I also love finding clearance deals on produce and other items. My family is no longer surprised when I bring home piles of produce, meat, cheese, or whatever else I find a deal on.
4) I made a plastic shield to protect the main circuit board of the FDer. it simply slides into place and protects the top and both sides of the board from condensation.
My husband has been contemplating cost effective alternative ways to get oil-less vacuum happening... what would the specs needed be, since I don't have a pump to look at. Hopefully I asked that in a way that makes sense.
This new Industrial Pump rarely needs to have the oil changed or filtered. The pump has a gas ballast feature that makes it so water does not stay in the oil. Because of this, the oil in the pump will be pristine and clear, even after 30 or more batches.
Another option that can work well is teaming up with like-minded friends or family members to purchase a freeze dryer together.
Freeze drying is a dehydration process that removes moisture from food while preserving its structure and nutritional value by freezing it first and then creating a vacuum around it.
14 Posted December 16, 2015 On 7/31/2015 at 11:12 PM, TonyC said: Here is my first pass on a Vapor Trap... it is an old whole house water filter that I modified. It failed to reduce the moisture in the oil... I'm in the process of modifying it to catch and suspend the moisture in the container long enough for desiccant beads to absorb the water. The air flow comes into the inlet, down the central pipe to the bottom of the screen and filters up through the beads and out the top. I know this was like forever ago, but I thought I would respond anyway. I haven't been on much in a while, I only run my freeze dryer in the winter. So I think you'll find it's a lot harder to remove water vapor from a vacuum than just using desiccant, as the vacuum will just pull the water out of the desiccant.
The easiest way to reconstitute food is with water or broth. I like to weigh my trays before processing them. Then I write the weight and the name of the food on a piece of masking tape and put it on the front of the tray.
14 Posted December 16, 2015 (edited) On 7/31/2015 at 11:12 PM, TonyC said: Somehow this post got posted twice so I'll edit the second one with some more useful information. I remember reading somewhere in this thread where somebody was asking how long you run the freeze cycle with pre-frozen food. I have my chest freezer set to -12F, and I usually let the freeze dryer cool for an hour before I put the frozen food in. After I load the food in I wait another half hour to start the drying process. I've had a lot of cycles that the Perfeito time between pulling one batch out and starting the drying cycle on the next is around 2 hours. I'm running mine in a cold garage, so it cools down pretty quickly. If you have yours in a warm room it would probably take a little longer.
.. Hence the vapor barrier. But once I opened it up I figured I may as well insulate the bare ports as well, and insure that the water was diverted away from the electrics of the system. Once more info I sealed up the insides I noticed that the condensation on the front panel increased dramatically as the air was trapped between the plastic vapor barrier and the back of the front panel. That was when the drip rail was installed on the front of the unit.
The only downside is that the interior is now so cold that defrost time has doubled! I use a large high volume fan to defrost the unit, not the heat trays. It used to be a 15 minute job, now it is closer to 30 minutes.
Cooked eggs can be freeze dried, but they tend to be rubbery when reconstituted. If you want to freeze dry cooked eggs, I recommend slightly undercooking them and then rehydrating them with boiling water. It will finish cooking them without making them rubbery.
Freeze drying has been proven essential throughout many industries where stability of the product is of utmost importance. The pharmaceutical field greatly benefits from freeze drying as medicines are rendered impotent for long durations without losing their potency, while in the food industry, freeze drying prevents decay of food without compromising on taste or texture.
I started by removing the 3 grocery bags that were holding the 2 thick bags that had at one time held the berries. Struck by how much it looked like a placenta - bag and all!