Freeze Drying Milk, Again

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ธ.ค. 2024

ความคิดเห็น • 67

  • @elemental_video
    @elemental_video 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    The cutting board hack is worth the cost of admission! 5 stars! Highly recommend!

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Thanks!
      Me: "Laziness is the mother of invention"

  • @stellablue7609
    @stellablue7609 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Love the rolling cart, great idea.

  • @SilentWatcher594
    @SilentWatcher594 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I use a canning funnel for powdered products into the bags.

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Yes! Canning funnels work great for this. Thanks!

  • @lyndabuchholz1216
    @lyndabuchholz1216 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thanks! You give such good information!

  • @richardallan5460
    @richardallan5460 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Could you double the portions/batch on the trays by stacking them on top of each other?

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Yes or no. It depends on what the food is. The stacking is not usually a problem, it's the total water load of the batch.
      We load the trays with more than one layer for many items. For some items we put a piece of parchment between the layers ( th-cam.com/video/F2351166JZM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=tgcladY46lQBlFjZ&t=512 ), most of the time we just have layers with nothing in between. ( th-cam.com/video/-XGk0rSgjbQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=BxdFCn0GpEfeFwYb&t=21 )
      The true capacity per load is mostly a function of the ice (water) load of the cold trap. (The chamber wall) With the medium machine it's in the 10 to 12 lb range; I mostly try to load mine to the 8 to 10 lbs of ice range spread evenly :) across all the trays.

    • @richardallan5460
      @richardallan5460 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@SchoolReports in this case it looks like there is lots of room for more milk, like double

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@richardallan5460 Yes, we could _physically_ fit them in our machine (the newer 5 tray medium has less space between trays), but again, the limit is about the water weight.
      A double layer of full blocks of milk would be nearly 20 lbs of water. Four trays filled with blocks of milk is 10 lbs. (This batch was only 8 lbs because I didn't put in the half blocks like I did in this video - th-cam.com/video/KrBIoDqGhiA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=j0wzjOt2MRSZQEzC&t=519)
      In an overloaded machine (ice on the chamber walls touching the rack) the process will kind of stall out because the wall ice will start being re-sublimated.

    • @richardallan5460
      @richardallan5460 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@SchoolReports so I think about 6 litres would be the limit. Thanks for your responses and all the how-to's

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@richardallan5460 6 would be a very heavy water/ice load. We try to keep ours down below the 4.5 to 5 liter range. (Again, this is for the medium size machine)

  • @LivingBreadHomestead
    @LivingBreadHomestead 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    In my experience, lower fat milk with less sugar works best. The time I tried a brand name whole milk, it was a disaster. It looked like blown cotton candy in the freeze dryer. Because of the high humidity here in the South, the dried milk does reconstitute quickly if left out. It could be that is wasn't completely dry, although the trays felt dry. It was a huge mess😳
    The second go around went perfect. Lower fat/sugar as well as pre freezing did the trick.

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      I have not had a problem with milk of any kind. I've done chocolate milk, 2%, whole milk, and even heavy cream.
      Do you have a newer machine? All of the people I've heard from that have had a problem with milk or ice cream have had a newer machine. There is a work around solution to this problem (check pinned comment from Neil Feit th-cam.com/video/gAL0BUmdtvg/w-d-xo.html) and there may be a software update to allow for extra freeze time. (check pinned comment from Baneironhand th-cam.com/video/wq7Xz8xfPsY/w-d-xo.html)
      With my machine I use the custom cycle to make sure the milk is VERY cold before starting the vacuum drying process, at least -40f.

    • @ThirteenKidsLater
      @ThirteenKidsLater 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I also have only ever had bubbling when the milk was not thoroughly frozen when the pump turned on. Prefreezing has solved all of those problems for me. Whole milk, cream, chocolate milk, eggnog, etc all dry well so long as they are frozen.

  • @Offbeat_Universe
    @Offbeat_Universe 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Is it better to pre-freeze before putting in freeze dried machine?
    I've seen lots of folks on TH-cam seems to do pre-freeze. So I'm kinda wondering why.
    Does it save time and electricity by doing that?

    • @kristoskalemanis
      @kristoskalemanis 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Saves the machine from running for an extra 7ish hours.

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Pre-freezing is not required. I doubt it saves electricity; it takes a certain amount of energy to freeze something in either machine.
      For me it's mostly about time.
      I prefreeze almost everything because: 1) it saves hours of freeze dryer time for each batch, 2) I do have the older, tilted machine which means I can't pour liquids into the trays in the machine, (though I could pre-freeze directly into the freeze dryer trays in the freezer. I would need A LOT of trays) 3) I make very large batches of food when I cook, so I may have 5 freeze dryer loads from a single batch, 4) prefreezing slightly lightens the load of ice in the freeze dryer 5) by prefreezing in the small trays I have pre-measured quantities when I do the final bagging 6) we do have a lot of freezer space available. We have had up to 15+ batches of prefrozen items waiting for the freeze dryer.

    • @kristoskalemanis
      @kristoskalemanis 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@SchoolReports talking about more trays. Did you know you can get an 8 shelf insert for about $450?
      Just a thought. Of course you would have to purchase more trays but its worth looking into.
      All shelving inserts are interchangeable between the pharmaceutical versions, (which doubles your shelves in the machine) just make sure they still use the same connector in the back as the new ones.
      If you do a lot of liquids it will double your capacity but just remember theres an ice limit to the drum, meaning the ice capacity of your machine will determine the amount of liquid you can actually displace I think.

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@kristoskalemanis Wow! Thanks. That might be interesting for some items, but I can't even fill the 4 trays 100% with liquid items without going over my self imposed water/ice maximum. The way I use the 7 x7 pre-freeze pans, if I were to totally fill the freeze dryer trays, I end up with 20 cups, or about 10 lbs of water/ice. I try to limit each batch to a maximum of 7 or 8 lbs of water/ice.

  • @mburge2604
    @mburge2604 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Where can I get my hands on one of those clear circle inserts?

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      It's just a tight fitting disc I cut out of Acrylic. (I used 0.075" thick acrylic (1.9mm thick) I would probably use 1/8" (3mm +) next time) The disc seems to work better than the pad that came with the freeze dryer for lowering heat transfer. I'm basing this on the fact that the front of the door does not get as cold with the plastic disc in place as it did with pad. (think airplane window) I love how good of a job it has done and have not experienced any downside. 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

    • @mburge2604
      @mburge2604 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@SchoolReports you're amazing, thank you so much!

  • @annwithaplan9766
    @annwithaplan9766 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Thanks. I like your ideas. I want to try that with soy/almond milk and see how that does. Have you tried that yourself?

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      The thought had never crossed my mind! Now I'll HAVE to try it.

    • @lyndabuchholz1216
      @lyndabuchholz1216 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I did almond milk and it does work but bringing it back takes time. There is a lot of ice build up too so I did only about 1 1/2 cups per tray.

  • @lung0fish1
    @lung0fish1 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    How well does it reconstitute?

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  ปีที่แล้ว

      The milk rehydrates real well. I need to make a new video showing the rehydration of milk, but here are some older samples: Freeze drying more milk, and rehydrating samples th-cam.com/video/DKtCQKHDHxM/w-d-xo.html And this one shows a bit of milk rehydrating for a recipe, so it might not be a fair example because I wasn't trying to rehydrate it for drinking so I didn't care if it was all the way mixed. th-cam.com/video/gL_fUza_wfI/w-d-xo.html

  • @noracharles80
    @noracharles80 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    We have an older FD, with 5 trays. We seem to have problems when we load each tray with all raw eggs, or all bone broth. We always pre-freeze. We have had massive blow ups. Should we be limiting the amount of liquid per batch? Instead of an all egg batch, should we limit the eggs to 3 trays and add sliced apples to the other two? Could we be overloading with liquid? We have been afraid to try milk. Love your channel. Thanks for the help!

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Blow ups in the freeze dryer while freeze drying milk should not be a thing. The total maximum amount of water content per batch is dependent machine size, as I'm sure you know, but that should have nothing to do with this issue and I'll get back to that later.
      My first question is; which firmware version is your machine running? Can you run it in custom mode?

    • @noracharles80
      @noracharles80 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@SchoolReports Thank you for much for responding. Because of a few blowups ( eggs, broths, etc), which would then seem to stall the machine, Harvest Right has worked with us to fix our machine. They actually have been wonderful. Our old machine was too old to update the firmware. With the new upgrades, we can customize the batches. We don’t know the old version, but we have a new usb board and screen. It feels like we are re-learning the machine. We are just scared to FD anything too wet, like eggs or broths, soups or gravy, sauces. We feel like we need to take a class in freeze drying. Our new info is V5.0.7FB, which means nothing to us. We started going through each of your videos last night for a refresher. Great info!

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  2 ปีที่แล้ว

      ​@@noracharles80 Thanks for your kind words.
      We can make this work, but without being able to screen share this may take a while. (comments back and forth) I hope to try doing a live-stream in the future to be able to share screens and videos in real-time.
      Is this the new version you have? harvestright.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Owners-Manual-v072021-REV1-DIGITAL.pdf
      If this is the one you have, the problem starts at page 9, number 6, where the machine thinks that the food "is cold enough." It is NOT cold enough! Some foods MUST be very, very cold before the vacuum and drying starts or they will foam up.
      We (you and I) CAN make it work!
      We have the medium size machine and we try to limit the water weight to 8 lbs. (we have pushed it to over 11lbs, but it does add a lot of time)
      For the large machine, which I assume is what you have, I would limit the water weigh to about 10 to 12 lbs. (That would be about 5 quarts of very liquid soup)

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@noracharles80 I should have mentioned that, while you could be overloading the machine with liquid, it should not result in blow ups of any kind. That's a separate issue.

  • @anwarsharif7853
    @anwarsharif7853 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    hey please can you tell me if i can freeze dry heavy cream , if so what will be the shelf life of heavy cream powder

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  2 ปีที่แล้ว

      We've only done one small test of heavy cream so I don't know much about it yet. Rehydrating Freeze Dried Heavy Whipping Cream th-cam.com/video/yuswujTkeZU/w-d-xo.html

  • @SilentWatcher594
    @SilentWatcher594 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Ahh,,,powdered milk. How long did the process take?

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  2 ปีที่แล้ว

      I don't know for that batch because I almost never tracked the time on past batches.
      I am tracking the data on the current series and did a batch of milk for batch 522 (batch 22 of the series) th-cam.com/video/KrBIoDqGhiA/w-d-xo.html and here are the stats:
      Cost of the milk: $4.38 for 10 lbs
      Total batch time: 45 hours 8 minutes
      Weight before drying: 10 lbs, Weight after drying: 506 grams (about 1.1 lbs)
      Power use: 31.43 kWh
      Bagged into: 5 quart 7 mil Mylar bags with 300cc oxygen absorbers.

  • @kristoskalemanis
    @kristoskalemanis 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Wait the new machines self level?

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      With the newer machines the freeze dry chamber is sloped to the drain inside the machine but the frame/body of the machine stays level with the table it's setting on. The rack for the trays inside the chamber is built with the opposite slope of the chamber, thereby keeping the trays level. (I hope I'm saying this in a way that makes sense) What's easy to draw as a sketch is hard for me to put in words.

    • @kristoskalemanis
      @kristoskalemanis 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@SchoolReports I see.
      TY for the making that clear.
      So I still should manually level it.
      I have a newer one and was wondering if I should level it. Makes sense now that I should have.

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @Catwood Cooking True. I just assumed the counter/table/work bench would be level. You do need to check to make sure it IS level.

  • @janecantrell7155
    @janecantrell7155 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I was intrigued with the process of of how you freeze the milk in pans, then inserting and using a thermometer, and then crushing the milk in a plastic bag. It was well done! What temperature minimum were you looking for to tell you the process was done?

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I looking to make sure it gets up to the temperature that the trays are set at, for at least a couple hours. I had the tray temp set for 110f for the milk. The bottom tray had been over 110f until the tray heaters turn off during the last 15 minutes of the final dry cycle.

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I saw your question over on the video about the seal, but it disappeared. I hope that means that you were able to find the info about getting a seal; I had to call Harvest Right, they didn't have it on their website.

    • @janecantrell7155
      @janecantrell7155 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@SchoolReports Thank you for replying to my message. I do not see any seals anywhere. I will call HR and ask them directly since I really would like to have a backup.

    • @anwarsharif7853
      @anwarsharif7853 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@SchoolReportswas it the temperature of tray or milk , because milk at 110 f should be in liquid state right , i just don't get could you please explain it to me ?

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  ปีที่แล้ว

      @@anwarsharif7853 The trays and all the contents end up whatever temperature was set. (in this case 110 f) Most of the time I set it set for 125 f.
      The water in the food never becomes liquid during freeze drying. The freeze chamber is cooled to lower than -40 F. Then, a very strong vacuum is pulled. Under these conditions, as the food is slowly heated, the water in the food doesn't melt, it sublimates. (like the way dry ice "melts") It goes directly from solid ice to a gas without becoming a liquid. And then the process reverses and the water goes directly from a gas to a solid (desublimation or deposition) and is deposited on the super cold chamber walls.
      Freeze Drying Water - Short Version th-cam.com/video/BZRnR-AvbnY/w-d-xo.html

  • @sandrajones7896
    @sandrajones7896 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    What size oxygen absorbers do you put in the bags and how long will these store. Also, how much water do you add to each package of milk to bring it back to liquid?

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      We use 300cc Oxygen absorbers in these bags. We have only had our Harvest Right 4 1/2 years, so we only know from experience that it lasts more than 4 1/2 years. The commercial freeze dry food companies say it can last up to 20 or 30 years.
      For the 1 quart we just put the milk powder in a container then fill it to the 1 quart mark.

  • @dkheaton
    @dkheaton 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Where are you buying your bags?

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  2 ปีที่แล้ว

      We've been getting our bags here - packfreshusa.com/shop/seal-top-gusset-mylar-bags-sets/ We us mostly the (#1) quart (#2) pint and (#3) 2 quart bags.

  • @deborahraymond3317
    @deborahraymond3317 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Why pre freeze for 2 weeks? What the heck? Sounds crazy for time!

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      They were NOT in the freezer for 2 week to prefreeze, they were just in the freezer for weeks while awaiting their turn in the freeze dryer. Sometimes it takes a while to get around to an item that's waiting in the freezer, sometimes weeks, months, or even a year plus!
      I prefreeze things in the other pans because: 1) it saves freeze dryer time, 2) I have the older, tilted machine which means I can't pour liquids into the trays in the machine, 3) I make very large batches of food when I cook so I may have 2 or 3 freeze dryer loads (or more) from a single batch, 4) prefreezing slightly lightens the load of ice in the freeze dryer 5) by prefreezing in the small, 2 cup pans (about 1 lb), I have pre measured quantities when I do the final bagging 6) we have a lot of freezer space available.
      We have had up to 15+ batches of prefrozen items waiting for the freeze dryer.

  • @DavidNinIllinois
    @DavidNinIllinois 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    What number do you have the Sealer set on for those 7Mil bags?

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  2 ปีที่แล้ว

      On our sealer it's on 7. (out of 8)

  • @maggiewilliams7404
    @maggiewilliams7404 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Hi, how long is the shelf life of the FD milk?

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I don't know from experience. We've only had ours 4+ years, but it's supposed to be good for 20+ years, assuming proper storage.

    • @maggiewilliams7404
      @maggiewilliams7404 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@SchoolReports that's amazing, thank you!

  • @Maleezza
    @Maleezza ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Can u also FD buttermilk & whole milk not 2% ? Your subscriber

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  ปีที่แล้ว

      Yes. We have done whole milk, 2%, 1%, chocolate milk, and buttermilk.
      Here is a test of a couple samples - th-cam.com/video/DKtCQKHDHxM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=dbIDB2inH31mxqCo&t=1226

    • @Maleezza
      @Maleezza ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@SchoolReports I want to thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. That means so much to us your subscribers. That shows you care about us & we really appreciate it. God bless you & your family.

  • @sheilarogers3448
    @sheilarogers3448 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Waste of bags. Just reseal and use it up

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Sorry, I have no idea what that means.

    • @sheilarogers3448
      @sheilarogers3448 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@SchoolReports I live on limited funds and can not afford to use up so many bags. The big bag and just take what I need until it’s all gone

    • @SchoolReports
      @SchoolReports  ปีที่แล้ว

      @@sheilarogers3448 That makes absolute, perfect sense!
      If I were planning on using that item near future, like pantry stock items, I agree with you, that's a great way to use them. Maybe even use jars with a jar vacuum sealer for the constant use things.