Slurry ice

Slurry ice is getting increasingly popular.

At BUUS we have supplied slurry ice makers for various purposes: For fish processing plants, for a fishing vessel where a double drum flake ice machines was used for freshwater flake ice on the left drum and seawater ice for slurry making on the right drum.

The picture shows the VD746 iceflaker installed on the fishing vessel Kvannøy. The left drum produces sub cooled flake ice from freshwater. The right drum produces seawater ice which is blended in the tank below and then pumped to the stem to chill herring. The production runs continuously and the slurry ice is not stored in a tank.

Fast chilling of food

As slurry ice is very effective as cooling media it is obvious to cool down "sous-vide" (Cryovacking) food. Sous vide is a method where food is pre made for e.g. ferries, schools and residential homes for elderly people.

Traditionally you would use a blast freezer to lower the temperature. With air cooling you will risk freezing of the outer layer of the food but still having hot food in the centre of the bag.

Slurry ice eliminates the risk of freezing the outer layer. Moreover the core temperature is lowered very fast. The result is longer shelf life and a pronounced better food quality. The key to the improvement is the ice crystals in the slurry ice.

BUUS Slurry Ice

A BUUS slurry ice system is bulid up of different parts. Thecore is the ice generator. It may be a horizontal ice maker or a larger, vertical ice maker. You may already have a suitable condensing unit.

Most often you will need a storage tank, but on a fishing vessel it is quite common to produce the slurry directly into a bin. The catch is chilled very fast in the slurry and then movd into the hull where it is iced with flake ice.

Slurry ice machine with mixer and pump.

Slurry ice dispenser.

Questions? Please contact us