Ice cream making methods and systems

1. An ice cream making system comprising:

a pre-treater including a cooler configured to cool a predetermined volume of liquid ice-cream mix to a temperature above a freezing temperature of the ice-cream mix and a vacuum source that applies and maintains a vacuum to the liquid ice-cream mix, and

freezing means for adding a predetermined volume of compressed nitrogen to the predetermined volume of liquid ice-cream mix and whipping the predetermined volume of compressed nitrogen into the predetermined volume of liquid ice-cream mix to solidify the ice-cream mix and form solid ice cream,

wherein the freezing means includes a nitrogen freezer that includes a nitrogen source, a volumetric controller configured to meter compressed nitrogen from the nitrogen source, and a mixer configured to whip the predetermined volume of compressed nitrogen into the predetermined volume of liquid ice-cream mix,

wherein the cooler is configured to cool the liquid ice-cream mix to a temperature between 27 degrees and 34 degrees Fahrenheit prior to the liquid ice-cream mix reaching the freezing means and the predetermined volume of compressed nitrogen has a temperature of between −365 degrees Fahrenheit and −300 degrees Fahrenheit, and

wherein the solid ice cream has an overrun based on the predetermined volumes of compressed nitrogen and ice-cream mix between 20 percent and 130 percent.

2. The ice cream making system of claim 1 , wherein the mixer includes an aerator and wherein the mixer, with the aerator, whips the predetermined volume of compressed nitrogen into the predetermined volume of liquid ice-cream mix such that the solid ice cream has the overrun based on the predetermined volumes of compressed nitrogen and ice-cream mix of between 20 percent and 130 percent.

3. The ice cream making system of claim 1 , further comprising a dispenser configured to discharge the solid ice cream out of the ice cream making system.

4. The ice cream making system of claim 1 , wherein the solid ice cream has a temperature of 26 degrees Fahrenheit.

5. The ice cream making system of claim 1 , wherein the volume of the solid ice cream is between 50 percent and 100 percent greater than the predetermined volume of liquid ice-cream mix.

6. The ice cream making system of claim 1 , wherein the volume of the solid ice cream is between 20 percent and 80 percent greater than the predetermined volume of liquid ice-cream mix.

7. The ice cream making system of claim 6 , wherein the volume of the solid ice cream is between 20 percent and 50 percent greater than the predetermined volume of liquid ice-cream mix.

8. The ice cream making system of claim 1 , wherein the freezing means does not include a heat exchanger such that the predetermined volume of compressed nitrogen is whipped into the predetermined volume of liquid ice-cream mix by the freezing means to solidify the ice-cream mix and form solid ice cream without the use of a heat-exchanger.

9. The ice cream making system of claim 8 , wherein the mixer includes an aerator and wherein the mixer, with the aerator, whips the predetermined volume of compressed nitrogen into the predetermined volume of liquid ice-cream mix such that the solid ice cream has a volume that is at least 20 percent greater than the predetermined volume of the liquid ice-cream mix.

10. An ice cream making system comprising

a pre-treater configured to cool a liquid ice-cream mix to a temperature between 27 degrees and 34 degrees Fahrenheit,

a nitrogen freezer configured to add a predetermined volume of compressed nitrogen to a predetermined volume of the liquid ice-cream mix to solidify the ice-cream mix without a heat exchanger to form solid ice cream, wherein the predetermined volume of the compressed nitrogen added to the predetermined volume of the liquid ice-cream mix has a temperature of between −365 degrees Fahrenheit and −300 degrees Fahrenheit, and

a dispenser configured to discharge the ice cream out of the ice cream making system,

wherein the nitrogen freezer includes a mixer having an aerator, and the mixer, with the aerator, whip the predetermined volume of compressed nitrogen into the predetermined volume of the liquid ice-cream mix such that the solid ice cream has a desired volume that is greater than the predetermined volume of the liquid ice-cream mix.

11. The ice cream making system of claim 10 , wherein the pre-treater further includes a vacuum source that applies and maintains a vacuum to the liquid ice-cream mix.

12. The ice cream making system of claim 10 , wherein a volume of the ice cream is between 20 percent and 130 percent greater than the predetermined volume of liquid ice-cream mix.

13. A method of making ice-cream, the method comprising providing a liquid ice-cream mix,

pretreating the liquid ice-cream mix to cool the liquid ice-cream mix to a temperature between 27 degrees and 34 degrees Fahrenheit,

adding a predetermined volume of compressed nitrogen to a predetermined volume of the liquid ice-cream mix, wherein the predetermined volume of the compressed nitrogen has a temperature of between −365 degrees Fahrenheit and −300 degrees Fahrenheit, and

mixing the predetermined volume of compressed nitrogen into the predetermined volume of liquid ice-cream mix to freeze the predetermined volume of liquid ice-cream without a heat exchanger and form solid ice cream,

wherein mixing includes whipping the predetermined volume of compressed nitrogen into the predetermined volume of liquid ice-cream mix using an aerator to cause the solid ice cream to have a volume that is at least 20 percent greater than the predetermined volume of the liquid ice-cream mix.

14. The method of claim 13 , further including applying and maintaining a vacuum to the liquid ice-cream mix.