Mix-inlet-regulators or carburetors
In a gravity-fed soft serve ice cream or yogurt freezer, the mix product is poured into a reservoir at the top of the freezer known as a hopper. The hopper keeps your product refrigerated and fresh so that it will give you great tasting product once frozen in the freezing cylinders below.
Gravity-fed freezers are called that because what causes the mix to make its way into the cylinder from the drain hole in the bottom of the hopper is the force of gravity. What makes ice cream is the slow churning of the mix by the auger in the cylinder as it freezes, incorporating just the right amount of air in the freezing process.
Gravity-fed freezers are called that because what causes the mix to make its way into the cylinder from the drain hole in the bottom of the hopper is the force of gravity. What makes ice cream is the slow churning of the mix by the auger in the cylinder as it freezes, incorporating just the right amount of air in the freezing process.
The device that allows just the right quantity of air into your ice cream is known as a mix-inlet regulator or a carburetor. The carburetor essentially looks like a tube that is inserted into the drain hole at the bottom of the refrigerated hopper atop your gravity-fed freezer.
The top of the carburetor tube has a small air inlet hole, which varies in size depending on the type of mix you are using. Some mix inlet regulators or carburetors are adjustable, allowing you to rotate a cap on the top of the carburetor tube, to line it up with the appropriately sized air intake hole. |
Some brands require the operator to stick their hands into the mix in the hopper, to flip around the carburetor tube morning & night, potentially contaminating the product. This is also not ideal as the removal of the tube causes the air to mix ratio to become unbalanced, as more product glug-glugs down into the cylinder as you frantically try to re-insert the carburetor tube into the drain hole in the bottom of the hopper.
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Although I am obviously partial to my own brand, one feature I really appreciate in our line of gravity-fed freezers, is that once you have inserted the mix inlet regulator prior to filling your hopper with mix, you need not touch the carburetor again until it is time to break down the freezer for cleaning and sanitizing.
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