FIELD REPORT

Industrial Revolution Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker
Richard Lyon
August 28, 2006

PERSONAL DETAILS AND BACKPACKING BACKGROUND

Male, 60 years old
Height: 6' 4" (1.93 m)
Weight: 200 lb (91 kg)
Email address: rlyon AT gibsondunn DOT com
Home: Dallas, Texas USA

I've been backpacking for 45 years on and off, and regularly in the Rockies since 1986.  I do a weeklong trip every summer, and often take three-day trips.  I'm usually camping in alpine terrain, at altitudes 5000 to 13000 ft (1500 - 4000 m).  I prefer base camp backpacking, a long hike in with day trips from camp, but I do my share of forced marches too.  Though always looking for ways to reduce weight, I'm not yet a lightweight hiker and I usually choose a bit of extra weight over foregoing camp conveniences I've come to expect.

PRODUCT DETAILS

Manufacturer: Industrial Revolution, Inc. (http://icecreamrevolution.com), formerly UCO Corporation.  All quotations in this review come from this website. 
Year of manufacture: 2006
MSRP: $34.95 US
Rated Capacity: “About a pint” (A pint is 16 fl oz/473 ml.)
Measured capacity of cylinder: 20 fl oz (591 ml)
Please see my Initial Report for additional details and a description of how the Play & Freeze makes frozen desserts.

TEST ENVIRONMENT

Anyone who thinks I applied for this test just for the opportunity to eat ice cream more often is not far from the mark.  I'm an addict who much prefers the homemade stuff to even the best commercial products.  I've used the Play & Freeze at least once a week during the past two months, except for the week that I was on vacation (more on this below), making various kinds of ice cream and on one occasion a semi-frozen beverage.  Venues have included a day hike in the Texas Hill Country, a couple of short hikes near Dallas followed by a picnic-style lunch, a picnic supper before an outdoor concert, a fishing trip in Montana, and my home kitchen.  The short hikes were somewhat akin to car camping, as both the Play & Freeze and the cooler with the necessary ice stayed in the car until meal time. 

In the first week of August I took a weeklong backpack trip into the Swan Range, Montana, as a Forest Service volunteer.  By coincidence our Forest Service liaison also owns a Play & Freeze, and we considered including the Play & Freeze with the food and cooking gear that the Forest Service packed in to our base camp.  We eventually decided against taking it.  Though the Swans still held some snow, these areas were far from our campsite, and the Play & Freeze, because of its size and shape, isn't easy to fit into a pannier.  

Even when I used the Play & Freeze at home the playing and freezing – i.e., tossing and rolling the sphere to make the ice cream - took place outdoors, meaning that the ambient temperature was high, never less than 85 F (29 C) and often ten or fifteen degrees F (6-8 degrees C) higher.

TEST RESULTS

I have used the Play & Freeze to chill a beverage once, to make sorbetti (water ice) three times, and to make custard-style ice cream four times.  Though freezing times have varied, each time I made a frozen dessert the Play & Freeze yielded a frozen dessert – much harder along the cylinder itself but all definitely frozen, with no liquid in the middle.  Industrial Revolution recommends checking the freezing compartment after ten minutes, and then every few minutes thereafter, to ascertain viscosity, and that has proven to be good advice, with one reservation I discuss below.  The ice cream mixtures (always made with heavy cream and two egg yolks – cholesterol be damned) are naturally thicker than the sorbetti, and I always make the custard a day before making the ice cream, so they thicken further overnight in the refrigerator.  Freezing times for ice cream have been eighteen, twenty-five, twenty, and twenty minutes, measured from first toss to the point that no liquid remains.  The sorbetti took less time – about fifteen minutes.  After ten minutes a pint of margaritas had a slushy texture and was icy cold and delicious.  All these times are consistent with Industrial Revolution's directions.

I encountered a number of problems in making ice cream:

• Ice cubes from my refrigerator freezer fit easily into the ice compartment, but the larger and more irregularly shaped chunks from store-bought bagged ice often require chipping (or banging the bag on the ground) before I could fit them in.  This is a problem with use of the Play & Freeze in the field, not only because when away from home I can't use refrigerator ice but also because ice in the cooler had often melted and refrozen together in large pieces.
• Water in the threads of the Play & Freeze's two lids tends to freeze, making it difficult to remove the lids without the little wrench that comes with this product.  Once or twice it took a real effort even with the wrench, but I finally managed.
• Unlike old-fashioned tub-style ice cream makers or electric countertop models, the Play & Freeze has no churn.  A churn continuously scrapes the frozen mixture from the sides of the container and splashes unfrozen mixture against the sides to freeze it.  With the Play & Freeze, after ten minutes I find inside a frozen layer against the cylinder wall and a still-runny mixture in the center.  In order to freeze the remaining mixture I've had to scrape the frozen contents from the sides, using (per Industrial Revolution's directions) a wooden (rather than metal) spoon to avoid damaging the cylinder.  (The frozen crust is so hard as to break a plastic picnic spoon almost immediately.)  This scraping is not an easy task; twice I had to leave the lid open for a couple of minutes to allow warm air to soften the frozen part.  Over the remaining test period I shall make a first inspection and scraping after five or six minutes and see if that alleviates this problem.
• When the mixture, particularly sorbetto, is frozen it's difficult to scoop it out of the cylinder.  As noted, a wooden spoon is recommended – not a problem at home but adds one more utensil to pack when car camping or picnicking.  Allowing the dessert a minute or two to soften, as above, usually makes serving easier.  The cylinder is narrow and it's particularly difficult to get the mixture at the bottom.

Two other problems make using the Play & Freeze troublesome in outdoor situations:

• The Play & Freeze box has as the first clean-up instruction "Dispose of the ice water/salt mixture."  Often that's easier said than done.  I hesitate simply to pour it on the grass because of the salt, and it's too runny (not to mention salty) to pour back into the cooler if other food is stored there.  Some sort of drain is necessary.  As both lids have proven to be completely watertight it is possible to leave the mixture in the Play & Freeze after finishing the freezing process until I'm somewhere where there is a drain.  This problem occurs during freezing process too, as I must occasionally pour out slurry before adding fresh ice.  I've used a paper cup for this, pouring the salty water back into the ice container when the dessert is frozen.  A nuisance.
• Cleaning the ice cream cylinder completely requires soap and running water.  Not all picnic spots have running water, meaning one-time use on any trip and storing a dirty Play & Freeze until I'm somewhere where there is running water.

Finally, though I'll keep trying to find a way, I doubt the Play & Freeze will have any uses on a true backpacking trip.  As backcountry kitchen gear it's relatively heavy.  Far more importantly, its pack size challenges even an expedition pack user like me, and it's similarly space-consuming when trying to fit it into a duffle bag with all my other gear on trips requiring air travel.  Its shape prevents strapping it onto the outside of my pack. 

I began my evaluation with the problems I've encountered to alert the reader that the Play & Freeze has significant limitations on use, not that the product doesn't do what its maker claims it can do.  My overall opinion of the Play & Freeze is quite favorable.  The good news:

• It's simple and easy to use.  The Play & Freeze allows me to make a frozen dessert at home as reliably as and with less fuss than my alternatives.  Unlike a countertop electric model I don't have to pre-freeze the container for a couple of days.  The Play & Freeze's quantity is just right for one meal, a double advantage. Homemade ice cream that's stored in the freezer at home tends to crystallize and lose its creamy texture, and rarely will my picnic cooler produce a temperature cold enough to permit storage of any leftovers.
• For car camping or picnic settings where a drain and running water are available it's much less work and much less mess than a hand-cranked ice cream maker, and it takes up much less space in the car or picnic basket.  In fact, the disposal issues that I mention above are even more acute when I use a hand-cranked machine, which doesn't have a watertight container for interim storage.  As the Play & Freeze has separate lids at opposite ends of the sphere for dessert and ice, it's almost impossible for salty ice accidentally to spill into the freezing container, a common problem when lifting the lid of the cylinder in a hand-cranker to check freezing status.
• Similarly, many recipes call for my own preference for adding fruit, particularly berries, to ice cream after the custard is semi-frozen, to keep the fruit from freezing solid.  (Much more flavor this way!) That's easy to do with the Play & Freeze and difficult to do with any other ice cream maker.
• Tossing and spinning have been a pleasant diversion for adults and children every time we've used it.  The novelty hasn't yet worn off and I doubt that it will, since the Play & Freeze isn't used daily, and can be rolled, handed, or tossed from person to person during conversation or other activities.  When I made ice cream by myself at home, I didn't think it was much more work than monitoring an electric churn, which also requires adding ice and rock salt during the freezing process. 
• I expect the Play & Freeze to last for a long time.  After eight weeks there are a few scratches on the plastic but nothing that's affected utility.  The Play & Freeze is sturdily made and has taken the occasional dropped toss without any adverse consequences.  I've had no leaks unless I carelessly have not matched the threads on the lid to those on the containers.  The plastic doesn't "sweat," although water sometimes drips from melting ice that I'm adding to the container onto the surface.  Tossing the Play & Freeze wrapped in a napkin or paper towel easily addresses any slipperiness.
• Most importantly, homemade ice cream or sorbetto is a real treat after a day hike and an elegant and much-appreciated dessert at a summer picnic.  Especially is this so in North Texas's blistering summer.  The Play & Freeze is the first product I've found that really allows me serve a frozen dessert on these occasions.

My evaluation of the Play & Freeze to this point may be summarized as enthusiasm for a simple and workable ice cream maker, with regrets only that I can't use it everywhere.

FURTHER TESTING

For home use and picnics, more of the same.  I don't need much of an excuse to make ice cream.  I'll see if I can manage including it on a couple of fishing days in Montana, if I can fit it into my luggage.  I'll see if I can come up with a way to include it on a short backpack in the Rockies (exact location to be determined) in October.

I'll continue to refine timing and technique for different frozen desserts.  In my Long Term Report I'll include my findings against my original test questions and criteria.  I've been experimenting with new ice cream recipes and I'll include my favorite in the Long Term Report.

Thanks again to Industrial Revolution and BackpackGearTest.org for the opportunity to test this ingenious product.