I got this and decided to make 6 quarts of Cookies and Cream Ice Cream as my first try. I did not realize that I would need more ice than I had originally bought. I want to say that you can plan on using at least 2 - 7 or 8 bags of ice by the time you get finished with the hardening if you decide to harden in the wooden barrel. That was not a problem. I had time between the processes to go get some. It was very noisy just as everyone said, but it was worth it. The noise is similar to a circular saw. I used the Vanilla recipe that came inside the booklet and added the crushed up 30 pieces of cookies in the last 10 minutes. I would suggest to add them in the last 5 if you want more pieces present. The first time I opened it midway through to put the cookie pieces in, the mixture looked just as runny as when I started so I thought "Dang, this isn't going to work." But, I heard the motor start working harder like the book said I would. I knew it was getting time. I went almost 5 minutes once I heard the change in the sound. When I opened the top of the container, it was magically ice cream.