| dejongj |
Hi, this is a long shot...We are refurbishing our kitchen and will get all new kitchen appliances.....I finally convinced my wife that we need a built-in coffee machine and were considering something like the Miele CVA 2660...
Has anyone got any first hand experience with these devices? |
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| Ohio Murano |
| Don't have one but did see one on HGTV the other night and it seemed pretty nifty. I believe the show was called home 2005 so you may be able to catch a repeat. They also had a gold plated coffe maker that ran about $3000. A little to much for me. The built in makes alot of sense though never having to add water again and I think it ran $200-$300.. Good luck and let us know if you get one. :cool: |
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| GripperDon |
Even with a water softener the coffee requires reverse osmosis to be good. a very large percentage of the home here use it to get good water for drinking and cooking and COFFEE. So the dedicated machine will need to be plumed to the RO line.
Someday I'll tell the secret of home producing crystal clear ice cubes to put in your Scotch. Anybody already Know? GRIP :D |
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| dklanecky1 |
quote:
Originally posted by GripperDon
Someday I'll tell the secret of home producing crystal clear ice cubes to put in your Scotch. Anybody already Know? GRIP :D
Isn't that a sin (putting ice in your scotch)?:2: |
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| MOpar |
| Grip, start with hot water. |
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| GripperDon |
That is a major part of it.
1. Water that has recently been boiled and still hot, What is the rest?
2.
GRIP :D |
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| dejongj |
Man you should be banned for life, that is the same as adding a diesel to the petrol tank in the Murano :3:
You should stick to Bourbon, and I'll ask our Government to put an export embargo on the real stuff :2:
Please, please, please, don't tell me that you put ice-cubes in your Wine as well ;) |
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| GripperDon |
Distilled, deionized or Ro watter is not required.
No Ice in wine!
Only pure crystal clear Ice in Scotch.
Hint:
Cloudy, whitish, milky or whatever they are tend to look that way because of gas (air) trapped in the Ice as it forms creating microscopic voids within the ice that create reflecting interior surface, Therefor the gas has to be eliminated from the water as it freezes.
Bringing the water to a boil expands these absorbed gasses and causes them to be (deabsorbed) from the water so the water can freeze without their presence.
Now the true #2 ? in the process and how to implement it. GRIP :D |
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| GMTURBO43 |
Dammit Grip - just tell us. I'm getting thirsty and I wanna do it right.
Better wait until I leave work though. ;) |
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| GripperDon |
Next hint: Actually this IS part of #2
"Cause the water to freeze slowly so as to lets the remaining gas escape as it freezes but before it solidifies. NOW, The completion of statement #2 is "by ........................ "
So lets see, we have
1. Using water that has very recently been boiled and still hot.
2. Cause this water to freeze slowly by ...........................,
GRIP :D |
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| GMTURBO43 |
| Putting it in the freezer??? |
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| GripperDon |
You know you get a Extra point for that , That will teach me for assuming anything.
So lets see, we have
1. Using water that has very recently been boiled and is still hot.
2. Cause this water to freeze slowly by, putting it in the freezer in a PLASTIC ice tray plus an insulated ice cube tray cover, (not covering the bottom) I made mine by using Styrofoam and gluing together a 5 sided box that fits tight and acts as a cover to retard heat transfer rate from the top and sides. Fill to only HALF normal level.
It seems that this slows the rate at which the water freezes and allows time and thermal gradients to promote the gas escaping from the top of the water as the water slowly freezes from the bottom up.
VoilĂ_, nice crystal clear ice for your single malt. (apologies to the ultra purists)
GRIP :D
P.S. It's a lot quicker to find a couple of neighbors that are also nuts for clear ice and share an ice making machine |
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| njmo |
I was waiting for this. Will try this weekend as I should be picking up the new MO on Saturday and will have to toast the addition to the family!!
:2: |
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| dejongj |
quote:
Originally posted by GripperDon
P.S. It's a lot quicker to find a couple of neighbors that are also nuts for clear ice and share an ice making machine
Although I still can't believe a nice malt is being enhanced (I am being nice here...) by putting ICE in it...I was intrigued by 'lesson' on making crystal clear ice cubes...And now especially by the last statement....
Do the ice-machines that are in fridges produce crystal clear ice? As this thread was about my built-in coffee machine...We are changing everysingle appliance (and the rest of our kitchen..) and are about to order a big built-in Amana fridge freezer with ice/water dispenser...Just like with the Murano you can't test drive those kind of fridges in the UK as they are rare with the UK kitchens being so small, except for our :)
So do they? I do love ice in my Pimms and Lemonade, Vodka and Tonic and Cuba Libre's..... |
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| GripperDon |
| I never found a "Refrigerator" that made clear ice. Not GE or Sub Zero, etc. The slow controlled process that is required need a True ice maker. Search Google and for "clear ice" making machines and you will find a bunch, They usually use the "layer" method of adding watter little at a time to make thin layer that let the gas out. They are "fairly" affordable in the US. But as you know we are the land of bargains. In a new Kitchen or remodel, it's is a consideration. GRIP :D |
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| GripperDon |
I never found a "Refrigerator" that made clear ice. Not GE or Sub Zero, etc. The slow controlled process that is required need a True ice maker. Search Google and for "clear ice" making machines and you will find a bunch, They usually use the "layer" method of adding watter little at a time to make thin layer that let the gas out. They are "fairly" affordable in the US. But as you know we are the land of bargains. In a new Kitchen or remodel, it's is a consideration.
In the UK look at these
http://www.air-kool.co.uk/coolice.htm
GRIP :D |
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| GripperDon |
Good read from:
http://www.edgerton.org/kidscorner/clearice.html
Clear Ice This week's experiment is the result of my forgetfulness. I took a tray of ice cubes out of the freezer, used half the cubes and then forgot to put the tray back in the freezer. When I remembered, the cubes were half melted. Only the centers of the cubes were left. The remaining ice was very cloudy.
To find out what happened, you will need:
ice cube trays
a freezer
a water filter or distilled water
a pot to boil water in
water
If you already have a tray of ice cubes in the freezer, get one of the ice cubes and look at it carefully. We want to see the inside of the cube, so it may help if you get the cube wet first. What do you notice? The outside of the cube is made of clear ice, but the center of the cube is white. That white center is what I had left when I left the ice out. Why is it white?
To find out, fill one ice cube tray with distilled water or water that has been through a good water filter. Fill another tray with distilled water that has been heated to a full boil. Be very careful not to burn yourself with the boiling water. Mark both trays so you can tell which is which and put them in the freezer. If your freezer is like ours, then you may have to finish off a container of ice cream to make room for the extra ice trays.
One thing that can make the center of the ice cube cloudy is mineral content. Most water contains some dissolved minerals. As the water freezes, the water molecules fit together neatly into a pattern that does not leave room for the minerals. Since the ice begins freezing at the top, this ice will be clear, with the minerals forced out of it. As more and more of the water freezes, the minerals are concentrated in the remaining liquid at the center of the cube. Finally, the minerals are left as tiny pockets in the ice. These pockets of minerals give the ice a cloudy appearance. The ice cubes that were made with distilled water should have a thicker clear layer around the outside and a smaller, cloudy center.
Another thing which causes the cloudy appearance in the center of the cube is air. Most water contains dissolved air. As the water freezes, the same things happens with the dissolved air that happened with the dissolved minerals. You wind up with many small bubbles and often one large bubble trapped in the center of the ice.
As we have seen in the past (#184 Flat Water), boiling water will remove most of the gas dissolved in the water. The ice cubes made with boiled, distilled water should be even more clear, with an even smaller cloudy center.
The next time you are in a restaurant, look at the ice cubes. You will probably find that they do not have cloudy centers. How do they do that? They use special ice machines which freeze the ice in layers, starting from the inside out. This is very similar to the way that icicles form. An icicle starts with a hanging drop which freezes. Water flowing over the outside of the icicle freezes layer on top of layer. Any dissolved minerals are free to go directly into the air, so the icicle is nice and clear. The fancy ice machines in restaurants work the same way, giving them crystal clear ice for your iced tea.
Grip :DENJOY |
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| dejongj |
| And there was me thinking those restaurants had cheap imported labour who were polishing those cubes except for Cola as that stuff is so nasty it polishes anything by itself.... :2: |
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| Eric L. |
| Neato - the recipe for clear ice cubes. :D |
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