Ghost Ice, BEST Clear Ice Cube Molds? Worth the Cost? $$$

[@devinphillips9704]

For anyone who wants a simple cheap home method: get yourself one or two steel insulated travel mugs, preferably ones that are tall and have a slight taper. Fill them up with water about an inch below the rim, and put them in the freezer. Freezing times are going to vary but 24-30 hours should do (do NOT let them freeze all the way or you're going to make more work for yourself). Take them out and give them at least one hour to temper. Then simply turn the mug over and work at squeezing the mug all around until the ice loosens and slides right out. If you didn't let it over-freeze, voila!, a cylinder of clear ice (along with the remaining water), which you can either put into a sphere press (like I have) or whatever you want to do with it. OH! Also, make sure whatever mug you use has a smooth flat inside, no ridges or lips around the inside or your ice won't slide out, it'll just get stuck.

[@fenner1122]

Dude, this! I use insulated cups and this is great cheap way to make clear ice

[@MrMoney331]

SMASH CUT ENDING! "I give the Ghost Ice a....." we will never know 😆

[@konstasalminen1516]

No it's a school grade, He gave Ghost Ice an "A" 😂

[@daprovocateur]

Given the space needed and that you still have to process the cubes, it makes more sense to cut up a giant block

[@cs1089]

I've found the water you use is important for these systems. I have a small 4-cube maker, and when I use tap water, they don't come out clear (I suspect it's the hard water we have). When I use bottled spring water, the ice comes out perfectly clear. To solve the ice size problem from the 2" cubes I get, I use Dorset single old-fashioned glasses, and they pair perfectly.

[@Angprovv]

Wintersmiths has been out for a while, and they have a bunch of molds. I highly recommend them; they're awesome.

[@dravendrinks]

as someone who jumped on the home system early is if you let them fully freeze the actual cooler comes apart always set timers to preserve the longevity. that being said re buying that cooler (from Coleman) is an easy fix

[@chrisnormandeau6101]

I have yet to see much of a differentiator between directional freezing products, is there one? I’ve been using wintersmiths for a long time and they’re great.

[@jonathanwilliams1974]

There really isn't...this one just wants you to pay $147 instead of like $30 on Amazon.

[@GrumpyCoffeeBean]

I have a home clear sphere ice system that I use. Makes about 2in diameter spheres that are pretty good for my needs. Sometimes I fill the container with water without using the silicone mold so I can carve bigger chunks of ice by hand.

[@johnerono]

100% agree on the size of the home system. I bought that last year and still use it but I wish the cubes were bigger. Luckily I have shorter rocks glasses so they fit better in those. Now I'm thinking of getting the commercial one lol that half-inch makes a big difference!

[@jeffdoclewis7693]

I have two different clear ice home systems. One makes spheres the other cubes. I like both makes decent size ice for my glassware. There is some debate as to what the dimensions for good clear rock ice should be. If there is a good opinion as to the dimensions please chime in.

[@michaelkim4743]

I think the dimension depends on the glass the ice goes in. I cut my own ice to fit my glasses snuggly width-wise but only about 1/2-3/4 tall. I use a narrow, single OF rocks glass so that sizing gives me a nice wash line on most classic cocktails. If I take those same cubes and try them in a double OF glass, it looks too small. If I try them in my parents’ glasses that have rounded bottoms, they don’t fit. I think this is why 2” cubes are the common mold option. They work okay in most glasses but usually won’t be the best.

[@lokmtb8503]

@@michaelkim4743 I freeze blocks in a 5qt igloo legend cooler. That gives me a 8"x6"x?" Block. I bisect it length wise then split each of those pieces in thirds. This gives me 3"x2.6" chunks of ice. The splits are usually a little wonky and they get cleaned up to be approximately 2.5" cubes. Those are still a little to large for a double old fashioned glass. The ice is cut down individually for the glass that I'm serving in. I have a variety of old fashioned glasses so it's not a one size fits all situation. Usually I end up cutting off the corners of the sides which makes an octagon type shape. The goal is unique, rugged, perfectly clear ice.

[@BetterAvecBourbon]

Changing the glassware makes all the difference. I have 7-8oz rocks glasses where the regular ice size fits snug enough that you need a straw or bar spoon to basically swirl till it slides down.

[@jwoah1835]

I have the Naisu N1 system coming. It is definitely for home use, but I'm interested in seeing how it works. I just make my own clear ice currently as I like the ability to make whatever shape the drinks need.

[@WhispyWoods.]

Thanks for your honest assessment 👍

[@ogreenius]

I've actually always wondered why you use such giant ice in your rocks glasses. It always looks kind of awkward and hard to deal with to me (e.g. having to stir down the cube to get it to even sit in the glass properly in the first place). It also reminds me of the common complaint that people will sometimes make (however misplaced) that a fancy drink in a bar is "too small and mostly ice". It's sort of oddly leaning into that. 😄 There is surely also a reason the vast, vast majority of cube ice products make smaller cubes than yours. What is it that makes you prefer that larger rocks glass? It seems fine, but quite plain really. I have a number of beautiful rocks glasses that create great wash lines on OF cocktails with the widely available 2" cubes. As far as the Ghost Ice System itself, I'm pretty unimpressed at the price and space usage for the *home* version (the bar version, however cumbersome, probably makes sense). Clearly Frozen makes a tray that makes 10 cubes (2") in a much, much smaller space and it's only $45. Buy 2 of them and make 20 cubes in about the same space as the Ghost Ice Home system for about 2/3 the price (price per cube is about half, then).

[@TheEducatedBarfly]

Well just on a simple level the more ice in a drink, the more surface area of drink that touches ice, the slower it will dilute. I cut my cubes to fit the glass with a 1/4 inch space at the top, the glasses I use taper at the base so when I stir it it’s only to help the cube settle in nicely but it fits to begin with. From an aesthetic point of view bigger ice is more elegant to me with small ice you also have some people complaining that there isn’t enough volume of drink, which is ridiculous because the ice isn’t offsetting enough volume in the glass. I also like larger glassware which is solely personal preference

[@ogreenius]

​@@TheEducatedBarfly Yeah, the ice size having an influence on speed of dilution will be noticeable to a point. But practically speaking I usually end up with a lot of a 2" cube leftover after a drink, so there's not a ton of melting going on. I also wonder if the exposure to the air on the larger cube might actually make it melt faster. 🤔 We can choose our glassware to match our ice so that it looks appropriately full (good wash line). That can be done regardless of ice size, although of course there are semi-standard glass sizes, so you want to be in that range. I do think the cube size that most molds are doing (around 2") fits into many commonly available rocks glasses with a good wash line. I'd also suggest that many people would probably be put off by ice that they had to carve down or stir down to fit into the glass, now that I think of it. So while there may be some small functional differences pro or con to the large ice, it sounds (very reasonably) like it's mostly an aesthetic thing. I totally get that, I'm just glad my own aesthetic preference aligns a bit more with the mass market in this case because that means I can get a good ice tray for $45. 😄

[@eliasg7232-u7k]

My wife got me the Clearly Frozen system and it's great. Cubes come out perfectly square and clear without the diamond shape at the bottom. Fits in both of our freezers and is super simple.

[@reflectionless]

I’ve been using the ghost ice home system for about two years and it’s great! The bottom portion doesn’t freeze all the way after a couple days in my freezer so drain it and break up all the clear ice and use it to shake my drink. With that aside, I’d say my biggest gripe is that they’re not a symmetrical cube. Is there a particular reason for that?

[@MasterShake199]

Would their Home System tray fit into the smaller coleman cooler? Like the little red/blue ones, they are flatter on top and I would think those cubes would fill higher. Food for thought.

[@Cheezitnator]

I got small clear ice thing on Kickstarter a while back. It only makes 6 but it does fit in my normal stand up freezer. It's not perfect especially since our water is very hard but they are decently clear for being made at home and cost only 80.

[@cto__24]

We just got the pro Ghost system for the new “modern steakhouse” in Lakewood, Ohio I’m helping my friend open (shameless plug), and I’ve made a couple batches and found that 2.5 days and letting it sit for about 20 min before trying to extract the ice makes it much easier lol Also our chest freezer is in the basement and the first time we had to two man it down the steps. Now I take a stock pot with a lid and fill it with 33 qts of water and then fill the ghost system in the freezer. So much easier

[@chrisnormandeau6101]

Is there a good way to make pebble ice at home? From what I can tell the options are: buy a pebble ice machine (counter space?!?), make it ahead with tiny cube trays (pain in the butt). Both end up frozen into a ziplock shaped bundle if you try to make it ahead of time.

[@kellythompson1206]

I like my vintage Sears Swing-a-way ice crusher. Always plenty on eBay and Etsy. There are new brands of crushers of this style, but they all seem to have plastic blades and poor reviews.

[@TheEducatedBarfly]

You can go to sonic or chic-fil-a and buy a bag

[@TainakaRicchan]

I found silicone ice molds for 10 bucks each at a local store, two of which perfectly fit my mini coleman. I punchen whoels in the bottom of each cube and it works perfectly. These are 2 inch cubes, which are too smal for a double rocks glass though. which is why i use two rocks of ice on a double rocks glass... ;)

[@jimmwagner]

It's not just you. Same hang-up here. Plus I need a bigger cube for the sphere press.

[@paulc1173]

I have the same ice hang ups, I freeze and cut my own. Not as good at cutting yet….

[@keithbarry29]

you showed the house system in a glass. what about the pro version in a glass? your preferred?

[@johninmontrealjt437]

The mold for the home system doesn't sit all the way down to the rim of the cooler (because of the raised sides for the handle)... resulting in the smaller cubes. If they could change that cooler, the problem would be solved.

[@SandstormGT]

Yeah this is not rocket science, the mold was clearly not made for that cooler. If they either made a proper fitting mold or provided a proper sized cooler for the mold they already have, the cube would be 20%+ bigger. Bad design. I might be interested in the home version if they were to fix it.

[@MrMoney331]

Man I have tried to make Clear ice twice in the last week and what keeps happening is I take my cooler out, the put it in the sink to let it fall out of the cooler and tempur....then totally forget it for the next day or so till it is mostly or fully melted....Is there some dumb product I can buy to help with that? Outside of the timers I already have 😆

[@TheEducatedBarfly]

an alarm ⏰️?

[@MrMoney331]

@@TheEducatedBarfly I forgot!!! 😂

[@ShuWii]

48 looks pretty good, but no spears, and I wonder how many/much yield you could get manually, no mold. I probably get about 48 including 12 spears and some amount of "whip" ice(shaking only), with a smaller cooler. Granted they're not as uniform, but customer base seems to appreciate big clear ice, almost regardless of shape.

[@rgan8134]

"More sensible cubes..." 😀👍

[@snow56border]

I agree with the cameraman being confused. You don’t like the home system because the cube is smaller, so more ice will stick above in your glass. The professional system is the same width, but taller… so even more ice height. While it being bigger will displace more liquid… I think what you want is a wider cube then these systems can give.

[@TheEducatedBarfly]

The home system makes ice that’s way too small, it cannot hold enough volume of water to fit the mold because the mold takes a lot of space in the small cooler. The commercial system fixes this problem but I still find the cubes too small definitely in width if you use a smaller small glass then it’s ok but not great

[@kasufert]

7:45 Me: Wow, that is so beautiful! I wish my ice could look like that! Him: That doesn't look that good. Me: 😢

[@lokmtb8503]

It's not just you... Ice cube size matters. A hearty old fashioned glass looks amazing with a large cube cut to fit the glass. What would be your ideal cube size to come out of a system like this? My heart say's 2.5" and I'd carve them down to the size of the glass I'm. My brain says 2.25" because it would be more grab and go.

[@TheEducatedBarfly]

Not everyone is as particular as me but yeah ice size definitely matters. 2.5 would be great

[@blackE1114]

Personally i like the home system better visually. And i dont think that size difference would make a difference in a cocktail in dilution terms. So I'd say thats definitely just preference

[@juniuschan3701]

I love using the ghost ice maker pro myself for work, a little work and attention is needed, but the results are really darn good and customers love to ask about it. I just wish someone would make a normal, everyday ice mold which is not cube shaped, and rather shaped more towards a taller 'cube' that the ghost ice makes, makes the drink looks soo much better imo

[@jonathanwilliams1974]

This doesn't look like anything different than the stuff I see online for half the cost or less. Heck I see one on Amazon now that makes 8 clear 2" cubes and it's $30 (killer reviews as well). $147 is just an insane price for this.

[@TheEducatedBarfly]

the size is what is different from most. But yes, it is a bit expensive. What's the Amazon one called? we should test it.

[@TheEducatedBarfly]

the size is what is different from most. But yes, it is a bit expensive. What's the Amazon one called? we should test it.

[@TheEducatedBarfly]

the size is what is different from most. But yes, it is a bit expensive. What's the Amazon one called? we should test it.

[@georgebabus2030]

"I know a lot of you guys noticed I put on some weight" man we need to know less about each other. Would a random commenters say that to someone in person

[@TheEducatedBarfly]

Not sure but I get that comment a lot lately and it ain’t wrong 😂

[@georgebabus2030]

@@TheEducatedBarfly well glad you take it in good spirits

[@ChadWinters]

I can’t imagine how big a freezer you would need

[@TheEducatedBarfly]

for the pro system? A normal sized floor chest freezer will do it

[@steve3667]

I still prefer the rustic method.

[@TheDbaru]

Unsolicited advice on personal fitness: heavy resistance training + occasional fasting is unstoppable.

[@noupperlobemanify]

They're going to have to do a LOT better on that price, commercial or not.

[@Joshua-dx7zn]

Not worth it for regular people. I guess as you said it is for a business. I don't think it is practical given the space and how hard it is to get out of the cooler, plus you have to spend a bunch of time working the ice into proper shapes. Just looks armature

[@chrisnormandeau6101]

Disagree. Having big clear ice at home is a game changer for a home bar. It don’t take much time and you can prep it ahead of time/regularly as needed. (It DOES take up an annoying amount of space, but that’s why having a chest freezer is handy.)

[@Joshua-dx7zn]

@@chrisnormandeau6101 I feel like you mean the same people who go to artisan coffee shops and want designs in their coffee before they drink it.

[@chrisnormandeau6101]

@@Joshua-dx7zn I’m not sure I’d say that, but I don’t have any ill will towards however people like their coffee. I do think there’s a lot of overlap with people who buy single origin locally roasted beans, grind them at home, and use a pour over. But we’re both commenting on a cocktail KZbin channel, soooo…. Do either of us buy day old gas station coffee?

[@MrMoney331]

For the 3 Day comment, that is totally true. I have left my stuff to long and it has expanded and cracked the vessel it is freezing in. Which for a cheap cooler it is fine. But I have a similar thing to this from Wintersmiths(or something) and it cracked the plastic and I don't really have another option. Duct tape to the win 😉

[@jw-lk1pe]

the ghost cubes look huge to me. any bigger and there's no room for a drink

[@01blaval]

This much work and money just to get clear ice…… Are you kidding me???😂🤣😅 Cheers🥃

[@MrMoney331]

I like my ice more short and Thiccccc 😆

[@Bob-cu6uw]

what's with the hat all of the sudden? you get a bad haircut?

[@TheEducatedBarfly]

No. I like it. That’s what’s up with it :)

[@ForestRoute]

What an astonishingly inefficient way to make ice.

[@chrisnormandeau6101]

Inefficient how? Time? Space? Money? If the goal is clear ice, directional freezing is the method. That involves coolers and molds.

[@GrumpyCoffeeBean]

Clear ice looks pretty in your drink and melts much slower. (I have actually verified it by having 2 equally sized spheres of ice in glasses side by side)