Want to support the channel? Buy me a coffee :-) www.buymeacoffee.com/DanZm If you are thinking of buying a freeze dryer, please consider supporting us by purchasing through our affiliate link. It helps us and costs you nothing! affiliates.harvestright.com/995.html Before buying a freeze dryer perhaps research to find out more about the downside of the machine; like with any big machine, some people say they have had problems with their machine and it's big and heavy and hard to return! Batch worksheet link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13DCB2hXo9_ZYrhIUicLk2IrEaQGszwbaJTcEH8wJxk4/edit?usp=sharing Freeze Drying: The Next 50 Batches 551 to 600 docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SeVFOmCqhu75fg96E9lAjUXsK9zJotiZ_HKhzQ0dAXA/edit?usp=sharing
Sure! It's just a disc I cut out of 0.075" thick acrylic (1.9mm thick) I would probably use 1/8" (3mm +) next time. Once the machine is under vacuum the disc probably doesn't matter, but while it's freezing it seems to help. (think airplane window) I love how good of a job it has done and have not experienced any downside. It does seem to be better than the pads they used to send with our machines. It also works when I want video inside the chamber while freeze drying. It's held in by friction. Here is how I made it. Making an Acrylic Disc Front for a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer th-cam.com/video/erH1VDqNi80/w-d-xo.html If your freeze dryer is like ours, (2017) the opening is not quite round. For my first test piece I cut a very accurate circle out of a piece of foamcore and it had gaps of 1/8"+ (3mm +) around the edge. For the newer machines you may be able to skip the whole pattern making step if you chamber barrel is very round, and just draw the correct size circle. My sister's newer (late 2022) machine has a chamber that is very round. I am making a disc for her machine (most of the way complete - I'm just really slow!) and I think the fact that it's round will make it easier. Her machine is a medium and I think hers is just a simple 11 7/8" diameter actual circle!
Thank you for the quick reply! I saw the acrylic disc making video quite a while ago and now that my machine is working again I’m ready to make one but now I couldn’t find the video. But I did catch up on several of your other videos! I love your technical approach. I’ve learned a lot from you. Thank you again!
I put tea bags in a quart jar with an oxygen absorber and a dessicant pack and they stay fresh for a long time. I opened some that had been in jars for over 5 years and they were still just as good as the day they were canned. It seems the biggest enemy to tea is humidity and oxygen and if you eliminate those your tea will stay good for a very long time.
The sealed plastic might even mean inert Nitrogen. Also, it will be completely dry. It can take some time to transport it in the first place. For longer lasting (and better tasting, higher quality) tea, loose leaf or whole leaf is probably better.
There absolutely would have been water in the boxes and bags, as well as the tea. So, yes, the 108 grams of water loss would have been from all the components. Every part of it would have had some moisture level. I assume, without proof, it would be basically whatever the ambient air moisture level is. (more or less) My sister was against me opening all of her tea bags and pouring them onto the trays, so I really don't know how much moisture was from the tea versus the packaging! 🤣
Great idea! I drink loose leaf so should work out nicely. 😊 Thanks so much for your tip on using Nylog. I used that, plus silicone tape, plus did the sealant on the epoxy thing. Running a vacuum test right now and it looks promising but don’t want to get my hopes up.
@@SchoolReports Well, I can't find any leaks at all and the mtorrs just keep getting worse. Waiting on HR support now. Hopefully it is just the pump or the hose itself (fittings passed windex spray test) and they'll replace it under warranty 🤞
Nuts were the driest food that I've done. Each tray only lost several grams of water. I watched someone else that vacuum sealed nuts (no OA) each year and did a taste test of several years worth of nuts and found that around year 7 or 8 they started to not taste as fresh. His weren't freeze dried but I figured that mine should last at least that long.
That makes sense, nuts have very little water. I definitely would put oxygen absorbers in nuts! In one of the papers I read about how food goes rancid, In it it says "There are two types of rancidity: 1. Oxidative Rancidity: 2. Hydrolytic Rancidity: With proper freeze drying, storage, and packaging with OXYGEN ABSORBERS, we should be controlling/eliminating both of those along with light and high temperatures. If you are interested, here is one paper (there are a lot. I'll give you more links if you want.) on rancidity that I found interesting and learned a lot from: Rancidity of Food www.biotechnologynotes.com/food-biotechnology/food-chemistry/rancidity-of-food-introduction-types-factors-and-prevention-of-rancidity-food-chemistry-biotechnology/14100
@@SchoolReports I put OAs in all of my freeze dried foods. This guy had been storing nuts (not freeze dried) inside canning jars by just vacuum sealing and they stayed fresh for that long. I was surprised. Thanks!
@@Teresa.McDermott That good to hear. (Both parts - the OAs and the long life with just vacuum sealing) 😁 I would not have thought the nuts would have done so well for so long!
We have been getting our Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers from PackFreshUSA.com for years now and have been happy with the products and service we have received from them. - They are not a sponsor, we just like their stuff. packfreshusa.com/shop/mylar-gusset-bags/ They have updated their website and I need to update the links.
Thank you for the video - I am on team T-shirt too! Would you mind posting links to the industry papers your sister found on why freeze drying tea is better?
I don't know about the majority, but I assume some of it was from the cardboard. (and the bag material and string and label) Either way, the moisture was in the tea packages.
@@SchoolReports a test batch with just the tea bags would be the only way to truly know how much. However, I think it would be a pain to try and place the bags on the tray by themselves.
Technically, botulism needs a lot of available water. Once the water activity level is below 0.94 botulism isn't an issue, so even with poorly freeze dried things, it's other nasties (molds, fungus, yeast) we need to worry about, not botulism. 😇 Water Activity’s Role in Food Safety and Quality www.food-safety.com/articles/4420-water-activitye28099s-role-in-food-safety-and-quality?v=preview
Did you think about the heat used in the freeze drying process causing the Tea to Oxidize you noted that you smelled TEA when you opened the chamber .....If you were smelling TEA the volatile oils in the tea were oxidizing from the heat and were being pulled out along with the water ....Also I would imagine a lot of the water was being drawn from the Cardboard boxes... cardboard is like a sponge for moisture .... Just a theory... enjoyed the video
I actually wasn't worried about it oxidizing while it was freeze drying because 1) don't tell my sister I said this, but it's not my tea! And more importantly 2) it's in a vacuum all the time it's being heated, so little/no oxygen, The "smells like tea" was supposed to be humor, because it WAS tea. (Mork from Mork & Mindy - Earth Humor Ar Ar.) I did assume that some of the moisture came from the cardboard and the rest of the packaging because it should all have reach an equilibrium of humidity levels while in the packaging. But, I didn't care enough to empty out all of the tea from all the little bags to test for that. The fact remains that the water was present in the tea and packaging, so if it were to be stored as it was (with the packaging) the moisture would have been in the bags.
Dude, u are ruining all that work freeze drying all that tea by letting it sit there absorbing moisture while u talk and point at your chart? That stuff needs to be bagged IMMEDIATELY... I take one tray out at a time to bag the stuff, it's usually so cold inside the freeze dryer that the air you let in when u open it should begin depositing is moisture on the sides... but I don't let mine finish, I put a ton of extra drying time on and let it run until I'm ready to stop it and take the food out, my trays are never warm when I take them out
@jeremiahsmith7924 "Dude," you must be Seriously Joking ! Tea will Not be absorbing any appreciable amount of moisture in the small amount of time it takes to bag them . . . even with the time talking about everything SchoolReports is saying. Most teas sit for months/years just packaged in paper & cardboard packaging where it can absorb moisture; the few minutes here will not negatively affect it. Sugary things, such as orange juice, that has been freeze dried, tend to absorb moisture quickly and need to be bagged and sealed fast. Never bag things that are cool/cold ! That is when condensation/water can be introduced back into the items that have been freeze dried. The purpose for freeze drying things is to take the water Out. Always, Always, Always make sure the trays/food are warm when taking them out of the freeze dryer. 90 degrees to 120 degrees is a good range to aim for to make sure it's warm enough. Then take out the trays, weigh them and put them back in for at least two hours more (if this is your first dryness check for this batch) If the next weight check shows no more weight loss, it's dry; if there is a loss it goes back in for more time, until there is No more weight loss. Never Ever take out trays/food when they are cold. Don't trust the freeze dryer messages that say "Process Complete" to mean the food is done freeze drying. When your microwave or oven goes beep that doesn't mean the food you are cooking is necessarily done in either of those - it just means the time is done on the timer. The food in the freeze dryer is not done untill all the moisture/water is gone. The freeze dryer can not tell you that, only checking the weight can. I have been freeze drying for over five years and have learned a lot during this time. And have had a lot of fun. So, keep freeze drying, learning, and having fun. Be safe. :-)
![⭐ฮิตในTikTok!! ( หมูเด้ง MooDeng ) Ver. แดนซ์โจ๊ะๆ ReMix BY [ ดีเจกิต รีมิกซ์ ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3krsyfWUeHU/mqdefault.jpg)
Want to support the channel? Buy me a coffee :-) www.buymeacoffee.com/DanZm
If you are thinking of buying a freeze dryer, please consider supporting us by purchasing through our affiliate link. It helps us and costs you nothing! affiliates.harvestright.com/995.html
Before buying a freeze dryer perhaps research to find out more about the downside of the machine; like with any big machine, some people say they have had problems with their machine and it's big and heavy and hard to return!
Batch worksheet link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13DCB2hXo9_ZYrhIUicLk2IrEaQGszwbaJTcEH8wJxk4/edit?usp=sharing
Freeze Drying: The Next 50 Batches 551 to 600 docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SeVFOmCqhu75fg96E9lAjUXsK9zJotiZ_HKhzQ0dAXA/edit?usp=sharing
Great project! Thanks for sharing. You can “babble” … it’s all great info :)
I think your sister is wonderful! And you a a great brother to do this for her!
Do you have a video on making the clear door shield you use that replaces the useless door insulation pad?
Sure! It's just a disc I cut out of 0.075" thick acrylic (1.9mm thick) I would probably use 1/8" (3mm +) next time. Once the machine is under vacuum the disc probably doesn't matter, but while it's freezing it seems to help. (think airplane window) I love how good of a job it has done and have not experienced any downside. It does seem to be better than the pads they used to send with our machines. It also works when I want video inside the chamber while freeze drying. It's held in by friction. Here is how I made it. Making an Acrylic Disc Front for a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer th-cam.com/video/erH1VDqNi80/w-d-xo.html If your freeze dryer is like ours, (2017) the opening is not quite round. For my first test piece I cut a very accurate circle out of a piece of foamcore and it had gaps of 1/8"+ (3mm +) around the edge. For the newer machines you may be able to skip the whole pattern making step if you chamber barrel is very round, and just draw the correct size circle.
My sister's newer (late 2022) machine has a chamber that is very round. I am making a disc for her machine (most of the way complete - I'm just really slow!) and I think the fact that it's round will make it easier. Her machine is a medium and I think hers is just a simple 11 7/8" diameter actual circle!
Thank you for the quick reply! I saw the acrylic disc making video quite a while ago and now that my machine is working again I’m ready to make one but now I couldn’t find the video. But I did catch up on several of your other videos! I love your technical approach. I’ve learned a lot from you. Thank you again!
What an amazing experiment/product! Who knew this would work out like it has!?! Thank you and your sister for opening a new door! ~Sharon from Florida
Doing my tea bags!
I put tea bags in a quart jar with an oxygen absorber and a dessicant pack and they stay fresh for a long time. I opened some that had been in jars for over 5 years and they were still just as good as the day they were canned. It seems the biggest enemy to tea is humidity and oxygen and if you eliminate those your tea will stay good for a very long time.
The sealed plastic might even mean inert Nitrogen. Also, it will be completely dry. It can take some time to transport it in the first place. For longer lasting (and better tasting, higher quality) tea, loose leaf or whole leaf is probably better.
I like the humor 😁
Could there have been water pulled out from the cardboard boxes holding the tea? Or the bags holding the tea?
There absolutely would have been water in the boxes and bags, as well as the tea. So, yes, the 108 grams of water loss would have been from all the components.
Every part of it would have had some moisture level. I assume, without proof, it would be basically whatever the ambient air moisture level is. (more or less)
My sister was against me opening all of her tea bags and pouring them onto the trays, so I really don't know how much moisture was from the tea versus the packaging! 🤣
Learn something everyday 😊
What a nice brother you are!
Ya know... I truly watch your videos for the freeze drying info but I have to say, I look forward to your shirts which crack me up...LOL.
Great idea! I drink loose leaf so should work out nicely. 😊
Thanks so much for your tip on using Nylog. I used that, plus silicone tape, plus did the sealant on the epoxy thing. Running a vacuum test right now and it looks promising but don’t want to get my hopes up.
Fingers crossed! 😅 It would be so hard to find a leak without having my whole second freeze dryer set to use as test parts.
@@SchoolReports Well, I can't find any leaks at all and the mtorrs just keep getting worse. Waiting on HR support now. Hopefully it is just the pump or the hose itself (fittings passed windex spray test) and they'll replace it under warranty 🤞
@@lillypatience So sorry to hear that. Let us know how it goes.
I would never had thought to do tea bags :)
Me neither! ☺
Cool idea for an experiment
Nuts were the driest food that I've done. Each tray only lost several grams of water. I watched someone else that vacuum sealed nuts (no OA) each year and did a taste test of several years worth of nuts and found that around year 7 or 8 they started to not taste as fresh. His weren't freeze dried but I figured that mine should last at least that long.
That makes sense, nuts have very little water. I definitely would put oxygen absorbers in nuts! In one of the papers I read about how food goes rancid, In it it says "There are two types of rancidity: 1. Oxidative Rancidity: 2. Hydrolytic Rancidity: With proper freeze drying, storage, and packaging with OXYGEN ABSORBERS, we should be controlling/eliminating both of those along with light and high temperatures. If you are interested, here is one paper (there are a lot. I'll give you more links if you want.) on rancidity that I found interesting and learned a lot from: Rancidity of Food www.biotechnologynotes.com/food-biotechnology/food-chemistry/rancidity-of-food-introduction-types-factors-and-prevention-of-rancidity-food-chemistry-biotechnology/14100
@@SchoolReports I put OAs in all of my freeze dried foods. This guy had been storing nuts (not freeze dried) inside canning jars by just vacuum sealing and they stayed fresh for that long. I was surprised. Thanks!
@@Teresa.McDermott That good to hear. (Both parts - the OAs and the long life with just vacuum sealing) 😁 I would not have thought the nuts would have done so well for so long!
Omgosh yay! I have a ton of the same boxes so can’t wait to see the results
Where do you buy your mylar bags.
We have been getting our Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers from PackFreshUSA.com for years now and have been happy with the products and service we have received from them. - They are not a sponsor, we just like their stuff.
packfreshusa.com/shop/mylar-gusset-bags/
They have updated their website and I need to update the links.
The next test has to be to freeze dry loose dry tea because the packaging had some moisture it.
That is my opinion as well! The packaging had water too.
Thank you for the video - I am on team T-shirt too!
Would you mind posting links to the industry papers your sister found on why freeze drying tea is better?
I'll check and see if she saved any of the links.
I've been thinking about doing this I've done the rice a roni packets and was surprised how much it lost thanks.
Who would have thought there would be so much water in "dry" foods!
What’s the chance that the majority of the moisture came from the cardboard and not the tea?
I don't know about the majority, but I assume some of it was from the cardboard. (and the bag material and string and label) Either way, the moisture was in the tea packages.
@@SchoolReports a test batch with just the tea bags would be the only way to truly know how much. However, I think it would be a pain to try and place the bags on the tray by themselves.
@@timothychristian9140 Ha! I almost did that and then I decided that I didn't care enough. (After all, It wasn't mine! Don't tell my sister.)
@@SchoolReports don’t worry, your secret is safe with me lol.
@@SchoolReports 😛
A pinprick in the un-opened packets, freeze dry and then place in mylar bags or glasses with oxygen absorbers etc.
The original packs were not even close to sealed air tight.
@@SchoolReports Well done to BOTH of you! 🔷 Greetings from an Englishman 🇬🇧 watching and LEARNING lots from Saudi Arabia! ☺
@@gereshomeE Thanks for watching and commenting!
I’m using tea bags that were vacuum sealed in 2015, in clear food saver bags put in buckets. Not a thing wrong with them.
@@diane4470 Thanks. That's really good to hear!
😀 😛 🐸 ❤️ 😋
I’m starting to think your sister is a bit loopy. You know, eating vegetables, freeze drying tea bags, etc.
Eating vegetables is loopy?😮
Also you don't want to remove oxygen and seal into an oxygen free environment any product with moisture in it as you can risk Botulism.
Technically, botulism needs a lot of available water. Once the water activity level is below 0.94 botulism isn't an issue, so even with poorly freeze dried things, it's other nasties (molds, fungus, yeast) we need to worry about, not botulism. 😇
Water Activity’s Role in Food Safety and Quality
www.food-safety.com/articles/4420-water-activitye28099s-role-in-food-safety-and-quality?v=preview
Did you think about the heat used in the freeze drying process causing the Tea to Oxidize you noted that you smelled TEA when you opened the chamber .....If you were smelling TEA the volatile oils in the tea were oxidizing from the heat and were being pulled out along with the water ....Also I would imagine a lot of the water was being drawn from the Cardboard boxes... cardboard is like a sponge for moisture .... Just a theory... enjoyed the video
I actually wasn't worried about it oxidizing while it was freeze drying because 1) don't tell my sister I said this, but it's not my tea! And more importantly 2) it's in a vacuum all the time it's being heated, so little/no oxygen,
The "smells like tea" was supposed to be humor, because it WAS tea. (Mork from Mork & Mindy - Earth Humor Ar Ar.)
I did assume that some of the moisture came from the cardboard and the rest of the packaging because it should all have reach an equilibrium of humidity levels while in the packaging. But, I didn't care enough to empty out all of the tea from all the little bags to test for that. The fact remains that the water was present in the tea and packaging, so if it were to be stored as it was (with the packaging) the moisture would have been in the bags.
Dude, u are ruining all that work freeze drying all that tea by letting it sit there absorbing moisture while u talk and point at your chart? That stuff needs to be bagged IMMEDIATELY... I take one tray out at a time to bag the stuff, it's usually so cold inside the freeze dryer that the air you let in when u open it should begin depositing is moisture on the sides... but I don't let mine finish, I put a ton of extra drying time on and let it run until I'm ready to stop it and take the food out, my trays are never warm when I take them out
@jeremiahsmith7924 "Dude," you must be Seriously Joking !
Tea will Not be absorbing any appreciable amount of moisture in the small amount of time it takes to bag them . . . even with the time talking about everything SchoolReports is saying. Most teas sit for months/years just packaged in paper & cardboard packaging where it can absorb moisture; the few minutes here will not negatively affect it.
Sugary things, such as orange juice, that has been freeze dried, tend to absorb moisture quickly and need to be bagged and sealed fast.
Never bag things that are cool/cold !
That is when condensation/water can be introduced back into the items that have been freeze dried. The purpose for freeze drying things is to take the water Out. Always, Always, Always make sure the trays/food are warm when taking them out of the freeze dryer. 90 degrees to 120 degrees is a good range to aim for to make sure it's warm enough. Then take out the trays, weigh them and put them back in for at least two hours more (if this is your first dryness check for this batch) If the next weight check shows no more weight loss, it's dry; if there is a loss it goes back in for more time, until there is No more weight loss.
Never Ever take out trays/food when they are cold.
Don't trust the freeze dryer messages that say "Process Complete" to mean the food is done freeze drying. When your microwave or oven goes beep that doesn't mean the food you are cooking is necessarily done in either of those - it just means the time is done on the timer.
The food in the freeze dryer is not done untill all the moisture/water is gone. The freeze dryer can not tell you that, only checking the weight can.
I have been freeze drying for over five years and have learned a lot during this time. And have had a lot of fun.
So, keep freeze drying, learning, and having fun. Be safe. :-)