Gelato making machines.

[GK]

Anyone here have experience with homemade ice-cream? An unusually hot October-November here has seen my blackberries, raspberries really take off and my strawberries are getting started too. That's as good an excuse as any to start dabbling in homebrew gelato (aside from the fact that store-bought ice-cream is almost exclusively bloody awful).

I'm currently looking at machines with an in-built compressor/chiller, which conveniently don't require the main vessel to be pre-chilled for 24 hours in a freezer. For example one like this one:

https://www.sunbeam.com.au/Root/Specifications/InstructionBooklet/GL8200_ib_1.pdf

Do these machines actually give decent and consistent results or are they just another gimmick? Of course you don't need any form of machine to make ice-cream (besides a freezer) the old fashioned way, but the machine way looks to me a lot less bother.


 

[wraper]

I have DeLonghi ICK 5000. Ice cream it makes is much better than supermarket one. Don't use it often though because I'm too lazy. It takes some effort and time to prepare  products for french vanilla ice cream which I like.

[_Sin]

I have one that's pretty similar in design to the one you've posted the instructions for - a little less fancy in that there are no controls/display on mine, but I can't say that I feel I'm missing anything...

IMHO it works pretty well, we've had good results from everything we've tried. It's very simple - chuck all ingredients in a bowl, wait for the machine to chill, pour in, turn on, wait for it to be done. Takes maybe 30 minutes to turn stuff into ice-cream / gelato.

Results are edible directly, or keep in the freezer (obviously!) if you want to make in advance - the latter also gets you something a little firmer, direct from the machine can be on the soft/melty side as obviously it's still almost soft enough to churn at the point the machine stops.

[wraper]

Did like how this GL8200 looks like. But after a bit of googling seems that it is complete junk because of the very weak motorised paddle.

[Kjelt]

I have a Magimix Turbine á Glace for over 15 years now, it works excellent if the roomtemperature is not too high otherwise it takes a long time to make the ice.
They even use them in pro kitchens for small quantities of icecream.

The most important is that you add a little bit of coldconducting fluid between the machine and the bowl, this can be saltwater but I usually use a 60%-70% alcoholic beverage like rum for it because salt can damage the stainless steel. Without that you can forget about it, it is described in the manual.

I mostly make fruit sorbets and use much less sugar than in the recipes. Everyone loves it, it is a fruitbomb in your mouth. If you want I can give you my recipe sometime.
You want to eat it a bit warmer than directly from the fridge (-18^oC) normal icecream (-4^oC) and it is less long preservable that way (after a few days icecrystals appear in the sorbet) but less sugar is healthier and the only reason that the original recipes have so much sugar in it is because of the icecrystals forming. But then you make as much as you and your family want to eat in 2 days and you're good to go.

 

[GK]

Yeah, the Sunbeam looks a real dud:


http://www.productreview.com.au/p/sunbeam-gelateria-ice-cream-maker.html

I have a Magimix Turbine á Glace for over 15 years now, it works excellent if the roomtemperature is not too high otherwise it takes a long time to make the ice.

Besides the weak paddle motor of the Sunbeam, there is also a complaint about the chiller not being effective enough at high room temperatures. This is conceivably an issue with many of these units and would be a kind of a problem here. Last summer it was over 35 degrees C for nearly a week and 3 or 4 of those consecutive days were over 40, my highest recording 46.5 under the veranda. Summer this time 'round is already starting early.   

[_Sin]

TBH, so long as it chills *reasonably* well, you can probably just finish it off by chucking it in the freezer. But yes, high ambient temp is going to make making ice-cream more difficult.

[Kjelt]

Last summer it was over 35 degrees C for nearly a week and 3 or 4 of those consecutive days were over 40, my highest recording 46.5 under the veranda. Summer this time 'round is already starting early.

Don,t you have AC ? I mean 40 in house it will be a crime for yourself and all appliances such as freezers. Could not live there 

[SeanB]

Nice and balmy. I used to live in a town where it would reach over 40C every day, unless it was those 5 days every 20 years when it rained.

Was watching CNN one day in Gulf War I, and they moved back to the London studio and had a report about the UK having a blazing hot summer, temperature in London at 31C and Poms bathing in the parks and dropping from heatstroke. Asked a colleague when it was 31C here and he replied 7.15AM.

When our AC removed itself from the roof in chunks and popped the district fuse we measured over 70C indoors. Was strictly shorts, Aussie safety boots and bandanna attire. Guys on our bus could never wonder why I was complaining of it being cold in the bus, till one came into my shop one afternoon at 3PM.

[tjb1]

Nice and balmy. I used to live in a town where it would reach over 40C every day, unless it was those 5 days every 20 years when it rained.

Was watching CNN one day in Gulf War I, and they moved back to the London studio and had a report about the UK having a blazing hot summer, temperature in London at 31C and Poms bathing in the parks and dropping from heatstroke. Asked a colleague when it was 31C here and he replied 7.15AM.

When our AC removed itself from the roof in chunks and popped the district fuse we measured over 70C indoors. Was strictly shorts, Aussie safety boots and bandanna attire. Guys on our bus could never wonder why I was complaining of it being cold in the bus, till one came into my shop one afternoon at 3PM.

Welp, time to dig out the canoe...gettin a little deep in here

[pickle9000]

I have used commercial, home and the type that uses the canister. Pre-chilling the mix is a massive help in all cases. As a general rule ones from Italy are superior.

At home I use the canister style (Cuisinart branded) I have 3 canisters in the freezer and they really do need 14+ hours to work properly. That said they will make a completed ice cream in under 10 minutes, this is the main reason I use this style (super fast). 

[ConKbot]

If someone has an existing machine that doesn't work well or is broke, maybe retrofit the dasher to a dry-ice cold trap. Put the dry ice/alcohol where the vacuum would normally go, use the fitting to vent the CO2 somewhere safe, and put the ice cream/gelato where the dry ice slurry normally goes. Insulate the outside of it too, obviously.  That'll definitely work, even when its 40C inside 

http://www.berktree.com/assets/images/default/Welch-Dry-Ice-Cold-Trap-Model-1420H-14-Each.jpg

http://www.sisweb.com/art/metra/dryicedia.png

[Marco]

Eh, dry ice seems a lot of bother ... at that point I'd say screw it and buy a dewar and get LN2, can't beat the speed.

[SteveyG]

What's gelato??

[GK]

What's gelato??

You know there's a whole world out there beyond Hobnobs................

[_Sin]

What's gelato??

Poncey ice-cream.

(A bit less fat, a bit more dense)

[IanB]

What's gelato??

It's posh ice cream...

[IanB]

Eh, dry ice seems a lot of bother ...

No, dry ice is sold by the pound in every American supermarket. It's no bother at all 

[GK]

lol.

Gelato is just the Italian name for ice cream. Depending on where you buy it, it can actually be anything from posh/fancy to crap. Most machines for making the stuff are marketed as gelato rather than ice cream makers.

[VK3DRB]

lol.

Gelato is just the Italian name for ice cream. Depending on where you buy it, it can actually be anything from posh/fancy to crap. Most machines for making the stuff are marketed as gelato rather than ice cream makers.

Yep, there is gelati and then there is gelati.

One thing to put on your bucket list... Fly to Italy, and go to the corner of Via Volturno and Via Cernaia in Rome, a short walking distance from the Termini. There is a Gelateria on Via Volturno. They sell arguably the best gelati on planet earth; all made by the shop owner. I had three double galatis every day for a week; the favourite was cocco. It was addictive and divine .

In comparison, I have never found a good gelati in Australia. On the other hand we do have Vegemite, which is delightful on fresh hot toast .

[GK]

That's a bit of a trek for an ice cream! But I'll take note in case I'm ever in the area. As for Vegemite, I'm pretty sure it's a lot cheaper to but axle grease in bulk. 

[Kjelt]

In comparison, I have never found a good gelati in Australia.

What's keeping you, open one up in Sydney and be ready to become a millionaire, but who wants to be that?

[SteveyG]

What's gelato??

Poncey ice-cream.

(A bit less fat, a bit more dense)

Ah, makes sense. Never heard the term. I stick with Cornish clotted cream ice cream.

[halexa]

By far the best ice-cream machine I ever worked with:

http://www.pacojet.com/en/

(Been a professional chef for 10 years)

[Kjelt]

By far the best ice-cream machine I ever worked with:
http://www.pacojet.com/en/
(Been a professional chef for 10 years)

Correct me if i am wrong but that is not a traditional ice maker. It shaves frozen substances and in a pro kitchen you can freeze the substance by using liquid nitrogen which goes so fast no icecrystals can form. But with a normal slow freezer you have to start a day earlier. And what i can recollect because i have looked at this machine it is awfully expensive.