I went to the house and looked at mine. It's the 1600. I don't know what it means, but it's at least 15 years old. The sucker is heavy and large, but it does a good job churning and freezing ice cream. If it didn't I wouldn't keep it around as it's hard to store. That reminds me of something to be aware of. Mine says on the machine and on the instruction booklet that it must never be carried or stored on its side or back. It must always be horizontal. If yours came from a thrift store, it may have handled improperly. Like I mentioned, my bowl is not removable. The best way to clean it when you've made ice cream is to put a bit of warmish water in and let it sit for 10 mins or so. Then wipe out the water and the gunk. Mine came with a very stiff hard plastic spatula with a short handle for scooping out the cold ice cream. Assuming yours didn't come with one, go buy one. The ice cream is very stiff, especially on the bottom. A spatula with a softer head or handle won't be able to scoop well enough. The other trick is how to get the machine ready. My instructions say to turn the freezer on for 10 minutes before you put your base in to churn. Apparently it needs that much time to thoroughly chill. I never use the timer as a way to determine when the ice cream is done. I've found that the churning time in ice cream recipes isn't always accurate for this machine. Just watch and listen. You'll know when it's done. Your DH got a deal, btw, if it works. My MIL kept saying that her Dad paid several hundred dollars for the one I have. Hope that helped. Let me know if you have any questions! Enjoy your yummy ice cream!

I have a Simac Il Gelataio 1600 like the one I found on eBay linked below. I've owned a few different machines over the years and am happy with the Simac despite two cons. 1. The unit is very heavy. Combined with its size, it's awkward to move around. I don't have a spot large enough in my kitchen to dedicate just to the Simac so I can't store it on my counter. When I use it, it needs to be moved out of, and then back into, the garage. 2. The bowl isn't removable for cleaning. Some Simac models do have a removable bowl. On the positive side, the thing is built like a tank. I can imagine it lasting for many more years to come. Ice cream comes out great every time, and it's incredibly easy to use. Here is a link that might be useful: Simac 1600 on eBay

Love2weed, how does your ice cream turn out - what is not ''creamy'' about it? Is it simply too hard - that probably just means you can stop churning a bit earlier and serve that much sooner. Am I misunderstanding what you are after? If you want ice cream that remains soft and creamy after sitting in the freezer for days, I don't know how that is done. I'll be very interested to find out. I make ice cream using a old ice cream maker that has a built-in refrigeration unit. Meaning, you don't need to plan ahead and put a bulky tub in the freezer overnight. You can be spontaneous about your ice cream, well, if you call an hour or more of preparation ''spontaneous''. [Delete tasteless Viagra joke here.] My machine is a SIMAC Il Gelataio 800 ''The Ice Cream Boy'' model, might be 20+ years old, they show up used for around $100, sometimes less. During the churning, the ice cream goes through a creamy, soft stage. If I stop there, I have creamy ice cream - it can be as soft as soft-serve ice cream frozen yogurt if I stop early enough. If I continue churning, the ice cream gets firmer, gelato-like consistency. Keep churning, and it gets harder yet. If I place the churned ice cream in the freezer for an hour, it is as hard as conventional store-bought ice cream - but I don't like such hard ice cream, actually. My process is very conventional. Click Ice Cream Boy's ''CHILL'' switch to ''on'', let him start chilling his tub. Make custard from 2 cups heavy cream, 1 cup whole milk, 1 cup sugar, then 2 beaten egg yolks added a bit later. Using a double boiler, I cook this at about 160F until it seems thick enough, usually around 15 minutes. I've read recipes that call for a higher temperature, but I had some curdling problems if I went too much above 160F. Transfer to a steel bowl, place that in a larger bowl with ice and water, swirl around to cool the custard to 40-50F, the colder the better but it tries my patience. I add the flavor ingredient after transferring the custard to the steel bowl, either right away or after the custard has cooled some, depending on whether the stuff tolerates higher temperature. Then I pour the flavored custard into Ice Cream Boy and start him churning. Usually around 25-35 minutes for softer ice cream, 35-45 for harder. Starting with very cold custard shortens the churning considerably. Since Ice Cream Boy is actually Ice Cream Elderly Man in ''appliance years'', I try to not work him too hard.

John, it all looks delicious and your guests certainly look happy. The coffee machine fits there perfectly, and it's beautiful, so as soon as you have the "make ahead" dinner party thing down, you'll be spending your time making coffee instead. (grin) I also have a problem with cooking and hosting simultaneously. Even if I manage to get everything on the table and sit down I'm constantly getting up to get something that I forgot, or that someone wants or making room for something else. I've enver figured out how to get past that. Heck, I don't even need to have a dinner party. Elery's daughter and SIL were here and I have Mother and between to people who don't know where anything in the house is and Mother with her walker, I'm seldom sitting down at all. Annie