Hard & Soft Serve Ice Cream Machine Guide

Types of Ice Cream and Soft Serve Machines

Ice cream and soft serve machines are not one-size-fits-all. Check out the most popular types to determine which will fit best into your space, serve the quantity you need, and produce the types of frozen treats you plan to sell.

1. Horizontal Batch Freezers

Horizontal batch freezers efficiently churn and freeze large quantities of ice cream mixture, making them ideal for businesses that require high-volume ice cream production. They allow operators to scoop out the freshly churned ice cream batch into a pan. This facilitates easy transfer to a freezer for storage or further processing. They are known for their consistent and uniform freezing, ensuring that your ice cream has the perfect texture every time.

• Benefits: High volume, easy transfer to storage, consistent freezing
• Best Applications: Ice cream, gelato, custard, sorbet, granita, Italian ice, sherbert
• Quart Capacity: 6 to 37

2. Vertical Batch Freezers

Vertical batch freezers dispense frozen products vertically, meaning the frozen product goes directly into ice cream cups or cones without extra handling. They enable operators to add mix-ins during the production process, resulting in customized and flavorful ice cream creations. Whether you want to create unique flavor combinations or cater to specific dietary preferences, these machines provide the flexibility to experiment and innovate with your ice cream recipes.

• Benefits: Dispense directly into containers, offer customization
• Best Applications: Gelato, sorbet, frozen yogurt, soft serve, ice cream
• Quart Capacity: 9

3. Multi-Functional Batch Freezer

A multi-functional batch freezer is designed to heat, mix, cool, and freeze ingredients in a single unit, making it an essential tool for creating a variety of food items beyond frozen desserts. It can prepare mousses, pastry creams, and jellies, offering a versatile solution for chefs and foodservice operators. This saves space in the kitchen by reducing the need for multiple pieces of kitchen equipment, ultimately increasing efficiency and productivity.

• Benefits: Versatile, high-volume
• Best Applications: Frozen treats, pastry creams, custards, sauces, mousses, jellies, confections
• Quart Capacity: 12 to 20

4. Gravity-Fed Soft Serve Machines

Gravity-fed soft serve machines are an affordable option known for being easy to clean and simple to maintain. They rely on gravity to feed the mix into the freezing cylinder. Compared to their pressure-fed counterparts, gravity-fed machines typically have a lower overrun yield. This produces denser and more flavorful ice cream because less air is incorporated during the freezing process. They also have fewer moving parts, making them less prone to breakdowns and requiring less maintenance over time.

• Benefits: Produces dense and flavorful frozen treats, affordable, easy maintenance, few moving parts
• Best Applications: Soft serve ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet
• Sizes: 8 quarts

5. Pressure-Fed Soft Serve Machines

Pressure-fed soft serve machines, also known as pump-fed machines, control the amount of air added to the dessert mix. Their ability to maintain constant pressure in the freezing cylinder ensures consistency in the final product and a higher, more controlled overrun yield. The resulting treat is softer and creamier compared to gelato flavors made with a gravity-fed machine. However, pressure-fed machines are typically more expensive and more difficult to clean and maintain. They have a pump in the hopper that feeds the mix into the freezing cylinder, which adds to their complexity.

• Benefits: High and controlled overrun yield, consistency, high-volume production
• Best Applications: Soft serve, frozen yogurt, gelato, sorbet
• Quart Capacity: 40 to 80 per hour

6. Air-Cooled Ice Cream Machines

Air-cooled ice cream machines operate by drawing in air to cool the condensing unit. They only require a power connection to start churning out tasty treats, and this plug-and-play design provides businesses with greater placement flexibility. However, they need ample wall clearance, usually around six inches, to ensure proper exhaust ventilation. Air-cooled ice cream machines require cool, air-conditioned environments; higher temperatures can impact their efficiency and output. Compared to their water-cooled counterparts, air-cooled machines are typically more affordable.

• Benefits: Single power connection, plug and play provides flexible placement
• Best Applications: Ice cream, sorbet, gelato, frozen yogurt
• Quart Capacity: 7 to 40

7. Water Cooled Ice Cream Machine

Water-cooled ice cream machines use water to cool the refrigeration components and require a water line connection. They operate quietly and efficiently in both warm and cool environments. Unlike air-cooled units, water-cooled machines do not require clearance space around the exterior for proper ventilation, but the water line connection requirement can limit placement options. Installing the water line can also impose higher upfront costs compared to air-cooled units.

• Benefits: Quiet, efficient in both warm and cool environments, no clearance space required around the exterior
• Best Applications: Ice cream, frozen yogurt, gelato, slushies
• Quart Capacity: 20 to 40