I got a ninja and it does a pretty good job of turning ice into crushed ice/shaved ice/snow. I’ve been using it to make drinks that are like frozen margaritas in consistency.
When I use alcohol it works - the ice is nicely slick and evenly distributed throughout the mix. But when I don’t, the ice all clumps up into one big, sticky ball, more like a sno-cone, but not quite.
I assume that this is because the alcohol lowers the freezing temperature of water, and I’m not quite sure of the mechanics, but that makes the ice less sticky and more likely to spread evenly.
I think slurpee machines use very sugary syrup to have the same effect.
But I don’t always want to put alcohol in them, and I’m using strictly sugar free elements for flavoring - sometimes syrups, sometimes those liquid water flavoring squeeze bottles.
Is there something harmless that I can add to the mix to give the ice the right consistency and prevent it from clumping? There are sugar free slurpees at 7-11, so I’d imagine there’s some way to do it.
Basically, the alcohol and sugar act to lower the freezing point of the surrounding liquid as it hits the ice, giving it a chance to stay in semi-liquid form. Salt would work as well if you’re into salty drinks. Also, you can try fruit sweeteners as their natural sugars will give it the same effect.
Had a similar issue trying to make low carb ice cream at home. Alcohol (which is classified as a carb in itself, but acts a bit differently, more desirably then sugar at least for low carb purposes) was the only thing I could come up with to make it soft enough. I gave up the effort shortly after, just not all that interested in much alcohol flavored icecream, but interested in the findings.
Glycerin? I’m guessing here, I haven’t tried it. But it acts as an antifreeze by inhibiting the crystallization of water, lowering the freezing point. It’s about half as sweet as sugar, and while it does have calories, it doesn’t affect glycemlic index or blood sugars.
Some popular slushes include coffee, orangeade and lemonade (the no-gas types). The diluted orange juice has the sugar from the oranges, the lemonade has just enough sugar to lower the acid to acceptable values, but the coffee should be black. Since what freezes is mostly water (therefore the liquid that’s left is more concentrated than what you started from), the first sip of coffee slush made from espresso-strength coffee might count as a biochemical weapon, but still, if you like coffee it might be worth a try.
Is there something harmless that I can add to the mix to give the ice the right consistency and prevent it from clumping?
Unless you’re using a chemical grade reagent, you’re not really adding “alcohol” to the mix, you’re adding something (like vodka) that is mostly water (with alcohol in it.)
Have you tried simply adding plain water to the mixer while you’re crushing the ice?
Yes, when I say “alcohol” I mean plain clear rum or vodka. But it’s the alcohol that’s having the effect, the water just adds to the water in the drink, so it’s not wrong to say the alcohol is having that effect.
Just adding water doesn’t really help, it all ends up slushing together. The ice becomes clumpy enough that it can’t pour through the spigot of the pitcher, but with alcohol it pours as smoothly as a frozen margarita.
I do have crystalized erythritol, so perhaps that could work like sugar. I could give that a try. Glycerin may be worth a try.
What is exactly happening on in terms of chemistry that makes the ice stick together which a freezing point modifier solves? Are two pieces of ice close enough that they freeze the neighboring water and fuse, clumping together? Therefore lowering the freezing point (with alcohol or sugar solution or whatever) prevents that from happening?
What I believe is happening is the ice itself is below 32F. This starts freezing the water near it, which with crushed ice, there is a lot of this happening, which causes it to freeze together.
Add alcohol to the water and a interesting effect happens. If any liquid freezes to the ice it contains less alcohol then the liquid leaving a higher concentration of alcohol behind(a process sometimes called freeze distillation) which resists further freezing.
Perhaps the answer is start with warmer ice (set your freezer at a higher temperature for this purpose), this way it won’t have the ‘coldness’ to freeze the water to it.
A mix of elements (like iron, oxygen, sulpher), forms a slush if it seperates out into two different mixtures, one of which is solid at the temperatue, one of which is liquid.
A mixture of ice and water is a “two phase mixture” Ice is a “phase”, water is a “phase”, but it is not in equilibrium: if the water was the same temperature as the ice, it would be ice. If the ice was the same temperature as the water, it would be water.
If you mix (from memory) tin and lead together, you can get a mixture of (Tin with some lead) and (Lead with some tin). Over a range of temperatures the (from memory) Tin-with-lead will be a liquid, while the Lead-wth-tin will be a solid.
You can (I think) get the same effect with salt and water. You can make the salt water so cold that the ice does not melt. But it’s still warm enough so that the salt-water does not freeze.
I think that any chemical which desolves in linquid water, but does not incorperate into ice, is likely to have the same effect. You would need to keep it cold enough so that the crushed ice does not melt and refreeze.
I just ordered one of those If the reviews are even close to being accurate, this thing puts to shame the Magic Bullet I had. And the price is very reasonable. Question: in a pinch, have you ever ground coffee beans in it?
No. It’s pretty powerful and I suspect it could get the job done adequately, but you’d be better off with a purpose-built grinder. It would take less time, be more thorough, and I suspect doing it regularly would wear the blades.
If the reviews are even close to being accurate, this thing puts to shame the Magic Bullet I had. And the price is very reasonable. Question: in a pinch, have you ever ground coffee beans in it?