In the dog days of summer when the sun is high, there’s one thing Americans love to turn for relief: ice cream.
Whether you’re visiting a local sweet shop or stopping by a drive-thru for an ice cream cone, Americans can’t get enough ice cream. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, the average American consumes more than 23 pounds of ice cream per year and U.S. ice cream companies made more than 898 million gallons of regular ice cream in 2015.
Just how popular is ice cream? In the United States, vanilla ice cream is commemorated annually with its own special day, National Vanilla Ice Cream Day on July 23.
One of the most popular go-to options for ice cream is soft serve. When given a choice, consumers will choose soft serve mix seven out of 10 times over hard ice cream.
Whether you’re a business owner who sells soft serve ice cream or just a die-hard ice cream fan searching for a soft serve ice cream machine for sale, it’s important to know how to keep the machines clean. There are plenty of options when looking for a new or used soft serve ice cream machine for sale, but you want to make sure it lasts a long time and keep it clean. Doing this ensures that customers are getting the best quality product or you’re making the best ice cream you possibly can at home.
Before you start cleaning anything, keep these things in mind as you move forward:
- Be sure that the machine is on wash. Having it on auto could damage the machine due to freezing water.
- Get the last chunks of ice cream out of the machine by rinsing it with warm water.
- Use a specialized cleaner (Stera-Sheen green label is a good one) to get rid of all the particles and oil clinging to the surface of the tubes, barrels and hopper of the machine. Soap isn’t a good option because it can easily get in hard to reach crevices of a machine and stay there. The last thing you need is soap getting stuck in your machine and getting in your ice cream. The only way the soap is coming out of those hard to reach places is with specialty cleaning equipment.
Using the specialized cleaner, cleaning a soft serve ice cream machine shouldn’t take more than a few minutes if you follow these steps:
- Clean/Wash It: As mentioned previously, make sure to get any remaining chunks of ice cream out of the machine. Take the cleaning solution (be generous), mix it with warm water and turn the machine to its clean or wash cycle. After the end of the cycle (about five minutes), empty the solution from the machine through the nozzle. Disassemble the machine’s components and make sure to brush them with the cleaning solution as well.
- Lubricate It: Every type of machine has its own manufacturer-specific instructions on how best to lubricate that machine to get it functioning at its best. Your ice cream machine is no different; follow the instructions in the manual.
- Sanitize It: Before you put any soft serve ice cream mix through your your soft serve machine again, make sure to sanitize it. To do that, mix the cleaning solution with water again and put the machine back to its wash cycle for a minute. Once all the solution has been drained from the machine again, pour ice cream mix into the machine and draw out a few ounces just to make sure all the cleaning solution is out of the machine.
If you’re looking for a soft serve ice cream machine for sale, sites such as Amazon and eBay have plenty of options available. If you’re looking for a vintage soft serve ice cream machine for sale or used equipment, sites such as FreezerPlanet and TurnKeyParlor offer options for finding just what you’re looking for. No matter what you use, be sure to clean it properly to ensure you’re getting the best ice cream possible.
