If you’re working at scale—whether you’re running a gelato shop, managing a small food business, or launching a dessert startup—understanding how to properly formulate ice cream and sorbet recipes for 100L batches is key. It’s not as simple as multiplying small-batch recipes. When you scale up, things change. Texture, flavor balance, stabilizer effectiveness, even machine behavior—all of it needs to be fine-tuned for high-volume production.
This guide gives you a practical foundation for creating and customizing large-scale ice cream and sorbet recipes. We’re skipping the generic recipes and instead focusing on structure, formulation principles, real-world tips, and FAQs that actually help.
Understanding the Basics of Scaling Ice Cream and Sorbet
Why Scaling Isn’t Just Math
Scaling a recipe to 100 liters isn’t just multiplying your 1-liter recipe by 100. At this volume, ingredients like emulsifiers, stabilizers, and sugars behave differently. Even air incorporation (overrun) becomes more complex. You have to account for:
- Heat transfer during pasteurization
- Batch freezer efficiency
- Ingredient solubility and distribution
- Stabilizer/emulsifier thresholds (too much can ruin mouthfeel)
Let’s break it down by type:
Key Components of a 100L Ice Cream Base
A typical full-fat ice cream base contains:
| Ingredient | Approx. Percentage |
| Milk | 55–65% |
| Cream | 10–20% |
| Sugar (total) | 14–18% |
| Stabilizers/Emulsifiers | 0.3–0.5% |
| Milk Solids (Non-fat) | 8–11% |
| Air (overrun) | 30–100% (variable) |
When you’re making 100L of finished ice cream, this means you’ll be working with around:
- 55–65L of whole milk
- 10–20L of cream
- 14–18kg of sugar
- 300–500g of stabilizer blend
- 8–11kg of MSNF (milk powders or condensed milk)
You’ll need to pasteurize this mix, homogenize if possible, age it for 4–12 hours, and freeze it with a commercial batch freezer.
What About Sorbet?
Sorbet is simpler—no dairy, just water, sugar, fruit puree, and stabilizers.
| Ingredient | Approx. Percentage |
| Water | 50–60% |
| Fruit Puree | 20–40% |
| Sugar (total) | 20–30% |
| Stabilizers | 0.2–0.4% |
| Acidity/Flavor Adjusters | To taste |
A 100L sorbet batch might contain:
- 50–60L of filtered water
- 20–40kg of fruit puree (depending on flavor and brix)
- 20–30kg of sugar mix (sucrose, dextrose, sometimes glucose syrup)
- 200–400g of stabilizers (locust bean gum, guar, etc.)
Note: The sugar content in sorbet isn’t just for sweetness—it controls freezing point and texture.
Flavoring at Scale: Keep It Clean and Balanced
Whether it’s vanilla bean, dark chocolate, or mango puree—flavors can be amplified or flattened at scale. Here’s what to watch:
- Natural ingredients: More heat-sensitive, can break down if pasteurized at high temps.
- Extracts and concentrates: Easier to dose and control in large batches.
- Inclusions (nuts, cookie bits, etc.): Add post-churn to maintain crunch/texture.
Batch tests at 5L or 10L before committing to full-scale production. Don’t just guess.
Best Practices for 100L Batch Production
- Use a digital formulation tool to keep track of percentages and nutritional data.
- Weigh everything. Volume measures are unreliable at this scale.
- Keep solids between 35–40% for ice cream. Too low and you get icy texture; too high and it’s pasty.
- Test your Brix level (especially for sorbet). Ideal range: 28–32 Brix.
- Cool fast, freeze faster. Time is texture.
- Consider overrun goals. Are you going for premium dense or light and airy?
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to freeze 100L of mix?
Depends on your freezer capacity. A 20L batch freezer might need 4–6 separate churns. Each takes 8–12 minutes.
Can I use natural stabilizers only?
Yes, but be ready to experiment. Locust bean gum, guar gum, and citrus fiber work well, but their performance varies with pH and temperature.
How do I balance sweetness and freezing point?
Use a mix of sucrose, dextrose, and glucose syrup. Each affects freezing differently. Tools like the “Pacojet” app or ice cream spreadsheets can help you model this.
Do I need to homogenize?
If you want a smoother, creamier product with long shelf life—yes. Homogenizing breaks fat globules, creating better emulsion and mouthfeel.
How do I calculate cost per liter?
Total all raw material costs (including loss/waste), divide by final yield. Don’t forget energy, labor, and packaging when pricing products.
Final Thoughts
Scaling up to 100L batches of ice cream or sorbet isn’t just about volume—it’s about precision, balance, and consistency. Whether you’re a small-batch ice cream brand, café owner, or chef looking to expand production, knowing your numbers and understanding how ingredients behave at scale makes the difference between a good product and a repeatable, profitable one.
Stick to the science. Use smart tools. Don’t skip the small-scale testing before a big run. The difference between a gritty sorbet and a velvety scoop of passion fruit goodness comes down to a few grams and a few degrees.
When you nail the structure, your creativity can take over. Whether you’re making whiskey gelato, vegan coconut lime sorbet, or classic vanilla bean—scaling recipes to 100L doesn’t mean losing quality. It means mastering it.
