How do you make homemade ice cream freeze?

Question

I made delicious tasting Ice Cream, but no matter how long I let the machine run, I couldn't get it to harden up. Finally, I just put it into small containers and stuck it in my deep freeze. Shouldn't it freeze in the ice cream freezer though?

Answer 1

No, ice cream will not harden in the machine. In fact you can burn out the motor if the ice solidifies in the machine.

The typical process is to place the freshly made soft ice cream into the freezer. This is actually called, "Hardening".

Afterwards, you should have firm ice cream.

Answer 2

There are two methods of chilling an ice cream freezer, and I don't know which yours uses. The classic method had the ice cream in a metal canister, placed in a large bucket surrounded by ice and salt. The salt lowers the freezing point of the ice, forcing it to melt and absorb heat from the canister. A sufficent supply of ice and salt is quite adequate to do the ice cream.
The newer gimmick in ice cream freezers is to have a canister sealed with contained refrigerant; the canister is placed in a freezer for a day or so, then removed, the mix added, and the whole thing put into the ice cream machine, which stirs things until the ice cream is adequately frozen. Maximize the performance of these by making sure that the freezer is set to be quite cold, the canister has been in it long enough to get well chilled, and the mix has been kept in the refrigerator so that it is cold.

Answer 3

When you make ice cream it always is soft. You have to stick it in the freezer for a bit to get it to harden up. They do the same in ice cream factories though they freeze it at extremely cold tempuratures to ensure that the ice crystals are small.

Answer 4

Yes, but it may be rock hard (frozen cream) instead of soft and creamy. The purpose of an ice cream machine is to blend air into the mix while it is freezing. In order to freeze it must have ice with salt, because the freezing point of the mix is well below 32F due to the sugar and other ingredients. I haven't looked at the recommended amount of salt, but it is a fair amount, like a cup per quart of ice.

Answer 5

My friend made ice cream and to harden the ice cream he packed ice around the containor and then put it in the freezer.

Answer 6

Was the mixing bowl (from the machine) frozen prior to use? If so, it should have gotten a bit solid. You have to make sure the bowl is really cold if that makes sense.