Residential "slush" machine?

[Jack]

Below is the link to plans for what appears to be the greatest residential slush maker ever.

It is basically a 5 gallon drink dispenser (Like you see on football sidelines, orange gatorade things) with a (new) garbage disposal mounted underneath, add a little PVC plumbing and you have one whopper of a slush maker. Just add the ice, water & drink mix and turn it on. The disposal grinds ice. The neat part is that you can put a recirculation pipe into the system so the ground slush gets recirculated, so you will get a nice, smooth consistancy.

I have never built one myself, but it looks like it would work!

[John Gilmer]

If you just want to grind ice for an "snow cone" you can get a gadget from Wally World for about $20. They have a more expensive one for a little more and the main difference is that the cheaper one says you have you use a special mold for the ice. I found in practice that you don't need the special round ice block but can get away with ice from the ice maker.

The "Slurpee" machine has a metal cylinder that is kept well below freezing temperature. A rotaing set of knives keeps scraping off the ice as it forms. I have never seen a "home version" of these machines. You might be able to get a used one someplace.

[Noozer]

Just wondering.. the wife and I love Slurpee's, but an ice shaver just doesn't cut it at home.

Is there a residential version of these slush machines out there?

[Doug Kanter]

A top quality blender works nicely.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Can be done in a ice cram machine with some car not to over freeze. You can make them in a blender with crushed or small cube ice.

[Doug Kanter]

Fill blender halfway with frozen strawberries. Add orange juice/grapefruit juice/cranberry juice, just enough to cover berries. Blend till smooth. Add banana if the result is not sweet enough. It's thick enough to eat with a spoon and freeze the back of your head. :)

[Matt]

[Doug Kanter]

I love it!!!!!

[Richard J Kinch]

And use quality clear ice, not the cloudy tap-water-in-freezer stuff.

[Richard J Kinch]

Being largely demineralized by the freezing process gives it a mordant quality that interacts differently with the beverage flavoring, amplifying it. Hard to describe. Also no off flavors from sublimating in the freezer.

[Doug Kanter]

I know clear ice looks better in clear cocktails, but how does the normal stuff affect a slushy?

[John Hines]

No, but find a place with commercial equipment, and get yourself a bar type blender. You should find mixes, and everything you need to make bar quality drinks. Get a big plastic top for it, rather than the typical small metal container used at the bar.

You can get fancy glasses, rimmers to apply either salt or sugar.

Margaritas and daiquiris are slushies for grownups.

[meirman]

In alt.home.repair on Fri, 05 Aug 2005 09:20:54 GMT "Noozer" posted:

I think I saw one on Jay Leno's show within the last 3 weeks.

OTOH, I think he was ridiculing it.

Meirman

-- If emailing, please let me know whether or not you are posting the same letter. Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

All you need is a friend that drinks Frozen Margarita and get the way she or he makes them and make the drink and just leave Rita out and you got a Slush or Slurpee thing. You need to buy a good blender.

Now I have worked on some slurpee machines at Dairy Queen and you can get you a good small machine for about $1,800.00 .

TURTLE

[Doug Kanter]

I can see the sublimating issue. But, demineralized? I'm only up to one cup of coffee so far, but I don't see how freezing water removes minerals.

[Richard J Kinch]

Cascading water over a freezing plate builds up a slab that crystalizes the water to the exclusion of solutes, which then have to be flushed. It is discussed here:

This is why natural ice building up in running water (like a creek) is so clear and pure.

This principle can also concentrate dissolved things like alcohol or sugar.

[J Kelly]

The secret to the slushes (beside the machine) is the amount of sugar disolved into the water (it was at least 10 lbs of sugar in 5 gallons of water, may have been more.. It has been almost 20 years since I worked in a place that made slushees.). There was also something called "slush base" added to the mix. No clue what is is.

[Doug Kanter]

Fattening! You can make a perfectly good drink like that with 3 cups of frozen strawberries, 2 cups of OJ and a banana.

[J Kelly]

That may have just as much sugar. An equal sized serving of OJ has close to as much sugar as Coke, if not more. At least it would have some vitamins and minerals in it though, unlike the empty calories in the Coke. Sounds mighty good too!

[Doug Kanter]

Based on what I see at the local 7-11, there is a certain category of people who think refined sugar is a necessity of life. They usually arrive in full-size conversion vans, which is one of the few vehicles they can fit into since Cadillac discontinued the 1974 Fleetwood.