The full-automatic ice cream production line uses milk or milk powder as raw materials, and its physical structure is a complex physical and chemical system. Air bubbles are dispersed in a continuous liquid with ice crystals, which contains fat particles, milk proteins, insoluble salts, lactose crystals, colloidal stabilizers and sucrose, lactose, soluble salts, such a three-phase system consisting of gas phase, liquid phase and solid phase, and can be regarded as a partially frozen foam containing 40% -50% air volume.

Ice cream production line

Ice cream production process: milk → standardization → blending → sterilization homogenization → cooling → aging → freezing → filling → cold storage.

Characteristics of ice cream production line

Materials: Sugar, non sugar sweeteners; Emulsifiers and stabilizers; Pigments; Essence (spice); Fat; Non fat milk solids (MSNF)
Weighing, measuring, and mixing: Generally speaking, dry materials need to be weighed, while liquid materials can be weighed or volumetric measured
Homogenization and Pasteurization: The ice cream mixture flows through a filter into a balance tank and is then pumped into a plate heat exchanger, where the mixture is preheated to 73-75 ℃. After homogenization at 140-200 bar, the mixture is pasteurized at 83-85 ℃ for 15 seconds. The pasteurized mixture is cooled to 5 ℃ and then input into an aging tank.
Aging: The mixture must be aged for no less than 4 hours at 2-5 ℃. Continuous stirring is required during the aging period. Aging provides time for stabilizers to exert their effects and for fat crystallization.
Continuous freezing: mixing a controlled amount of air into the mixture; Freeze the moisture in the mixture into a large number of small ice crystals.
Other accessories: Fragments of fruit, nuts, or chocolate can be added to ice cream immediately after freezing. This process can be accomplished by connecting a corrugated pump or a dry material filler in ice cream production.
Filling: cup, Chicken rolls and container filling; Extrusion of products with and without bars; Mold installation for products with sticks; packing; Hardening and refrigeration.

Ice cream mix composition:

The main raw materials for making ice cream are fat, non-fat solids, sweeteners, emulsifiers, stabilizers, flavors and colors.

Packaging materials suitable for ice cream products

The ice cream production line can produce products such as cupcakes, egg trays, stick ice cream, chocolate coated ice cream, nut ice cream, and popsicles.

Packaging materials suitable for ice cream products

2、 Process flow diagram of ice cream production line

Raw material mixing → blending → filtering → homogenization → sterilization → aging → freezing → filling

3、 Technical characteristics of ice cream production line

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1. High degree of automation, easy operation, capable of completing tasks such as mixing, sterilization, homogenization, cooling, aging, etc., with centralized control of electrical appliances in the operating system;
2. Three stage cooling saves energy, distributes reasonably, and reduces the load on refrigeration units.

4、 Composition of ice cream mixture

The raw materials for making ice cream include fat, non fat solids, sweeteners, emulsifiers, stabilizers, flavors, and pigments.

5、 Composition equipment of ice cream production equipment

The ice cream production line consists of single machine equipment such as cold and hot tanks, tube sterilizers, high-pressure homogenizers, plate coolers, freezers, filling machines, quick freezing warehouses, refrigerated warehouses, and refrigerated trucks in the order of process flow!

The above single machine equipment that affects the quality of ice cream includes sterilizers, homogenizers, freezers, and quick freezing warehouses (or tunnels).

The single machine equipment of some ice cream production lines is briefly described as follows:

1. Sterilization machine

There are various types and structures of sterilization equipment for ice cream production line mixtures, generally divided into two categories: intermittent and continuous.

Intermittent sterilizers, also known as “hot and cold tanks”, have a simple structure, easy manufacturing, convenient operation, and low price, and are widely used by general cold beverage factories.

Cold beverage factories often use high-temperature short-time pasteurization devices to automate continuous sterilization of mixtures. The device consists of a four section plate heat exchanger, homogenizer, control cabinet, valves, and pipelines.

The characteristics of the high-temperature short-time pasteurization device Zui are good sterilization effect, short heating time of the mixture, and less influence of thermal denaturation on dairy components.

2. Homogenizer machine

The use of a two-stage high-pressure homogenizer consists of a two-stage homogenizer valve and a three plunger reciprocating pump.

The ice cream mixture is crushed into 1-2 μ m fat balls through the first stage homogenization valve (high-pressure valve), and then dispersed through the second stage homogenization valve (low-pressure valve) to achieve the specified size of fat balls in the physical structure of the ice cream. The quality of the homogenizer has a direct impact on the quality of ice cream, as it makes the organization smooth and lubricated.

3. Freezing machine

A freeze machine is a mechanical equipment used to make ice cream products from mixed materials.

Freezing machines can be divided into ammonia liquid freezing machines, Freon freezing machines, etc. according to the type of refrigerant used.

According to the production method, it can be divided into two types: intermittent and continuous

Continuous freezing machines are commonly used in modern ice cream production, where the mixture is pumped in and out at a pressure of 0.15~0.2 MPa. This allows for the use of lower freezing temperatures and freezes more moisture, resulting in ice crystal diameters of 10~5 μ m and bubble diameters of around 30~150 μ m, forming a uniform mixture. The ice cream produced by this machine has a uniform and smooth structure, achieving both production continuity and high Xiao production capacity

4. Quick freezing warehouse (or quick freezing tunnel)

When the ice cream product leaves the filling machine, its temperature is -3~-5 ℃. At this temperature, about 30%~40% of the moisture in the mixture is frozen. In order to ensure the stability of the ice cream product and freeze most of the remaining moisture into tiny ice crystals, as well as facilitate storage, transportation, and sales, it is necessary to quickly freeze and harden the packaged ice cream, and then transfer it to a cold storage for storage.

The quality of ice cream hardening has an impact on product quality. If it hardens quickly, it melts less and the ice crystals in the tissue are fine, resulting in a smooth and lubricated product. If it hardens slowly, it partially melts and the ice crystals become larger, resulting in a rough and low-quality product.

Production plants often use frozen tunnels. The length of the frozen tunnel is generally 12~15m, and the temperature inside the tunnel is usually -35~-40 ℃. The freezing time is 1 hour. If the ice cream is divided into small pieces, after 30~50 minutes on the tunnel, its temperature can drop from around -5 ℃ to -18~-20 ℃. Due to rapid hardening and low temperature, ice cream has a stable shape, small crystallization, and a delicate and smooth texture.