A Lancashire BRC6 A-Grade, EEC approved fish wholesaler needed a new up to date ice machine to replace their existing scale ice machine.
Hygiene, reliablity and ice quality was top of their agenda, as they supply to the high class catering industry in the North West of England.They source, prepare and delivery directly to professional kitchens, supplying establishments including michelin star restaurants, hotels, pubs, retailers, schools, colleges and universities. They also supply sports stadiums and contract caterers.
They needed around 3 tonnes per day, a Ziegra applications engineer recommended a UBE3.500-2 model granular flake ice machine to address their needs.
|
|
Reliability: The UBE3.500-2 has twin refrigeration and control circuits, this means the machine can be sanitised and maintained while still producing ice. If a problem should develop in the future, only one half of the machine will be affected, which gives time for a repair while still maintaining 50% of ice production.
The twin controls also allows the two halves of the machine to be operated independantly, so for example, during quiet periods when full production may not be needed, one half can be switched off.
|
|
|
Hygiene: The UBE3.500-2 has a closed, single pass water system that minimises the contact of the water with the air until the ice is produced and ejected into the ice storage bin.This has two effects, firstly this intrinsically hygienic design helps to keep the ice as pure as the mains water, and secondly it makes sanitising the machine a quick and easy operation. The fully enclosed design helps to keep contamination out of the machine and the stainless frame and panels offer an easy to clean surface.The customer tested the ice for microbial contamination every week for the first six weeks after commissioning, during this period of frequent testing no contamination was found in the ice. The customer reported back to us that they were very pleased with this result and the machine was everything they hoped it would be. |
|
|
|
|
Level control: The ice level detectors shown left stop the machine when the ice bin is full, without ever touching the ice. Once the ice bin is removed, the ice machine starts back up agin automaticlly, filling the next bin.
This fully automatic operation ensures that the only thing the operators need do is remember to change the bins around periodically. Full bins are usually stored in a coldroom above 2°C to minimise melt loss.
|
|
|
Remote weatherproof condensers: The remote condensers outside the building ensure consistent high performance during the highs of summer and the lows of winter.
The hot air rejected by the machine blows harmlessly outside, prevententing warming of the temperature controlled environment where the machine is located .
|
|
|
|
|
Ice quality: The customer selected the midi size of granular flake ice as the flakes were large enough to minimise melting loss during extended storage, while the smooth granular flakes with no sharp edges means their fish will not be damaged. Granular flake ice maintains it shape and remains free flowing, even after storage in ambient conditions, so even though this bin of ice had been stored for several hours, he was able to run a shovel through it effortlessly ... |
|
|
... as can be clearly seen here, the ice has maintained its shape, even after storage and contains no large, irregular sized lumps. Ice that freezes together, then is broken apart often contains sharp fractured edges, that can easily cut and mark the fish ... |
|
|
|
|
... the free flowing granular flake ice has found its way around the product, maintaining a close contact ensuring the maximum heat transfer ...
|
|
|
Boxes of high quality fish stored with Ziegra ice, waiting for dispatch to customers around the North West of England.... |
|
|
|
https://youtu.be/mWBek7F6ro0 |
... a short video |