How 2 make ice

[twentysixtwo]

I'd really have to disagree on distilled water being hazardous.

The sodium content in most water is negligible so drinking distilled water should have no more health threat than drinking tap water.

There is some speculation that it will, over time, deplete your body of minerals, but that's different from being fatal.

As far as how much water you'd have to drink to injure yourself, the risk you describe is a real condition - it's called hyponatremia - when your body's salt content gets too low.

It's something you typically see in a few marathon runners each year. The slower, less conditioned ones tend to be more susceptible. These people are drinking a glass of water every five minutes for 5 hours straight. Even then, it's a very rare condition - you only hear about a couple of cases each year.

 

[dcarch8]

I'm sure my home ice maker is full of bacteria, also.

I believe ice cubes from ice maker do not normally have much bateria, since they are made from the same water that you drink. The bucket which holds the ice, if it is not cleaned regularly, can be a problem.

dcarch8

 

[turbodog]

Make your ice cubes from vodka. After a while, it'll taste just fine.

 

[rayearth]

As a doctor, I will go out on a limb as say that distilled water is not hazardous at all! It probably is safer than drinking water that may have trace amounts of heavy metals and such. Ultrapure distilled water is a better solvent than plain water. The reason why you don't want it in metal pipes is that it will eventually strip the metal from the pipe (very slowly), but more importantly it will contaminate the water for precision lab use. That is the main reason why they use expensive PTFE and polyethylene pipes in the lab. Do note that distilled water won't be the best tasting, due to the lack of dissolved gases and "good tasting" minerals. However, it is better tasting than water in some places (DFW water tastes bad).

There is a electrolyte imbalance that you can get from drinking water, but it is from drinking too much plain water (whether it is distilled or not is irrelevant). The threshhold will vary depending on health of kidneys and how much you have acclimated, but can range from 2-10 gallons a day. Suffice it to say, people with normal hearts, livers and kidneys will compensate for excessive water as long as they don't go overboard. For those who don't have all three normal, well talk to you local physician. YMMV

 

[John N]

I think I read somewhere that water with no air trapped in it tastes better. You might try making a batch of ice by first filling an ice tray and letting it sit to try to lower the airation.

Starting with filtered water would probably be optimal.

-john

 

[jtr1962]

Just out of curiosity, are you always making the ice in plastic containers? That might be what's picking up the smell. Try one of those old-school aluminum ice trays and see if that makes a difference.

 

[dcarch8]

I think I read somewhere that water with no air trapped in it tastes better.
-john

Unless the trapped air is CO2, which you pay to have in the water.

dcarch8

 

[dcarch8]

Just out of curiosity, are you always making the ice in plastic containers? That might be what's picking up the smell. Try one of those old-school aluminum ice trays and see if that makes a difference.

Activated charcoal filters away bad taste and some other bad stuff.

dcarch8

 

[dcarch8]

As a doctor, I will go out on a limb as say that distilled water is not hazardous at all!

Everyone, please listen to the doc. Now take two aspirins and go to sleep!

dcarch8

 

[dcarch8]

Make your ice cubes from vodka. After a while, it'll taste just fine.

ABSOLUTE ly

dcarch8 :devil:

 

[dcarch8]

Hello guys,(& Gals)

There you go, I am now a

Flashaholic*!!!

(drum roll -------------)


dcarch8

 

[bruddamoke]

Well, we started using crystal geyser water along with the bagged ice. Less chlorine taste than from the tap. Freezing the Crystal Geyser wasn't successful, as the 'taste' was still evident, though less.

Is it the air?

I tried making ice in a sealed container, hoping to keep the freezer air out. That didn't change anything.

So we're still buying ice from Albertson's.

I'm not upset about buying the ice, I'm pissed that I can't make ice that is as good as theirs!

I don't like the taste of crystal geyser out of the bottle, so would not use it for ice. Don't care for evian or mineral water either. Try another brand like Arrowhead, which I think has a cleaner, more neutral taste.

 

[nethiker]

I wouldn't rely too heavily on the baking soda in the freezer, or refrigerator for that matter. We have always kept a box in the fridge. Arm and Hammer even makes the refrigerator box witht the fabric sides to allow maximum circulation.

After reading THIS ARTICLE, we have stopped buying baking soda for this. We just try to clean out the fridge at least once a week and there's no oder problem. Imagine that.

 

[KevinL]

Interesting......

I wonder what happens when you put ice with lots of bacteria into a UV Aquastar or equivalent UV purifier system, and 'nuke' the ice with some serious UV to kill the bacteria? Does it make the ice safer?

Either way, I prefer a slightly more time-honored method - put ice in glass, pour vodka over ice (40% should stand a pretty good chance of killing most nasties), drink slowly.

 

[Ras_Thavas]

I drank distilled water for many years with no ill effects.

 

[dcarch8]

I believe we all have a great deal of experience with distilled water:

Rain and snow. However, becareful, rain and snow most likely will have dust, desolved gas (may be insects) as they fall thru the air.

dcarch8

 

[HarryN]

I can actually speak to the clear ice cubes question with a bit of experience, as my dad was "in the business" of making and selling ice, as part of a larger business.

To make (almost) completely clear ice, you need to allow the ice to freeze in one direction only, and ideally, there should be flowing water at the interface of the freezing direction.

In practice, the "ice machine" we had to make this fine ice, has a large refrigerated plate at approx. 20 degree down angle. Clean water was recirculated over this plate until ice formed on it approx. 1 cm thick. This formed a slab about 0.5 x 0.5 meters x 1 cm thick, of almost perfectly clear ice.

The cooled plate was then slightly heated, the ice slab slid off, and on to a grid of hot wires, which cut the ice into cubes. Finally, the ice cubes were hard frozen to prevent them from sticking together.

Our small store had 2 systems (4 plates total) which made approx 500 K grams of ice per day, and sold it as fast as we could make it, because this is very hard to do at home. I know, because I also helped fix the machines, and bag the ice.

The fundamental key, is that the ice must freeze in one direction, not edge to center. This provides the multiple action needed of "freezing out" the minerals, gas removal, and proper crystal formation. I cannot say with certainty, but I don't think there is another way to obtain clear ice cubes.

 

[dcarch8]

The fundamental key, is that the ice must freeze in one direction, not edge to center. This provides the multiple action needed of "freezing out" the minerals, gas removal, and proper crystal formation. I cannot say with certainty, but I don't think there is another way to obtain clear ice cubes.

You learn something new everyday. Thanks for the interesting information.

I wonder if it is the same principle as in computer chip making to purifying silicon chrystals by "zone refining"

dcarch8

 

[James S]

when we moved into this house there was one of those under the bar ice makers and I ran it constantly for the first few months till I decided it was just too darned noisy and costing me $30 a month in electricity and I never not once got an ice cube out of it for a drink

But they run the same way, the little nodules are cooled and water flows around them building up a layer of clear ice and letting the extra minerals and dissolved gasses drain away. Then the water is shut off and the nodules heated until the ice falls off into the bin.

Saw one of those behind the scenes shows about an ice manufacturer and they used a HUGE version of what HarryN described. Just a metal cooled plate a story high and when the ice sheet fell off they just let it shatter rather than try to cut it into cubes.

Those fancy ice makers under your bar or in a hotel or a restaurant dont even have a refigerator for the ice cube storage part, they just let them melt at the bottom and drain away and make fresh at the top. Otherwise they would all freeze together

 

[greenlight]

There also appears to be at least 2 different types of ice cubes available locally. Albertson's has the 'good' ice - it's clear and tastes good. Safeway and other stores have ice that is translucent and chips easily. I haven't been buying it and can't testify to its taste, but is priced similarly, so I just go to Albertsons for the ice if I need it.