Ice Crusher
In Bars and the Food industry, there are electrical and manual ice crushers. In both versions, the ice cubes are eventually crushed by a grinder that consists of metal blades. In an electric ice grater, a disc scrapes off the ice very roughly, leaving behind crushed ice with the same consistency that can be achieved by manually crushing ice in a bag using a mallet. In manual ice crushers the individual cubes are simply cut into smaller pieces.
The build of the various ice crushers is subject to strong differences. A rough classification can be made based on the price point; Devices for private use are often much cheaper than those for professional use. In many cases, private devices are not designed for intensive and continuous operation, have lower performance and, compared to high-end devices, certain functions are missing.
Commercial devices, on the other hand, use other types of drive such as chain or belt drives and have various protective mechanisms that prevent and accidents. These can be, for example, additional switches and protective shields.
With manual devices, the blades that cut the ice cubes are driven with the help of a hand crank. Here the device is alternately filled and operated. It is recommended to let the ice cubes thaw a little beforehand. Since the watering down of the cocktail by crushed ice is a desired side effect, thawing is not detrimental to the drink.
