Commercial Mixers: Sizing Your Mixer

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Sizing Your Mixer

The capacity of the mixing bowl determines the size of the mixer.
Commercial mixers can be separated into three main categories:

Countertop

Countertop mixers are usually 5 – 8 quarts in capacity and resemble a residential model mixer.

Bench

Bench mixers are quite a bit larger than a countertop model (10 – 24 quarts) but can still sit on a sturdy work table.

Floor

Floor mixers are the most common type of commercial mixer. These large mixers range in capacity anywhere from 30 – 80 quarts and are a freestanding unit.

To determine what size mixer you need, take a couple factors into consideration:

Leave yourself some extra capacity. Some products will expand when agitated in the mixing process, which can mean a mess if you’ve completely filled the mixing bowl. Besides, you may need to make larger batches of whatever you’re mixing in the future as your business grows.

If you’re mixing dough, calculate the absorption ratio (AR). The drier the dough, the tougher it is to mix, and that is going to affect how large a batch you can mix according to the size of your mixer. To calculate the AR, divide the water weight by the flour weight, e.g. 20 lbs. of water and 50 lbs. of flour equals a 40% (0.4) AR. The lower the AR, the more stiff and therefore more difficult to mix the dough is and therefore the smaller the batch will need to be.

Please note: that just because you need to mix a smaller batch due to the stiffness of the dough does not mean you should use a smaller mixer. The point of calculating the AR is to find a batch size that your mixer can manage without overworking the motor. Consult with your operator’s manual or the mixer manufacturer for recommended batch sizes for different absorption ratios.

In general, if you plan to use your mixer for day in and day out dough mixing, go with a heavier duty floor mixer that can handle the heavy load dough puts on a mixer motor.