Mixology 101: the best industrial mixing advice your business should take

While it’s always 5 p.m. somewhere in the world, this article is not about creating the perfect happy hour cocktail.

However, a well-blended concoction is germane to the point of this piece on how to create the most perfectly smooth, evenly blended mixture.

Large-scale manufactured industrial mixing systems are designed to blend, mix and mill mass edible products, chemical and medicinal substances using heavy duty mixing equipment, including blenders, high shear mixers, emulsifiers, mills and powder delivery systems.

While blending techniques are essential to the food and beverage industry, they are just as vital for the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors seeking highly efficient mixing equipment and technologies for their own unique blends.

Check out the short primer of mixology 101 basics from mixing terms to techniques.

Mixing by definition

Generally, when you combine two or more ingredients together, you are effectively performing the art and science of mixing.

But, ‘mixing’ is a non-specific, common word used as a synonym for other similar mixing terms that don’t have quite the same meaning when it comes to industrial mixing applications.

For those serious industrial mixing manufacturers, and those who want to get versed in mixing technologies and techniques, take note of the following industrial mixing nomenclature that separates the professionals from the wannabees.

Don’t get agitated if you thought agitation and mixing were one in the same.

Agitation is the blending of substances at a low speed using turbine blades or paddles.

Universally, people combine mixing and blending interchangeably

Blending is mixing two or more miscible liquids (i.e. a newly created homogeneous — or same — mixture when merged together) carrying similar density and viscosity properties.

Our hearts melt with empathy when people confuse dissolving with mixing

To dissolve an element is when a solid transforms into a liquid. Think: adding sugar cubes into your morning coffee. Dissolving essentially is the act of melting solid ingredients into fluid substances, which then become part of liquefied material.

We separate professionals from the amateurs when they incorrectly define dispersing

Dispersing is the scattering and separating of immiscible fluids (i.e. a heterogeneous — or unlike — mixture of two or more ingredients when added as one) or even droplets or gas bubbles within a matrix liquid.

Dispersion is so special that it also has a sub-category of definition, including:

Emulsion: the dispersion of droplets in liquids such as oil and water, which are insoluble and don’t mix.

Suspension: the dispersion of solid particles greater than colloidal size. In other words, microscopic substances that are dispersed suspense in another substance.

One mixture using two or more different mixing machine equals to the same difference

The term homogenizing refers to mixtures that are identical in consistency and texture by way of intense mixing techniques, not necessarily achieved using the same mixing equipment.

Quench your thirst for mixing terminology by learning about hydrating fundamentals

Binders and stabilizing agents are thrown into the mix of ingredients. The result includes swelling of the mixture, which is triggered by the molecules of the substances attaching to one another. High performing shear mechanisms are important to ensure mixtures are fully dispersed for complete hydration.

While we don’t serve mixed drinks for the after work corporate crowd, Admix does provide expertise advice and consultation for business looking to overcome their mixing and milling challenges. Browse through our well stocked virtual cabinet of mixing equipment solutions today.

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