Jeanine L. Albert was quick to respond to my inquiry about the delivery of our harvest right freeze dryer. I hope companies will have more “Albert” in their team for the satisfaction of their customers! Thank you so much Trimleaf for helping us purchase this great product! Team Albert here!
After a few years of research, I finally decided to purchase a freeze dryer. It was one of the best purchases I have ever made. The only regret I have is that I didn’t buy one sooner.
I love adding powdered vegetables to soups to thicken them. It’s a great way to add nutrients without anyone noticing! You can also use powdered zucchini as a substitute for flour in baked goods; substitute 1/3 of the flour with zucchini powder.
One of the reasons I like the small freeze dryer is the size. At the same time, my large freeze dryer takes up space equivalent to a clothes dryer—the small one doesn't.
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 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)
22F, achieved by dividing 9 hours by 110F (the difference in food temps). We both know that the FDer doesn't do linear as the temps fall faster early on and slowly peak to max low temps, but the food freeze time might be a tad more linear than the FDer as food is denser and must be frozen throughout.
You can count on me sticking around to talk about the food side of things! My wife looked at me a little oddly when I got the freeze dryer, but now she's a fan too. I'm discovering things that it can do that I hadn't expected, such as making low carb snacks.
So I corrected the oversight - I drilled and tapped the elbow to add the port. Here is a picture. It worked great today when I flushed the pump to clear out the gunk.
In any case, maybe it will help some newbie HR Freeze Dryer owners to answer some of the Buy Now questions I once had.
adding insulation on the 3 ports on the chamber (One time thing - the drain and vacuum ports are very easy to get to)
So, while it might be tempting to stuff just as much as you may onto a tray, an arranged tactic making use of these applications will produce the best freeze dried foods, batch immediately after batch.
We packed freeze dried milk and cooked chicken strips as well as an assortment of snacks. One checked bag was dedicated to food, and it traveled very well.
Depending on how you want to use freeze dried food, it doesn’t have to be reconstituted. There are some freeze dried foods I like to powder in my blender or food processor and then add to other foods. These powders can be used in smoothies, soups, and baked goods.
The system records and maintains a log more info of the pressure and temperature during all parts of the freeze-dry cycle.