>> This episode in modern rogue brought to you by Raycon.
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They're delicious earbuds,
put them in your ears, you don't eat them.
>> I was about to say this ain't--
They're earbuds, that are very good.
>> The sound is delicious.
No that doesn't work either.
[laughs]
>> Twenty years ago, in the stage show
we were doing this routine where we had a dollar bill vanish
and appear inside a solid block of ice.
And so we needed the ice to be clear,
we weren't ever able to get it clear.
We got it mostly clear.
I tried all the things that I had heard of.
This is pre-internet basically.
I'd heard try distilled water.
I'd heard try boiling the water
and then put it into the freezer boiled or whatever.
I know that clear ice is a thing.
I've seen ice sickles.
Professional chainsaw ice sicklers are using clear ice.
>> You're getting a little mad at nature.
>> This is 20 years of vengeance waiting.
I want the secret to clear ice.
Oh, by the way we're here with Nick from Cocktail Chemistry.
>> Hello, hi, thanks for having me.
>> JASON: Forgive him.
>> There are a lot of misconceptions out there.
The most frequent comment and question I get is
yeah, can I just boil the water
to get clear ice or use filtered water?
>> So you're saying that's totally bogus.
It doesn't matter if it's filtered,
doesn't matter if it's been boiled.
Why does everybody think that?
>> That's a good question.
I think it can help the clarity of the ice.
It's not going to get you perfectly clear ice.
Usually, if there's a lot of impurities
in your water or you don't have great water
you'll want to boil it first.
But a lot of the cloudiness from ice
actually comes from trapped air
and other impurities within the water.
>> So not just the bubbles but the weird cloudiness
that comes from trapped air as well?
That's not like something you can boil away?
>> Yeah, you can't boil that away.
I mean you can help it a little bit from boiling
but you're never going to get perfectly clear ice
that you'll find where it almost makes the ice
disappear because it's so clear
when you pour liquid into it.
So, what I have here is just a very simple cooler
that might fit a six pack of beer.
You can get this for like 20 bucks on Amazon.
The way this is going to work is using a technique
called directional freezing
and this technique was actually developed
about ten years ago by a guy named Camper English
who figured out how to make this at home.
>> Uggh you're making that up
but keep going it's cool.
I'm with it. [laughter]
>> So what we have here is this cooler
and I've actually, you can see is
I've removed the top of it here right
so there's no lid, I've pulled it right off
and what that leaves us with is this device
that is insulated on all sides except for the top
and that's going to force the freezing process
to happen from the top down.
Because this part is exposed
and so the freezing is going to happen here first
and that is important
because all of the impurities
and the trapped gasses form
at the end of the freezing process.
So we're effectively pushing all that
impurity and cloudiness down to the bottom
and then we can hack it off
or what we've done here is I've actually
pulled this out of the freezer a little early
and so we're going to see some water
at the bottom of this as well.
>> This suddenly makes sense.
This is why ice sickles are clear
because they are directionally freezing down.
>> So let's do the reveal here.
I'm going to invert this
and this big block should come out.
Hopefully it doesn't go spilling everywhere here.
>> JASON: Oh that's weird.
>> BRIAN: Wait, is that still water trapped inside?
>> Yes, yes, so I let this freeze for about 24 hours.
My freezer at home is about negative eight degrees
fahrenheit and so it didn't freeze fully solid.
It kind of froze about up to here
and this stuff was still water.
And this is actually even better for us
because we now don't have to worry about hacking off
all of the cloudiness right here.
We just sort of stopped the freezing process
before the cloudiness actually formed.
>> JASON: And you can actually see the water
inside moving around up top there.
>> Yeah, the next thing we want to do is
get this water out so we can isolate the clear ice here.
>> Making mess I'm feeling you.
Oh, you go for it.
Here, we'll play clean up duty.
>> Oh good the hammer, I was hoping.
I was like don't tease me and not use the hammer.
>> I asked you guys to provide a hammer
and Modern Rogue did not disappoint.
>> Come on! >> This thing is a beast.
>> Most recently that smashed a windshield
so it's been blessed.
>> All right.
[dramatized impact]
[water gushing]
>> Oh, totally, wrong direction.
We prepared for the wrong direction.
That's fine, that's fine.
>> JASON: Oh that's neat.
>> Yes, we've got all this water here we want to get rid of--
>> BRIAN: Is it, oh dude--
you can't really even tell where the ice begins
and the water ends. >> JASON: Oh wow.
>> Yeah, you can already see some of the clarity here.
So let's just, we'll get some of this stuff here as well.
This part's actually the fun part.
[hammers ice]
Some people will say that perfectly clear ice
also has the benefit of melting more slowly
because you don't have those
trapped gasses in the ice cube.
The reality is you're not going
to really notice that impact.
It's mostly aesthetic.
It makes the drink look pretty.
>> Now is this the same method
that they use for like ice sculptures
and stuff like that?
>> That's using a machine called a Clinebell machine
and I believe that actually works more
by circulating the water as its freezing.
So it kind of freezes in layers
is my understanding.
>> Oh that's actually-
>> Look at that! >> Yeah.
>> JASON: Wow.
>> NICK: So we'll clean this up a little bit.
We'll chop off some of the cloudy bits
and you'll be left with this sort of
clear section right here.
>> It is astonishing.
I mean it's, it's--
That's so good.
>> Anyone can do this too.
This is really simple. >> Super easy.
>> I thought there was going to be some sort of odd machine
you were going to bring in.
>> You're a fraud, this is easy.
[laughter]
>> Yeah so if you're doing this for a bar program
you might be using a Clinebell machine
and actually carving it up
so you know those band saws from back in shop class?
>> Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Like they'll run these clear ice blocks through that
just to like get the cubes
and all the shapes that they want.
>> I guess that's sort of what they used to do
before freezers were a thing.
They would chop up the ice in ponds
and they'd just use saws.
Take them in blocks and then throw them off
to the East India company.
>> Exactly, yeah.
And if you're making this at home
there are also devices that will put it
into clear cubes for you.
They tend to be pretty expensive.
They can be even a couple hundred bucks.
This is by far the most budget friendly way
I guess to do this at home.
This will kind of ruin a bread knife
I think if you actually wanted to keep this
but we're going to start to sort of chop into this here.
I like to kind of,
there's going to be ice chips flying.
>> I like it >> Sure, sure, sure
>> It's okay.
>> So we'll kind of just start to hack at this
a little bit.
Man this hammer's a beast.
>> Nice.
>> This part right here, is easiest done
through just melting it down,
just running some hot water over the top.
>> BRIAN: Yeah, well here,
let's get some hot water or something.
Got a bunch of warm water on there
not quite hot.
Like we're giving a shave.
>> NICK: Nice lather.
>> BRIAN: Ooh, oh and how was your week?
>> JASON: Mmmm, is this where we turn into an ASMR channel?
[Laughter]
>> NICK: This is actually working pretty well.
I was skeptical but yeah.
It's coming out clear.
[tapping ice]
>> I feel like some sort of craftsman.
>> I feel like all of us should be
asking the spirits a question.
[laughter]
>> JASON: Exactly.
>> Oh great spirits how is clear ice made?
Oh my gawd!
We did it!
Wow, that is astonishing.
And it's only going to get more clear
as this all evens out.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah, you can kind of see
the pattern of the towel
has ingrained itself on there.
>> So you just saw it down with a regular bread knife?
>> Yeah so now it's just about getting it into the shapes
that you want for the glass.
>> I mean look, I understand
you do ice for a reason, for cubes
but I feel like it belongs in a museum
I mean I don't want to break this.
But theoretically how should--
Oh I'm going to drop it.
I'm going to drop it.
Here we go, that's fine.
>> For the viewers at home.
If we were serving this to you,
we probably wouldn't be rubbing our bath towels
over it, our grubby little hands--
>> Speak for yourself. >> I would hope.
I would hope, don't worry about that.
>> We call that the Brian special.
>> Yeah, that's on the shop.
It's like every cube was hand caressed
by Brian himself.
>> Do you charge extra for that?
>> That's right.
>> So, we just now need to get it
into the shapes we want.
There's usually two shapes you can
carve this up into.
If it's going to be for say a rocks glass like this.
You're making the old fashioned, the manhattan
you usually just want one big cube.
We'll start with that.
You can also carve it up into these sort of
longer sticks that are good for like Colin's glasses
those long balls.
>> Oh neat.
>> It's a nice clear ice cube effect in those
which is really clear so let's just go for the
basic cube here.
We might have to do a little more carving down
but I'm basically just going to take a bread knife
which is serrated and probably do a little damage
to the bread knife so use one that is relatively cheap
and we'll just start to carve it up right here.
So we just want to create sort of a straight line
across and if you have a hatchet,
that's even better but we're using a bread knife.
[Laughs] >> JASON: I mean--
>> BRIAN: Give us five minutes.
>> JASON: I can be back with a hatchet.
>> We'll go with this.
We'll carve one slit here
and then we'll do one on the other side.
>> Are we just going to break it along there.
>> We're just going to try to break it.
It usually gets a pretty clean break
of course, as I say this I'm sure it will be
really jagged but um--
>> BRIAN: But that's a nice thing
because it will just melt down into whatever
perfect cube you want.
>> And to be honest, I actually like
more sort of random shapes
versus like a perfect cube.
I think it adds a little more character to the drink.
>> I have a little thing where you pour the water
and put it in your freezer
and then little carbonite Hans Solo's come out
that you put in your drink.
It's pretty rad.
>> So the goal is going to be to gently tap
this in an even way and so it does a clean split.
So let's pray to the Ice Gods that this happens.
[knocks]
>> Her name's Elsa. >> Elsa.
[laughs]
[hammers knife]
You can see it starting to split a little right there.
>> Wow, yeah it's really visually arresting.
Ooohhhh!
>> NICK: Hey, that's pretty good.
>> BRIAN: Wooh, that's very good.
Oh wow and it really decided
to go it's own direction on here.
We had pre-serrated this side
>> NICK: That's true, yeah.
>> But I guess once it starts going,
it's going to go whatever way it wants.
>> NICK: Yeah it's a bit, it's a bit random like that.
We'll continue to carve it down a bit
into the shapes we want.
So let's now cut into sort of the cube size.
>> I'm with you, look at how much prettier that is
with that texture on the side.
>> Yeah, it's nice right?
>> That mirror finish.
It looks awesome.
>> I'll do one more like right about there
and then we'll probably have to carve it down
a little more to get it to fit in the glass.
And I'll just do one side here at this point.
We don't really need to do both sides.
[hammers knife]
A few taps.
>> BRIAN: Ooh, that's good
>> JASON: How about that hammer though?
>> NICK: All in the hammer, yeah.
>> We're almost there, oops!
[laughs]
>> There it is.
>> Let's size this here.
So that' a little too big.
>> BRIAN: Perfect, I say we're good.
I'm a Modern Rogue, we're done.
[laughter]
>> It might get a little jagged but that's all right.
>> JASON: This is way less of a race
against time than I thought it was going to be.
>> Ice sticks around a shockingly long time
and we were talking about this.
They literally can ship it around the world
without it melting.
It's just a matter of surface area right?
>> JASON: Sure.
>> If it's all, it has to melt from the outside in.
>> Yeah, these big cubes will stick around a while, yeah.
And again if you're doing this by the sink,
you can run this under hot water to kind of shave it
down a little bit.
This ways kind of more fun, you can kind of like
sorts of shapes and texture in there.
>> I really like the texture that the bread knife
is putting on there.
>> Yeah I like that too.
It gets your hands a little bit cold after awhile
but you can kind of just start to
spin it around and shape it a little bit.
>> I wonder how much more ominous this looks if
Brandt does the scary about-to-cut-himself thing on it.
[laughter]
[ominous droning music] >> JASON: The injury counter pops up right here.
[Brian imitates the ominous droning but also laughs while doing it]
It starts appearing like a threat.
>> NICK: Do we need a don't try this at home disclaimer?
Smacking a knife against your hand?
Some people will even go so far as
[music fades back in] to like get a really sharp knife and like shave
diamond cuts and all this stuff-- >> Yeah, don't, don't cut towards your hands.
>> Yeah. That's a bad idea.
>> NICK: Even though it doesn't perfectly fit,
spin it around a little bit, it will sort of melt
against the sides of the glass
and uh
should get us the shape we want.
And some people actually don't really like
a giant cube, it's sort of based on personal taste.
Because you might get a little bit on your nose
as you're starting to sip on it.
But, I like it, I think it looks cool.
>> BRIAN: Oh, that looks good.
May I? >> JASON: Real pretty.
>> BRIAN: All right, let's see.
This is a fairly generous helping.
>> JASON: Yeah, you're still get plenty of whiskey in there.
>> BRIAN: Wow! You can see right through it.
That's awesome!
>> Oh that's amazing.
It barely even looks like there's any ice in there.
>> That is awesome.
>> JASON: And again this is just regular tap water?
>> NICK: This is just Texas tap water.
>> BRIAN: Texas tap water! That's right.
Perfectly clear ice from regular tap water
no distilled water, no boiling,
nothing but directional freezing and tender loving care.
>> Exactly, exactly, yeah.
Boiling will still get you some cloudiness.
If you just boil the water and freeze it as normal.
You need to do this directional freezing method
to really isolate some of those impurities
and gases and then just chop them off
and that's what you're left with.
>> The craziest part is as it melts
it gets even more clear.
>> Yeah. >> That's awesome.
>> The other thing to note is once you chop this up
into the pieces you want.
Put it in a ziplock bag, keep it in the freezer.
When you pull it out, it will look very frosty
and cloudy, that'll all go away once you pour the
liquid in but it's really important to temper
the ice before you pour the whisky in
because if you pull it out of the freezer
and then you drop it into your glass
and you pour some liquid right on top,
it's going to crack right away.
Let it sit for five minutes at least
and it won't crack and some of the frostiness
from the freezer will come right off
and you'll be, you'll be left with that clear--
>> So you want the outside starting to melt
by the time it goes into the drink?
>> Yeah. >> Got it.
>> You want it to be a little moist on the outside.
>> Look a little smoother, a little glossier?
>> Exactly >> Excellent.
Well, where can we find more
about all of your wizardry, Nick?
>> Head over to cocktailchemistry my YouTube channel.
I'm also on Instagram and we do a lot more fun
science experiments like this with cocktails.
>> Dude, that is awesome.
I just went into a full on panic.
We're about to leave on vacation.
I get out of my car.
I have my Raycon ear buds charging,
my E25s you know so that I'll be able to get the
maximum amount of hours on the road
and I get out and I walk away I walk back
and one of my earbuds is on the seat.
And I open it up I'm like, "Oh no, no, no."
I had them in my lap and then I got up
and it was like full on panic.
I mean luckily it was just right down there.
>> Okay, losing one is worst than losing both I think
because if you lose one you know that
the other's maybe close by.
>> With any other ear bud it would be a disaster
but Raycon's are so freaking affordable
I love the low stress of knowing that it's like
if I did lose one I'd be like, pfff
I could by four sets of Raycons and still not match
the dumb price for some of the overpriced other guys.
They start at about half the price
of some of the premium ones
and they're every bit as good.
The quality is incredible.
The battery life is great on their new E25s,
it's like six hours and they've got that delicious
built in bass now and it just sounds spectacular.
>> Yeah, for me it's all about the comfort.
I sleep in them and it's great.
I mean we love our Raycons and we love--in fact,
we're at the point now where a bunch of fans
are hitting us up on Twitter, on the comments
saying "No, sincerely, Raycons the best thing ever."
>> Got to buyracon.com/rogue get 15% off
be like me, don't go into public without earbuds
so that you have an excuse to ignore people.
>> If somebody's trying to get you're like.
>> That's the magic trick.
>> It is magic.
Buyraycon.com/rogue
>> Believe it or not, this video on my channel
on how to make clear ice is by far the most popular.
>> Yeah get ready, here comes number two [laughs].
>> The internet loves clear ice,
I'm not quite sure why but um--
[unnecessarily high pitched] >> I mean who doesn't love clear ice?
It's magic.
>> This is actually working pretty well.
I was skeptical but yeah.
It's coming out clear.