Introduction

Equipment reviews have never been the focus here, and I don’t have the resources to conduct rigorous and fair tests of expensive machines. Nevertheless, I’ve been shopping for a better batch freezer for years, and thought my discoveries could be useful to anyone on a similar path. Read on for how I narrowed my choices, and some background information on the machines in question, and on preliminary results with the Nemox.

Full disclosure: While I paid for this machine, the distributor sold it at a wholesale discount. He did so because I write about ice cream, and he’s aware that Nemox machines get little exposure in the U.S. He did not ask me, and I did not offer, to write anything specific. These are my own reactions to a machine I was ready to buy at full price. Feel free to read whatever bias you will into this article. 

Background

I’ve been looking at what the industry loosely calls “semi-professional” machines. These are batch freezers designed for better results and more durability than ordinary domestic machines, but for batch sizes and throughput much smaller than what you’d need in a scoop shop, or in anything but the smallest restaurant. The prices sit right between the better domestic machines and the smallest serious commercial machines¹. 

This is a small market segment, primarily of interest to a few distinct classes of customers²: home ice cream fanatics; commercial ice cream makers (scoop shops or manufacturers) who need a small capacity machine for testing and making samples; small producers (cafés, bed & breakfasts, small restaurants that produce just a few liters a day). These are users who expect reliability and high-quality results, but who don’t need throughput measured in gallons-per-hour. They’re also usually happy to pay less than $4,000 US for a machine that’s unlikely to pile profits into their bank account.

In the US, the semi-pro market segment includes just a few machines: Musso’s 4080 and 5030, and Nemox’s Gelato Chef 3L and 5L³. I focussed on the 5030 and Chef 5L, because these are each capable of a 1kg batch size, which is one of my requirements. Their smaller siblings have a maximum recommended batch closer to 3/4 kg. See “Appendix—a look at Musso and Nemox” below.

Specs and Features

• 250 watts
• 1kg maximum batch size
• Intended overrun: 20% (from conversation with distributor—this is the design goal of all Nemox machines. Actual results will vary with recipe.) 
• Dasher speed: 80 RPM (measured); 63 RPM (Nemox specification)
• 3kg / 4.5L per hour throughput
• Fixed and removable bowls
• 18-10 stainless steel dasher with removable / replaceable / interchangeable polyethylene scrapers (different set for fixed and removable bowl)
• Manual and automatic modes (auto mode ends the freezing cycle and transitions to preservation cycle, holding the batch at gelato serving temperature up to 8 hours)
• Automatic density control (shuts off motor before torque becomes excessive)
• Thermal protection on compressor
• New compressor with r290 refrigerant—ecologically friendly and 20% more freezing power per watt than previous model’s r134a compressor. 
• All stainless steel shell (probably type 304 bowls and top; magnetic alloy on the sides). Approximately 17.5″ x 13.5″ x 13″, 48 lbs.
• Comes with removable bowl, built-in fixed bowl, 6 sets of dasher scraper blades (3 for each bowl size), a 25ml measuring cup for brine or alcohol, a plastic gelato spatula (looks cheap, but is perfect—I’ve usually used silicone spatulas, which can’t cope with ice cream that’s as hard as the Nemox freezes it). And a removable computer-style power cord. 

Further Research

Because these are such niche machines, there’s little of the in-depth information we’d like to have, such as articles written by pastry chefs and gelatistas, Consumer Reports-type testing, or the kinds of exhaustive reviews you’d find on sites like Ars Technica. Instead we have to settle for perspectives that are more biased or superficial. Nemox offers a fairly informative website and technical materials; Musso has the benefit of hundreds of short online customer reviews, and a few informal blog posts and YouTube videos. After finding answers to the basic questions for both product lines, I pursued the equally important questions of reliability and repairability—questions that loom larger as you move past the price range of disposable consumer products. 

I gathered from customer reviews that the Musso machines are reliable (with caveats—more later) but that owners’ repair experiences are mixed, often entailing shipping a 70lb machine to and from New Jersey. In contrast, what I learned about the Nemox machines, was … nothing. No reports of anything, good or bad.

It took a couple of emails (one to Italy, another to a defunct distributor address) and a couple of voicemails before I found the actual distributor. Nemox Italy’s email reply got lost in my inbox; my first actual contact was a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize. It was Dominic, who runs Nemox USA out of Espresso Milan, a shop outside New York City that also serves as the US importer of La Pavoni espresso machines.

He indulged me in a long conversation about Nemox machines, during which he answered the questions that had led me to him in the first place—What’s the warranty? How do I get  warranty repairs? How do I get a machine fixed out of warranty? Do they stock (and sell) parts in the US? His answers:

• Warranty is 1 year.
• Warranty service is provided by their service center in New Jersey. You have to drive or ship the machine there, so keep your boxes!
• Most importantly, call first. They may be able to talk you through a problem, or send you an easy-to-replace part.
• Out-of-warranty service can be provided by any refrigeration technician. Machines that make stuff cold are basically the same. But again—call Nemox first! They may be able to help remotely.
• Yes, they have all the parts in the US. 

This was what I needed to hear. Between this good (or at least reasonable) news and the specs of the machine, I decided on the Nemox. 

First Steps

The machine shipped overnight by UPS ground, showing up in an undamaged, very large box, with the “this side up” sticker (encouragingly) pointing in the right direction. Total weight of the box with packing materials was probably 60 or 65 pounds. Not too much for a 6-foot 3-inch long-armed idiot to wrestle into a house, but I suggest you get help from a friend rather than follow my example.

The machine is double-boxed, with an Olympic swimming pool worth of styrofoam peanuts between the two layers, helping to ensure an undamaged machine. Keep the boxes and those peanuts—at least for now, and preferably forever. If the machine ever needs to make a trip home, you’ll curse yourself for throwing them out.

Once out of the box, the machine reveals its more humble actual dimensions; about the size of a small microwave. In its naked state it’s not too hard to lift onto a tabletop without help. 

I resisted the urge to do anything at this point, besides make sure the dasher motor turns on. Anything with a refrigeration compressor needs to sit for several hours (Nemox recommends 12) after shipping, in case the box ended up on its side or upside down. Oils from the compressor can leak into the cooling lines, and if you power up the compressor in that state, it can be the end of it. So suck it up, find a diversion, and wait. 

I took the time to mix up a half batch (500g) of chocolate ice cream, partly to test a new cocoa powder, partly to try something easy for the machine’s maiden voyage. 

In the morning, before spinning up the ice cream, I tested the compressor. I wanted to make sure it worked at all, then get an objective frame of reference for how well. I did this by measuring the temperature of the freezer bowl bottom and side walls at different time intervals. It was a two stage process, because the machine offers options of using the fixed bowl or a removable bowl (inserted into the fixed bowl, with 20% brine or 40% alcohol as a conducting medium). 

All else being equal (and all else is not equal here—more on this in a minute) colder bowl temperatures = more compressor power. Commercial horizontal barrel machines can typically chill the barrel walls below -30°C; Semi-pro machines somewhere below -25°C.  Here’s what I measured:

Bowl Temperatures

Fixed Bowl

Time	Bottom	Side
5 minutes	-37C	-39C
7 minutes	-40C	-43C
10 minutes	-44C	-46C

Removable Bowl

Time	Bottom	Side
5 minutes	-28C	-35C
7 minutes	-34C	-39C
10 minutes	-37C	-42C

(measured with an infrared thermometer pointed at paper painters tape stuck to the stainless steel bowl. These tools can’t directly take the temperature of shiny metal)

First point: these numbers look insane. All else being equal, they would suggest more power than a multi-kilowatt commercial machine … which, of course, it doesn’t have. So what part isn’t equal?

My guess is it’s the refrigerant. Nemox has moved their newest machines (the “iGreen” line) to a refrigerant called r290, which is a form of purified propane. Its main selling point is eco-friendliness (it has clost to zero greenhouse gas effect); its second selling point is efficiency (up to 20% more cooling per watt than comparable CFC-based refrigerants). But here we may just be looking at different evaporative cooling dynamics. It might just get colder, in a way that’s independent of its power—in the same way that light bulb filament is hotter than the flame in a gas oven, but doesn’t put out anywhere near as much power—you’d have a hard time cooking a turkey with it.

This is an academic point; these measurements will mostly be useful for diagnosing cooling problems, if anything. 

The second point, which is less of a surprise, is that the removable bowl does not get as cold. I used rubbing alcohol for conductive liquid between the 2 bowls (if you’re making ice cream, don’t do this—use cheap vodka or another source of ethanol, or salt water). The heat energy you extract from the ice cream needs to traverse the stainless steel wall of the inner bowl, and the thin film of the liquid just to get to the fixed bowl. You lose power. 

My numbers show more power loss on the bottom than on the sides, and I think this might actually indicate something amiss. Nemox suggest it will take 1 or 2 oz of liquid to fill the gap between the fixed and removable bowls. You check by pulling the removable bowl up and seeing if the water line made it to the top. On my machine it takes 3 full oz of liquid to accomplish this, meaning that there’s a larger than normal gap between the bottoms of the bowls. At the end of the test I saw a 2-3mm deep puddle of alcohol slush at the bottom. 

I’ll ask Dominic about this, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter. I plan to just use the fixed bowl. More on this below. 

Observations from First Batches

I made a half batch (500g) of my “single origin” chocolate recipe, using DeZaan “True Dark” cocoa, in the removable bowl. It froze thoroughly in around 7 minutes; I didn’t take measurements because I’m not that interested in half batches. For whatever it’s worth, it came out great, and there’s nothing left of it.

Removable Bowl

For the first 1000g batch, I made a cardamom ice cream using a version of my standard 15% fat base, 2 yolks, and 2g green cardamom seeds (and a bit of clove). 41% solids.

Time	Temperature
0 minutes	3.3C
12 minutes	-4C
16 minutes	-6.5C
25 minutes	-10C

Yield from 1000g: 2.4 pints; ~14% to 20% overrun

Fixed Bowl

For the 2nd 1000g batch, I made a coffee ice cream testing a new version of my coffee recipe. 12% fat, 1 yolk, 41.5% solids. Made with 85g Coffee Mob Ethiopia Guji Layo Co-op light roast.

Time	Temperature
0 minutes	2.8C
5 minutes	-3.6C
7.5 minutes	-4.7C
10 minutes	-5.8C
12.5 minutes	-6.7C
15 minutes	-7.3C
17.5 minutes	-8.0C
20 minutes	-9.2C

Yield from 1000g: 2.2 pints; ~10% overrun

What to make of this?

• The removable bowl puts the temperature / time curve a full 5 minutes behind the fixed bowl. It gives good performance for a high-end home machine, but not $2000 good. I will use the fixed bowl from now on.
• The fixed bowl gives very good performance. It hits the commercial draw temperature standard of -5°C in under 10 minutes. And it keeps going, with undiminished speed. The dasher did not auto-shutoff at 20 minutes. I turned it off because the ice cream had become a mostly solid mass at this point, so I didn’t think it was going to get much colder. And—I didn’t relish the idea of scraping out the machine if the ice cream had gotten much harder. This recipe is formulated for a 73% ice fraction at -14°C service temperature, and at -9° it’s already very hard. Much harder than I’ve achieved with other machines. 
• How cold should you go? See my recent article on drawing temperature. The short answer with a vertical bowl machine like this (at least if it’s one that is electronically protected from being overworked) is go as low as you can before the temperature starts plateauing. In this case, we were getting a fairly consistent 1°C drop every 2.5 minutes, and it did not slow down at the end. If the cooling rate were to slow at this stage, it would likely be because the ice cream got too hard to flow to the sides of the bowl, not because we ran out of cooling power. 
• Incidentally—beware of reviewers who test machines with very high-fat, very high-solids recipes. These kinds of recipes are unchallenging to a machine and are poorly suited to revealing differences. They always come out smooth, unless you really screw up. 
• Relatedly—when it comes to freezing times, don’t compare one person’s results to another’s. I worry that what I’m presenting here will sell itself as more scientific than it is. These results can only be compared to results with an identical quantity of a functionally equal recipe, made under identical conditions (ambient temperature and humidity, pre-chill time, etc.). We would even have to question the calibration of the thermometers used for measurement—I tried to use a thermocouple probe, but the ice cream became too firm to use this while the machine ran. So I used my (cheap) Chinese infra red thermometer. These radiant heat thermometers are all based on guessing the emissivity of the material they’re pointed at. Who knows if they’re calibrated to a similar standard. 

Addendum—Fixed bowl, lower starting temperature

[added March 14, 2025]

The starting temperatures of the first two batches (3.3°C, 2.8°C) were in the conventionally acceptable range, but colder is better. I usually keep the colder parts of my fridge right around 0.5°C, which is how cold my mix should be at the start. But I’ve been impatient lately. This time I took care to get it properly chilled. 

Measured starting temperature with the infra-red thermometer was 0°C. I don’t fully trust these instruments; they only measure the surface, and they estimate temperature based on assumptions about a material’s emissivity. Nevertheless, this mix was a few degrees colder than the previous two. What a difference:

Time	Temperature
0 minutes	0C
5 minutes	-7C
7.5 minutes	-5.8C
10 minutes	-7.8C
12.5 minutes	-6.7C
15 minutes	-9C
15:40 minutes	-8.8C (Automatic shutdown)

Yield from 1000g: 2.5 pints; ~19% overrun

First observation: This is much better performance than the previous best batch, hitting the machine’s hardness capacity in just under 16 minutes.

Measured temperatures (which seem to be only approximate) fell to equal points 2.5 minutes to 5 minutes faster. We see some measurement funny business at the end; at 15:40 we measured slightly warmer than at 15, although the ice cream was clearly harder. The dasher motor did not care what my cheap IR thermometer said. Actual results suggest we hit lower temperatures in 15:40 this time than in 20 minutes last time. 

The recipes were NOT identical (I am too impatient to be a good scientist), but they are close in important ways. Solids levels were 39.5% and 40% respectively; so the total amount of water to be frozen is near identical. Calculated ice fraction and relative hardness for these recipes is within 0.3%. So the biggest variable is the starting temperature. 

Nemox recommends a starting temperature between 5°C and 20°C. I recommend you take pre-chilling seriously and aim for 0°C to 1°C. It makes a significant difference. 

2nd observation: the auto-shutoff (“density control”) feature works. Nemox writes about this as if it’s sophisticated software; I suspect it’s a rather simple circuit that either detects motor speed loss or motor over-current, and shuts off the machine at a set value. [Edited, after reviewing Nemox parts diagram: the motor assembly includes a Hall effect sensor, which uses a magnet to read the speed of the motor. This is probably used for electronic speed control and, indirectly, the ice cream’s resistance to the dasher.]

The result: at the end of the run, when the ice cream was looking like finished gelato, with a firm texture and dry surface, the motor slowed, got a little louder, and a little more more guttural sounding. A minute later when it slowed close to a full stop, click—both the dasher and the compressor shut off. If I’d been using automatic mode (button # 3 on the front panel) the compressor would have stayed on, and run a programmed cycle to hold the batch at a good texture for serving fresh gelato.

With this recipe, the auto shutoff was triggered at about -9°C. A recipe with more freezing point depression would have no doubt frozen colder.

[End of addendum]

 

Questions [Updated 3-19-2025 with responses from Nemox USA]:

• How big a difference does pre-chilling make? Nemox advises 5 minutes. I did 10 minutes, because I saw it got the bowl 3°C colder. But I haven’t tested what difference this makes in practice. 
• How do you best do back-to-back batches? Nemox advises a 10-minute rest between batches. But they’re vague on what this means, considering their recommendation for pre-chilling. And considering their claim of 3kg / hour throughput.
  Nemox USA: The rest period between batches in my experience would only apply if you are using the permanent bowl, to allow the paddle to be removed so that you can completely clean out the batch from the bowl. But I have also used the feature in conservation mode to take out much of the finished product and just add the next batch on the fly (no resting period). If you are using the removable bowl, you really do not have to shut off the compressor. some people will purchase an extra bowl and sometimes an extra paddle kit to make different recipes on the fly.
• On my unit, when using the reusable bowl, 3 oz / 75ml of alcohol or brine are needed to adequately fill the gap between inner and outer bowls. The instructions suggest it should take 1/3 to 1/2 this amount. Is my bowl out of spec? 
  Nemox USA: This is something that I have communicated previously with Nemox, and they agree that information in the manual needs to be revised. The space between the bowls is not consistant and usually you need to put in more liquid to fill the space.
• Do we need to worry about water / melted ice cream dripping between the drive shaft and its housing during cleaning? This is a known Musso problem, and an unknown here. For what it’s worth, there’s no visible gap.
  Nemox USA: I can honestly say that we have not had any problems like that with the nemox machines. I can not recall a single instance with that issue.
  [Nemox sent a parts diagram that shows silicone o-rings in place to prevent any ingress of water or goop. I still suggest avoiding drips there if possible, on general principle.]

Subjective Impressions

• The only part anyone actually cares about: the ice cream quality is excellent. I could detect a hint of ice crystal texture in the batch made in removable bowl. I’d be surprised if a non-fanatic would notice. The batch made in the fixed bowl is perfectly smooth, even though it’s only a 12% milk fat, single yolk recipe. You’re not going to do much better than this.
• Overall build quality is excellent. With the possible exception of the thin plastic lid (which looks like it was designed for a machine twice as big) all the parts are robust, very well finished, and look designed to take at least a minor beating in a commercial environment. The compressor sounds confident and refined—not quiet, exactly, but with no irregular sounds, no annoying high-pitched whining, no rattles. The dasher motor sounds a little rumbly and irregular when running empty; once you give it some mix to churn, it just purrs. By the end of the the 1kg 12% fat batch, I could hear that the motor was working, but there were no sounds of strain and no slowing. It did not reach the auto-shutoff point (which is a normal machine function and not harmful). 
• Cleaning the fixed bowl is not substantially harder than cleaning the removable bowl, especially if you use brine as a conductive liquid for the removable bowl. It’s nice to not have to worry about getting all the salt out. Cleaning the dasher is a bit of work—it’s a simple enough shape, but you have to pop the scrapers off to get it really clean. 
• A safety feature shuts off the dasher motor when you open the lid. This is highly annoying. I keep a refrigerator magnet handy to place on the top surface, to trick the machine into spinning while open. If my necktie, Fu-Manchu beard, or gold chains get caught in the dasher and choke me to death, I promise not to blame Nemox.⁴ 

Coffee ice cream at 10-minutes

 

Coffee ice cream final consistency.

 

Conclusions

Dominic offered to take the machine back within 30 days if I wasn’t happy. I’ll be keeping it!

The Gelato Chef 5L iGreen is an excellent machine. Its industrial design, quality of materials and workmanship, power, and quality of the ice cream it produces are all a step beyond what you’ll find in the top tier of home ice cream machines. The Chef 5L’s price is also a significant step beyond these machines, which is to be expected—and which makes its value proposition impossible to judge without knowing your priorities and circumstances.

Compared with other semi-professional machines (looking at models available in the U.S.), I believe the 5L is in the same performance class, but is the leader by a significant margin in industrial design and technology. This advantage likewise comes with a price premium over its peers, and again will require careful evaluation of your priorities and circumstances (see the appendix, below).

If you plan to use the machine for commercial production, the Chef 5L is a solid entry-level option. It will manage a few kg of ice cream a day, probably without making you crazy. You may eventually want to upgrade to a machine with a more powerful compressor and faster throughput, and a drain (to speed cleanup). The Chef’s big sisters in the Crea line would be a solid choice—starting at over double the price. The next major step up would be a horizontal barrel machine, possibly doubling the price again. 

The Gelato Chef 5L is part of my recent campaign to be less of a martyr in the kitchen; to make my culinary work less tedious and more spontaneous. In addition to moving to a powerful compressor machine, I’m working on transitioning from sous-vide pasteurization to a lab hotplate; from multiple trips to and from a high-powered blender to just using a bamix in a saucepan, when possible (I’ll write more after some testing).

I also felt that, after spending so many years helping people make better ice cream, I should probably have the means of making higher-level stuff myself. I don’t need to have as powerful a machine as my commercial clients. It’s arguable that there are advantages to not having a better machine than them—the better your machine, the less aware you’ll be of deficiencies in a recipe. But I should have one that can make a reasonable approximation of what they can make. Otherwise we’ll be speaking different languages. 

Of course, this machine is not suitable for high-overrun, fluffy ice cream. But fortunately, I’m not looking for that, and so far, neither are my clients. 

Should you buy this machine?

Maybe.

You first need to decide if a semi-pro machine makes sense for you. I hope this article sheds some light on that question. Then, you need to decide what capacity you need—a 1KG batch, or can you get by with less? Or are you in the expensive position of needing more?

If you’re in the US, you need to decide between Musso and Nemox. My longwinded thoughts on this are in the next section. If you’re in another country, you’ll have to consider what semi-pro machines are available to you. And don’t forget to ask the boring questions about parts and service!

If you’re looking for a short answer: I believe the Nemox Chef 5L is the best machine in the semi-pro category, if you have the budget for it. 

What are your thoughts? Or questions? Let me know in the comments.

---

Appendix—a look at Musso and Nemox

Musso and Nemox are small independent Northern Italian manufacturers who have a low-profile presence here, challenging customers and prospects to find their stateside distributors and repair centers. They both have these resources … just don’t expect a support website or a bank of operators waiting for your call.

Musso has been available in the US for longer. The company started in the 1960s, and decided to conquer North America in the 1990s, as their first expansion beyond Italy. This led to an awkward situation for people in other parts of Europe, who read positive reviews, but could only buy a Musso machine from a US store, with exorbitant import duties. Possibly a train ride to Italy, with a wheely cart, would have been more satisfying. Musso was originally sold here through specialty stores like Williams-Sonoma, and later through other online sellers, including Amazon. 

Nemox started in the 1980s, and expanded through Europe before coming to the US, which is one reason they’re less well known here. Their distribution has been mostly through restaurant supply stores and espresso machine stores rather than domestic kitchen stores. They are now (like most things) also sold on Amazon.

Similarities and Differences—Musso 5030 vs. Nemox Gelato Chef 5L

Following is a quick look at each company’s semi-pro machine in the 1kg batch category.

All ice cream batch freezers are similar in that they consist of a refrigerator (compressor and condenser coils), a freezing cylinder for the ice cream (bowl or barrel), and a dasher that’s turned by a motor. These are all simple systems. The 5030 and Chef 5L have further similarities in that they are vertical bowl machines with slow-turning, non-aggressive dashers—which means they’re designed to make low-overrun ice cream, including most Italian gelato styles. They’re also both rated at 250 watts, so we should expect at least roughly similar freezing performance. 

The differences can largely be traced to each company’s design philosophy. 

Musso says: “Today in the third millennium, our goals are exactly the same as they were in the early 1960s. We aim to strike a balance between the traditional craftsmanship involved in our entirely Italian made machines – with all the attention to detail and practicality that entails – and developing new markets and production technology.”

Nemox says: “Nemox is a modern company that combines technological innovation and top quality to create tomorrow’s products today.”

If we excuse the marketing clichés, I believe we can accept these statements, at least in spirit. Musso does things the way they’ve always done them. Nemox likes to innovate. Both approaches have their merits and weaknesses. If Nemox’s idea of “tomorrow’s products today” meant connected smart machines that require an app, I’d be running in the other direction. But happily, their innovations still result in rather minimalist machines that can be run manually. Nemox does use electronics—which I’ll argue has both pros and cons.

Musso uses no electronics, going as far as including a mechanical, wind-up timer on the control panel (I think they should just leave this off). The engineering is reminiscent of a vintage farm tractor—it could last forever, but as there are no safeties, you could break it if do something wrong. Which leads to my biggest complaint, and an argument for limited use of electronics. The 5030 connects the motor to the dasher shaft with a large plastic gear. If you churn a batch too long, hardening it beyond the machine’s capacity, the gear can strip. Among the over-200 Amazon reviews are about 28% with 3, 2, or 1 stars, many of which complain about stripped gear teeth.

Based on experience with small machines, I believe this is a sacrificial part—a relatively inexpensive plastic piece designed to break to prevent damage to an expensive one (the dasher’s induction motor). But it’s not a satisfying solution, partly because it’s still a $40+ part, you have to find it, and you have to either take the machine apart yourself to repair it (not everyone’s idea of a fun afternoon) or ship what’s basically a 70lb steel refrigerator to New Jersey and back, while hoping for the best. People’s experiences with Musso repair service have been mixed.

The core of the problem, though, is that if you are trying to maximize ice cream quality, you will always be playing chicken with this plastic gear. In the interest of smoothest texture, by way of smallest ice crystal size and smallest air cell size, it’s in your interest to freeze every batch as cold as possible, within reason. Both the Nemox and Musso compressors are capable of chilling ice cream below -10°C, which is great for texture, but may or may not be ok with the machine’s motor and transmission. How far will you push it? 

Nemox solves this problem with a torque sensor. If the motor starts to work harder than it wants to, it turns itself off. You can set the machine to just stop at this point, or to switch into a preservation mode, which holds the batch at Nemox’s idea of gelato serving temperature for up to 8 hours (I haven’t tried this feature). This is an example of electronics that will likely improve a machine’s durability and longevity. 

The counter argument is that electronics generally create an additional point of failure; and the only solution is replacing the guilty circuit board. I’ve personally watched major appliances get carted away from my house at a rate of maybe one every other year, because a logic board went out and the technician said it wasn’t worth the cost of replacement. None of these cases involved professional pieces of gear, however.

My personal approach to electronics in kitchen equipment is nuanced, and mostly decided case-by-case. I don’t like electronics that just add pointless complication (connected smart toasters, etc.). I don’t like electronics that will be around heat and moisture—I’ve vowed to hunt down whoever invented the microwave / range hood combination (a rant for another day).

My next kitchen range will be completely electronics-free, because circuit boards are a proven weak point in that application, and they serve no purpose that I care about. But my immersion circulator—a completely electronic gizmo, with a touch screen, that actually sits in the water it heats—has worked flawlessly for over a decade. So … it’s complicated. I don’t think we can find the best answers through dogma. In the case of these batch freezers, I felt the benefits of an electronic torque shutoff outweighed any risk of the electronics themselves being a point of failure. Partly because a batch freezer is not a particularly rough environment for a circuit board. And because we know that unprotected transmissions fail. 

What are the Musso 5030’s advantages?

• You know what you’re getting. The 5030 has been around, with no visible changes, for at least 30 years. Reviews are everywhere. In contrast, as of this writing, there are no other serious write-ups on the Nemox Chef series. I have owned the machine for less than a month, and am using it for test batches and for fattening my friends. So unless I discover a design flaw, you won’t be able to make meaningful reliability judgments based on my limited experience. 
• The 5030 is much cheaper. They are roughly the same class of machine (based on compressor size) but the street price of the 5030 is about 60% that of the Nemox. At this writing, $1200 US vs. $2000. 
• No electronics. Both a pro and a con, if you agree with my reasoning.
• Larger bowl. 3L vs. 2.5L. I don’t think this is of much practical value, because you will rapidly see quality decline (as residence time increases) if you go beyond 1kg of mix in either of these machines. Neither machine is going to whip much air into your ice cream, so you’re quite unlikely to benefit from a bowl much larger than 2L. 

What are the Nemox Chef 5L’s advantages?

• Modern, higher efficiency, ecologically friendly compressor: Nemox has switched its newer machines (designated “iGreen”) to compressors that use the r290 refrigerant. Compared to the older r134a refrigerant used in older Nemox models (and the current Musso lineup) it’s up to 20% more efficient (more cooling per watt), has less than 1% of the greenhouse gas effect if released into the air, and runs at a lower pressure, making coolant leaks less likely, and putting less wear on the compressor. 
• Superior dasher. Both machines use type 304 stainless steel dashers, but Nemox uses a commercial design with replaceable plastic scrapers. Nemox dashers actually scape the sides and bottoms of the freezer bowl; Musso dashers leave a 1mm to 3mm gap. 
• Electronic torque limiter (“density control,”as discussed above). An important feature, in my opinion. You won’t damage the machine with a momentary lapse of attention, or a misjudgment of how cold to freeze your ice cream. [The Nemox parts diagram also shows an extremely burly geared transmission—significantly heavier duty than Musso’s. The density control probably protects the motor from overheating, rather than the gears from stripping—nothing’s going to mess with the Nemox gears.]
• Choice of fixed or removable bowl. People debate the advantages of each approach. Removable bowls are a bit easier to clean; fixed bowls (like the Musso bowls) provide better conduction and efficiency, promoting faster freezing and smoother results. Nemox lets you choose; the removable bowl fits inside the fixed one (you have to fill the gap with conductive liquid like brine or alcohol). And you swap the dasher scrapers for ones sized to fit the bowl. I’m leaning toward just using the fixed bowl, making this advantage unimportant in my view. 
• Nemox industrial design is sleeker, more refined, more Italian, less like a 20th Century American air conditioner. It’s easier to clean (the Musso has exposed screws and vents everywhere). At 50lbs and 17 inches on the longest dimension, The Nemox is a more reasonably size. I’m not sure how Musso managed to make a 250 watt machine 20 lbs heavier than this.
• Electronic “preservation” mode. I don’t know if I’ll ever use it. It might be fun at dinner parties, or useful if you’re not able to tend to the ice cream right away, or if you plan to serve right out of the machine in a commercial setting. Otherwise, not a must-have.
• Friendly distributor who will talk to you—as soon as you find their contact info.

The Nemox is clearly the more advanced machine, although I suspect that for many potential buyers, items 1 and 2 on the Musso list will end the conversation: it’s a known quantity, and costs 60% the price of the Nemox. While many of the Nemox’s advantages are significant, you’ll have to weigh them against your priorities and your budget before choosing.

 

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¹ Not including some of the recent Chinese market entries by companies like Vevor, which are proving controversial. Skeptics say they’re terrible, and will break, and that you can’t get parts. Enthusiasts say, “So what? You can buy 12 of them for the price of a Carpigiani machine.” Maybe consider how much space you have for a dozen batch freezers, and how good you are with tools. 

² Nemox has a 4th group of customers in mind—a new concept of gelato shop that does away with old model of having a large batch freezer, a hardening cabinet, and a display case behind the counter. They imagine a shop that has nothing but a row of small, vertical-bowl batch freezers behind the counter, like the one under discussion or its bigger siblings. Gelato is frozen and served from the same machine; to this end Nemox includes an automatic “preservation” mode, which holds your product at traditional gelato serving temperature for up to 8 hours. I don’t know how successful it’s been in the marketplace. A company called Texas Frozentech has a similar concept. 

³ Warring also makes a semi-pro machine, but uncharacteristic of the company’s products, it seems more like an overpriced domestic machine than a serious contender in this class.

⁴This may be required on commercial machines in Europe, perhaps with the logic that if you work at a restaurant, you can’t be trusted to not stick your hand into a spinning machine. Musso’s commercial version of the 5030 (only available in Europe) also has this safety feature. As with the feature on the Nemox, no one likes it. Fortunately, these obstructions are easy to work around with a small magnet.

For reference

Nemox International
Nemox Gelato Chef 5L product page
Nemox USA / Espresso Milan
Gelatiere Musso
Musso 4080 / 5030 product page