Want to know how to manufacture ice cream step by step? This complete guide will help you with general ice cream production, mixing & filling.
If your workforce production of ice cream can’t keep up with the market’s demands, then it is time for you to escalate your production. Manufacturing ice cream can save you a lot in expenses as you won’t need as many employees to operate your business.
This can also work as a startup business. With ice cream being popular each and every year, it is guaranteed that your business will be booming in no time.
Increasing Demand For Ice Creams
When the Covid pandemic hit in 2020, this only made a subtle change in the ice cream’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and it eventually became even higher in 2021 at 5.2% CAGR.
This does not only make the ice cream manufacturing business lucrative, but it is also safe because of its never-ending trend.
What Are The Requirements When Starting an Ice Cream Factory?
To launch your ice cream manufacturing business you will need to take into account the laws and regulations in the state. To help you get started, you can visit FDA about the things needed, and the WHO to ensure food safety for your customers.
Second, you will need to find a location that will be easily accessible by the market and which will be easier for you to supply your products around the block in your area.
What Are The Equipment Needed to Start an Ice Cream Production Business
In order for you to start your production system, you will need to purchase your machinery. This will include the mixing machines, freezing stations, and packaging machines.
The Equipment includes:
1. Ice Cream Mix Plant
The ice cream mix machine mixes dissolves, pasteurizes, and cools the ingredients. The plant includes:
- Mix Tank
- Pre-heating Tank– After the mixing process, the ice cream mixture will be heated to prepare for its pasteurization process.
- Centrifuge pump with Double filter- Used to treat dairies.
- Constant Level Tank- During the pasteurization process, any dairy product that is not pasteurized will be moved to the level tank to ensure a uniform treatment process.
- Homogeniser- Breaks down food particles of the ice cream mixture to help improve the quality and its shelf life.
2. Ripple Pumps
Ripple pumps are used to inject the syrup into the ice cream slowly to ensure that it is evenly distributed in the mixture. Most ripple pumps have an air consumption of 60l/min which is decent for the mass production of ice creams.
3. Technosandwich
This machine produces the wafer cones for the ice cream. This comes into contact with the ice cream through the packaging process of the machine.
4. Robotic Fillers
Robotic filler machines help in saving money by using less staffing. These machines are able to fill medium to large containers of ice cream in an orderly way. What’s best is that you will be able to produce a lot more ice cream products by using this automatic filler for your production.
5. Rotary Fillers
Rotary fillers are used in packaging the ice cream into cones. These machines also operate automatically which makes it an excellent investment for your factory.
6. Stick Moulding Machines
This machine contributes to the making of ice cream popsicle sticks. In the filler, there are molds that are filled with the ice cream mixture then it comes through another outlet where the sticks are also inserted automatically.
7. Ingredient Feeder
The Ingredient feeder is attached to the Ice cream freezer. It then slowly adds fruits or nuts while the freezer slowly mixes.
8. Ice Cream Freezers (Continuous Freezers)
This is the machine where the food mixture is turned into ice cream. It is done through a process of slow and continuous mixing and freezing.
What are Raw Materials for Ice Cream?
Here are the ingredients you will need:
1. Milk or Condensed Milk
When using milk in your ice cream recipe, it is recommended that you use whole milk or 2% and 1%. Just don’t go with skim milk as it doesn’t have much fat, which can ruin your ice cream’s consistency.
Condensed milk is one of the alternatives for making ice cream. If you are going with this option, scrap out the sugar in the recipe as the condensed milk has the sugar content you will need in your ice cream. What’s nice about this is that the sugar is already dissolved ensuring that your ice cream will be smooth and easy to serve.
2. Cream
As you know by now, the cream contains the fat needed in an even ice cream mixture. You can also use butter as an alternative to the cream.
3. Sugar
Sugar is added not just for sweetness, but to also help in minimizing the development of ice crystals in the mixture, in turn making the ice cream easy to scoop.
4. Stabilizers
Stabilizers are thickening agents that also help in reducing the formation of ice crystals. Examples of it are guar gum and xanthan gum.
How to Manufacture Ice Cream: Mixing Process
- The formation of ice cream starts with the blending of the liquid and dry ingredients such as milk, sugar, cream, etc. This is the process also where the Ice cream mix plant operates.
- Next comes the pasteurization process where the ice cream mixture is heated to 68.3 C for 30 minutes or 79.4 C for only 25 seconds to kill any pathogens or bacteria hence, extending its shelf life.
- For the ice cream to achieve its creamy and smooth consistency, the mixture will then go to the homogenizer where it is pumped through a small hole that is pressurized. The milk fat globules will be broken down into smaller components in this process. This prevents the unwanted separation of fats from the milk as the fats by now will be evenly spread out throughout the whole mixture.
- The mixture is then left at room temperature overnight for it to age. During the aging process, the milk mixture is will be able to crystalize making the whipping process a lot easier.
- Now before the mixture is frozen, the flavors and colored drops will be added. This process is done after the mixing process to not limit the flavors and colors of the ice cream into one.
- Then it comes down to the freezing process. The freezing process is done in batches where it is placed in a barrel that continually freezes and also rotates slowly to whip the mixture turning it into ice cream.
- After it has turned into ice cream, it is now the time to add the ground foods such as nuts, marshmallows, and other else.
- This is where the molding machine and fillers will come into action. The ice cream will be placed in the processor, as well as the wrappers or round containers. Then at time intervals, the ice cream will be automatically poured into containers and automatically packed, ready for supplying.
Conclusion
An ice cream factory will boost your ice cream production and you can highly depend on it to maintain its quality. If you are planning to start an ice cream plant by scratch, then it is a good choice, to begin with. Not that it is suitable for entrepreneurs, but the ice cream industry just also keeps on growing year by year making it a very profitable business.
Things that you need to look out for are the expenses. You may save a lot of money in terms of employee payments, but you will also need to account for the maintenance of the machines in an ice cream production.