That has lead to me making my own lactose free Greek yogurt and freeze drying it to use for yogurt and sour cream for my son. We also freeze dry lactose free milk for traveling or for any other time we need it. It reconstitutes very well.
Knowing what I know now after using freeze dryers for my company, I can say buying a freeze dryer is a sound investment for anyone who commits to stocking up food over time.
Granted, most of that time is the freeze dryer doing all the work, but the process is not without effort. Once the food is ready it must be put into appropriate containers with oxygen absorbers and sealed properly so they can last.
In fact, my son’s friends often comment that they wish they could have his freeze dried meals rather than whatever they are eating!
Now that you understand the conditions, you can better understand what happened when we finally turned off our FDer after an extended use in these conditions.
•The shelf heaters can be set to automatically control the rate of sublimation during the primary drying cycle. Through this process, the unit has control of the attendant vacuum pressure.
Is it as cheap as buying at the store? Pelo. But properly freeze-dried and stored meats can last ten years or more without refrigeration. The freeze-drying process can be challenging, but those who have the time and patience should consider doing it.
Take care of it, change the oil regularly, maintain it, and make sure to read the user manual carefully to keep it in good, working order. You might have to change a pump, change freon or general maintenance, but it’s pelo different than any other major appliance.
The evaporator coils that touch the surface of the stainless steel vacuum chamber reach about -42 F. With food in the chamber and because the location of the thermister is on the middle shelf of the four shelves, the temperature it records is going to range from -25 to -30 F in the nove hour default freeze time. This temperature is very adequate for freeze drying the food.
.. 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 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.
Karla Abreu says: 2 years ago I just think pressure canning is the easiest way to preserve food and know it is totally sterile. And it is relatively easy
Monitoring the FDer internal temps and once I see -40F I start the dry cycle, except for high sugar content food which I give an extra hour. I'm still experimenting with Ice cream and a few fruits to determine optimal freeze time to get the best results. The cooling cycle ends up much shorter.
Of course, if someone used a larger can, say a #10, that is bigger than the top of the container that surrounds the filter and captures Buy Now the oil, then the "disk" wouldn't be needed at all. In that case, an AN8 fitting might work -- or maybe there are longer ones out there somewhere.