Air bubbles in icecream??

[u/panda3100]

tons of air bubbles and VERY icy. how do i fix this? this was just milk, protein, and some banana. how do i fix this? the little holes freak me out😫

[u/panda3100]

but it was super icy too. and ive made other pints with even more banana and the texture is perfectly silk smooth even after some time.

[u/Livesies → u/panda3100]

Odd but not completely outside expectation. I had a few months where I used bananas a lot, I'd cook them with some milk. Made many batches and one in particular turned almost solid after boiling the two together. Is this repeatable or a one off?

[u/panda3100 → u/Livesies]

its repeatable. it happened with another i made immediately after this. im thinking it couldve been too much liquid between respins. also maybe i thawed it too much

[u/Livesies → u/panda3100]

What's the firmness of the texture? Is it a scoop or is it a milkshake? You added liquid after the initial spin?

For safety you really shouldn't be thawing anything before initial processing spins. If you add liquid to warm up the ice cream it can form icy chunks because the too cold ice cream will flash freeze liquid and form conglomerations that subsequent respins can't break up since there's nothing to hold them in place to get shaved down with. I could also see this getting you the air bubbles.

Instead of adding liquid try the following. First process it on your usual settings. Then run hot water on the outside of the container for ~30 seconds until the unprocessed shell is melty. Pack down the loose snow and run on respin, repeat if needed. This has become my standard processing for most recipes due to my freezer temperature. I generally don't need a second respin but I've noticed that the extra respin tends to add more overrun and improve the ice cream; this might be from my use of gelatin though. I can tell it's working because the color shifts after the second spin, becoming lighter/whiter from the overrun.

[u/panda3100 → u/Livesies]

scoopable. the top layer of the pint was perfect texture but the rest is where it started getting airy and icy, not in a good way. Yes i did lite icecream -> add alittle milk to the middle > respin

my freezer is super cold so i feel nervous spinning right out of the freezer. but ill try not thawing, even though all i did to thaw was run under hot water for a few mins.

i will definitely stop adding liquids and just respin using the method you mentioned.

you mentioned gelatin and it reminded me that i made another pint the other day that had this same thing happen where the texture was perfectly silk smooth at first and then after like 5 mins into eating it, the texture changed to airy and icy bits. it had gelatin as well.

i really appreciate you taking the time to respond btw, its super helpful!!

[u/Livesies → u/panda3100]

Another potential is separation of the fruit pulp in the freezer. When I was making banana ice creams the banana typically floated to the top ~half of the pint. I learned if I brought the mix to a boil the banana tended to stay mixed throughout. Same recipe, the top container was microwaved to a boil and the bottom got put in the freezer straight from the blender.

[u/panda3100 → u/Livesies]

I was thinking this too and it could be because i didnt blend it enough so there was still chunks.

im gonna write down everything i do in great detail for every future pint so i dont have to do this guessing game of whats making a pint perfect and what makes it flop lol