Close your office door and make sure no one is listening because I’m about to share with you the secret to making amazing frozen yogurt…ready…here it is…AIR. That’s right – one of the key components of smooth and creamy frozen yogurt is to have air or overrun in the product. If the product comes out icy and dense that means there isn’t enough air in the mix. This is especially important with natural frozen yogurt mixes.
All frozen yogurt machines have a hopper and freezing cylinder. The hopper is where you pour the mix, and the freezing cylinder is the horizontal empty cylinder behind the handles where the mix is frozen and the air is whipped into it. Inside the freezing cylinder there should be at least 30-40% air. This gives room for the product to expand and create a nice, creamy consistency.
Getting air into the product will depend on the type of soft-serve machine you have. Here is a quick breakdown. For more detailed instructions and help contact us at 1-800-788-0808 or info@nancis.com. You can also visit our Training Page for a howto video on adding air into the product.
Pressurized or Pump Soft-Serve Machine
These machines pump the product into the freezing cylinder with the exact amount of air you want – up to 100% air. Pump machines allow for you to set the precise amount of air. Consult the operators manual for your machine to find out how to adjust these settings.
Gravity Soft-Serve Machines
With gravity machines, the mix is poured into a hopper on the top of the machine and gravity pulls the mix into the freezing cylinder. On a gravity machines you need to manually set the air, for a maximum of 45% air.
One very important piece on the machine is the carburetor tube or air tube. The carburetor tube is a skinny tube – usually stainless steel – that you insert into the intake hole in the bottom of the hopper. Once inserted, the top of the tube sticks up out of the product allowing air to get down into the product. All carburetor tubes have some way to shut off the product intake – either by flipping the tube over or by closing off the intake hole using a sleeve that fits around the tube.
Here are the 6 steps:
- Pour the frozen yogurt mix into the hopper without the carburetor tube and wait for the bubbling from the intake hole to stop. The freezing cylinder is now full.
- Insert the carburetor tube to stop the product from flowing into the freezing cylinder.
- Turn on the soft-serve machine and wait for it to freeze down and shut off.
- Keeping the intake closed, dispense 8-10 ounces of frozen yogurt into a clean cup. This product can be put back into the hopper.
- Wait for the machine to cycle off then open the air intake either by flipping the tube around or sliding the sleeve on the tube.
- The overrun is now set and the product should come out smooth and creamy. As long as you leave the air tube in place it will stay this way.
If you have any questions, please contact us.
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