Skip to Content

Why Is My Homemade Ice Cream Not Freezing?

Why Is My Homemade Ice Cream Not Freezing?

Share this post:

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click one of these links and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. In addition, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Getting together with your family during the summer can be a lot of fun, but the summer can be very humid and hot, and it might be tough to stay cool.

Eating delicious frozen treats such as ice cream can help you to cool down, and you can certainly go out and buy ice cream from the grocery store if you want to.

However, it might be much more fun to make your own homemade ice cream. It’s a good way to bond with your kids and the results can be fantastic if you do things right.

Sometimes people run into issues when making it, though. For example, you might find that it isn’t freezing properly.

In this post, we’ll dive into some of the reasons why your homemade ice cream isn’t freezing.

Let’s dive in!

The Bowl Might Be Too Warm

Sometimes the problem is as simple as having an ice cream bowl that is too warm. Your ice cream maker is going to have a bowl or some type of container where the ice cream is sitting.

If the ice cream that you make doesn’t appear to be freezing properly, it could be that the bowl is too hot. Perhaps it has been sitting in the sun and is too warm.

The warmth of the bowl is preventing the ice cream from freezing as it normally would. Ensuring that you have a cold bowl is going to give you better results.

Of course, this isn’t the only thing that can go wrong. Many other issues could cause your ice cream to not freeze as it should.

The Ingredients Are Wrong

Milk Jugs

Using the wrong ingredients might make it impossible for the ice cream to freeze. Often, people make the mistake of substituting ingredients in homemade ice cream recipes.

Doing this is always going to cause the recipe to turn out a little bit different. One of the most common mistakes that people make involves using low-fat milk.

When making ice cream, it’s best to use full-fat milk. Using milk that has less fat content is going to lead to worse results.

Sometimes using a lower-fat milk will keep the ice cream from being able to freeze at all. Other times, it might still be able to freeze, but it’ll do so at a much slower pace than usual.

It’s also important to know that using milk with lower fat content will impact the texture of the ice cream. If you want the best experience, you should follow the recipe exactly.

Did You Add Alcohol to the Ice Cream?

Adding alcohol to the ice cream will cause the ice cream to be incapable of freezing. Some people might be interested in ice cream that contains alcohol, but it won’t allow the ice cream to turn out properly.

When you add alcohol, it’s likely that it won’t be able to freeze completely. Thus, you’ll be left with a cold, but not truly frozen dessert.

Making such a substitution is not advised. You could approach things in a different way and add alcohol to the ice cream after it has been made.

How Long Does Homemade Ice Cream Take to Thicken?

Spoonful Of Ice Cream

Homemade ice cream should thicken within thirty to forty five minutes. Remember that the consistency of it will be much different than the ice cream that you buy at the store.

The homemade variety will be much more similar to soft serve ice cream. If this type of consistency isn’t to your liking, you can try putting it in the freezer for a while.

After two or three hours in the freezer, the soft serve type of ice cream will be thicker. This should make it more enjoyable for some people.

Of course, sometimes something will go wrong and the ice cream won’t thicken at all. If it’s still in a liquid form, this means that things didn’t go right.

The ice cream should thicken after thirty or forty-five minutes. When it doesn’t, it’s an indication that something went wrong.

It could be that the bowl wasn’t chilled properly as mentioned earlier. You might also be dealing with the mixture not getting cold enough to freeze.

Problems with the Ice Cream Maker

Generally, you’re going to use some type of machine to make ice cream at home. Homemade ice cream makers are pretty common and you can buy them at various department stores.

It’s possible that the ice cream maker could be broken. The machine might have problems with not being able to get the ice cream cold enough.

In this situation, you might simply need to buy a new ice cream machine. You could also look into repairing the current machine to get it to work as intended.

There could be several different things wrong. Examine the machine and see if anything is out of sorts so you can determine what must be done to get it working again.

It might be more trouble than it’s worth to try to fix the machine. This likely depends on how expensive the ice cream machine is.

You might even be able to contact the manufacturer to ask about repair options. Figure out what you want to do and then proceed.

Final Thoughts

Getting ice cream to turn out properly when you make it at home won’t usually be too difficult. It could be that you’re encountering issues with the ice cream maker that you own.

When the ice cream isn’t freezing properly, it’ll often be that the machine isn’t getting the ingredients cold enough. It might be tough to fix this depending on what’s wrong.

Other potential problems include the bowl being too warm and using the wrong ingredients. If you use low-fat milk to make ice cream, it makes it a lot harder for the ice cream to freeze.

To get consistently great results, it’s best to use full-fat milk. This won’t be as healthy, but it’s going to allow you to make ice cream that tastes better.

Also, ice cream that’s made using milk with the appropriate fat content will have a better consistency. Keep this in mind when choosing which ingredients to use.

Always remember to follow the homemade ice cream recipe carefully, too. This should prevent you from making little mistakes that will cause the ice cream not to freeze.

Enjoy your homemade ice cream and be sure to share it with friends and family. It’ll certainly make it easier to stay cool during the hottest days of the year.

Share this post:

Dave

Sunday 16th of July 2023

I came here because my ice cream wouldn't firm up

I tried the simplest thing first which was MORE SALT Worked like a charm

If your bowl is too warm, then make it colder. More salt, more ice!

Thank you for the idea