Freeze Drying 8 lbs of Mashed Potatoes - Batch 655 (plus 2 other things)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- Freeze drying batch 655, including 8 lbs of mashed potatoes, 2 cups of buttermilk, and a 1 1/2 lb pan of scalloped potatoes.
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We have been buying oxygen absorbers and 7 mil Mylar bags from PackFreshUSA since early 2018. During all that time (1000's of bag and oxygen absorbers, and about 6 year before before we added this affiliate link) we have been happy with the products and service we have received from them.
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Before buying a freeze dryer, perhaps research to find out more about the downside of the machine; some people have problems with their machine and it's big and heavy and hard to return!
When trying to decide what to freeze dry you can start by asking why.
Start by asking yourself this question. Why are you freeze drying food? Knowing this should help you decide what you should freeze dry first.
I'm freeze drying because:
Just to freeze dry leftovers?
You want to make your own food for camping/backpacking?
For if/when the SHTF?
For a short term emergency?
You have your own garden and want to freeze dry the food?
You love Costco but don't have a family of 6?
You are good at finding the food sales but only have 1 freezer?
When you cook homemade chili just for yourself you make 10 gallons? Because you have 3 full freezers and are worried about power outages?
If I knew then what I know now, I would have freeze dried things in a different order. Or maybe not, because I started freeze drying because we had 3 full freezers, I was thinking of getting another one, and I decided I should buy a walk-in freezer instead. I started looking into walk-ins and realized they were expensive to buy (even used ones) AND expensive to own and operate. Then I found out Harvest Right was making home sized freeze dryers. One of my first thoughts was "I like Mountain House!" I have used their food for backpacking almost 45 years and we even kept some in our travel trailer, for just in case.
Freeze dried food will stay fresh for many years and be ready and waiting when you need it.
We do videos showing how we are using our Harvest Right Freeze Dryer to freeze dry food for long term storage. (We have the medium size machine that we got in August of 2017) We talk about how to load and unload the freeze dryer, how to know if the food is dry, is it better to freeze dry raw food or cooked food, and do a few taste tests. Freeze dried food is also great for prepping or just for camping and snacking!
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As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases from the links provided. By clicking on the links, you can explore the products and tools I use.
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PackFreshUSA
We have been buying oxygen absorbers and 7 mil Mylar bags from PackFreshUSA since early 2018. During all that time (1000's of bag and oxygen absorbers, and about 6 year before before we added this affiliate link) we have been happy with the products and service we have received from them.
I earn from qualifying purchases from the links provided. - packfreshusa.com/?rfsn=7877576.a54e2a
Use the discount code "SchoolReports5" to get 10% off your first purchase when using the link.
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Harvest Right - If you are thinking of buying a freeze dryer, please consider supporting us by purchasing through our link. It helps us and costs you nothing!
affiliates.harvestright.com/995.html
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Before buying a freeze dryer, perhaps research to find out more about the downside of the machine; some people have problems with their machine and it's big and heavy and hard to return!
Where can the pan dividers be purchased?
@@francescapps7394 Thanks for watching and commenting!
The dividers are just something I made. The dividers are designed to fit the pans we got at a Dollar Tree store. The pans are a near perfect fit ** for our medium freeze dryer trays. (Turns out they have them online too www.dollartree.com/cooking-concepts-square-cake-pans-75-in/10065 ) The file is on Thingiverse. www.thingiverse.com/thing:3848619 (Some people feel that it's wrong to have food touch plastic - it's low on my personal risk list) I've updated the Thingiverse listing to include a new version of the divider that is slightly narrower at the bottom to fit more of the pans.
** Clarification on the 2 1/2 pans per tray; it only works IF the divider is the thickness I use. (or thicker) The freeze dryer trays actually fits about 1/2" less than 2 1/2 pans; that's one reason I made the dividers that thick, that and to fit the magnets.
For those without a 3D printer, here's my best ideas for getting some 3D printed dividers. Lots of areas have Maker's places with people that would love to do it for you. Or, better yet, some schools have 3D printing labs. Check with a the local charter school that has junior high or high school age students. I taught 3D Design and Printing for 3+ years at a local 6th - 8th grade charter school. We loved it when we could find/were given a real-world project with a real need.
I did make a couple of the dividers without using the 3D printer a short time ago. It turns out it's an easy craft project and my sister says they are working well. (I will be making more non 3D printed ones, they're easy, cheap, and work!)
Making Dividers for My Pre-freeze Pans Without Using a 3D Printer (For Our Medium Freeze Dryer) th-cam.com/video/XNsbWn29xdE/w-d-xo.html
Stay tuned. 😁 I'm going to show another way using 1/2 thick cutting board. (For people with more tools and/or skills)
Thats a great tip about rounding the corners of the bag , Thanks for sharing
good stuff, thanks for sharing
Hello, sir!
We appreciate your time and channel so much, and have implemented several of your ideas.
Thank you for providing your printable Batch Sheets. What a gift to all of us! Do you have a video of what you print on your labels for your mylar bags? Is the info taken directly from your Batch Sheets? Which labels do you use?
If you already provided this information in one of your videos, my apologies.
Take care, and may God bless you! Much appreciation from Texas. 🙏❤️
No apologies needed. I thank you for watching and commenting!
Trying Out My New Thermal Label Printer - th-cam.com/video/64uMWEFxOgA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=xG_lM8tJwoTKDj51
I do not have our database connected to the printer in any way. I decided for what I'm after that the info was just too simple to bother with linking the database with the printer. I just made and saved some label templates in OpenOffice - most of the info is almost the same on them.
Of course I still have no idea how they will do long term. So people are very concerned about the longevity of the labels. I'm not overly worried; I have 20 year old thermal prints that still look perfect. Time will tell.
Texas or Bust! Dutch Bros - Melissa, Texas
@SchoolReports Oooh, thank you, sir!
We wholeheartedly love that your printer isn't connected, in more ways than one. 😉👍 And, my hubby works in IT for a large tech producer. 😆 Says something, doesn't it?
I'm looking forward to checking out your video, thoughts, and tips. We really need to get a handle on our storage with the garden getting under way. I keep having this thought running through my mind, "About time!" 🤣 Your system is an answer to prayers! Thank you very, very much for your time and for sharing your wealth of knowledge on your time-tested, successful organization. 🤗
Take care!
Sincerely,
~ Just Another Grateful Online Fan 😄
P.S. Our children and grands live near Melissa and Dutch Bros.! 😲😂❤👍
@@Christine-777 We use an OpenOffice spreadsheet to track and sort all the bag data and bin locations, and we keep a fairly updated _printed_ copy of the spreadsheet. Of course we can sort by food, location and/or date.
I've had a number of people tell me (people who are prepping for when nothing works?) that they just keep copies on multiple devices, so they don't need a paper copy. Always makes me wonder. 🤔
Dutch Bros is building a new roasting facility in Melissa. Their current one is near Grants Pass, Oregon.
We just did a batch of mashed potatoes about a week ago. ❤
I always wonder, whether or not it would taste good after -- So I know I would re-hydrate a tablespoon or so, just to check! heheh, Thanks for the video.
Very understandable!
When we first started, before we started videoing the batches, we rehydrated something from almost all the batches.
I've been meaning to do a lot more rehydrating videos.
Rehydrating a Complete Dinner from Freeze Dried - th-cam.com/video/B0Q5XUCBbiw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=3_vF5UiGBsqoVH1N
It's amazing that it Tasts so good after rehydrating. I'm new to this and had to check the Tast/texture with my first successful batch (which was yesterday) :). Hubby really wasn't into all this but it's awesome what comes out of that machine. The only thing is the packaging and storage has me ummm reluctant. I'm just so afraid that I will do something wrong, and we will lose the food, my husband would be apoplectic and all my attempts to secure even just a little food for later would be stopped!! Happy Freeze drying!
@@dianavestal850 I have been thinking about storage as well, and I have come to the conclusion not to use "large plastic buckets" to store the food, because I have seen my plastic containers get eaten thru by pests. So, my advice would be sturdy metal containers. And make sure you use Oxygen Absorbers when you put the food in the Mylar Bags before you seal them. Definitely, practice by slowly increasing the amount of time before you rehydrate and test the food. You can also "buy" freeze dried food as a "test" before you sink cash into it.
@@marcfruchtman9473 I made a mistake and didn't fully freeze dry my eggs so I sealed it all to keep it from rehydrating with the moisture in the freezer till I could return it to the machine. My concern is not the storage but what to do if you realize you under processed something but already loaded the machine with other product and now have to wait for that to complete before finishing. This is only like my 4th day with all this and I'm totally messing up. ;( I'm not sure if that's the question you were answering or not. lol the other question I had was about freeze-drying chicken with the skin on. When I spoke to harvest right, they said you could, but I see grease on the edges of my skin that hangs over the meat and am worried it will (rehydrate) the meat while in storage and make the food inedible. I don't know why I decided to start this with probably the hardest items to process but I did. lol If my husband gets sick or we lose food he won't allow me to continue this and waste food, so I have to get it right.
@@dianavestal850 To answer your "Fat" question see his video, "Putting Lots Of Fat In The Freeze Dryer. A LOT! -- Responding to Anti Fat Comments"
As far as the eggs, just reprocess them and make sure they are dry by weighing them and check them to see that they don't lose weight anymore. If they lose weight, repeat until they stop losing weight. It doesn't hurt to over-freeze dry (except for the cost to your electricity) as far as I know. I can't say for sure, but practically every video shows where he will pull the food out to check the weight, and then continue freeze-drying, so just look for those. If you watch "Freeze Drying - Batch 658 - Dry Bean Cooking Test (part 2)", and look for the weight checks in the video, that will guide you.
have you freeze dried jello or pudding
Freeze Drying Jello and V8 Juice - th-cam.com/video/YtU6U4MRZHg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=H7GQRH5MGdbeHLu_
We've also done chocolate mousse.
Do you believe that tomato seeds need to be cracked to dry enough for long term storage or just extra drying time is enough ? I am really a believer in your scale method to access dryness, but seeds have such little mass compared to the rest of the toms.
Ha! This took me by surprise, a great tomato seed observation/question on a potato video. 😄
I do think that they (the tomato seeds) _could_ be an issue if: 1) There is a large percentage of seeds to tomato solids ratio, and 2) they just barely had enough time to dry. As you said, I'd just give it a bit of extra time. (Sorry, but I'm just guessing because I haven't tried sorting out the seeds from a batch and seeing how much water is in them at different stages of dryness. And now I'll need to)
The seeds should (and seem to) dry easily (more guessing - and I hate guessing) because of the surface area to total volume of the seed ratio; a lot of surface for such a small volume.
Haven't tried mashed potatoes yet, but it makes me hungry to just think about it! I am tearing my hair out looking for your address so I can mail you a long awaited check. I've given up looking through videos and decided to confess my organizational short comings. I really think you should add it along with your Buy me a coffee. Your channel is wonderful.
Hello Bucko! (Just fun to say:)
No need to send anything, but if you want to (and I do love to receive things - who doesn't) I did add the address to the "About" page on the channels home page. Do you think I should put it somewhere else too?
Hyde
1224 NE Walnut ST #164
Roseburg, Or 97470
If you find yourself with an extra 50 minutes to kill, consider this video from AQUALAB (I've watched/listened to a bunch of their videos/podcasts. They make the AQUALAB 3 😍)
Using critical water activity and package permeability to predict shelf life - th-cam.com/video/kMAxfQzAYDk/w-d-xo.htmlsi=3usHiHjWINP8-t5A
@@SchoolReports Thank you so much!
@@SchoolReports 🙂 Mailed you a card yesterday and thank you so much for all you do to make your channel so good. I can only imagine the hours of time you spend making, editing and posting the videos for us to enjoy. You have taught me so much! THANK YOU!!
@@SchoolReports I think folks would be more apt to see your contact info if it was right under the Buy me a cup of coffee. I'm hoping you get many people who will send you a check or another type of gift to show their appreciation. Having an address available on other channels has allowed me to easily do that. You are the science teacher I wish I would have had in school. I would have learned more and enjoyed the process. The link looks pretty interesting, but I'm only about 6 minutes in. Not enough time now to finish, but so far I'm enjoying it. Thanks for sharing it. I'm behind in my watching of videos as it is gardening season. Made a bunch of copper wire electroculture antennas tonight to add to the strawberry beds. New concept for me, so I'm excited to see the comparison between those plants who get them and those who don't. I'm hoping for a bumper crop to both freeze and freeze dry. Strawberries are almost as good as apples. 🙂 Thanks again friend.
@@buckonono7996 Thanks so much for the kind words. I would love to have a garden again; I had had one most of my life. We haven't had one at our current house because the deer, squirrels, and turkeys would just eat it unless we did some serious fencing. We did have one at in-laws house for a few years after we move here. Some of the first things we freeze dried was fresh green beans from our garden. I do miss fresh green beans. We do have a few young fruit trees. I'll have to look around for an animal resistant/safe area for green beans. I'd love to hear how your gardening progresses.
Right now I've been spending most of my functioning time working on our minivan camping project on/for the other channel.
I'll sure look at adding the address in the video description. (or the pinned comment) Either way it's a pretty big process to open and edit anything on 400+ videos. That's why I was lazy and just did the "About" page, it's a one-and-done thing. But I do have to go to almost all of them anyway because I need to get the PackFreshUSA link correct. (Oops!)
👍👍👍👍👍
Is there a download for the paper that you are using to record the weight of the trays.
These are the freeze drying batch worksheets I have been using: (we use the 4 tray one because our machine has 4 trays) They were made using OpenOffice. You can download them and change them in any why you want to suit your need.
Freeze Drying batch worksheet - 4 tray - 2 per sheet (Feel free to download a copy and use it anyway you want. You don't need to ask :) docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14_1KDR7-eEv_h9EdwJcHb2Dex5MuhnxlDV24qPR7H6c/edit?usp=sharing
Freeze Drying batch worksheet - 5 tray - 2 per sheet (Feel free to download a copy and use it anyway you want. You don't need to ask :) docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tgNrGRD3BICKsokLxuClAbQAYvHfDTmbXu6XvA089nc/edit?usp=sharing
Freeze Drying batch worksheet - 6 tray - 2 per sheet (Feel free to download a copy and use it anyway you want. You don't need to ask :) docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1d3x-gaD3_5SYravfrmk-SxUsp875T0lZsRmi8MLrKPU/edit?usp=sharing
I have an issue AGAIN. I processed meatloaf, I used 93% fat free the leanest offered and drained the meat after cooking. I have processed it and today as I thought it was done, I saw small beads of hardened lard like grease on the edges of my meatloaf slices. I'm super worried that the meat will go rancid or rehydrate itself. I can wipe some of if off but I'm afraid it goes throughout the pieces. The last batch I did didn't do this, so I'm really confused. I wanted to make mashed potatoes and freeze dry that with grave to make a one package meal but now I honestly don't know. It was 30 lbs of meat! made 50 portions (meals). I saw your video on ham that went bad so I'm really worried. Gezzz
I have a video of ham that went bad? Which video is that?
@@SchoolReports Sorry maybe it wasn't your video. Someone who verry calculated like yourself, packed ham then opened the ham package 2 1/2 years later, the ham was flexible, and he used a meter to see if "sewer" gasses came out of the bag and the meat, he said was rancid. He thought that the fat "rehydrated" the meat and that's what caused it to spoil. He found it to be greasy, said that there were veins of fat running through the meat and that's why it spoiled. I'm sorry I thought it was you. Anyway, I have tinny but noticeable fat droplets on the outside of my meatloaf, there not real big but it's something I haven't seen with my other meat even the last batch of meatloaf. I fear that it will spoil the food if put in mylar bags, it's a lot of meatloaf. :) I'm wondering if any surface fat no matter how small can rehydrate the meat and turn it?
@@dianavestal850 Oh. Someone else told me about that video a while back. The ham was simply not dried or stored properly from the beginning. Period.
Fat doesn't scare me. - Water, oxygen, and light scare me.
At the time the other person asked me about the other video, I had my sister check it out for me. - I stopped watching other peoples freeze drying videos years ago.
According to my sister, he even says that it may not have been dried correctly to begin with. That still gets my vote.
I really don't worry too much about fat, I worry about Oxygen, Water Activity, and Light. (The unholy trinity of rancidity)
If I had something go bad, I would double check my process. The places I would focus on would be:
1) Moisture - Is the food truly 100% dry. Was a Dry Check done before bagging. (If you're not doing a Dry Check your just guessing) Has moisture migrated through the bags? If I had questions/doubts about something that's already in storage (or something I'm opening to use or test), and find an issue, I'd run it through a few hours of the "Final Dry" or "Extra" drying cycle (depending on the firmware version) and do another Dry Check process.
2) Oxygen - Even though you think there was no oxygen, I would check. The bags with transparent panels or sides do not block oxygen transmission as well as fully Metallized bags. (They also tend to be thinner, which allows faster oxygen transmission)
3) initiation of the rancidity reaction - What started the reaction? According to the papers, light or heat (including cooking before freeze drying) can start the reaction. However, the articles also say (If I'm understanding it correctly) that oxygen and/or moisture are still required for the reaction.
Bottom line: The one thing I really know for sure is that is that I know very little! There is so much to learn in relation to rancidity, but there are also plenty of research about it. I try to read the papers and I try to figure out what it means to us doing freeze drying.
There are plenty of scientific and industry papers out there about food rancidity, and I've found them to be very interesting and informative. This is were I started;
Chemists define roughly two ways a product can turn rancid: (Super simplified)
1. Oxidative rancidity: Reaction involves oxygen
2. Hydrolytic rancidity: Reaction involves water
As I understand it, the main mechanisms for it to go rancid involve water and/or oxygen (and can be triggered by light and/or heat), and we are working to remove them all.
Rancidity of Food: Introduction, Types, Factors and Prevention of Rancidity | Food Chemistry | Biotechnology www.biotechnologynotes.com/food-biotechnology/food-chemistry/rancidity-of-food-introduction-types-factors-and-prevention-of-rancidity-food-chemistry-biotechnology/14100
Food spoilage - Rancidity and food chemistry. September 14, 2017 Storing Food - chemical reactions, fats, food enzymes, preservation foodcrumbles.com/food-spoilage-rancidity-and-food-chemistry/
Older videos (Sorry my older videos were short and left out a lot of info): Meatloaf made using 80/20 ground beef.
Making, freeze drying, and rehydrating meat loaf. - th-cam.com/video/FcTK63ZECjQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=KgPG15cA8BsdJzj3
Rehydrating a Complete Dinner from Freeze Dried - th-cam.com/video/B0Q5XUCBbiw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=mo30a58LlGHanQsB
@@SchoolReports as always you are a treasure!! Thank you. This meat is dry as a bone. lol I have done the weight test 3 times to be absolutely sure. it was the tiny bits of fat droplets that worried me. I read that the product will not be a long-term storage candidate if it has visible fat so I think we will be alright as we intend to eat this food throughout the year. The other meatloaf I did wasn't as thick and apparently, I added enough bread/crackers to absorb the fat that was still in the extra lean hamburger. That's all I can think that was different, I did make this batch a little stouter than the last batch, it was really fragile and broke when rehydrating.
@@dianavestal850 I was almost ashamed to share the older videos, I don't even show the Dry Check! Back then my main goal was to keep the videos very short - no more than 10 to 15 minutes - no matter what I had to leave out.
Personally, I wouldn't be very worried about the meatloaf you're describing. Especially if you aren't thinking of it for very long term storage. It sounds like your meatloaf is quite lean (as was your other batch) its just that this time you could see it. A lot leaner than mine - I use much less lean ground beef.
watched most of your vids, have you FD any meat or fish that was breaded ? like frozen fish sticks or chicken strips ?
I haven't FD any yet, but my sister has freeze dried multiple batches of frozen fish sticks and chicken nugget things. (She did cook them before freeze drying) I thought the dry fish sticks were pretty good. I don't know how they rehydrated; I'll try to remember to ask my sister if she rehydrated any, and if so, how'd she do it and how did they turn out.
HELP! :( I was so excited to get a freeze dryer, finally got it and I have tried to use it this weekend. Totally Unsuccessfully!!! I barely slept in 2 days. The issues are that I don't know what to do when I want or need to add time so I can go to bed. I have stopped the process, but it then starts the entire process all over again instead of just continuing on. The other bigger issue is when the machine runs condensation/water accumulates on the top part of the gasket so when I check the food the water drips down and it will not vacuum seal again to continue the process. It doesn't matter what I do, it happens every time top and bottom. I have had to take the food out and put it in the freezer then put it back in as a new batch the next day and then we run into the time issue again when I want to go to bed, if I release the vacuum and open the door it will not seal again. I have almost achieved full freeze dry statice but then have to freeze it to sleep. I don't know why I'm having these issues or how many times one can try, and freeze dry the same darn food! I really don't know what I'm doing with this thing and my excitement has turned to wanting to return the darned thing! I read and re-read the book but can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I see everyone taking food out and putting it in to finish the process or set the timer because it won't be done at a convenient time. PLEASE, TELL ME WHAT IM DOING WRONG!!
It will probably take me a couple of replies to cover everything. Please bare with me. (And feel free to ask anything; I'll do my best to answer)
First, don't worry about being there when the machine finishes, it will wait for you. The freezer part will still be running and everything will be fine. No need to stop it. It will just sit with the "Process Complete" screen waiting for you. (We've had it sit like this and wait for 2 days) When you have time to get back to it (like the next morning) just press the "More dry time" then "Continue" buttons and it will restart the vacuum and then the heaters. Do this before opening the machine because the food will be too cold if it's been waiting more than about 1/2 hour.
Condensation can be a big issue, including building up ice on the seal and making it hard to seal. We have added insulation around our seals and a plastic disc in the door opening to help stop it. It made a big difference.
Door Seal Insulation th-cam.com/video/zD2a1qmU7P8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=2L9buFa0D6JERC5C
th-cam.com/video/LA1sHVUqKts/w-d-xo.htmlsi=3Csa6GY-4fFvljfT
Ice on Door Seal and Condensation on Door th-cam.com/video/WMNvva9uTds/w-d-xo.htmlsi=FIlo1KWL03sOTC3L
Making an Acrylic Disc Front for a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer th-cam.com/video/erH1VDqNi80/w-d-xo.html 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.
@@SchoolReports First let me start by saying THANK YOU, for taking the time to help me with these issues. I realized, at least with this machine, that you can NOT add time till the drying process finishes on the screen. Then the menu that I see in your video comes up and the machine will allow me to vent, open the machine and check the food while it waits (tweeting occasionally) till I return the trays if need be AND the seal held with no ice buildup though there was still condensation on the top of the seal. I had been interrupting the drying process to try and set extra time so I could go to bed. That unfortunately couldn't happen because It took 4 hours for it to freeze and such before trying to vacuum and failing, twice each day I did it. LOL It's helpful to know that it will be fine if it's just left. Will it take extra time to process If I end up having to leave it or will it pick up where it left off after finishing the preprogramed (extra time) cycle? I kept putting it back in the freezer after the second time of failing each night so It was partially frozen and partially freeze dried each time. Can I ask one more question? Will the oxygen absorbers cause your food to be crushed in the bags when they suck all the air out? I did meatloaf and it's fragile. I don't want ground beef I want meatloaf so when it finished, I put them in wide mouth canning jars and used my vacuum sealer to close them. I rehydrated one slice to see how it was, (super good but it did fall apart) and put one in a mylar bag with an oxygen absorber but that doesn't look like things do when I vacuum seal food. It's a tinny bag and has been a few hours so I don't know. We are seniors with barley any budget for food as it is, I can't afford to lose any food. Thanks for all your help. God Bless
@@dianavestal850 You're welcome to whatever help I can give you. (For what it's worth:)
You are right, you can't add more time until it "thinks" it's done. But you can set it up to have extra "Final" dry time before starting, which I highly recommend. We have both mine and my sister's machines set up for 12 hours extra final dry time on every batch. The beep can be turned off so that it only beeps once.
I hope I'm understanding your question. - If the machine says it's complete and you add "More dry time" then "Continue" it does pick up where it left off and continues drying as soon as the pressure get back down.
When the bags shrink due to the oxygen being absorbed it can crush some foods.
Meatloaf is good! - The way I make my meatloaf, it isn't very fragile.
Rehydrating a Complete Dinner from Freeze Dried - th-cam.com/video/B0Q5XUCBbiw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=1SafVebZSiPL5Img
Making, Freeze Drying, and Rehydrating Meat Loaf - th-cam.com/video/FcTK63ZECjQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=qyn81Y9oJcV09Oqm
Freeze Dried Tomato Slices - Quick Test/Check After About 12 Weeks (From Batch 609) - th-cam.com/video/XWz0FZoV5gc/w-d-xo.htmlsi=MZdwsGS3_QE0jY-K
Batch 609 Freeze Drying Tomato Slices - th-cam.com/video/F2351166JZM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=aERvUx3HJ7SEE01C
When vacuum sealing food in jars, it's still necessary to include oxygen absorbers. (And store them in a dark place) There will still be some oxygen left in jars that have been vacuumed.
Vacuum Sealing Jars in the Freeze Dryer - How Much Air is Left? Too Much! - th-cam.com/video/JJqCHYoylDE/w-d-xo.htmlsi=uZoyf70eThCMAxz8
Do you have a batch info spreadsheet available for the batches after 1-50?
First 500 lbs data spreadsheet link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ieekdk5aH_2OWLUealeOLurU9_zl03BfFEg_qhAgcaA/edit?usp=sharing
Recapping the "First 50" Batches - th-cam.com/video/IRkac5wrCzI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=uZUzg6FFc9jS47l6
Yes, that’s the sheet I saw originally. I was wondering if you have anything for the batches after those?
I'm sorry. (Twice:) First, I'm so used to having people ask for the 50 batch data that I missed the word "after." in your comment! Second, I'm sorry I didn't keep up the charting. I started but didn't keep it up; it only has the next 11 batches. Maybe one of these days I'll get it caught up. (I have the data, I just never put it into the spreadsheet.
This is what I do have. - Freeze Drying: The Next 50 Batches 551 to 600 docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SeVFOmCqhu75fg96E9lAjUXsK9zJotiZ_HKhzQ0dAXA/edit?usp=sharing
Thank you very much. I appreciate it. If you ever decide to make them available, please let me know. I’m especially interested in the what you made field. Secondarily the link to the video and bag yield amounts. Thanks again for your help and reply.
@@burvey74 We made it using OpenOffice. You can download it and change them in any why you want to suit your need. Click "File" then "Download" and it's yours.
Oh, I want to weigh the food before and after like I see you doing and I'm unable to do any of what you're doing. Lady in tears!!! :(
Weighing can be useful, but the only really important weights are the _Dry Check_ weights to make sure it's dry, and those can be done on scratch paper. (We threw them away after each batch until people started asking about them:)
Do you mind my asking why you couldn’t weigh your trays?
@@user-yk7vd4zg3r I think it was because the process was retriggered and it froze the items again so I wouldn't get an accurate reading but honestly, I would have to read my post to know why I said that. LOL Old lady, bad memory.
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LOL. To be honest with you, I think when you are new at this you should avoid changing the factory settings. Get some successes under your belt first before you get into the depths of changing things that can ruin your results.
Hopefully Dan won’t mind if I write the steps out for you, since you are so new at this.
Mark each of your trays on the outside corner 1 through 4 with a black Sharpy, so you can track trays to their weights. I consider this emergency foods so I partially cook mine. Buy some frozen vegetables in bags. As a baseline, you can fill your trays which are 3/4 inch deep, maxing out at 3lbs.
Start your freeze-drier, do not close your vent. You are just allowing your freeze-drier to drop down to freezing and it takes hours. Begin cooking your frozen vegetables, but do it only partially as you will still want some time to cook it when you want to eat it. I do it in the microwave.
Once partially cooked, leaving any cooking water behind, spoon the veggies onto lined trays, dry them off a bit more with paper towels. Work one tray at a time and it can cool off as you work another. Continued…
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Once they are all ready, write down on a yellow sticky paper the tray number and it’s matching weight. Leave the stick on the freeze-drier so it doesn’t get lost, LOL, and put the food loaded trays into the freeze-drier, close the drain valve, and push “start,” and walk away letting the system take care of it. It will take many hours for the system to freeze your food. That’s why some people put their foods into the kitchen freezer to freeze. After all your home freezer is already working, so it saves your freeze-drier the work. Others don’t have that luxury of room in their home freezers, LOL.
When the orange bar goes out it will go into extra drying. It can stay there for 24 hours, you can watch the clock and see it counting down. So you don’t really have to worry about the food during that time, meaning nothing will be harmed. It’s a large window of time so to speak that you can use to get them out in. Plus you can even tap the clock numbers up and add more time if you have an emergency and have to leave, but let’s ignore that for now.
Usually it’s delicate things like beaten eggs that need checked at the turnover into the extra dry time. They are one of the rare things you can burn. Continued…
Why aren't you using those machines that absorb oxygen and close the mylar bags
Good question. The short answer is time, money, and oxygen.
As far as I know, there is not a machine that absorbs oxygen out of Mylar bags. I assume you are referring to a vacuum sealer, which does remove a lot of the air from the bag - but not all of it - which means there is still oxygen in the bag.
I'm not against vacuum sealing the bags or jars (as long as there are oxygen absorbers), except for the cost of the chamber vac, time (maybe a minute or two per bag, times thousands of bags), and the potential of crushing some delicate foods (if using bags), e.g. tomato slices, green beans or other delicate items. I have no plans to get a chamber vacuum for Mylar bag sealing. I would always use oxygen absorbers for long term storage, even when vacuuming, because there is still going to be a small amount of air/oxygen between every particle of food. A lot more than people think. A little oxygen goes a long ways when it comes to damaging food. The oxygen absorbers will remove the oxygen exponentially better. I don't know if vacuuming the bag - and including oxygen absorbers - is any better than oxygen absorbers without vacuuming. (It might be, because it does remove most of the air, but I've seen nothing to say it is) If the bag has a lower pressure on the inside vs the outside, there will be a pressure pushing the oxygen in. The long term problem is permeability - oxygen is going to be going through the bag, slowly, forever. The better the bag the slower it happens. (That's the big plus with jars - not permeable) Of course if you have oxygen absorbers in the bags they keep absorbing any oxygen that comes through. No matter how we pack them, we always add oxygen absorbers.
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