Ice Cream Maker Issue(s)

[arielleeve]

Last year I purchased a 1.5 quart ice cream maker (hamilton beach is the brand). When I first used it, I totally failed, but quickly figured out that I had messed up a few key items: 1) had not let the bowl of the ice cream maker chill long enough in the freezer 2) had not let ice cream mixture chill long enough in fridge before putting it into maker. I also made the freezer a tad colder to be on the safe side. After that, everything was all good and I made delicious ice cream that churned well and hardened into haagen-dazs texture in the freezer.

Since then, I have moved into an apartment with a much smaller, crappier fridge (and by extension, freezer). I still follow the above rules, but my most recent attempts have failed -- after putting the mixture into the maker, it churns and becomes slightly thicker but never really gets to the thick, soft-serve like consistency it's supposed to reach at the end. It's just a sort of thick, pourable liquid. After freezing overnight, it definitely hardened a lot but still isn't what I know it should be...What could be the problem? Although it's not the best freezer, and I can't adjust the temperature at all, it has a lot of stuff in it which I know is supposed to keep it colder. The maker was chilled for over a week and the ice cream mixture was chilled overnight in the fridge. Although our apartment doesn't have central A/C, we had the a/c unit on and it wasn't hot in the room (although it wasn't icy cold, either). Any thoughts? Is it just the temperature in the freezer, and if so, is there anything else I can do to fix this, beyond keeping it full?

[amyzan]

Do you have thermometers, both for the freezer and the ice cream mix? It doesn't really sound like the recipe is the problem as much as the equipment. I suspect your canister isn't frozen as solid as it was in your old fridge, and that it doesn't stay as cold in the hot apartment while it churns. One option would be to buy a old fashioned ice cream maker, the kind that uses rock salt to keep the canister cold, which is admittedly a bit of a pain. You could try making a Philadelphia style ice cream, just to be sure it's not the recipe...but I'd buy a couple of thermometers. I lived in a place like yours when I was in NC. The bottom third of the fridge was unusable, the oven tiny, and only 18" of counter space. That kitchen was such a trial, so I sympathize.

[LJS]

Unless you or someone you are planning to serve has health issues, is an infant or very elderly , you might try what I do and use the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream book as your guide. Their recipe book (shock and horror!) does not require cooking their custards prior to processing in the ice cream maker.

Yes, I know this is an issue for some. But I have to say that after years of fiddling around with finicky custards, cooling them to just the right temperature and then hoping that it all came together right in the maker, only to be disappointed hours later, this is an enormous step forward.

I swear by the recipes in this book, and more importantly, the technique, which I have adapted for more sophisticated offerings as well.(admittedly, the book runs to B&J style-oer-the-top sweeties). And I haven't lost anybody yet!

[arielleeve]

I have that cookbook but was honestly skeptical about the idea of just mixing whole eggs in without creating a custard. Good to hear that someone else can vouch for it. I will try it next time. Certainly would save me the time and stress of adding the milk and egg yolks in such a precise manner, etc...

[ipsedixit]

Maybe consider your ice cream recipe? What are you using and/or putting into it?

You don't really need a freezer to be sub-zero to make ice cream. If it can hold an ice cube it's cold enough.

[arielleeve]

It happened with two recipes, both of which were custard-based recipes with heavy cream, whole milk, and egg yolks. One was a burnt caramel ice cream and the only ingredient other than standard custard stuff was sugar, which became caramel to which the custard was added. The other was a fresh peach ice cream and the only thing added was fresh peaches, 3/4 of which were pureed in a blender an 1/4 of which remained in small, diced pieces. The last recipe I made that was successful (in previous apartment) was plain old chocolate, and was also custard based. No idea what could be the issue here...

[ipsedixit]

Hmm. If you haven't been doing this, try making the custard base the night to give it time to chill sufficiently in the fridge so it will freeze in the ice cream machine before the churn gets too warm. Also, generally speaking, the custard should only fill your ice cream machine about half to two thirds full. This is to ensure the custard has enough room to expand while it freezes so you end up with an ice cream with a light texture and no graininess.

Good luck.

[arielleeve]

I chilled the custard for about 24 hours, so that shouldn't have been part of the problem. I can't remember the level at which the ice cream was, but I'll keep that in mind for next time. Thanks!