

Fill a small cooler with 5-6 inches of water and place it in a freezer with the lid off. After 20-24 hours, there will be a 3-4 inch ice block with water under the ice. All the air and impurities will be in the unfrozen water leaving crystal-clear ice cubes.

Boil the water: Boiling the water helps to remove any air bubbles or impurities that can cause cloudiness in the ice. Allow the water to cool: After boiling the water, allow it to cool to room temperature before pouring it into the ice cube tray.

Water naturally contains some trapped air and impurities. As water starts to freeze, the water molecules that are free flowing in the liquid state start to get into formation. The resulting crystalline structure has no room for air and impurities, so they get squeezed out. This pure water becomes crystal clear ice.

Why Ice Gets Cloudy. Cloudy ice isn't your fault—and it's probably not your fridge. Ice loses clarity simply because of the way it freezes. "Ice is cloudy mostly due to trapped air and impurities, such as minerals or organic matter," says English.

To make clear ice we recommend using distilled water, boiled water, or water that comes out of a reverse-osmosis (RO) system. It may not come out perfectly clear but at least the ice will not appear cloudy.

Ice Blocks: These large, rectangular ice blocks are ideal for those who prefer a slow melt. They provide a gradual cooling effect, maintaining the whiskey's temperature without diluting it too quickly. Ice Spheres: The spherical shape of these ice cubes offers a slower melting rate than traditional cubes.

Distilled water will give you slightly more clear ice, but any clean water should work. Put it in the freezer, leaving the lid off or removed. Check it after about 12–14 hours. If you've timed it right, you can get the ice out just before the cloud of bubbles starts forming at the bottom.

Purchase an ice tray that freezes ice cubes directionally.

This locks in air bubbles, impurities, and all the little particles that make ice cloudy. Directional freezing only allows ice to freeze from the bottom up, in one direction. This gives all the air bubbles and particles time to escape through the top.

It is important to fill the mold with water up to the recommended level. Overfilling the mold can cause the ice ball to expand and crack, while underfilling can result in an uneven freeze. Additionally, it is important to pour the water slowly and evenly into the mold, to prevent air bubbles from forming.

Take out a balloon and fill it with water until the balloon is roughly the size you want your ice ball to be. Do that with one balloon or several, depending on how many ice balls you want. After you fill the balloons with water, simply put them in the freezer to cool for several hours.

What is the secret to making clear ice? ›

Freeze your ice cubes for about 24 hours. Hammond says that slow freezing is vital because it allows enough time for impurities to be forced out of the ice. She likens it to how lake water freezes slowly, so that by the time the lake is frozen solid, the top appears glass-like.

Ice formation begins with a few molecules of water being converted to ice and coming together in a process known as nucleation. All through the liquid, tiny ice crystals begin to grow. As long as there are water molecules present as liquid, we will have ice crystal growth.

The whole thing is an interplay of temperature and ethanol content: the colder and the lower the amount of ethanol, the cloudier the whisky can become in the bottle. In a range between 40% and 46% abv, a slight cloudiness forms even at room temperature, and there is hardly anything one can do about it.

To make clear ice without a cloudy center, we can force the water to freeze from the top of the cube down toward the bottom. The method I developed in 2009 for doing this involves filling a hard-sided cooler with water and putting it into the freezer with the top off.

Yes, whiskey stones can be reused. In fact, they are designed to be used multiple times, once they have been cared for and stored properly. To clean the stones, simply rinse them with warm water and allow them to air dry, before putting them back in the freezer where they will be ready to chill your next drink.

COLOR COMES FROM CASKS

When fresh whiskey comes out of the still, it's crystal clear. The amber tone only develops during maturation, when the spirit begins extracting pigments and other compounds from the oak cask that give it color, flavor, and aroma.