ice-ology Clear Ice Tray: 2 count Round Sphere Tray

Product works perfectly as intended, and I really enjoy it. I got a small 1.1 cubic ft Whynter freezer as well and this mold fits perfectly in the top compartment with a bin on the bottom for finished cubes. I like how large they are.I had a problem with WHITE FLAKES collecting on the outside of the ice and after experimenting and talking with Dexas support (very helpful and informative), I have some tips. This strange white debris is calcium carbonate or calcium sulfate in the water that precipitates on the outside of the cubes after freezing. The calcium comes from the tap water. I didn't think I had particularly hard water, so this surprised me. It was also odd that it seemed to collect only on the outside of the ice.If this is a problem for you, make sure to thoroughly clean your ice molds. Try soaking them in a bit of vinegar mixture to really make sure the calcium is removed from the molds, and then try again with distilled water.There is a second problem with distilled water though. Distilled water is pure H2O, so there is no dissolved calcium carbonate, no dissolved ANYTHING. The way ice forms, however, requires some sort of initial impurity in the water to start the crystalization. If you make ice with distilled water, you'll end up with these small streaks in the ice that all direct down toward the hold in the center. It's very interesting, and you can try it for yourself.My solution to these streaks is just to put the tiniest bit of impurities back into the distilled water before freezing again. I put just a pinch of salt in each cube. The ice from this is perfectly clear and clean.

Clear ice! I have played with it. I have tried distilled water and boiled. Tap water works very good and is the easiest. I am using our camper's freezer to make the ice. (No room in the house) The water runs through a charcoal filter coming in. First pic is filling up and freezing. Second pic is letting the form sit for a couple of hours and then freezing. Third pic is the form sitting. (I think, to get the air bubbles out.....) I have had good luck with letting it sit. I have found I have to use a bottle brush on the tray about every three freezes. I get a build up on the bottom, of impurities. Easy to use with good results.

This mold and the directional freezing method is just part of the magic! YOU MUST HAVE FREEZER TEMP 25-30 F!! If you cannot control freezer temp then all appropriate steps taken, all the hours you've waited on clear ice will NOT HAPPEN. Not many freezers if any will allow these REQUIRED temps. You can move/adjust the temp controller to Cold vs Colder but even then freezer temp is too low resulting in somewhat clearer ice but ice in the mold will have air bubble streaks pointing in the direction of the hole inside the rubber molding. I have temp probes & a INKBIRD controller for other projects so I will attempt to turn freezer on/off to hit the required temp ranges.

I could not be happier with this product! The last time I tried my hand at clear ice cubes was years ago before any of these specialized trays existed, and you had to punch holes in a silicon ice cube tray and then put it in a cooler in your freezer. This product made it so easy! The molds lift effortlessly out of the bin, and getting the ice cubes out of the mold was as simple as pulling them apart. The ice cubes did come out crystal clear! The tray itself is not very large and doesn't take up a large amount of space in your freezer.In response to all the reviews that said the ice cubes were too small: just read the item description. It says they are 1.375 inches square, and they are. There are larger ones at 2" square, but I intentionally bought these because they are easier to fit in a tall, skinny glass like a Collins glass.

This product does exactly what it says it will do, and more importantly, the cubes are the right size for a rocks glass, which is a problem with some other molds.TLDR: Make sure all components are at least room temperature before filling and freezingTheory: I see a lot of reviews on these and other clear ice mold pages complaining about cloudy ice. Sure, clean, filtered water helps, and even warm or hot water can't hurt, but none of that matters if the tray, foam insulator, and silicone molds are not ALL at least room temperature, if not warm. If you clear the ice, fill it right back up, and plop it back in the freezer immediately, you're likely to get some cloudiness on the next batch because the cold temperature of the components disrupts the top-down freezing process that pushes contaminants and gases to the bottom. After A LOT of trial and error, this is the only consistent common denominator I've found, even when using warm or hot water. Now, I routinely set the molds, tray, and foam insulator on the counter in front of a window that gets direct sunlight for a few minutes before filling it up, and I get perfect results every time.It would be a good idea if the manufacturers included this information in their literature, and would probably spare them some unnecessary returns and bad reviews