Hamilton Beach Electric Automatic Ice Cream Maker & Frozen Yogurt Machine, Makes Custard, Sorbet, Gelato and Sherbet, 4 Quart, White (68330N)

Would like to let you people know, listen to the five star reviews, they are advising you right............. AMAZON will not post my reviews they are "VISUALLY DISTRACTING" 3-16-13: This item deserves a little more attention, than I previously gave it. AMAZON and I were having a little misunderstanding, about writing product reviews. That has been perfected now. Here goes, I received this product two days ago. I have made two batches of ice cream since then. Both batches turned out beyond supberb. People talk about the noise, if it made any less noise you couldn't hear it kick off, if you were in the next room. Some people could have got loud one. I am speaking of the one that I purchased. One thing that really amazed me was, one batch of ice cream took about 45 minutes. I checked the moter, it was cool to the touch. The moter did not labor, and remained cool throughout the process. Because of all of the good 5 star reviews, was a hugh deciding factor that, I purchased this mechine. Everything the 4 and 5 stars reviewers were saying was factual. Listen to them, they have been owning one of these for awhile, they know. I believed them, and now I highly recommend this product. Look at the price, that's nothing, for a product that performs like this one. By the way, AMAZON delivered the ice cream maker to my door, almost before I ordered it. Fast huh?........................ 3-19-13 Just wanted to add a little more good-time info on this ice cream maker. Still making more ice cream, got the flavors, you name it. This machine is putting out the cream I'll tell you. These people, talking about the noise. I DON'T UNDERSTAND. I am not disputing anyone. However, hey, it doesn't make that kind of noise, you have to hear it enough, to hear it cut off, when the ice cream is made. I just can't make people understand, THE PRICE, THE FINE GOOD ICE CREAM, NO MESS, EASY, FUN, NOT COSTLY TO MAKE ICE CREAM ALL DAY. Better than "store bought". At first "soft serve", a few hours in the freezer, super ice cream. I just can't say any more better things about this machine. AMAZON will get it there, before you order it....... 3-27-13 I am just trying to help, some reviewers, in my opinion talk out of the realm of common sense. One reviewer stated to go to Lowes and buy a 40 pound bag of rock salt that, is used to melt the ice on the sidewalks, roads streets etc. People, please don't do this. Morton salt, that is made for ice cream making. You can buy a 4 pound box of this salt at Wal-Mart for a $1.41. Don't buy industrial salt that is used for roadways, steps or sidewalks. This type salt has chemicals that is used for that purpose. Ice cream salt is made for making ice cream, not thawing out roadways. One box of Morton Ice Cream Salt that is for ice cream making.... 2-17-14 I made ice cream 5 days ago, this machine is still making perfect ice cream as the first time almost 1 year ago. I have had NO problems with this ice cream maker, since the day that I received it. I still highly recommend this product, for the price and service you will be pleased.....

Why did you pick this product vs others?: I bought a 'used' version of this ice cream maker, never used one before, and got it for my husband as a gift. We were very happily surprised at how well it worked and how easy it was to make a batch. We have used recipes from the included booklet, the powered kits and recipes we found online and all have worked out really well. The ice cream maker is a bit loud, and snapping the top in place is a bit tough, but overall, it's a great ice cream maker and well worth the price, even if you only use it a few times a year. Easy to take apart and clean. Stores well in the box. The ice cream and frozen yogurt turned out amazing.

I usually don't run to the computer after the first time I use a product and review it... because I feel that it requires at least a month of use to really get a good feel for something. However, I am extremely impressed by this ice cream maker! I had gotten another one last year at the big W on a whim and never used it because the directions were so bad that following them never resulted in ice cream... and I dislike Rival's oval ice bucket design. So I ordered this one as it was about the same price as I paid for my (smaller) Rival (and when I thought that the Rival wasn't working... it was. Just had a hiccup); and the round ice bucket appealed to me as well as the size. It was so much easier to use. Getting the ice and salt in was a snap. It turned itself off when it was done... and it WAS done. It was fast compared to my other. The directions were accurate too, which is a huge plus (3 cups of rock salt... perfect ratio. I didn't have to guess). Plus, I know everyone keeps saying how cheap the materials are... but TRUST me, they're not. My Rival is way more cheaply made. The dasher (paddle) has a metal shaft, not plastic, the canister the ingredients go in... it's not flimsy... it's the same thickness as any other. The dasher is a nice thick quality plastic, not flimsy. It's very well made. The bucket seems nice and sturdy too. It turned out the perfect batch of ice cream without me having to fuss over it like I do with my other one. If you're having trouble getting ice cream (out of any ice cream maker) a hint that really helped me was to make sure you always have enough rock salt, don't skimp on it; and make sure that you let the ice melt. Don't pour out the water, the water is important. The salt water (saline) helps the heat transfer out of the milk/cream/custard and freeze it. It's the water, not the ice, that makes ice cream. I would totally recommend this one to anyone looking to buy an ice cream maker. It was so easy to use. Hopefully it keeps up the good work and doesn't die on me.... but I think I'd probably buy another if it did. Oh and yes, it is noisy. But you'd be hard pressed to find one that isn't. There's no insulation for the motor.... I can't imagine how heavy and huge it would be if they insulated the motor. It wouldn't be practical. But I will take the noise (I tune it out) to have home made ice cream.

I wanted an Ice cream make to see if making it was more economical than buying it from the store. The Hamilton Beach 689330R works. If your a person who wants to create your own flavors this Ice cream machine will make soft ice cream in about about 40 minutes after storing it in a freezer hard ice cream in about 2 hours. Cost this ice cream maker out the door for the price is outstanding. BUT!! This is what you need to make ice cream(I made the strawberry Cheese cake) 2 cups of heavy whipped cream $2.05. 5 to 7 lbs of Ice store bought $2.00 pre-made in the freezer $0. rock salt I bought bulk at Lowes $4.00 street salt but this will last you so 5 cents. 2 cans of condensed milk $1.25 2 Tlbs of vanilla extract every chef should have this ..$0. 2 cups of strawberrys $2.05. 1 stick of cream cheese $1.00 Understand that even with these ingredients used they will not fill the canister up to the line. So about $2.00 extra for a milk heavy whipped cream mixture to get the biggest amount of ice cream. The total amount spent for 2 gallons of ice cream using the smallest amounts possible total $6.40 cents for your personal home-made ice cream...so $3.20 a gallon. Remember no charge for the ice, 5 cent for the salt, no charge for the vanilla. Pros. Your making your own personal gallon of ice cream for $3.20. If your doing this with your children it's an additional plus. Easy set up and operation the ice cream maker stops automatically when ice cream is made. There are recipes in the manual that work. Cons. Lots of work. You have to premix everything. Condensation build up on the outside and you have to put it in a sink or someplace with drainage.(Electricity and drainage bad combination). I do believe this unit to be water safe. I hope. In the directions the manual says put a towel or newspaper over the unit for best results. On top of the unit is the fan placing a towel or newspaper or the unit would defeat the purpose of the fan and probably blow the motor. Ingredients cost money. I buy in bulk cutting down my cost but I find making ice cream on this machine Expensive. So If you want to make your own Ice cream no other unit out there will probably do it for a cheaper price. This Hamilton works. If you have children this could be a good project for them to create something and have fun. Ice cream is cold so is my opinion. If your buying this because you like ice cream and want to save money..Don't do it. in general Ice cream through my experience is expensive to make. Your better off saving your coupons, waiting for it to go on sale and buying Ice Cream at the supermarket for $2.50. I gave this 4 out of 5 stars because this unit works . Amazon offers a killer price on it. The Hamilton Beach 68330R can be great making ice cream with children. P.S One other thing I used strawberry's could someone tell me were they went after mixing?

Works great, have used it to make two different ice creams in the book, raspberry cream and dark chocolate. You will need lots of ice and rock salt.

1st, a great value. If you get cream at a bulk store, 6 bucks for a 50 pound sack of rock salt, ice from your freezer, and a few pennies for the other ingredients (sugar and vanilla), you're looking at a gallon of high quality ice cream for 5 bucks or less. Figure you're saving 5-7 bucks a use. That means this unit pays for itself if you use if 6 times, maybe 10-20 times if you're spending a lot on added ingredients. 2nd. Simple to use. Really well designed. Can't for the life of me understand people sticking plastic orange juice container parts to "fix" it. If it doesn't work, bring it back! Otherwise, top only goes on one way, and there's a locking feature that means that the unit must be properly assembled to fit correctly. 3rd. For people saying "it uses a lot of ice, and I had to run to the store . . . " my lord people, are we that helpless? You own a freezer, right? Make your own ice. All it takes is just a bit of planning. Just a bit people, not invading-Soviet Russia level planning. If you have an auto ice maker on your freezer, just empty it into a very large zip lock 2 or 3 times and you're good to go. 4th. The unit stops spinning when the ice cream reaches a given viscosity. I've made several batches of several different types and the only time the ice cream was "runny" was when I didn't break up the cookies and they clogged the mixer holes and caused the unit to stop prematurely - my fault. The other batches all came out about the same - like a very thick yogurt consistency. Into the freezer, and a day later it's getting there and 2 days later it's the same consistency as store bought. If you're getting runny ice cream, you're doing something wrong. BTW - if you use more crushed ice and/or salt, the mixture gets colder quicker, and you'll get more-crystally ice cream. If you use regular ice and/or less salt, the mixing takes longer and you get a creamier texture - adjust to desired consistency! 5th. As for using Ben and Jerry's recipes, be aware that this can affect the mixer. Maybe BandJ's recipes require a higher torque motor. We have made several types of ice cream from the instructions that came with the mixer, and they all work great. If you load the ice cream with pretzels and what not, this might not be a powerful enough mixer. Great unit. Highly recommended. EDIT - It's now late July and I've used this mixer one or two times a week since we bought it in March, which means we've done about 30 batches (lots of kids and friends and such). Still on the same 8 dollar bag of rock salt. Have made a dozen or so of the recipes that came with the book. Love it, recommend it even more than I did a few months ago. 2nd Update - It's now November, 2012, and the mixer motor is still going strong. Alas! The plastic bucket has a crack in it because a very zealous ice cream making person pounded on it to try to get some sticking salt/rock out after a run (argghh!). The new unit has just arrived. No issue whatsoever with the unit - it made a fantastic batch of vanilla with chocolate chips and walnuts right before its bucket was injured. I suppose I could have attempted to seal the crack, but at this price, I just decided to get a new one and use the old motor as a back up. Regarding some of the negative comments, it's very clear that some folks have unrealistic expectations from this machine. "It's made out of plastic, so it's cheap." The space station has a lot of plastic on it, as do Mercedes cars. "It's too big." Really? The volume of ice cream produced was not concealed! "It never froze the mixture." You're either not using the enough salt rock and ice, or you're putting warm ingredients in - everything must be very cold prior to putting them into the mixer (cream, milk and egg mixture, and so on). "The paddle wasn't stirring because it has to be firmly pushed into the motor." True. The paddle does not stir using magic - it must be affixed to the motor. "Ice cream was not completely frozen." Correct - it's a slurry to somewhat solid when it's done. Mix a bit by hand, then put in freezer until solid! "It doesn't make Ben and Jerry's flavors." Too much stuff in the mix will hinder the mixer - go buy Ben and Jerry's. This machine works well, but it's not an industrial ice-cream maker, nor is it intended to be. Used properly, it will provide you with gallons of home made ice cream with the ingredients you choose and without chemical preservatives! Great deal.

We use this for one thing only. To make ice cream. I have seen recipes in the book that came with this and recipes online for this machine for sherbet etc. However, I can not comment on that. This is a traditional ice cream machine. It is extremely easy to use. You can put the ingredients in the tub, toss in the ice and salt around the tub, plug in the machine and let it go. With five family members and neighbor kids around, we needed a big tub and this is about the biggest you can buy for the money. It makes some great ice cream. What we have found is that you can not overload the ice cream machine with a lot of extras, that is, lots of nuts, fruits, and pieces of candies. If you put too much in there it will not work very well. We have also found out that it helps if you can use cold ingredients and a frozen tub. This is our second machine like this. One of the things we noticed with our last one was that it got louder over time. I haven't noticed this one being particularly loud. That is the motor is not loud. We find this to be somewhat loud with the ice moving around in the tub. Our solution was to put it in the utility room away from our kitchen and living room. The machine will stop when the ice cream is just about as thick as you can get it, however, it will be soft enough to stir in extras. Then you can put it in the freezer to make it harder if you want. Mostly, we just eat it at that time and love it. One other hint is that you need to find a bowl with a lid to put the extra ice cream in. We have found that if we put seran wrap right on the ice cream and then put the lid on the bowl, it lasts longer that way. Just in case you don't eat it all right away. Enjoy

DO NOT BUY!!! Amazon needs to give the ability to rate something zero stars. As an engineer, I am perhaps more critical of bad design that some, but this is one of the worst designed and engineered products I have ever seen. The stem (square shaft in picture) on the dasher (paddle inside the ice cream canister that holds still while the canister turns around it) is aluminum and too short. If it was longer (and could be by 3/8" of an inch), there would be more engagement so it probably wouldn't destroy the receiver cup quite so quickly. The stamped square receiver is also aluminum (small cup in picture). After ONE use the end of the stem is rounded off, the aluminum cup is rounded out and aluminum shavings was in the ice cream. One use. And in that use, it didn't work properly because the ice cream was not properly churned. Little to no air got blended in, which is essential to proper ice cream texture. The motor appears very powerful, the housing durable, but for another dollar in manufacturing costs this could possibly be a good product. If the dasher stem and the cup were made of steel, this would probably work fine. But then the cup would have to be machined, not stamped and that costs pennies. As it is, this is a piece of junk and needs to be avoided or you are throwing away your money and probably won't get one batch of ice cream. I happen to have a dasher from a previous ice cream maker that fits perfectly (I think it was the Rival version, so beware of that one as well). That dasher stem is steel, so I'm going to make a steel cup to make this whole thing usable, so unless you have your own lathe and milling machine and a spare dasher with a steel shaft, stay away, far away.