The Tank Room

When a batch of nicely blended base mix is ready to go, it's pumped out of the Blend Tank, into the Pasteurizer and Homogenizer, and finally into one of the pasteurized storage tanks in our Tank Room. Our three basic mixes -- sweet cream mix, yogurt mix (minus the yogurt culture) and chocolate mix -- are stored there according to whatever combination of products and flavors we're scheduled to make on a particular day. The Tank Room houses six tanks, each of which can store a maximum of 5000 gallons of pasteurized mix.

The mix is added and removed from the bottom of each tank by a pipe that is operated by a device called a "programmable controller". The tanks can hold up to five batches of base mix, and as each batch is completed it is then pumped into another tank until that storage unit is filled.

After one tank is completely filled, the mix will sit through a minimum four-hour curing period. This curing is an aging process (similar to the aging of a wine or cheese) that allows the base mix to cool to a temperature of 36 degrees; it also serves to enhance the overall flavor and consistency of the base mix. At this stage of the process, the ingredients and consistency of our base mixes are very similar to those in a milkshake. You could drink our mix like a milkshake if you really wanted to, but it'll taste a lot better if you wait until it's ice cream.

When the base mix has completed the aging process, it's pumped out of the Tank Room and into the main Production Room, where the action really begins.

The first thing we need to do to the mix is add a little ....no, a lot....of FLAVOR. If you haven't already guessed, that happens at The Flavor Vats....