Wintersmiths Ice Chest - Crystal-Clear Ice Ball Mold

It took me a few times to get the freezing times right, but I finally did and the ice balls turned out amazing! Perfectly clear. My first try was trial and error. I did as the instructions indicated and I pulled the tray out at 24 hours because I wanted to see if that was enough time, then I would work the time up from that point. After 24 hours it wasn't enough time. It ended taken the full 30 hours to freeze. One thing to keep in mind when you do it for the first time, is that when you pull the tray out from the tray "housing" there will be water at the bottom that did not freeze, so don't freak out; that how it's supposed to be. Just continue to pull the ice forms (tray) out of the housing. The balls will be completely frozen, but the water at the bottom of housing will not be. Also, you have to do some future calculating on the freezing time because you don't want to be at work, or not at home to pull them out after 30 hours because, as indicated in instructions, leaving it in the freezer longer than 30 hours can damage the whole thing. So, I make mine at 11:00am on Sundays, that way when I get home from work I can take them out then. I miscalculated one time and had to call my spouse to take them out of the freezer because I wasn't home yet. $120 is way too much money to waste because of a miscalculation. The price is high for this product, but when you pour your drink and see the crystal clear ice ball, it's definitely worth it. My next batch will have a slice of lime in them. FUN!

EDIT: Am receiving a replacement, could be just a fluke. Will update. EDIT 2: Received replacement. Works just fine but would still recommend not habitually leaving the chest in the freezer for too long past the freezing point. Mixed emotions on this one. Absolutely perfect spheres, 'water diamonds', can't-even-see-the-ice-in-the-glass-it's-so-damn-clear.... until you leave the chest in the freezer over 30 hours once (36 hours for me). The chest itself has expanded and deformed and holds more water, and the tops of the spheres never form now (see picture) because water goes to the side of the chest instead of the spheres mold now. I've tried plenty of work-arounds, but nothing has worked so far. Will update if I get something working. Overall: great product, hands down. But be ready to set an alarm clock every time for 30 hours in the future, cause if you get busy and leave it in there too long even once, your clear ice is gone.

Pros: Giant, round, 98% clear, sexy ice cubes. Cons: Tricky usage, takes some extra time, price is a bit much to ask So, once you figure this thing out, you'll enjoy it. However, it took me four days before I figured out what the heck to do. 16 or so deformed ice balls later I had some real success. Once you figure it out, they are definitely sexy looking additions to a nice clear/crystal glask and some deep amber beverages inside. Learned Tips: -Cold water is fine (In-fact I believe the hot might have attributed to some of my frustrations with how it froze) -Use purified water, like one of those PUR pitchers if you can -Slide the halves in one at a time. Yes it's a bit more difficult, but it ensures NO air bubbles -Fill them up enough so that the top groves/half-moons are ALL generally full -Wait at LEAST 24 hours, I generally did 26-28 (Product does say no more than 30 FYI) That's it, hopefully you can follow those tips and make some perfect whiskey additions at the very first go! Cheers, and drink on. P.S. I have NO experience with the cube molds, only sphere (see pictures)

Let me save you a lot of time. If you are looking for perfect spherical ice balls look no further, this really does make crystal clear balls if done correctly. This product hands down is superior to any other ice mold on the market! I have used over two dozen different molds and you get used to double boiling & filtering a million times in hopes to get some clear ice just to be let down by air bubbles and cloudy ice. Well I'm happy to say with Wintersmiths YOU DON'T DO ANY OF THAT, YOU DON'T NEED TO! Follow the instructions, don't try to be fancy, don't boil, don't filter, don't cover with saran wrap. It just adds headache and ruins your results. The only thing I found that makes any difference is to wiggle each half of the mold while SLOWLY letting the mold sink into the cooler to get out any air bubbles. Also it says to fill it up until about 2" from the top and I found that when I did that some balls didn't form all the way. I fill it with Luke Warm water all the way to the top allowing the mold to force out the extra water. These can be finicky to get right but once you do the results are amazing!

This thing is awesome! Ever since my neighbor got me hooked on bourbon, it's been my mission to get crystal clear ice balls. I've tried all the cheap molds. Did all the tricks with boiling water, using an RO system, or distilled water. Doesn't work. Decided to suck it up and spend the money on this. Works pretty great. "Pretty" great... they're the clearest I've ever gotten. Although, still not 100% glass clear. That's me probably being picky. Everyone that uses them is impressed with how they look though. Note: Make a lot in advance. This makes 4 at a time. It takes 24-30 hours to make more. DO NOT leave in for longer than 30 hours. Set a reminder on your phone. Make sure you have room in your freezer. This thing is bulky and takes up room. If you've been trying to get clear ice balls, BUY THIS! I hesitated for a long time because of the price. Wasted a lot of time by doing that.

Sometimes you see reviews and you think: "can this be true? It sounds too good to be true." I am here to tell you: It is true. We spent months trying to perfect crystal clear ice balls at home and failed despite boiled water, purified water, padded and covered molds and 24+hours of freezing. When our Ice Chest arrived, we used simple tap water and followed the directions and produced four crystal clear ice balls. It was that simple and amazing. You do have to take your individual freezer temperature into consideration when determining how long to leave the mold in. For us it was the full 30 hours. That is the only variable in making the ice balls. The ice looks like a ball of glass swirling in a container of spirits. We have been so impressed we have already ordered the cube mold for the chest through Wintersmiths. If you are wondering if you should take the financial plunge into a crystal clear ice chest, we say yes! We are glad we did.

I love the idea of the product and the clear ice ball concept but the fact that from the first use the plastic container you place the mold into cracked at the mold joint at the bottom and is very very unfortunate. First 3 times I tried to make ice the molds leaked into the foam outer layer and i got half sphere cubes. I have tried repairing it to make do as Amazon will not fully refund the shipping back from Australia and I am not going to pay for reshipping of a faulty item. Will just have to make the best of it and work something out on my own. Wish the plastic was better constructed and I could get a better deal on replacement.

2 parts to this review. The first is thoughts on the chest (the review for this chest is actually my 2nd purchase…first was direct from Wintersmiths). The other is on customer service from the company. 1. I love this thing! Friends come over and when I make them a Manhattan, the first thing they immediately notice and are blown away by is how perfectly clear the ice is. I then tell them about Wintersmiths and naturally the next question is “how much does that cost?”. I share the cost with them at which point they look at me silly wondering why I would be crazy enough to spend that much on an ice mold. I proceed to tell them that I would gladly spend this money again and again. There is just something about having the same quality of ice that I would get with a $15 cocktail at a speakeasy that makes me happy. 2. Regarding customer service, these guys are incredible. I had a slight issue with the plastic reservoir and sent them an email. I received a response within less than an hour (from one of the founders) and they immediately resolved the issue. I really can’t say enough good things about these guys. Great product and great service.

Blown away by this. Yeah its expensive and its just a fancy overpriced version of a standard cooler using directional freezing but it fits in my upright freezer drawer no bother and is less hassle. No learning curve, no multiple attempts, just crystal clear solid ice balls from 1st attempt. Cant rate it high enough

Pour un cadeaux d’une personne qui adore le whisky! Parfait!

Takes a bit of tweaking to fill it enough that you don't get little indentations at the top of the sphere, and to figure out the ideal amount of time for your freezer, but once you work out those details you are rewarded with beautiful clear spheres of ice. Very classy for rum or bourbon "on the rocks".

Very satisfying end result yet very slow to make 4 ice balls ...

Great product!