Hard Water: The quest for clear ice

Been searching for a good way to make clear ice at home for a bit. I’ve acquired a number of fancy ice cube molds to make squares, cubes, and skulls but I’ve never been able to make truly clear ice.

A bit of research tells me a few things a needed: soft water, temperatures near freezing, and/or directional freezing. Ice is supposed to form large, clear crystals near freezing, but most freezers cycle through warming and cooling cycles. I’m also not willing to dedicate my fermentation chamber for this.

Soft water is a hard one (soft, hard, get it?). My water tested at 400 tds a few weeks ago. I made a few trials with RO (TDS 30) and distilled water, but I still got cloudy ice (see g&t pic with drumshanbo gin).

Directional freezing was another trial, both with and without distilled/RO (TDS 30) water. The idea is to force impurities to the bottom by insulation the sides and bottom of the ice molds. To do this, I put a 6 pack cube tray in a small cooler, removed the lid, and stuck it in the freezer. Still a little cloudy, see the pic with the brass and glass chandelier in the background.

Final attempt, I broke down and bought a Tovolo
Clear ice cube system. This incorporates insulation around the whole contraption, with 2.5" spheres connected to a large tray to “catch the impurities.” Results: see the pics of a glass of aardberg scotch against black tile, as well as Teelings whiskey. A little tricky to get perfect spheres, very clear. I’ve tried with my 400 TDS tap water (doesn’t work), and 150 TDS “RO” water (Thanks Schnucks, try to maintain your system, still works). The 150 TDS water can be seen in the pictures mentioned above. Only complaints is that it’s hard to fill the tiny straw without my handy flask filling funnel.

All in all, I’d recommend it if you want clear ice for some dumb reason you can’t articulate.
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Distilled water is best. Freeze slowly they say, to let the air bubbles out.

One of many hits when googled.

I just use water out of the fridge dispenser, an Elijah Craig ice mold, and a knockoff Yeti cup. Fill the cup and the ice mold, invert the ice mold in the cup and freeze for 12+ hours. The ice mold was free as was the Yeti knock off. :wink:

I use directional freezing in a small cooler with about 3 quarts of tap water, the lid removed and put it into the freezer for about 36 hours.  The hard part is cutting it into the cubes or shapes I want, but the ice is very clear.  I am thinking of buying an electric knife for this.

I bought the Tovolo sphere mold as pictured above and found that if I leave it in the freezer until the entire mass of water is frozen, the ice loses some clarity.  My freezer will freeze the spheres and leave a little water in the bottom of the tray in about 15 hours.  Even with plain tap water I’m getting almost perfectly clear ice this way.

I am a Maker’s Mark Ambassador. Each yr they send us a Christmas gift. One yr is was an ice ball mold. Perfect for a cpl fingers over ice.