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Reviews > Cook Gear > Cooking Accessories > Industrial Revolution Play & Freeze Ice > Amanda Tikkanen > Field ReportIndustrial Revolution Play and Freeze Ice Cream MakerFeild Report September 8, 2006 Tester Information Name: Amanda Tikkanen Age: 24 Gender: Female Height: 5'4" (1.6 m) Weight: 135 lbs (61 kg) Email address: uberpest at uberpest dot com Personal website: http://www.uberpest.com City, State, Country: LaGrange, Indiana USA Backpacking Background I have been backpacking and hiking since the spring of 2000 throughout Michigan and Indiana, covering several hundred miles, always with a dog by my side. Beau has been happily carrying a pack since 2002. Before Beau I hiked with Lucy, who is now retired. My style of backpacking is moving from overnights to long distance hiking, including multi-day trips. While I don't favor ultralight equipment, I do like to go as light as possible while still being comfortable. Product Information Manufacturer: Industrial Revolution Year of Manufacture: 2006 URL: http://industrialrev.com/ Model: Regular size. Makes 1 pint (.47 L) of ice cream or other frozen concoction. Manufacturer's weight: 1 lb 10 oz (.74 kg) Weight as tested: 1 lb 14 oz (.85 kg) Manufacturer's dimensions: 8" in diameter (20.3 cm) Dimensions as tested: 7 5/8" high x 7 3/4" diameter (19.4 cm H x 19.7 cm D) MSRP: $34.95 (US) Warranty: 1 year, but any damage due to dropping or kicking is specifically not covered. Material: polycarbonate outer ball with aluminum inner cylinder Additional product description and a more detailed test plan can be found in my Initial Report Field Conditions I have so far tested the Play and Freeze Ice Cream Maker at home (1 batch) and while on an overnight car camping outing at a local campground (2 batches). Temperatures ranged from the mid 70s to mid 90s F (24-35 C) The manufacturer's directions state to first wash and dry the maker, so I did. To make ice cream I would need to add salt and ice to the "ice end" of the maker, and ice cream ingredients to the end with the aluminum cylinder. From there I would have to shake, roll, or pass the ball for 10 minutes, open the ice cream end, stir the ice cream, and play again for 10 minutes. It seemed simple enough, so I got going. I mixed up the basic vanilla recipe, which is:
To the other end I added:
Note: for the first batch at home, I substituted one cup whipping cream and one cup half and half due to the manufacturer's suggestion on their website claiming the mixture will freeze faster with a fattier cream. I later used only half-and-half since it was easier for me to find. I then shook and rolled the ball for 10 minutes, opened the ice cream end to stir and discovered my kitchen wooden spoon wouldn't fit into the cylinder. The manufacturer recommends not using a metal spoon so as not to scratch the aluminum. So I used one of my many Lexan camp spoons. The ice cream was very hard around the sides of the can and my camp spoon wouldn't reach the bottom to fully mix the ice cream. I found a remedy for this situation-a new plastic mixing spoon that was neither too short nor made of metal and exactly the right size for fitting in the mouth of the aluminum cylinder. I found that when I used heavy whipping cream and shook the ball for the recommended time (20 minutes total) the ice cream was extremely hard and difficult to remove from the mixer. When I used half-and-half the cream was about the consistency of commercial soft-serve. In addition to the "Plain Jane" vanilla recipe provided by the manufacturer, I tried another of their recipes, Mint Chocolate Chip. For this recipe I had to add some chocolate chips, green food color, and mint flavoring. Issues I've encountered while making ice cream with the Play and Freeze: Consistency. When I follow the manufacturer's instructions to open the container and stir the ingredients after 10 minutes of play and again 10 minutes later, the ice cream is frozen into an extremely hard shell on the walls of the aluminum cylinder, while the center is cold and soupy. When I stirred more often, about every 5 minutes for 20 minutes, the consistency was, well, more consistent. Ease of use/cleanup: it's unfortunate that my normal camp spoon didn't reach all the way to the bottom of the aluminum cylinder. While an extra spoon just for the mixer isn't a big problem at home or for most car camps, I tend to be forgetful and could easily leave this behind. Also, when I opened the ball for the first stirring some of the mixture had expanded and, despite leaving a 1" (2 cm) gap of air for this expansion, some of the ice cream mixture leaked out. Leaked isn't really the right word, rather it exploded, but the clean up was pretty easy since I had three dogs and a cat nearby to help with the mess. If I were in an area where I didn't want to attract animals, however, this would have been a rather large problem. Washing was a snap-all the ingredients rinsed out with little effort. When I was car camping I made sure to rinse again at home to make sure I got all of the salt out of the ice end of the ball. I'm not sure if the salt will corrode the aluminum or not, but I decided it was better to be safe on this one. I noticed with the recipes provided by the manufacturer that all of the flavors that require additional ingredients (add things like nuts or chocolate chips to the vanilla recipe) do not decrease the initial amount of vanilla ice cream. When I added about 1/4 c (50 ml) of chocolate chips there was enough leftover (unused) mixture to make about 1/3 of a batch of ice cream. My recommendation to the manufacturer is to make note of this in some way on the recipe sheets provided with the Play and Freeze. I also found that the outside of the mixer got very cold-cold enough to form a thick layer of frost on a very hot summer day. I didn't have any problems holding onto the ball since the molded-in texture gives me plenty of places to grip the ball. When I used the ball outside it did gather some grass, leaves, and dirt, but I didn't have any trouble rinsing it off with water from the cooler. Unlike when I use plastic baggies to make ice cream, salt hasn't gotten into the ice cream since the two chambers are completely separate, though adjoining. I haven't decided yet if the bulk and weight of the Play and Freeze, when compared to baggies, totally makes up for that fact. The ball is pretty hefty when filled with ice, but I don't have an exact weight since it was constantly changing as I poured out melt water and added fresh ice and salt. My estimate was in the 10 lb (4.5 kg) range. It was heavy enough that my niece and nephew (5 and 3, respectively) only wanted to roll it around on the ground, not pick it up and throw it (a relief since the warranty likely wouldn't cover this type of damage). It's heavy enough, too, that I felt like I'd had some sort of a workout and as such, better about eating the resulting ice cream than if I'd just pulled a carton out of a freezer. At this point I feel I need more testing in different situations. A friend has volunteered to help me test the maker on a river trip if we can get out before the local rivers close for waterfowl season. In addition, I will test this as I have been, on car camping trips and as many family get-togethers as possible. I will also test the flavoring provided by the manufacturer, and use it to make chilled beverages, as outlined in my Initial Report. Likes and Dislikes so far: Likes:
I thank Industrial Revolution and Backpack Gear Test for the opportunity to test the Play and Freeze ice cream maker. Read more reviews of Industrial Revolution gear Read more gear reviews by Amanda Tikkanen Reviews > Cook Gear > Cooking Accessories > Industrial Revolution Play & Freeze Ice > Amanda Tikkanen > Field Report | |||