Berlinzo Clear Ice Cube Maker Mold - 8 2.1in Whiskey Squares, Non-Electric

The process is a little clunky, and it can sometimes be frustrating but with a little practice and patience, you get beautiful, crystal-clear ice cubes every time. I gave this ice cube maker 5 stars because it is relatively inexpensive for what you get, the materials are high quality with good fit and finish. The drawbacks (such as taking 30 hours to make only 2 ice cubes) are really a function of thermodynamics rather than the product itself. (See the end of this review for the TLDR "how it works".) I have been using this ice maker for around 18 months now and here is the process I use to get crystal-clear cubes every time: 1) Start by cleaning and drying all the parts. If any of the parts are wet when they go into the freezer, the unit can be extremely difficult to open up and can result in the corners of the ice cubes being chipped. Also, if you're refilling the ice maker after using it, make sure there is no residual ice chips or drops left in the mold. 2) Assemble the components. First, make sure the foam insulator is pushed all the way down into the plastic shell and then the plastic reservoir is pushed all the way down into the foam insulator. These parts all fit very nicely together and it will be apparent from the way the lips of each piece connect when they are properly assembled. Leaving a gap between any two of these pieces will result in substandard ice. 3) Fill the reservoir to the indicator mark. I use reverse-osmosis (RO) filtered water but I've also used tap water successfully. Use lukewarm water for best results. 4) Assemble the silicone ice mold and then slowly let it settle into the reservoir. Don't push the mold into the reservoir or you'll end up with incomplete or malformed ice cubes. A small amount of water should bubble up out of the 2 vent holes in the mold. Make sure the mold is completely settled into the reservoir before proceeding - again, the parts fit together nicely so it will be obvious when settling is complete. Use a towel to dry any standing water on top of the ice mold. 5) Use two hands to lift the entire assembly and place it upright in the freezer. Lift it by the side handles. Do not squeeze the assembly (by lifting it with one hand) or you'll end up with incomplete or malformed cubes. The goal here is to have no additional water bubble out of the vent holes as you put the assembly into the freezer. Leave the mould in the freezer for 30 hours. 6) Pull the silicone mold out of the reservoir, pull the two halves apart and gently remove the ice cubes. Cubes can be stored in the included silicone zip-lock bag (the bag holds 6 cubes) for several weeks. Cubes can be stored in regular freezer Ziploc bags for a couple of weeks but longer than that and they start to degrade. Use warm water to remove the ice in the bottom of the reservoir. Dry all the parts and you're ready to start again. How it works: the key to the process is the insulating layer on 4 sides plus the bottom of the mold. The mold orients the cubes with one corner up (the non-insulated side) which is exposed to the ambient air in the freezer. This orientation along with the insulation forces the water in the mould to freeze from the top down. As the water freezes, it pushes the entrained air (and any impurities) down into the reservoir, leaving crystal clear ice behind in each cube. (The reservoir holds about 3x as much water as needed to make the cubes. This extra space give the water with entrained air a place to go as the cubes freeze.) The insulating layer is a bit thin but using warm water in the mould ensures that the process proceeds properly. The whole assembly is kinda bulky and it would be quite a bit bulkier if the insulation was thicker so I think this is a good design trade-off.

tl;dr: This unit makes excellent clear ice with low effort. It helps to know the science behind it to avoid pitfalls. It's worth the slightly higher price for the build quality. I couldn't be happier with the huge clear ice cubes it makes for my whiskey drinks. Basic science behind clear ice: As ice crystals form, contaminates are pushed away. Normal ice trays freeze from all directions so contaminates end up in the middle of the cube, making them cloudy. By surrounding the mold on 5 sides with insulation, the water directionally freezes (top-down in this case) leaving a cube of ice that has pushed all contaminates into the water below the mold. Stopping the freezing process before the reservoir of water freezes aids in mold removal. Fit and finish: I chose this model because it has a hard outer shell with dense insulation molded to an exact fit. Other models use that cheap layered white foam with no shell. Inside of the molded insulation is fitted the reservoir, which again is a high quality plastic and fits perfectly inside the insulation shell. Finally, the molds are a thick silicone that has a high-quality feel. 10 out of 10 for fit and finish. Functionality: Each cube has FOUR holes to push contaminates through verses only 1 in other models I looked at. It is easy to fill, easy to insert the molds, and just a pleasure to use. You will need freezer space for it, making clear ice takes space. Removing the molds can be frustrating. Be patient, follow instructions and let the thing sit for 10-15 minutes prior to attempting removal. Alternate sides, go slow and they eventually break free. It is easier if the freezing process is halted before the reservoir has frozen, but this takes trial and error to dial in. My freezer's optimum time ended up being 27 hours. After use, I found that I was able to simply pour the reservoir water out, then pull the thin bit of ice that did form straight out and restart the process immediately. Leave it too long in the freezer and you'll have blocks of ice to deal with. Tips: Fill the reservoir with WARM water up to the point the bottom of the molds will sit. Then insert the molds and fill with COLD water. After filling, tip slightly from side to side to allow any trapped air to escape. This will aid in the preventing reservoir from freezing too easily. Ice heaves happen. Sometimes as ice forms/expands, it pushes up. So some cubes may be larger than others. It's still clear and cool.

I read reviews and did a lot of research on this product before purchasing. I wanted something that didn’t take a lot of room in the freezer, was easy to use, but most importantly, produce clear ice cubes. This checked all my boxes and then some. Making the perfect ice cubes came with a small learning curve, but easily learned. I found heating the water first makes for an overall better cube. The cubes are square, crystal clear, and came with word forms for the ice cubes. This is fun and quite the conversation piece over drinks. Very impressive!

Update: Berlinzo said because it is more than 30 days old they will only offer a 10% refund. The ice tray had an internal plastic weld break, I am sure to the expansion of ice that naturally occurs. It could have been a weak weld from the beginning but they fail to back the product! Buy with caution or better yet buy from a company that will stand behind their products!! All they had to do was send a new ice tray, the rest of the product is in great shape! Instead they offer a measly 10% refund. So now I have 50% use taking up 100% of the space! Ridiculous Berlinzo!! Back you product or quit selling!! Wanted to love this ice cube maker, I did love it while it lasted. Less than 3 months of use as directed and it cracked internally where it can’t be seen so it now leaks. Instead of 8 cubes I can only make 4 now. I have reached out on multiple occasions to customer service but never heard back. If they can’t back a product that is less than 3 months old I don’t anticipate them backing anything for any period of time. Buy with caution. Giving it 1star because of lack of customer service! 5 stars for the first 80 days.

These are the glasses you are looking for: https://a.co/d/hCM4vFg I like the clear cubes they didn't fit any glasses I had. Tried a number of whisky glasses but just barely to small for the full cube. Finally found the glasses listed above.

The Berlinzo Premium Clear Ice Cube Maker works as advertised. It consistently produces good-quality clear ice cubes and is easy to use. I’m happy with the results.

I sort of kind of had my doubts based on experiences from other reviews left here. They were mixed. Some people had great success while others complained it sucked right out of the box. I followed the instructions exactly. Cleaned it well with soap and water first. Rinsed it well and then filled with warm water - not hot, not cold but warm. Froze it for over 24 hours and checked on it. It was so clear that I thought perhaps it hadn't frozen all the way through yet. I took it out and moved it around and didn't notice any air bubbles moving inside of the cube. I went ahead and removed the mold and then pushed the ice cubes out. They were solid and they were crystal clear. The eyes left inside of the bottom of the mold had not Frozen all the way through but even it was clear after the water drained out. This is a quality item and I'm very impressed with how my ice cubes turned out. My only wish is that it included additional silicone stamps for decorating the ice other than just the two that it came with. I highly recommend this and if there is a four-cube version, go for that one as well

Easy to use. Cubes are clear as advertised. Seems much more solid than my last ice cube maker.

Funciona exactamente como dice Solo tarda más tiempo del mencionado pero no importa es una belleza, ojo te sirve para tus bebidas, si lo quieres para producción tarda mucho

Works very well but still a lot of effort to make clear ice. Not as simple as the description says. Lots of manipulation to get the ice out the mold.

Ok, so I've used this for a few weeks now...like a new toy. I DO boil my tap water and let cool a bunch, before pouring it in the housing then slowly lower the silicone ice former. I LOVE it. It takes 24ish hours to make a cube but mine are 99.9% clear and I'm so happy. I stock pile them in the supplied bag (first 6) and then I just began using a Ziploc bag for the others. I can only fit 4 in the sandwich bags. Anyhow yes you have to let the device sit for 7-8 mins after you take out of freezer to let the silicon mold warm up and release the ice cubes from the ice below it. Fun fact, the ice below ig is HUGE so we also use those ice columns too but just not in fancy cocktails. Perfect for tall glasses of water! Or put in a pets water dish. Anyhow Its been great for me so far. The stamp idea is cute but I probably won't use it again. Tho it does stamp the letters in perfectly clear.

After 5 day as I was actually ready to return this as while the ice was more transparent then regular ice it was definitely not worth the cost or hassle to me. Not very clear, lots of air bubbles, etc. This was following the instructions of boiling, letting cool to 100 degrees and so on as per the manual. It also took about 32-34 hours to freeze since the water was still warm. I decided to just try regular water / temperature and they came out nearly perfect. I’ve done 6 batches now and all of them look really good. Completely disappear when you pour whiskey into it and you don’t need to wait as long with normal water temp. If the instructions don’t work for you either, just give regular tap water temperature a try at 24 hours.