If you don’t have the time or money, or if you believe the food crisis will hit hard very soon, then it makes more sense to buy freeze-dried food instead.
I've also added an oil catch can that does a wonderful job of trapping oil vapor exiting the exhaust of the pump. Now instead of coating the area in a fine oil mist, the oil settles into the can. The clear tube on the side of the can lets you know how full the can is.
So they have been sitting in my freezer awaiting a time when I was prepared to deal with them - I've told him several times that he isn't going to get usable raspberries out of this - just raspberry powder. I don't think he believes me!
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And therein lies the cons to buying a freeze dryer. It takes time to make them cost effective. Depending on humidity in your area, a single run can take up to two days to complete.
Walk-in coolers make it much easier to stash away food, as well as to easily grab out what you need. As with a commercial freezer, these commercial appliances have to be specially fitted for your kitchen space.
Remove all ice every oito hours of drying time. It is amazing how much faster the drying time drops doing this. A side benefit is water vapor does not contaminate the oil as fast. I've gotten up to 20 cycle per oil change by carefully monitoring the oil and water.
They’re all great articles, packed full of helpful information. My goal is always to provide helpful information, so let me know if you don’t find the answers you need. Enjoy!
Let's do a simple math exercise. Non Frozen food put in freeze dryer at an ambient temp of 70F needs to be at -40F before the dry cycle begins. things go linear, each hour the temps would drop the food by 12.
Over night the FDer warmed up and the next morning we had a massive puddle under it - running off the counter onto the floor. I cleaned up the mess, but the next day the puddle was even bigger. On the 3rd day it was back again just as large even though I left a large towel under the FDer.
This type of website can’t hurt when buying something minor, like a piece of clothing, but it’d be smart to steer clear from them when buying expensive equipment.
Used freeze dryers can also be worth your while, but it’s imperative to check them before buying and be sure they’re working well. Lastly, always avoid websites that sell off-brand equipment and sketchy manufacturers.
Obviously things like ice cream and marshmallows you would want to let the freeze cycle run longer. When I'm ready to start the drying cycle, I open the door, remove the insulator, and check the temperature of the food on the trays with an infrared thermometer. As long as it's below -10F I start the dry cycle. A side note for TonyC, have you ever thought about attaching a mirror to each side of the tray rack to reflect the radiant heat back in to the trays? I've looked at some mirror finish stainless on ebay, and it looks like you could do it for about $40. Not sure if it's worth a try or not. I would think it would let you get more water out in a cycle because website the radiant heat wouldn't be warming the ice on the chamber walls. Just a thought.... Edited December 16, 2015 by Pipsqueak duplicate post (log)
Another option that can work well is teaming up with like-minded friends or family members to purchase a freeze dryer together.