Freeze Drying

[Double R]

Here’s the ice buildup from the mashed potato load. I can absolutely see why people buy the aftermarket ice blockers. Design flaw from the factory in my opinion. Ice does touch some of the trays with loads that have a decent amount of water. We may be ordering the ice blockers to help with that issue.
Now that colder weather is here we’re finding it “harder” to defrost without using the defrost setting. We are currently using the defrost setting and after an hour or two pulling the tray shelf unit out and the ice chunks mostly are loose and we can pull them out. However, we have to leave the initial start up freeze going for at least an hour vs 15 min it says to do it because the defrost mode is heat and it gets to 150* in the drum. Takes at least an hour currently to get the chamber back down to a reasonable temperature to put the pre frozen trays in.







WARNING to all who are thinking about having a freeze drier in their house. It has been confirmed by many other freeze drier people they make a watery mess. No matter what you do they make a mess. They drip from their seal from condensation. They drip inside the cover and drip down under the unit. They sometimes leak out the seal during defrost. I’m glad ours is not in the house while we’re figuring it all out.

 

[Double R]

Holidays are a coming. Looking for fun sweet treats to add to peoples baskets. I will absolutely say this one is a win and something that can’t stay in our house or they will be gone .Salt water taffy and some mini marshmallows for hot cocoa.
Took 9:52:51 pre frozen. Cost at peak rates $1.01.
Didn’t know marshmallows don’t actually freeze. They spend 24 hours in a deep freeze and didn’t freeze.
I cut each piece of salt water taffy in 4. They are still “too big” when done so will cut in 6 next round now that we know they are a definite win. Can absolutely see how a full piece would make a mess in the machinery . They expand dramatically. Also glad I used the dividers to keep them from getting stuck together during the process. Worked really well.
Will have to find a good place to get salt water taffy and get busy. We just grabbed a few caramel apple ones to try when we got apples a while back.

 

[lilmissy]

Try skittles and ice cream sandwiches

mine is in my house, no problems. Tilt your table back a tad and no more mess. I keep a small hand towel in front that helps with the little bit of condensation from the door gasket.

 

[Double R]

My better half says “BLASPHEMY!” To “ruining” ice cream Skittles was next to try as well. The problem is I LOVE skittles so I can’t have them around. But for gifts I plan to give it a try. Think I can mostly behave once a year……. Maybe…….
As far as tilting back we have done that and it does help but still had issues when ice buildup was significant. However I think we’ve found that the hose they sent was not helping whatsoever. It’s was crimped in multiple spots just enough to cause issues with drainage. We’ve changed it and have less issues since. I to have found the towel helps. I plan to make some sort of pad for it but haven’t figured out an actual plan yet. Have to finish some quilts first before I start new sewing projects.
Thanks for the tips! Feel free to share in this thread! Would love to know what you’ve had success with and what things you’ve found are failures.

 

[Neb]

Could the freeze dryer fit in a water heater pan?

https://www.lowes.com/pd/EASTMAN-30-in-Aluminum-Water-Heater-Drain-Pan-with-Fitting/1002940590

Ben

 

[Double R]

@Neb I do not believe so but I will be looking into that idea! They may have more sizes of those trays than I’m aware of.

 

[Double R]

I forgot to update on accessories I’ve commented on before.
The tray corner stackers I’m still glad to have. They are worth the price. Works well. Easy to clean. Fairly stable when moving the trays to the freezer etc. Sometimes are a little hard to pop out in full trays frozen with liquids. The right leverage does pop them out with a bit of pressure
Harvest right silicone mats. I was leaning more towards them and still find them easy to work with. However they do not “stick” to the trays and do float up in liquids. Mostly the ends and a bit of the sides.
The Freezedryingsupplies mats I wasn’t a fan of at first but after many uses of both now I’m leaning towards them as the “better” mats for us. My main reason I didn’t care for them is stuff stuck to them like pet hairs etc and were a nightmare to try and get off. They seem to have gotten better over time/washings. They “stick” to the trays and don’t float up in liquids which I like. Both do prevent foods from sticking to the trays.
The aftermarket insulation pillow is well made and does definitely help lower processing time. Doesn’t have an issues with getting in the seal.
The portion divider have been great. Very easy to use. Easy to clean. Easy to do so many different portion sizes. Work great for keeping things like the taffy from sticking together in the drying process. Also seems to help with dry times on thicker “liquids”.
Think that’s all the updates for now.

 

[Double R]

Cooked pasta trial- “thin spaghetti”


Finished pasta in storage


Trying the pasta in our homemade canned chicken soup.

Took at the most 2-3 minutes longer than top ramen noodles took. Basically brought the soup to a boil, let it boil a couple minutes and by the time it cooled enough to eat the noodles were as if I’d just cooked them fresh.
The plan is to do homemade noodles in the long run and cook/preserve the same way for quick single pasta servings.

Note on the soup. We had cut up and freeze dried celery to keep it from going bad previously. We were out of celery when we made/canned this soup so gave the freeze dried celery a try. We had to go back in our batch notes to know if it was freeze dried or fresh. We made several things around the same time so wasn’t sure which had the FD’d. We feel like the celery is a bit firmer than “fresh” is after canning and has a bit more flavor in the soup. Will be getting more celery to FD next time it’s on sale for sure.

 

[lilmissy]

Never tried plain pasta, will have to do so. I just took out mushrooms and now got milk in there.
i agree the tray stackers are perfect.

 

[Neb]

What is the strategy of cooking (adding water) spaghetti and then free drying it?

Curious,

Ben

 

[Double R]

Never tried plain pasta, will have to do so. I just took out mushrooms and now got milk in there.
i agree the tray stackers are perfect.

Milk is on the list. I’ve heard horror stories of it making a huge mess. Have you had that issue at all?

 

[Double R]

What is the strategy of cooking (adding water) spaghetti and then free drying it?

Curious,

Ben

Making “instant” pasta basically. Like top ramen basically. So instead of cooking the pasta in a serving size when you want it you just reheat and it rehydrates and your ready to go. My idea is to make homemade cup of noodles in a jar for meals to take with us for lunch etc. Just add hot water, let sit and eat just like a cup of noodle.

 

[lilmissy]

Milk is on the list. I’ve heard horror stories of it making a huge mess. Have you had that issue at all?

Make sure you prefreeze at least 24 hrs. I put 1 qt of milk per tray. (Same with eggs) A gal will leave you with a qt left for another batch. I grab grass fed A2 when I am at the Amish and then fd, we are not milk drinkers, but we do need it every now and then.

 

[Double R]

Free peaches I had processed and put away in the freezer. Turned out amazing. For 7 quarts from 4 trays.

 

[Terri9630]

@Neb I do not believe so but I will be looking into that idea! They may have more sizes of those trays than I’m aware of.

They have all sizes. We put them under our upright freezer, washing machine and dishwasher. Square ones.

 

[Double R]

They have all sizes. We put them under our upright freezer, washing machine and dishwasher. Square ones.

I will for sure be investigating this! Thanks!

 

[lilmissy]

I always thought about those trays that bars keep under the taps. Not sure if those would work for your condensation problem or not.

I have last of the milk in the fd now, mushrooms ready to go in once it thaws. Got lots of veggies I want to roast and then fd After all of these batches. I really could use another one, lol

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

Just be happy you have veggies. I am going through prepping withdrawal. It's making me down right twitchy.

 

[Double R]

I always thought about those trays that bars keep under the taps. Not sure if those would work for your condensation problem or not.

I have last of the milk in the fd now, mushrooms ready to go in once it thaws. Got lots of veggies I want to roast and then fd After all of these batches. I really could use another one, lol

I’ve been wondering about veggies. I saw a video on FD’ing them raw. I have 3 trays getting ready to go in of Costco frozen mixed veggies. I didn’t cook them first. Wasn’t sure what was best. Cook first then FD or leave uncooked (already blanched before freezing). It’s just a bag I found in the deep freeze. Usually use fresh to eat anymore. Will be FDing fresh after this bag.

 

[lilmissy]

Veggies are best blanched. Frozen ones are always blanched so you are good to go. I roast brussel sprouts first, they are so good this way. But broccoli, corn, caulrice, peas, etc. i just toss in Fd. Green peppers are delicious straight from garden to fd. The only ones we dont care for fd is green beans.

 

[lilmissy]

Just be happy you have veggies. I am going through prepping withdrawal. It's making me down right twitchy.

You out of veggies or what?

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

You could say that. The SHTF in the province where I live. The supply chain has been shut down. See my thread in the prepper section.

No veggies, milk, eggs, bread, pet food, animal feed and or anything else that gets cleared off the shelf. There are no replacements for anything coming in. On the wrong side of the new divide they running out of gas.

Given another week or two, we should be getting something, but there will be stiff competition for it.

I have my preps, but they are being used without being able to replace them or add to them.

 

[goshengirl]

It would make me twitch, too - to go from preparing to depending upon what's been prepared. (We've had snatches of that, but not to the extent that I think you will go through.) I see so little of your situation in the news (because the news isn't about the news). But we think about what's going on your way and keep you and your neighbors in our thoughts and prayers.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

I can't even find any news on it and live here. May be its on TV but I don't have one.

Anyways, I have hi- jacked this thread enough. Let's get back to Double R's freeze drying. I am learning how much I want one, and she is already drooling about another one.

 

[Double R]

No worries @ClemKadiddlehopper! What your talking about is important.

While I have my disappointments in some of the design issues I absolutely don’t regret the FD’er. It’s a hefty expense which should go down more over time (well maybe not so much right now with current events) but in my opinion it’s worth the expense pending it lives a long time with constant use. So far the rehydrated food is far better than dehydrated and there are quite a few things so far that are very good healthy snacks FD’d. At some point I hope to put things away for longer term storage but so far it’s just been clearing out freezers and saving produce etc that would otherwise be fed to the livestock because it would have gone bad. My better half already drew the line in the gravel. No more freezers added to the property……….
I will admit….. I’m having some anxiety over the empty space in the freezers. I’m not sure why as it’s mostly now preserved and on the shelves and in bins. Odd reaction to have

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

I guess we are just a couple of odd balls.

I am getting all the lard in the freezers rendered and next I will can the many gallons of stock that is currently frozen. I have a mess of carrots and celery in the fridge that I was going to dehydrate pre disaster, but now I am going to use them for stock so I can clear the heaps of chicken and beef bones out of the freezers. That will empty out two 14 cft freezers. It feels wrong to have all that space going to waste.

I know I said veggies aren't available and no, I cannot buy any now but I have canned and a freezer full of frozen. I'm probably one of the very few who happened to have a 2nd fridge full of carrots, celery and parsnips when things went down. It wasn't quite what I had in mind, but oh well. All that and I am worried.

Once again, another hi- jacking.

 

[Double R]

Trial results post:
I had read you can do candies like skittles after a load is completed by putting the candy in the drier while the option of add more dry time is still available. I had the taffy previously frozen but the post I had ready about it in wasn’t specific about prefreezing the candy. It said to add 6 hours and the candy will be done. Saves the extended freeze time etc of the cycle. So I figured I’d give it a try with some taffy I had prepped and it actually did work. Will be doing that method again for the remaining salt water taffy I have to do for Christmas goodies.

 

[Neb]

6 hours seems a lot. But I guess it makes sense considering....

Ben

 

[Double R]

@Neb I may try less time next time. Can always add more dry time. Just went off the “directions” that I read this time around

 

[Double R]

Our tortoise is now in on the FDin action.

FD’d prickly pear pads and aloe. Harvested while at the proper size for optimum nutrition. I think I will probably powder them when the blender is dry. It will be rehydrated anyways so powder would keep in smaller containers over the winter. This will allow us to harvest when they are producing and still feed in the off season. I looked online and did find a single bottle available of freeze dried prickly pear and was SHOCKED at the price. This should work out well for us.