Best Homemade Ice Cream Maker?

[MaxPC]

Some further googling uncovered the Immergood Ice cream maker which gets splendid reviews on Amazon to go with its splendidly high price: Apparently they are Amish-made in Lancaster County PA. Someone here must know about them.

https://cottagecraftworks.blogspot.com/ ... d-ice.html

Thank you. I have made note of this for our family in case other members want their own.

[mike]

The Immergood brand looks like it would be good for developing strong biceps

https://goodsstores.com/products/hand-c ... 06-ig6h-ss

[Josh]

“ I'm not sure how a company like White Mountain can screw something up like that. After many decades of manufacturing the same thing it should be pretty easy to just keep pressing the same thing out unchanged as they must have all the jigs, castings, parts, and whatever they need to make them figured out. Company probably changed hands and the new owners tried to cut corners. But what do I know.”

Ken, have you heard of this thing called “outsourcing manufacturing to China”?

[PeterG]

large quantities of ice cream

Except the quantities seldom seem to be large enough. Make sure you get one that makes at least a half-gallon at a time. That was barely enough for our family of six when I was growing up, especially if we were serving guests. If I were in the market I'd get a one-gallon size if I could.

[RZehr]

It doesn't look like the Immergood has an electric motor option.

[ken_sylvania]

It doesn't look like the Immergood has an electric motor option.

Probably not - if it's Amish made... although one might expect it to be able to run off of a battery pack.

[Josh]

Or just turn it with a power drill.

[Ken]

large quantities of ice cream

Except the quantities seldom seem to be large enough. Make sure you get one that makes at least a half-gallon at a time. That was barely enough for our family of six when I was growing up, especially if we were serving guests. If I were in the market I'd get a one-gallon size if I could.

The standard White Mountain sizes were 4 quart (1 gallon) and 6 qt (1.5 gallon)

[MaxPC]

It doesn't look like the Immergood has an electric motor option.

There's a 6 quart Immergood with an electric motor here:
https://www.cottagecraftworks.com/usa-i ... t-electric

[Ken]

“ I'm not sure how a company like White Mountain can screw something up like that. After many decades of manufacturing the same thing it should be pretty easy to just keep pressing the same thing out unchanged as they must have all the jigs, castings, parts, and whatever they need to make them figured out. Company probably changed hands and the new owners tried to cut corners. But what do I know.”

Ken, have you heard of this thing called “outsourcing manufacturing to China”?

Yeah, they probably just shipped the existing model to China and said "copy this" without any institutional knowledge of why the parts were built the the way that they were and out of the materials that they were made with. I did some more digging and found this. Apparently they were sold to Rival in the 1980s who kept the manufacturing in the US then more recently Rival was bought out by the parent company of Coleman in the early 2000s which shipped manufacturing to China

Sounds like the Immergood Amish-made one is the only quality option left unless there are some other more recent small-scale entries into the market that White Mountain abandoned:

https://www.worldvillage.com/the-white- ... n-and-now/

The ice cream maker you buy today is no longer rooted in the tradition of small town manufacturing. As more and more goods are manufactured overseas consumers are being forced to rethink the definition of quality.

Explore with me the fabled history of the White Mountain Ice Cream Freezer Co., some common ice cream freezer complaints, and suggestions to keep your ice cream making experience a happy one.


A Brief History of White Mountain Ice Cream Makers

The Good Old Days 1872-1962

“The White Mountain Freezer Company which manufactures ice cream makers is the largest establishment of its kind in the world. The company began business in Laconia, New Hampshire in 1872. Thomas Sands being the inventor was the proprietor and manager. The enterprise was a success from the start and greatly expanded its business until 1881, when its factory was burned.

Mr. Sands carried on the business until 1888 when a corporate company was formed and he disposed of his entire interest. The company is organized with a paid-up capital of $100,000. Nearly every piece of machinery used in the business – some of it is novel and intricate – was invented for, and patents are owned by White Mountain Freezer.

After complete destruction in the Nashua fire on May 4, 1930 it was moved to Broad Street. In 1963, the company was sold to the Alaska Freezer Company of Winchendon, Massachusetts.”

This is as far as the historical account goes, so I did a little digging to bring the story up to date.

1963 to Present

In 1974, an investor group, headed by William H. Potter, Jr., purchased the company and renamed it White Mountain Freezer, Inc. Mr. Potter bought out his partners in 1981 and remained President until the company was sold to Rival, a division of Sunbeam, sometime in the late 80’s or early 90’s.

Finally, as recently as 3 or 4 years ago, Jarden Corp. (Coleman, Ball, etc.) bought out Rival and began manufacturing White Mountain Freezers in China. Not coincidentally, this is when complaints about the ice cream maker started to surface.