Making astronaut ice cream in my home shop

[EnyaWenaj]

0:16 - 0:24 is the best part!

[greatpigpig]

ทำเองที่บ้านพ่อมึงสิของแต่อุปก­รณ์แต่ละอย่าง

[Dmitry633]

You use Celsius not that damn F. Good to know that there are some wise men around. I hate Fahrenheit feet and inches so much!

[MsMirandaXoxo]

If I show this to my teacher, we'll all get to do this in class. It looks fun/tasty!

[impieman10]

aw great, now I want to eat that...

[xLoLaTVx]

anyone notice there's no 10:30

it goes 10:29 to 10:31

[SeannyOConnor]

0:17 FLOOD OF MEMORIES

[StrawberryDonutKing]

Dry frozen ice cream

dryscream

[Babyshaking]

Astronaut Icecream, or Asscream for short.

[123456789robbie]

any freeze dired fruit

[Coastfog]

I enjoyed this video. Who said science and engineering couldn't be entertaining!?

[MrHippo00100]

I was devastated when I found out astronauts don't actually eat astronaut ice cream.

[JiminyConjecture]

your phasediagram is wrong... but cool experiment! gonna try it out...

[MsSithi]

I wish I was you and had all the equipment



[deadlysonicarts]

Great job! Try doing some blueberries.

[Zencyde]

Glad to see another Houston nerd. Get your ass to TX-RX labs! They could always use more smart people. ;)

[tonsilol]

did i understood this: you need the cold trap to prevent water destroying the vacuum pump?

[GmanNetworks]

Freeze dry bacon!

[grantisimo02]

The chocolate coating wouldn't freeze dry as it has no water in it. It's a mixture of crystallized fats, starch and sugars. I don't know if it's possible to freeze dry, but it's already packable in it's processed form.

[ccorday]

Marshmallows! Then you'd have the kinds of marshmallows they put in cereals and hot chocolate mix.

[kevinsmellls]

@ccorday microwave a marshmallow until it puffs up and then let it cool completely.

The texture will be just like the ones in cereal!

[Bartong666]

you should try to freeze dry a broken battery and see if it will bring it back to life, i heard somewhere that its moisture that kills them so if you can extract it from the battery by freeze drying then the battery should be able to charge back up

[caitlinssuperdad]

Man, you put to shame any of those other guys on TV that need to kick, scream, or blow up things to get show off real DIY stuff. Solid work that gets the point across.

How about using a hacked microwave oven to beam in the heat? It might speed up the process?

[charlespax]

Try non-fat ice cream

[raystres]

Peeps- please, please. I love them when they get stale, drying out. Freeze-dried Peeps would be amazing!

[Just1Spark]

Freeze dried vodka!

[fakemadereal]

Love the look of nostalgia on his face, when he took a bite of the ice cream.

[hempmaj]

Really awsome project :) why don't you try to freeze dry chocolate mousse ?

[cuttlefsh]

Could you freeze dry pizza rolls?

[truhlikfredy]

I wanted to suggest banana, but it's here already. You need to do some other stuff? Like citrix acid bath to free it better?

[Tuskengod]

How about a timelapse video of just a cube of ice?

[Baeos]

Great fun! I'll be sure to follow your videos from now on.

Also, in case anyone else is interested, today's (16-Janurary) Harbor Freight circular has this exact vacuum pump on sale for $110. (It's usually $175.) Sale is good through the 22nd.

[wolfsProjectFiles]

You sir, are an inspiration.

[TapGage]

I would also like to see meat, though I'm guessing it would have to be very lean? Fruits and vegetables would be interesting to see as well.

[catman72]

will you do freezdried coffee ?

or even freezedried tea powder from a strong tea solution?

[Chefianf]

Your power bills must be crazy! The videos are awesome!

[Haeckepit]

Great video! You just remember me on Gyro Gearloose!

[alienonearthgmail]

Why do you need the cold trap? Couldn't it have been a just a U bend trapping liquid water at room temperature?

[shocellist]

This makes me nostalgic! I remember freeze dried ice cream from those awesome space museums...

Awesome work!

[Flick14113]

I'd be interested to see jello :)

[Soskel]

Did you handle dry ice with your bare hands?

[CampSmarts]

This is awesome! For backpacking and portaging trips I usually dehydrate food/meals to carry. However, not all food dehydrates well and many more don't rehydrate well. I have found that chicken is the one thing that I always end up buying freeze-dried, but it's expensive. If you're going to experiment more with freeze-drying, I'd love to see chicken, vegetables such as leafy greens and different fruits undergoing this process and also how they taste once re-hydrated.

[Cynyr13]

@CampSmarts This was my first thought for what to do with this. Backpacking food at home!

[U235hexafluoridedude]

I love you for trying this, I've wanted to for so long but refused to destroy my UHV system. I may try this with one of Harbor Freight's throwaway-pumps and a isopropyl/dry ice cold trap. The only change I'd make to your setup would be the use of some cheap 2.75" conflats, less implosion risk more conductive.

[Rskater3]

I think freeze drying Spam could be interesting. Also, can you reverse this process and turn it back into regular Ice cream by adding water and then cooling it again?

[insignificance]

Without a cold trap, wouldn't the water still sublimate and be pumped out? Or would that damage the vacuum pump?

[Nexus2Eden]

I was thinking while watching your build out that your water trap needed to be larger. My first thought was 'Hey, that pipe is going to clog with ice in no time'. lol I was going to suggest a canister styled water trap so you could capture a larger volume of water without restricting the pressure.

However, excellent work! Bravo. And my vote would be to attempt Bananas as well. A really odd suggestion would be Potatoes, because I have no idea what would happen.

[alawrence89]

I lol'd at the "no audio track" comment at 6:27

[thrillscience]

The toughest component to find here in California are the tungsten incandescent light bulbs!

[hitachi088]

Just a question: where do you buy all your lab supply? locally or on-line?

[bkraz333]

@hitachi088 LabPro (in Sunnyvale, CA) is very helpful. They support hobbyists, which is rare among lab suppliers. I am happy to give them my business. For most of the other hardware in my projects, I use McMaster. I also use eBay for surplus equipment and some supplies. I've ordered from Nasco Science once or twice as well.

[SuperHddf]

A tomato and flesh :)

[qwertyboy1234567899]

try watermelon or jello!

[DruidicRifleman]

Chilli

scrambled eggs

Blue berries

[rkward101]

Ben, maybe a cheaper chocolate flavored ice cream would be the way to go on this one and would therefore have less fat and might freeze better.

[frac]

@rkward101 I believe he was referring to the "chocolaty coating" covering the ice cream bar he used for the experiment, not the ice cream itself. As you can see at the start of the video, the chocolate ice cream has freeze-dried successfully.

[nukwaste]

Freeze dry jello into a sort of aerojel.

[AgentDexter47]

watermelon!

[neptunetm]

I second WeBDaEMoN33 - I could see the child returning in your facial reaction. That was awesome, because it was real.

Great vid, educational.

"Good thing there was no audio track on this one..." LOL!

[Wolfie123123]

Strawberries and stuff. I think commercial dried fruits are made in this way already though.

[AgentDexter47]

why do they dry it? why not just regular ice cram?

[rkward101]

@AgentDexter47 You're not from around here are you? ;-)

[AgentDexter47]

@rkward101 about 4000 miles away!

[rkward101]

@AgentDexter47 My response was figurative and referring to the typical content of Ben's scientific experiments. The question for folks who perform or follow posts such as this are not why, but rather why not. The answer is also similar in that it is often because I can. It has nothing to do with practicality.

In this particular case, astronaut ice cream is/was something that was created to give some variety to astronauts without the additional weight/bulk.

Cheers!

[aqcd]

freeze dried jello.

[nullsub]

Thanks for publishing those intresting videos!

[wei249]

didn't you try to brew some beer at some point? or maybe you used nitrogen or something to put gas into some beer. you should try to freeze dry some yeast and then make it come alive again by brewing some tasty beer!

[SciStarborne]

Mashed potato?

[hr1100]

Freeze dry a jelly fish.

[oisiaa]

Freeze dried banana.

[TheCrazyInventor]

Oh... I would like to see the result of this on various fruits. I wonder what this process does to it.

[BillGatliff]

Peaches, mangoes, and strawberries. You might need to also play with various semi-preservatives, however, to prevent them rusting during the freeze-drying process (which might make for another interesting science lesson).

Though a whole freeze-dried watermelon, per another poster, is an intriguing thought. Just to see what it would look like. :)

[TheCrazyInventor]

I really love the interesting and unusual stuff you do in your videos. This is unique content on youtube! Thank you for showing us. :)

[Blackmuhahah]

freeze dry a grape

[mikelboi87]

I love your videos! keep them coming!

[onefivefour]

Great camping/hiking idea:  Freeze dry water.

[TheCombineify]

Can you make a timelapse?

[newmanscott60]

freeze dry a whole watermelon

[P55CxE9]

Carbonated Apples!

[Vidar345]

How safe is it letting it run over night? Is it somehow monitored?

[Afrotechmods]

If MacGyver saw all the stuff you do with just a vacuum pump he'd shit his pants.

[xXdenhartXx]

Amazingly awesome! I have got to try this :) And you should try to freeze dry coffee, to make your own instant coffee. As always, keep up the good work!

[jossi166]

Does dry freeze have any other advantages to conventional freezing in other materials witch are more rigid at room temp? Say meat or fish? And would this method work to freeze water into ice without getting a crystal structure?

[eggroll9000]

Gummy bears

[jeriellsworth]

Bring some to Valve! BTW. Great job!

[bkraz333]

@jeriellsworth It's certainly not a gel or liquid anymore, so the TSA shouldn't have a problem with it!

[DiJuMx2]

I was given a pack of freeze dried space food a while ago, and It was a pack of freeze dried Strawberries.

[rovku]

and french fries, don't forget french fries.

[rovku]

Pineapple, caramel, fudge, chicken leg, (salted?) fish, yogurt, a complete hamburger, strawberries, melon, gummy bears... I've got a long list here, need more? ;)

[Alectr0n]

Freeze dry a juicy piece of steak.

[Raessentia]

Freezedry a hamburger! :)

[TheLophius]

make aerogel out of normal jello

[nwoisnow]

so cool man thx

[JOEJOEHOEGOE]

Some modern cooking techniques use liquid nitrogen in order to deep freeze liquids, such as fruit juice in a balloon. The balloon is then removed and they are left with a fruit juice shell. Perhaps you could attempt something like that. Like, a cooked, pureed, and strained fruit or vegetable juice that has the water removed and see what is left? Perhaps a high-tech fruit roll up sheet, or a sticky gummy blob that could possibly be spread?

[bear24rw]

Meat or fruit would be interesting.

[hla27b]

Can you freeze dry fruits? Apples bananas etc.

It could be interesting to see what is left after you freeze dry butter and margarine.

[executive]

Jello!

[frac]

There is a breed of frog (North American wood frog, for one) that uses that sucrose trick to allow themselves to be frozen solid during the winter without cellular damage. As the temperature drops, as I understand it, water molecules migrate from the cells and are replaced by sucrose (or glucose, maybe). This prevents water crystals from forming and bursting the cells.

[frac]

I have two thoughts - make your favourite soup and see if you can get a freeze-dried product similar to packets of dry soup that can be reconstituted. Another would be jerky of some sort to see if "freeze dried" meat is palatable, or completely "non-jerky-like".

[Gintaras]

I think you're the best educator on youtube! Your videos just keep getting better and better and are always interesting to watch.