The process of Pellet ice is more complicated than regular ice cubes, and how exactly is it made?

As we all know, the quality of ice is a huge deal that makes a difference to the taste of our beverages. As mentioned before, sonic ice is for chilling drinks and there is amazing ice not only for cooling but also for crunching. Different from regular ice cubes, it is the most fascinating ice for those who are craving chewing ice, soft and crunchable. It may be your first choice if you are looking for ice to munch on.

Maybe you’re curious about how pellet ice makers countertop work to make so soft ice. Let’s do a deep dive to see it step by step.

Step 1: Water Is Pumped and Freezes into Ice

Water is pumped from the reservoir into a freezing cold metal cylinder that is completely covered by the tube that contains refrigerant.

When water comes into contact with the walls of the cylinder, the refrigeration system works and water begins to freeze into a thin sheet of ice called flake ice.

Step 2: An Auger Scrapes Ice and Pushes It Upwards

There is a spinning auger like a drill inside the metal cylinder. When ice is formed along the wall of the cylinder, the auger will begin to rotate scraping ice off and pushing it upwards.

Step 3: Ice Is Compressed and Pushed

After it is scraped off, we would be left with flake ice. It will freeze together and create pockets of air in nugget ice. That is exactly why Gevi pebble ice is soft, while ice cubes are made with an ice tray filled with water-cooled by the refrigeration system.

It’s interesting that sonic ice is shaped in a small cylinder. The reason is that it’s compressed when the auger is rotating upwards and then pushed through small holes, finally making long pieces of ice.

Step 4: Ice Is Extruded by An Upside-Down Cone

How is ice broken into small pieces? In fact, for the nugget ice maker countertop, ice is not trimmed by a blade but it depends on the external force to break into cylinders.  

There is an upside-down cone existing slightly above the small holes. When new ice comes out, it pushes existing ice upwards. So soft, it is extruded by the cone outward and then made into small pieces. If you look closely at every piece of chewable pellet ice, a surprising thing you’ll notice is that ice varies in length and this is because they are broken semi-randomly.

Step 5: Ice Is Pushed Down the Chute and Falls into the Ice Basket

In our pellet ice maker for home, new ice will push existing chewable ice and forces it to fall down the chute and finally into the ice basket.

Step 6: The Infrared Sensor Monitor Whether Ice Is Full

If ice is filled with the ice basket, the infrared sensor will trip a switch to turn off the ice machine. When the nugget ice is scooped out and the ice basket isn’t full anymore, the ice maker will run again.

Final Thoughts

Gevi portable ice machine produces ice without an ice tray, much more complicated than regular ice machines and thus offers a better taste of chewable sonic ice. It’s so soft that is a kind of teeth-friendly ice, a gift for crazy ice chewers. If you would like to savor satisfying ice every day, it’s better to prepare a countertop ice maker for home and in this way, you can always have chewable and soft pellet ice to crunch on in your cocktails.