Drink Machines

The commercial frozen drink machines and margarita machines are versatile, allowing you to serve frozen cappuccinos or lattes, granitas, frozen margaritas and daiquiris, frozen lemonade, or slush drinks. Margarita machines are a must for Latin-themed restaurants or even restaurants simply looking to add a tropical flair. Best of all, slushy drinks are popular year-round, making a frozen drink or margarita machine an investment that will bring returns season after season.

Some commercial frozen drink machine utilizes one syrup, while others utilize two syrups simultaneously. A frozen drink machine, often called a slush machine or margarita machine, lets your business offer a number of quality frozen or chilled beverages. Having cold drinks available can increase sales and give customers a refreshing break during the hotter months or sweet treat year-round. Since these machines are available in a number of different types and styles, it's important to know what you want to serve and how much you will need to serve each day before investing in one.

A commercial frozen drink machine is manufactured to fit on countertops, but how much space they ultimately take up depends on the size of the model, as a slush machine with only one hopper will take up less space than one with three hoppers. The compressor type also impacts the space requirement. These machines are generally self-contained and air-cooled, although some manufacturers offer water-cooled models. The commercial frozen drink machine is available with a number of aesthetic variations. Some models are finished in black or stainless steel, or a combination of the two. Although many hoppers are clear, polycarbonate bowls that allow customers to see the product being mixed, machines being utilized in a busy commercial kitchen or other behind-the-scenes area might not benefit from that visual interest. Most slush machines have a graphics display across the top that might be back-lit, drawing customers in and advertising what products you have.

A commercial frozen drink machine is the best way to attract customers in a hot summer day, make a profit & maximize client’s satisfaction with granitas, slushies, smoothies etc. The frozen drink machine comes in a variety of styles, options & colors. No matter what type of drink you want to offer, your drink mix will likely come in the form of a liquid concentrate or granulated powder, both of which need to be mixed thoroughly before being added to the machine's hopper. Some machines are recommended for use with mixes that fall within a certain brix level or ratio, which indicates the percentage of the weight of sugar in the mix. You can consult with your food supplier to understand which options will work with your commercial frozen drink machine.

It's important to consider how easily cleaned or maintained a machine might be. Some are constructed with fewer parts for easier maintenance, while others have parts that can be sanitized in a commercial dishwasher. Many models come with removable drip trays, dispensers that won't drip during use and touchpad displays that guide the programming, cleaning, and maintenance processes.

Ice Maker Machine – Versatile Portables

There are many types of machines that make ice, either commercial (in big bulks) and those for use in residential houses. The ice maker machine Australia that fits the needs of a regular household is a portable ice maker. For some, they are more comfortable using countertop or under-counter machines, also designed for home use.

However, these semi-permanent ice makers (countertop or under-counter models) may need some permanent fixtures to go with them. As it is, they might need some water lines or drains to go with the equipments. The big difference, though, is that the portable model can be brought almost anywhere you want.

Some advantages

The portable ice maker has one practical advantage over the other models in that they can be carried almost anywhere you need them. They can be plugged anywhere (110V outlets) and actually needs only water poured on them to operate.

The only beef probably is that they cannot keep the ice frozen for a longer period like a freezer can. When the ice melts, the machine simply recycles it and turns it again into ice.

Plus, a portable ice maker can only make such an amount of ice. (You need to empty them to make more ice.)

The portables can be easily moved between kitchen recreation room, bar, patio or by the poolside. You can bring them for camping, picnics, boating and other activities outside the home.

More advantages

Between the freezer and the portable ice maker, the ice maker can produce different sizes of ice cubes. It can produce a volume of them in a shorter time than can a freezer.

With equipment such as an ice-maker that can produce them fast, they are a big help in parties and other get-togethers where there are a lot of drinking (sodas and some hard ones).

Mini-bars

People have started using portable ice-makers in their mini-bar area to augment the need of ice during get-togethers and parties. Usually, they keep the equipment somewhere near the freezer since both can work hand in hand.

The freezer with its bulk and size cannot produce ice that fast. It its supply is depleted, the ice maker can deliver. The ice maker however cannot keep the ice frozen that the time necessary to harvest the formed ice.

These can be transferred to the freeze so it won’t melt when the ice maker produces another batch of the ice cubes again.

In smaller places where keeping a freezer (for the ice supply) is out of the question, an ice maker can do the job, mostly through the use of a portable one.

Emergencies

The use of this one is more of a benefit rather than an advantage. In emergency medical situations where the need of ice is critical, the portable ice-maker can help in the first aid situations where ice is medically needed.

It is the same story when the freezer cannot immediately produce the needed amount of ice to treat an emergency case of which ice is one important first aid necessity. An ice maker machine Australia is no just for good time but for emergencies as well. 

Mixing of Syrups

When choosing a Syrup company, you need to choose the right post mix syrups provider for you. Price, service, and reliability are all factors but the biggest thing to consider is Taste. All independent manufacturers use their own recipe and all taste different. You need to find a product and supplier that works for you. Highly concentrated post mix syrups Australia in convenient litre bag in box bag formats totally eliminating the need for bottles behind the bar. Popular flavours usually are available in 10 or 20 litre in the market.

A post-mix beverage dispensing head having a valve body with water and syrup ports leading to outlets, a normally closed valve in each port, a bottom cover mounted to the body with the cover having a generally planar bottom skirt covering the underside of the body and generally vertical and discrete water and syrup outlet ports fluidly connected to the body and a mix chamber upper surface, outlet seals between the cover and the body, and a mixing nozzle secured to the bottom cover. Juice, lemonade and tea can also be dispensed from a post mix syrup system but using CO2 will carbonate these beverages in less than a week. Long term dispensing of juice, lemonade or tea needs to be done with nitrogen and the setup is identical to a CO2 based system.

The soft drink industry is actually made up of two major manufacturing systems that, taken together, bring soft drinks to the market. These two systems fall into distinct categories: flavoring syrup and concentrate manufacturing and soft drink manufacturing. The supply chain is largely dependent on the syrup producer, as this is the driver for most downstream operations. The majority of the bottled soft drinks follow a similar product life cycle, moving from syrup producer, to bottler, to distributor (if used), to merchant, to final consumer.

Most post mix syrups produced are packaged in Bag-in-Box containers. To make certain you always serve only fresh syrup, pay attention to these conditions:

1. Check the date code. Each post mix syrups container is stamped with a date code indicating the “Enjoy By” date. The date code is on a label affixed to the box.
2. Rotate your syrup stock. Always use the oldest syrup first to maintain freshness.
3. Avoid using syrup that is too old. Syrup should be used before “Enjoy By” date.
4. Soak the syrup line connector weekly or when changing BIBs. Soak connectors in chlorine-based sanitizer solution for 1 minute, and reconnect to the correct Bag-in-Box.

Please take note with a sugar based post mix syrups, there is no need to worry about expiration dates. Sugar is a great preservative. Sugar based post mix syrups are good for years. However, Diet post mix syrups have no sugar. The chemicals in the diet syrups will break down over time and will lose sweetness. Diets typically last about 9 months.

Great taste is the reason why a customer buys a good beverage. To make sure you dispense only great-tasting drinks, you should taste test each product daily. Dispense a sample and taste it carefully. It should be completely free of any “off-taste” or unpleasant odors. Keeping your post mix syrups dispensing system clean helps keep it operating properly. A clean, sanitary appearance communicates quality to your customers. Check to see that the post mix syrups Australia are not out-of-date and are being properly rotated. 

Your Profit Depends On It

A complete meal in a fast food chain or food establishment is not complete if there is no soda or any other beverages. That’s why any food business needs a fast and reliable post mix system that can help them to give the customer total satisfaction. If you really want to become different in other restaurants or food shops you need to choose the right post mix dispensing equipment for your business. There are many methods of effectively serving post mix syrup; some uses a post mix dispensing fountain or also known as soda fountain. Well, soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated soft drinks also called as fountain drinks. Typically you can found soda fountain in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores. It combines flavored syrup and carbon dioxide with chilled and purified water to make soft drinks. Today soda syrup is often pumped from a special container called a bag-in-box or BIB. Soda fountain in some market is also called a post mix machine. Any brand of soft drink that is available as post mix syrup may be dispensed by a fountain. Another method that effectively serves post mix syrup is by the use of soda dispensing gun or bar guns. Soda guns or bar guns is a post mix dispenser consists of a hand held device which mixes and pours drinks at the touch of a button. Soda dispensing gun can dispense up to 8 post mix syrups, soda water and water function.

Some businesses uses dispenser towers to dispense post mix syrup. Some popular fast food outlets, cinema and cafes uses dispenser towers because it is more efficient and can clearly advertise the soda products. As promo of some fast food restaurant they put soft drink fountain in their dining area to encourage customer to return to their food establishment. It also comes in different shapes and sizes only the boxes of post mix syrup and the CO2 tank need the most space. Post mix machine pumps can be configured in different ways in order to best utilize the space. They can be mounted sideways to use less horizontal space and can be in a single row or column or multiple row and column. It is up to the owner how they will install it to save spaces for the resto.

Post mix machines needs a good source and quality waterline as soft drinks is approximately one is to five parts of water, meaning one part post mix syrup and five parts of water. Having an adequate, clean, water supply is absolutely essential to a post mix machine. And the post mix machine’s carbonator must have a source of water in order to operate. That’s why convenience store and fast food restaurant always have a cold beverage machine because it is often the most profitable part of the business.

Every business has their own specialty to serve and each of these specialties is nice to have if it served together with a soda or cold beverages. 

How Does Beer System Works

In any beer system, you've got six main components: cooler, keg, coupler, gas, tubing, and faucet which it can get more complex. These six pieces all work together in a delicate harmony to ensure that the beer served to you is properly chilled and carbonated, with an appropriate foamy head.

The basic purpose of the beer pump in a beer system Australia is to move beer from the keg or other container to the faucet. This is an alternative to using gas pressure to move the beer. Instead the pump uses mechanical force to deliver the beer to the faucet. It is common to find beers pumps in beer line systems where more than 35 or 40 psi is needed to create a consistent flow. Often, runs of more than 200 feet or set ups which require a significant vertical lift. If gas pressure is used above and beyond these pressures, it will create problems as the beer begins to absorb the gas and its composition will be altered, affecting the taste and quality. Beer pumps themselves are powered by high-pressure gas or compressed air that does not come into contact with the beer. Most retailers power their beer pumps with CO2; in these cases, the pump exhaust CO2 gas must be vented outside the cooler or building to avoid CO2 build-up and asphyxiation. CO2 can be relatively expensive to use to power beer pumps compared to compressed air, but CO2 is usually already available at any location serving draught beer, so is often simpler to use. If a beer system Australia uses compressed, the air should never contact the draught beer. Additionally, it is best to use a high quality air compressor. These can clean and dry the air to avoid damaging beer pumps. Cheaper, smaller, air compressors often deliver air which still contain small amounts of moisture and oil that can cause damage to the beer pump eventually. If the compressor breaks, the establishment will be unable to serve beer.

This very important kegerator part connects the beer line to the faucet. The shank is a chrome-plated brass tube with external threading. Beer line is nothing more than a piece of dense 3/16-inch inner diameter, food-grade plastic tubing that connects the keg coupler to the rear of the shank. A keg coupler is a vital part of any beer dispenser. It attaches to the flange on the top of a keg and lets the gas in to power the dispensing. Any beer dispenser or kegerator is powered by a set of draft beer equipment parts that must work together for a successful pour.

Technical name for specialized equipment built specifically for dispensing keg beer from a temperature-controlled environment through the use of compressed gas. Direct draw draft beer systems may be housed in a kegerator, walk-in cooler or converted refrigerator.

The beer systems may seem somewhat complicated at first glance. But once you tackle the basics, you’ll see that they’re actually quite easy to understand. From keg pressure settings and standard definitions, to keg dimensions and pouring techniques.

What is a Post Mix System

Post mix ice and beverage dispensers have evolved from small, manually loaded countertop units with as few as four valves to today’s larger capacity multi-valve units to support the increased importance of post mix system beverages in today's restaurants, cafeterias and convenience store operations. A post mix system is a bit more involved. A post mix system is defined by delivering a heavy concentrated beverage base and a diluent for the concentrated syrup to a dispense nozzle, adding one or more of colors, flavors and any additives to the beverage base and diluent to provide a completed carbonated beverage, and delivering this drink into a cup for service to a customer. This type of machine will always house the diluent separately from the concentrated syrup. The concentrate pump works in conjunction with a diluent pump to deliver the concentrate and diluent into a valve for mixing and dispensing of the final product with a higher level of consistency every time.

Soda dispensers can be made available in several different configurations.  The first are the self-serve variety.  These are generally positioned in easy reach of a customer so they can dispense as much product as they require.  Some dispensers are coupled with built-in ice makers.  Other post mix systems have bins that require ice to be transferred to the machine from an outside source.  The second varieties are soda guns. These are operated exclusively by bartenders or servers in the restaurant. These are generally equipped with a push button design that allows the operator to quickly and easily switch between flavors.

A post mix system for dispensing a finished beverage directly from a pliable beverage concentrate having an ice point at or near freezer temperatures, with little or no conditioning. The system preferably uses a one-piece, unitary, disposable package that includes both the concentrate container and a positive displacement metering pump. The disposable package is placed in the dispenser which automatically connects the pump to a pump motor. A mixing nozzle is connected to the metering pump and a water line is connected to the mixing nozzle. Upon pushing a load button, the dispenser automatically feeds compressed air on top of a piston in the concentrate container to force concentrate into the pump. The dispenser automatically reads an indicator on the package to set the pump speed in response to the type of concentrate in the package. The dispenser requires no clean-up or sanitization and allows rapid flavor change.

When it is desired to replace the concentrate container either with a full one or with a different product, the one-piece, integral package including the concentrate container and the metering pump is removed and replaced with a different package. The mixing nozzle which has been attached to the pump can also be removed with the one-piece package. Thus, because all product contact surfaces are disposable, the dispenser requires virtually no cleanup or sanitization, and a rapid flavor change can be made.

A post mix system also uses C02 to supply the carbonated chilled or water but the mixing doesn't occur until the syrup reaches the deliver nozzles the ratio of syrup to water is controlled at the nozzle.

What is an Ice Maker Machine

Ice and beverage dispensers with under counter ice storage, allow safe and easy manual loading at waist height, eliminating the need for a ladder or stool. A cart to transport the ice from the back room ice maker should also be considered to improve employee efficiency and safety. Understanding the different types of ice cubes that commercial ice machines can produce will help you choose the right type for your needs. Certain types of ice cubes melt slower are easier to chew, or have specific shapes to accommodate specific applications.

Ice maker machine can be used on top of dispensers come in a wide range of production capacities - producing from 200 to 1600 lbs. of ice in a 24-hour period. Some manufacturers of beverage dispensers have their own line of cube ice makers that will work with their beverage dispensers. Other ice dispenser manufacturers offer top kits that allow another manufacturer’s ice maker to be mounted on top of the dispenser. The ice made by a top mounted ice maker drops by gravity into the storage area of the dispenser and is then dispensed when the lever or button for ice is pushed.

Top mounting an ice maker on the dispenser is an easy solution, but there are some drawbacks. It is often very difficult to clean the dispenser storage area because the ice maker covers the majority of the dispenser top and there is little access room for cleaning. A second drawback is size. The combination of dispenser and ice maker together can result in a unit with a height of 73" or more. When placed on a standard 36" counter, the unit can tower 9 feet above the floor. This means that the dispensers cannot be used in beverage islands without obstructing the view within the facility, nor will this arrangement fit under 8' soffits, often used for merchandising.

To prolong the life of your restaurant ice machine and increase your customers' satisfaction (considering ice is food), some recommend using a water filter with every ice machine, because it will reduce the build-up of mineral deposits within the ice maker machine. The benefits of using a water filter with your unit cannot be understated, but here a few:

·         Better tasting beverages

·         Higher ice production

·         Lower energy usage, since the ice maker machine can work more efficiently

·         Longer ice machine life

·         Poor quality feed water will void the warranty on most ice maker machine

Before selecting any ice maker machine to automatically fill your beverage dispenser, it is recommended that you review the section on ice types. There are substantial differences in operating costs and efficiencies between ice maker machines that make cube ice and those that make compressed nuggets. These differences have can have a significant impact on the bottom line of the operation.

Ice dispensed into the cup maintains drink carbonation, preserves drink taste and keeps the beverage refreshingly cold during the consumption period. For carbonated sodas the water and syrup in the beverage lines must also be chilled to prevent foaming and maintain drink quality. There are two ways to chill the beverage lines that use ice from the storage area of the dispenser called integral beverage cooling or use a separate mechanical cooling system. There are advantages and disadvantages to each system.