Whynter ICM-201SB Upright Automatic Ice Cream Maker 2 Quart Capacity Built-in Compressor, no pre-Freezing, LCD Digital Display,

Fantastic-why didn’t I start making homemade before now?I’ve had mine for a couple of weeks too, and I think it’s fantastic. A couple of things— I know it shows in the manual that the mixture should not go above these things on each side of the churner, BUT I found it better be a half inch BELOW that. It still gets on the underside of the plastic cover as it churns, but then at least it keeps the mix a bit lower and stops any chance of overflowing the bowl. I actually think it wouldn’t matter anyway as the bowl seems to sit in a pretty tightly gasketed ring, so maybe I’m being overly cautious.Either way, I’m still quite happy to get 2 Qts (4 pints) of really good ice cream instead of the 2.5 Qts it claims to make.To get the most actual ice cream out of it, add any mix-ins (choco chips, nuts etc) into it AFTER it has finished freeze churning. When it’s done churning, it is soft serve consistency… so I turn it out into a big bowl, THEN I mix in the mix ins (gently so as not to incorporate a lot of ice crystal forming air into it). Then I pack it in pint containers tightly, (using the handy plastic flat spatula thing that came with the machine), cover with a circle of parchment paper against the top of the ice cream, and put them all away in the freezer at least overnight.— If your ingredients are cold (should not be frozen) when they go into the churn bowl, it can take substantially less time than the 60 minute timer is set to default for. If you come back in 60 minutes and the machine is not still churning, it has probably stopped churning and already gone into ‘just chill’ mode. This will make it more difficult to get the churn bowl out.That plastic spatula thing that comes with the machine is handy here. First try to hold the handle on both sides of the bowl close to the bowl’s top (instead of at the top of the handle) at both of the handle’s hinges. Try to pull straight up wiggling a tiny bit. If your churning stopped minutes before and it went into keep cold mode, that bowl will be really tightly held to the frozen sides of the machine. Take the flat spatula thing and (GENTLY) put it between the very top of the bowl and the side of the machine it’s against (BUT ONLY about 1/4 inch down!!) and move it back and forth. It will sort of break a vacuum hold. Do it 4 or 5 more times in different places around the bowl and then try again to pull it up. Just be careful not to jam that thing down too far or back and forth to hard. This has always worked for me with no apparent damage to anything.Most of my ice cream recipes include 2 TBS of some kind of liqueur (raspberry, hazelnut, coffee, cherry etc) which will help it from getting so rock hard. It shouldn’t be added until the last few minutes of churning, as it can affect the freezing too early) OR after churning and after it’s gone into another bowl to add mix ins to, before packing (my preferred method).Commercial ice cream has up to 25 percent more air whipped into it- more money for the manufacturers for less actual product- which makes it more ‘fluffy’ and also less hard in storage. You can leave the liqueur out of course- either way your homemade will be more dense (more flavorful if you ask me). As to the hardness- 2 things can help- keep it in a freezer that’s part of your fridge as opposed to an upright or chest type freezer. Or…. don’t worry about any of it, and just leave the pint out on the kitchen counter to soften a tad, for 10 minutes, before you dig in. OR dig it out when rock hard, put in a bowl and microwave for 10 seconds or so. You really can’t go too wrong, right?The very few recipes that come with the machine (in the manual) are pretty useless to me (for the egg reason). I went on their web site but couldn’t even find any there.I got 5 books from Amazon for ice cream recipes (and sorbets, sherbets, etc). Since I make egg free ice creams only (since ‘custard-style’ recipes are WAY TOO MUCH work with the cooking and tempering the eggs with the dairy), I have found only one book that has more great egg free (also known as ‘Philadelphia style’) recipes. That was the ‘Perfect Scoop’ by David Lebovitz. Very nice book, great recipes, great photos.A favorite recent recipe I made was Peach, Vanilla, Pecan ice cream-1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk; 1 pint (16 oz) of half and half; 3 cups of uncooked peach puree made from unpeeled (but washed), pitted & chopped peaches pureed in a bowl using an immersion blender; 1 TBS vanilla; 2 TBS raspberry liqueur (added along with the nuts AFTER it came out of the churning bowl into another bowl before packing); 1 cup chopped pecans. I’m sorry to say I don’t remember how much this made (ounce wise), or whether I might have also added al cup of whole milk to it also. But the combo of sweetened condensed milk, half and half and whole milk is a great EASY way to get ice cream fast.For chocolate= instead of the peaches- add 4-5 TBS dutch process (dark, european-style) cocoa and 1/4 cup of hersheys syrup, with 2 teaspoons of vanilla, to the dairy combo. Instead of nuts, add in (after freezing & churning and turning out into another bowl) 1/2 to a cup of mini chocolate chips and instead of raspberry liqueur add 2 TBS of Kalua (coffee liqueur) either a few minutes at the end of churning, or with the chips.Don’t be afraid to TASTE the mix before you freeze/churn it!! There are no eggs so it’s safe to taste- it can then be most to your liking (less vanilla etc).I must say this taller machine fits much better in my kitchen than the wider would. It is quite heavy (as all compressor machines are), so it’s not something you want to put on a lower shelf to pull up to the counter to use. But all summer long, this sucker will be sitting on my counter and will be keeping me in ice cream heaven. It appears to be well made, quiet enough when in use, easy to clean, easy to use and I only need to make 16 batches of 4 pints each to pay for itself (our favorite was 5$ a pint before).I think this machine will have no trouble managing that (certainly better than my husband and I can manage eating it all- so it’s been a great summer gift to friends !!)

No more store bought ice creamI have had this machine for less than 2 weeks and have made 6 batches. I am still learning and tweaking a bit. The best advice I read was using the vitamin blender to heat up all the ingredients (add vanilla, add ins or alcohol after blending) which worked for custard style but the Philadelphia was too thick and my blender struggled. So far our favorite is chocolate ice cream and adding chopped marsinchino cherries and the juice in it after it is done churning.

Amazing Ice Cream Maker – Built-in Compressor Makes The Difference – WORTH IT!We got this ice cream maker at the start of COVID so it’s been a couple of years and we love it.We have probably made a few dozen pints of ice cream in it over that timeframe and it still works wonderfully. The process of making ice cream is super easy and the buttons and icons are intuitive.It makes amazing ice cream, is easy to clean and very consistent when it comes to churning out high-quality, well-textured frozen treats (sorbet, yogurt and ice cream)Here are some of the review complaints addressed from my perspective:1. Complaints about the motor wearing outWe always store it upright and properly when not in use. Additionally, we clean it thoroughly after each use. But maybe MOST IMPORTANTLY, we almost never let it run until it stops. I start it and check in on the ice cream every 5 – 10 minutes. When it gets to a point where the motor even starts to slow down, we remove the ice cream, add the mix-ins and put it in the freezer as instructed. I believe some of the motor issues are from people who either don’t store it properly which causes the gear grease to become displaced, or run it for the full 60 minutes every time and it eventually locks up which stresses the motor.2. Complaints about ice cream not being “ready to eat” when the cycle finishes.Well, duh. It’s pretty damn close and very well churned when you remove it, however, it can require some additional time in the freezer depending on the type of ice cream. Not a big deal. It’s not like we are gluttonous slobs that need to eat it right out of the container the minute the machine is done. Freezing it for an hour or two afterward is fine. If you’re okay with soft serve, you can eat it right after the cycle as well.3. Doesn’t handle mix-ins well.Duh x 2. Any reasonable person knows you fold in the extra ingredients after the cream base is done. This has not been an issue for us at all.We looked at and even tried a few different ice cream makers and this one is the winner by a mile!

Amazing machine, *IF* you get a good oneFirst unit I received was bad, the fan was seized up, causing the temp to stay warm. We set a fan behind it and it started chilling. After reading lots of review comments, we opened it up and found that the fan would not turn. Rather than deal with drawn out support and no resolution, according to multiple stories, I returned the first one and reordered. That caused me to lose the coupon I had applied to the first purchase, but it was very easy. The new unit worked perfectly, and makes amazing ice cream and frozen yogurt (all I have tried so far). I had never messed with home made ice cream before, and this makes it so easy, and the results are so good, I am going to have a great time playing with this! The recipe booklet that comes with it is great, with some really interesting ideas (Borscht ice cream???), and I have bought a few other books.

Love this, perfect results every timeThis is my first compressor ice cream maker — I have always used the hand crank or freeze the container versions. I cannot understand why I waited so long to get this! Yes, it is costly, but it has earned it’s keep in just a month.The machine is quite intuitive. It comes with clear directions that my 10 year old was able to follow and make her first batch without my help (nor evidently . . . my permission . . . but I digress)This machine is quiet. Seriously — the first time I heard it I checked to make sure it was really working. Such a change from the old frozen dish version I used to have!! It does have a large footprint, but it’s smaller than my breadmaker because it is tall vs long. It fits on my shelf with no worries but if you have tight shelves you should measure. It is heavy so lifting it to the counter is a pain, but worth it.This machine is a workhorse — there have been days we made four batches of ice cream, each following the last, with no issues. The icecream is consistent — for example, one day we made strawberry, cherry, cheesecake and eggnog versions, and each batch was creamy and mostly solid despite having different recipes and ingredients. It has the consistency of firm soft serve and if you want it harder you can put it in your freezer, like we did.I do wish the container was larger, it would be great to make bigger batches of ice cream.The first time I used it I was surprised that the recipe only filled half the container, and was tempted to add more to make more . . . the instruction manual showed the mixture to the top of the paddles and mine was about half an inch below. I was glad I didn’t. The icecream gets bigger with the addition of air and had it been more full it would have ran all over. Recipes that are pre-beat (like our cheesecake icecream) and don’t rise can be fuller, but the ones that the machine is doing the majority of the work need the space.Lastly, this is super easy to clean. Just hand it to your 10 year old and tell her it needs cleaned before we can make another batch. A little soapy water is all it needs.Just love love love this ice cream maker. Any time you’re forking out this much money for a machine you’re bound to be nervous, but it’s a complete win for us!