I honestly think putting a thermometer inside the unit is an excellent idea. I sent the following note off to Harvest Right Support in an effort to gain a little better understanding of the process.
It's so much easier to stay on a low carb diet when you have things to nibble on. I've been drying meatballs (cut them in half first), and they make a fantastic savory snack. I'll post to the Tried and True thread when I get a chance.
. We have some really great 'techy' type guys here who are, as they have been exploring the FD mechanics and sharing that in their posts, writing what is turning out to be a 'troubleshooting manual' for us less capable folks.
Many times, you can still freeze dry something if you mix it in. For instance, if there’s a meal that has butter in it, it’s fine to freeze dry. It may just reduce the shelf life a little. So instead of 25 year shelf life, it might have a 10 year shelf life.
If you have a high volume lab, it’s usually a good idea to have more than one to be safe. Freeze drying ice water hash is the #1 way to dry it because it increases your production speed, enhances its color, retains more delicate terpenes, and sharply limits microbial activity.
Freeze drying lets you say goodbye to food waste by extending the shelf life of your food. Every dollar you save on groceries goes back into your pocket.
•Operation allows for recipe customization (up to 10 Thermal Treatment and 12 Drying steps). Control of the rate of freeze. This means that the rate of freeze can be speeded up or slowed down.
They replied with some good information, but didn't really directly answer the question. I know that there is pelo one answer for all foods, but a rule of thumb is certainly within reason.
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 Buy Now 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.
I love that the small freeze dryer can be placed on a kitchen counter. Having it in the kitchen makes it convenient and always ready to start the freeze-drying process.
More often than not, accidental gluten consumption means he loses about 5 pounds, which he can’t afford. Due to the potential of cross contamination, we don’t feel comfortable eating at most restaurants, which makes things tricky when we travel.
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.
Now that I've filled you in on why the most affordable freeze dryer is the small Harvest Right, let's talk about how you can score one without breaking the bank.
and this piece was placed on the vacuum hose fitting. I can still remove the panel without removing the hose to clean the coils. Simply remove the screws and slide the panel down the vacuum hose a few inches.