Freeze Dryers and Freeze Dried Food (Part 1)

[JimR]

 

I tried my tests today. I did multiple tests at 900, 850, & 800 mTORR. I want to see if the seals hold and open them to see the amount of vacuum they appear to have compaired to the Food saver. I'll report back in a few days with info. If it works it will be nice to seal 8 to 10 jars at one time with a deeper vacuum.

Thanks Jim, Anxious to see what the outcome is.

 

I FD  char broiled angus burgers ( 30 Patties). they were very hard with sharp edges,  I put them in lunch bags, and then vac sealed in plastic bags.  It was amazing how much grease soaked into the paper bag. Needless to say they will be eaten within 6 mo or so. I tried one ( soaked overnight ) and it was very good! Looking forward to FDing pork and kraut and black eyed peas from New years day meal.  A side note with vac. sealing in jars, I have found if the FD food  is powdery,  it seems to get under the seal and causes failure sometimes as long as several days later.  I put coffee filters over the food and then vac seal, so far, so good. 

 

 

Good idea on the coffee filters. When I did both raw and cooked burgers I got no grease. I did use a very lean burger of 93/7. Don't know if that had anything to do with it. Might try putting cooked burgers on paper towels to try and remove some grease before FD'ing. Just a thought. It still is amazing how well the rehydrated burgers come out.

 

All jars are still sealed. Will wait a few more days before opening to check amount of vacuum. I also put on the rings after vacuum sealing just incase the vacuum wasn't very deep. This should help keep the lid sealed for the most part.

 

Jim

[dbinokc]

When I seal my jars I leave the rings on, but loosen them about an 1/8 to 1/4 turn to allow the lid to let the air out. I also have to leave the rings on because when I seal in my chamber vac, the quart jars have to lay on their side.

 

Whenever I reseal a jar, I make sure there are no particles on the lip or lid. The only time I have had a vacuum failure was due to the jar having a crack.

[Minotbob]

I don't have a FD yet so I'm soaking up all of this info. Sealing jars is really interesting. So as I understand it, you can program the FD'er to pull a vacuum with out any temperature change?

[JimR]

I don't have a FD yet so I'm soaking up all of this info. Sealing jars is really interesting. So as I understand it, you can program the FD'er to pull a vacuum with out any temperature change?

 

There is two ways of doing this.

 

Place jars on a FD'er tray, put in FD'er (with tray shelf removed), close door, close drain valve.

 

1. Turn on machine, zero out freezing timer to start drying cycle (which turns vacuum pump on). If you are only sealing one set of jars (8 quarts or 10 pints) turn machine off when desired mTORR is reached on the display. Then open drain valve. If you need to seal more jars leave the machine on and just turn the vacuum pump motor off, remove jars, put more jars in machine, turn on vacuum pump motor, etc.

 

2. Purchase a vacuum gauge for the vacuum pump (maker of pump has them) and install it at the T on the vacuum motor. Close drain, just turn on the vacuum pump and use the connected gauge to pull your vacuum to the desired mTORR value. Turn pump off and remove jars.

 

BTW, one of the 900 mTORR jars vacuum seal failed. All others still sealed. I'll write a full report after my testing is complete.

 

Jim

[JimR]

Second installment of FD’ed foods testing.

Veggies

Bell Pepper (fresh, sliced): FD’ed good but not complete in one cycle. Pieces might have been to large. Dry eating very good flavor. Rehydrated good (10-15 mins in water). Good in cooked meals. Use dry over salads as crotons.

Broccoli (fresh, sliced): FD’ed good but not complete in one cycle. Problem is you can’t get the whole piece to lay on the tray, so the part on the tray is done but the part up in the air is not. Smaller pieces might fix this. Dry eating very good with strong flavor. Rehydrated well in water (10 mins) but too tough to eat. Needs to be used in cooking.

Cabbage (fresh, sliced ½”): FD’ed very good in one cycle. Dry eating had very good flavor. Rehydrated to a tough texture. Must be used in cooking. Use dry over salads as crotons.

Carrots (fresh, baby, some whole, some halved lengthwise); Took two cycles to complete. Dry eating good with strong carrot flavor. Rehydrated to a tough texture. Haven’t tried to cook with yet. Will try smaller pieces of sliced carrot.

Cauliflower (fresh, sliced): Same info as Broccoli.

Celery (Fresh, ½” pieces): One layer will finish in one cycle, otherwise will take 2 cycles. Dry eating very good. Could use as “crotons”. Rehydrated good in water (10 mins). Best in cooked meals as soups or stews.

Corn (Frozen): This FD’es very good. Pour in a two pound bag onto one tray. FD’ed in one cycle. Dry eating very good. Rehydrated good in water (10-15 mins). Texture is like freezing fresh corn and thawing. Very good in cooked meals. BTW, dehydrated corn is good in cooked meals. The two pound bag reduced to 7.3 oz.

Cucumber (fresh, sliced ½”): FD’ed OK. The thicker pieces needed two cycles. The ¼” pieces finished in one cycle. Dry eating good. Rehydrated to a tough texture. This item is probably only good used dry.

Garlic (slices): FD’ed in one cycle. Dry eating good. Have not rehydrated yet, however, I have rehydrated dehydrated garlic with good success in cooking. The FD’ed version should be better.

Green Beans (Frozen): FD’ed in one cycle. Dry eating good. Rehydrated good (10 mins) but was tough texture just like the thawed version would be. Should be good in soups and stews. One pound bag reduced to 1.9 oz., however, a 2 pound bag will fit on one tray.

Green Peas (Frozen): This FD’es very good. Pour in a two pound bag onto one tray. FD’ed in one cycle. Dry eating very good. Rehydrated good in water (10-15 mins). Texture is like freezing fresh peas and thawing. Very good in cooked meals. BTW, dehydrated peas is good in cooked meals. The two pound bag reduced to 7.4 oz.

Jalapenos (fresh, sliced & julien): FD’ed in one cycle. Dry eating very good. Rehydrated good in water (10 mins) but tougher than fresh. Good in cooking.

Mushrooms (sliced): FD’ed in one cycle. Dry eating good. Rehydrated good in water (10 mins) but to “rubbery”. Use in cooked meals.

Onions (fresh, sliced) FD’ed good with the thicker pieces with “cool” spots. Dry eating very good flavor. Have not rehydated yet but have used rehydrated dehydrated onion with very good results.

Raddish (sliced) FD’ed good in one cycle. Dry eating very good. Another veggie croton. Have not rehydrated yet. May only be good dry.

Tomatoes (Fresh, sliced ½”) Thought it FD’ed good but after being in a zip lock bag for 24 hours the other tomatoes started softening. The dry eating (or what I thought was dry) was very good flavor. Have not tried FD’ing thinner slices but will. The flavor of the “dry” product was fantastic and rehydrating and using in cooking would be great. You could also grind the FD’ed product to make tomato sause or paste.

Tip: After the tomato test (I had the same problem with oranges). I now place all FD’ed products into zip lock bags for 48 hours. One tray per zip lock bag. I remove as much air from the bag as possible before closing the zip on the bag. If after 48 hours the product is still dry I can then, with confidence, package in Mylar and seal for long term storage or vacuum sealed in Mason jars for shorter term storage. This way any “bad” bags are separate from the good ones.

It would not be ideal to put a large amount of product in a Mylar bag to only have a piece or two of food ruin the whole bag. “One bad apple ruins the whole barrel”.
 

[loosethreads]

JimR -

Thank you for taking the time to report your findings!!! It will definitely help with my FD choices!!!

[yesterdays]

Thanks for all the great info Jim.

[peggy w]

Finally !! My replacement FDer arrived, set it up and put a load in. Couldn't get the readout to move from XXXMtr. Bummer bummer!! So, rechecked all the fittings, the drain valve, the door seal. Still no go. Finally had my son-in-law check to be sure the vacume lines were tightened securely, he said they were. Tried it one more time and OMG! it worked!! Did my first batch yesterday and have my second going as we speak. First batch was pulled pork and green bean casserole. Came out great! I am on my way to emptying three freezers and downsizing those.

[Kerry Beal]

A few things finished up this morning.

 

 

Kale - two kinds.

 

 

Raspberries.

 

 

Cherries.

 

 

Vanilla ice cream.

[BGW]

Second installment of FD’ed foods testing.

Veggies

Bell Pepper (fresh, sliced): FD’ed good but not complete in one cycle. Pieces might have been to large. Dry eating very good flavor. Rehydrated good (10-15 mins in water). Good in cooked meals. Use dry over salads as crotons.

Broccoli (fresh, sliced): FD’ed good but not complete in one cycle. Problem is you can’t get the whole piece to lay on the tray, so the part on the tray is done but the part up in the air is not. Smaller pieces might fix this. Dry eating very good with strong flavor. Rehydrated well in water (10 mins) but too tough to eat. Needs to be used in cooking.

Cabbage (fresh, sliced ½”): FD’ed very good in one cycle. Dry eating had very good flavor. Rehydrated to a tough texture. Must be used in cooking. Use dry over salads as crotons.

Carrots (fresh, baby, some whole, some halved lengthwise); Took two cycles to complete. Dry eating good with strong carrot flavor. Rehydrated to a tough texture. Haven’t tried to cook with yet. Will try smaller pieces of sliced carrot.

Cauliflower (fresh, sliced): Same info as Broccoli.

Celery (Fresh, ½” pieces): One layer will finish in one cycle, otherwise will take 2 cycles. Dry eating very good. Could use as “crotons”. Rehydrated good in water (10 mins). Best in cooked meals as soups or stews.

Corn (Frozen): This FD’es very good. Pour in a two pound bag onto one tray. FD’ed in one cycle. Dry eating very good. Rehydrated good in water (10-15 mins). Texture is like freezing fresh corn and thawing. Very good in cooked meals. BTW, dehydrated corn is good in cooked meals. The two pound bag reduced to 7.3 oz.

Cucumber (fresh, sliced ½”): FD’ed OK. The thicker pieces needed two cycles. The ¼” pieces finished in one cycle. Dry eating good. Rehydrated to a tough texture. This item is probably only good used dry.

Garlic (slices): FD’ed in one cycle. Dry eating good. Have not rehydrated yet, however, I have rehydrated dehydrated garlic with good success in cooking. The FD’ed version should be better.

Green Beans (Frozen): FD’ed in one cycle. Dry eating good. Rehydrated good (10 mins) but was tough texture just like the thawed version would be. Should be good in soups and stews. One pound bag reduced to 1.9 oz., however, a 2 pound bag will fit on one tray.

Green Peas (Frozen): This FD’es very good. Pour in a two pound bag onto one tray. FD’ed in one cycle. Dry eating very good. Rehydrated good in water (10-15 mins). Texture is like freezing fresh peas and thawing. Very good in cooked meals. BTW, dehydrated peas is good in cooked meals. The two pound bag reduced to 7.4 oz.

Jalapenos (fresh, sliced & julien): FD’ed in one cycle. Dry eating very good. Rehydrated good in water (10 mins) but tougher than fresh. Good in cooking.

Mushrooms (sliced): FD’ed in one cycle. Dry eating good. Rehydrated good in water (10 mins) but to “rubbery”. Use in cooked meals.

Onions (fresh, sliced) FD’ed good with the thicker pieces with “cool” spots. Dry eating very good flavor. Have not rehydated yet but have used rehydrated dehydrated onion with very good results.

Raddish (sliced) FD’ed good in one cycle. Dry eating very good. Another veggie croton. Have not rehydrated yet. May only be good dry.

Tomatoes (Fresh, sliced ½”) Thought it FD’ed good but after being in a zip lock bag for 24 hours the other tomatoes started softening. The dry eating (or what I thought was dry) was very good flavor. Have not tried FD’ing thinner slices but will. The flavor of the “dry” product was fantastic and rehydrating and using in cooking would be great. You could also grind the FD’ed product to make tomato sause or paste.

Tip: After the tomato test (I had the same problem with oranges). I now place all FD’ed products into zip lock bags for 48 hours. One tray per zip lock bag. I remove as much air from the bag as possible before closing the zip on the bag. If after 48 hours the product is still dry I can then, with confidence, package in Mylar and seal for long term storage or vacuum sealed in Mason jars for shorter term storage. This way any “bad” bags are separate from the good ones.

It would not be ideal to put a large amount of product in a Mylar bag to only have a piece or two of food ruin the whole bag. “One bad apple ruins the whole barrel”.

 

Thanks Jim, for all the good info, you have really been busy! I like the idea about the crotons. Can't wait till garden time to try the tomatoes.  "Mylar and seal for long term storage or vacuum sealed in Mason jars for shorter term storage"  is this because  the mason jars won't be good for long term storage ? I assume you purchased frozen veggies to FD? I did that to dehydrate veggies corn, peas, green beans, etc and they are really good for soups. Dehydrated Hash browns and they were awesome! I do not think I will FD hash browns because they would so fragile and hard to store, much like the spaghetti squash I FDed. I am anxious to do the garlic, did you mix other food with the garlic?  Thanks again!

[BGW]

A few things finished up this morning.

 

IMG_0045.jpg

 

Kale - two kinds.

 

IMG_0046.jpg

 

Raspberries.

 

IMG_0047.jpg

 

Cherries.

 

IMG_0048.jpg

 

Vanilla ice cream.

Kerry, Is the Kale just for soups, or could it be cooked just like fresh Kale?  The  berries and ice cream look really good, my ice cream did not turn out well = "blew up". I just did pulled pork with barbeque sauce, baked chicken, sliced roasted pork and banana slices to fill in any open areas on my trays. My family is  amazed as to how the FDed foods taste! Thanks for the post and pics!

[Kerry Beal]

Kale is for eating dry like chips.  The berries are scheduled to be panned in chocolate when the coating pan is fully functional again.  Ice cream planned for chocolate bark.

 

Ice cream needs to be really, really frozen so it doesn't blow up.  I slice it, put in on the pan, and put it in the deep freeze, then freeze in the unit for another 9 hours or so.  

 

Edited to remove screaming ice cream!

Edited January 5, 2015 by Kerry Beal (log)

[BGW]

Thanks, Kerry. 

How healthy the kale would be that way, is there any seasoning on it? Thanks for the tip on the Ice cream, I will try it again.

[Kerry Beal]

Not seasoned - but blanched in microwave cause it tastes better that way to me.

 

How healthy - who knows?

[BGW]

Not sure what/how? blanched in microwave means. Since FD retains 90% +- of nutrients, Kale excels  and is also an antioxidant. Would like to try it if I understand the blanched part.

[Kerry Beal]

A lot of vegetables get blanched in steam for a minute or two, then thrown in ice water.  It stops enzyme activity and sets colour.  I just bunged it in the microwave for a couple of minutes until it got a little wilted, threw some ice in with it - then put it in the freezer.   

 

Last time I made kale in the FD'er I did some raw, some steam blanched.  Liked the blanched best.  

[BGW]

Thanks Kerry now I understand. An easier way to blanch, how smart! Will have to try this.

[JimR]

Thanks Jim, for all the good info, you have really been busy! I like the idea about the crotons. Can't wait till garden time to try the tomatoes.  "Mylar and seal for long term storage or vacuum sealed in Mason jars for shorter term storage"  is this because  the mason jars won't be good for long term storage ? I assume you purchased frozen veggies to FD? I did that to dehydrate veggies corn, peas, green beans, etc and they are really good for soups. Dehydrated Hash browns and they were awesome! I do not think I will FD hash browns because they would so fragile and hard to store, much like the spaghetti squash I FDed. I am anxious to do the garlic, did you mix other food with the garlic?  Thanks again!

[JimR]

Using Your Fd’er as a Vacuum Chamber

I have a Foodsaver vacuum machine that can vacuum seal food in special plastic bags, canning jars, and specially made vacuum sealing containers. If you have a lot of canning jars to seal food in you must vacuum seal each one individually.

Some of our FD’er users have a chamber vacuum system that will vacuum seal canning jars (I believe up to 2 quarts as a time), which I believe will pull a better vacuum than the Foodsaver will. You can put 8 quarts or 10 pints on one of your trays to seal at once.

I have heard of some making a multi jar vacuum sealer from an old pressure canner and hand vacuum pump, but I tested using the FD’er as a vacuum sealer for canning jars. I tested quart and pint canning jars using standard medal one time use lids and reusable Tattler lids. Both regular mouth and wide mouth. All tests used different jars except the one quart jar that failed to seal in test 1 & 2.

First Test
Two wide mouth pints and one regular mouth quart. All with medal lids. I pulled it to 900 mTORR. Both pints sealed but the quart did not.

After three days, including bring from basement (60 degs) to the kitchen (75 degs), one of the 900 mTORR pint jar’s seal failed. After five days the other pint was still sealed. Opened the jar and it had a good vacuum.

Second Test
Two wide mouth pints and the failed regular mouth quart. All with medal lids. I pulled to 850 mTORR. Both pints sealed but the quart, again, did not.

After the complete five days the 2 pints were still sealed. Opened the jars and both had a good vacuum.

Test Three
The twice failed regular mouth quart, however, this time I used a Tattler reusable led. These have a thicker seal. I pulled to 850 mTORR and the jar sealed.

After the five days I opened the jar. It had a good seal.

Test Four
Six regular mouth quarts. Three with medal lids and 3 with Tattler lids. Pulled to 800 mTORR. All sealed.

After five day test all were still sealed. Opened all of them. They all had a very good vacuum.

To get to 800 mTORR only took 4 minutes and 22 seconds.

Test Conclusion
I would pull to 800 mTORR for all jars and lid types. You might be able to go lower then 800 mTORR. I’m going to go with the 800 but if anyone else wants to test to lower please let us know how it works.

The How-To
1. Remove the shelf from the FD’er. It easily pulls out of machine, with black seal removed, and disconnect the line to the shelf.

2. Place a tray in the bottom of the chamber. Make sure the black seal is in place.

3. Place food in canning jars. Put lid on jar and screw on ring snuggly, then back off slightly. Be sure that the ring is still connected to the jars threads as the lid must remain on the jar during the vacuum process. If the ring does not keep the lid on during the vacuum cycle it may come off or not set squarely on the jar. This will be harder using the Tattler lids as they are thicker than the medal lids so be careful with the Tattlers.

4. Close the FD’ers door and close the drain valve.

5. Turn on the FD’er. It will go into the Freezing mode.

6. Adjust the Freezing timer to zero. The vacuum pump will start.

7. When the mTORR gets to the desired vacuum (I recommend at least 800 mTORR) turn the vacuum pump off by the switch on pump. Leave the FD’er on until you finished.

8. Open drain valve.

9. Remove jars and check lids for a seal. If any did not seal recheck the jar rims and lids and clean if necessary. Put failed ones back in machine (and any new ones), close drain valve, turn on vacuum pump, and reprocess.

10. Put rings on sealed jars. Place the jars in a dark place as light will degrade the food over time.

Alternate How-to
Do everything above except put a vacuum gauge on the T that is on the vacuum pump. Don’t turn on the FD’er, instead just start the vacuum pump manually and read the vacuum gauge on the pump.

 

As I have stated before I use jars for short term storage (less than 1 year) without oxi aborbers as this food will be used during normal everyday cooking. For medium term storage (1-5 years) with oxi aborbers for foods that will be repackaged for normal cooking and when opened will be resealed without aborbers. Remember to place the jars in a dark place as light will degrade food over time. For long term (+5 years) I use the Mylar with aborbers.

 

Hope I haven't confussed everybody.

[Cowboyartist]

I just finished my 13th run with my new Harvest Right FD with great success and a few not so successful,  Blue berries are a bit of a problem and pineapple.  With a few pieces not as dry a I would like.  Any suggestions. Thanks, I am looking forward to learning as much as possible.

[Deryn]

Welcome to our world of eGullet and freeze drying, Cowboy.

I had trouble with blueberries too but Kerry seems to have mastered those (after a run that I think was not too good for her either). I took my wild blueberries (are you using commercially grown? they are much larger, perhaps you need to cut them a bit if really large - and were they pre-frozen?) straight out of the freezer but I think I just piled them up too high because they were small - and some stayed in clumps too. They were stuck together and sticky even after several runs. Some dried well, others didn't.

I am still learning about this beast - believe me. I would say that, from what I have learned so far about the way this machine works, I would a) do ONLY high sugar and/or high water items together (they will need longer and why run the machine another cycle or two for half the contents which is already dry - in other words, don't mix loads with easy to dry items) and b) pre-freeze the machine for an hour or so, take these items straight from the freezer as frozen as you can get them, spread the pieces out as much as you can (don't do 2 layers even if small), and be resigned to the fact that you will probably run up to 36 hours for (particularly) the pineapple because it is no doubt cut in bigger chunks. That said, I haven't tried to do pineapple yet.

Edited January 7, 2015 by Deryn (log)

[JimR]

Freeze Dryer Care and Feeding.

Sorry for the length of my last few posts. I’ve be told before that I give too much information. If you all think I’m posting messages that are too long please let me know and I will reduce the size of my postings. Thanks.

I thought I would pass on how I care for and operate my FD’er. There are many ways to care for and operate your FD’er, this is just how I do it. Take what you think will work for you and leave what won’t.

I have a check list that I follow for every FD’ing session. Mr. Mike had already posted his checklist but I’ll throw mine out too. I too have forgotten to close the drain valve and had Vacuum Pump Oil blow out of the exhaust of the pump. It’s a simple list that you all are already doing but here it is for the newbies. No reason for everybody to reinvent the wheel every time. I’ve gotten a lot of information from this forum so I’m just trying to “give back”.

Freeze Drying Checklist

1. Reset Kill-A-Watt meter.
2. Turn On Freeze Dryer 30 minutes prior to putting in food.
3. Close Drain Valve.
4. Drain water from Vacuum Pump.
5. Check oil level in Vacuum Pump. Add as necessary.
6. Clean inside of door with water ONLY.
7. Put food trays in Freeze Dryer (after 30 minute cool down).
8. Put Black insulator disc in opening.
9. Close door and turn handle ½ turn.
10. Adjust Freezing cycle to desired setting.
11. Verify drain valve is closed.
 
Freeze Dryer Shutdown Checklist

A. “Complete” on screen. Open drain valve to release vacuum. DO NOT turn FD’er off yet. NOTE: Be sure drain tube is not in water.
B. Remove Food.
C. Test Food.
D. Unfinished food either put in your freezer to run again on another drying session or place back unto FD’er and continue to process.
E. If done, defrost.
F. Turn machine off.
G. Leave door open if FD’er will not be used right way. This will prevent odors and mold.

No. 1 above notes a Kill-A-Watt meter. It will track the total time the FD’er is on and how many kilowatt/hours of electricity is used for that drying session. This allows me to keep track of my total costs to Freeze Dry food. This is not necessary for you unless you‘re a geek like me.

No. 2 has the machine turned on 30 minutes prior to putting food in. I pre-freeze all food in my freezer to reduce the Freezing time from the default 9 hours to 5-6 hours for lower water content foods and 6.5-8 hours for high water content foods. Leave at 9 hour default for ice cream or unfrozen foods. The freezing of the food is a very important part of the process. If the food is not properly frozen down to -40 degs. the drying cycle will not work correctly. Your home freezer will not bring the food to the deep freezing needed.

No. 4 is to drain the water from the vacuum pump before every session. I drain about one oz of oil from the pump and then replace what was drained, if needed. Sometimes I get water with the oil. I do this to maintain a consistent vacuum pump operation instead of letting the performance of the drying degrade over the life of the oil.

I also monitor the “pull down” of the pump. I do this by setting an alarm so I can be at the machine when it goes from “Freezing” to “Cooling/Drying” mode. I start a stopwatch when the vacuum pump comes on and track, with a running timer, the time it takes to get to various mTORR settings. This allows me to see how well the pump is pulling a proper vacuum. Below are the mTORR tracking points and the time it took to get to that mTORR the first time with new oil. For each additional session these times will increase and that is fine. If the times are acceptable AND the oil isn’t smelling bad coming out the exhaust of the pump AND you can get to lowest mTORR set point, your pump is working fine. I got 11 sessions out of my first run of oil. I was still pulling a good vacuum but I changed it anyway.

The higher water content food will get fewer sessions per oil change. This is a good reason to have extra pump oil on hand. Don’t wait until the oil needs to be changed to buy new oil. This is special oil and not obtainable everywhere at anything. Below is a link to Amazon.com for the proper oil.

http://www.amazon.com/Robinair-13204-Premium-High-Vacuum/dp/B000Q5RQZG/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1401397497&sr=8-6&keywords=vacuum+pump+oil

990 mTORR = 3 mins 40 seconds
700 mTORR = 4 mins 20 seconds
490 mTORR = 5 mins  5 seconds
290 mTORR = 6 mins 30 seconds

The 990 is the first number the meter will show after the air in the chamber has been removed. The meter will only show in 10’s. It will show 990 and then 980, but will not show 995.

The 700 is just an in-between time.

The 490 is when my FD’er goes from “Cooling” to “Drying”. This is when the tray heaters come on. When the mTORR goes back to 620, as the water from the food goes to a gas, the heaters will turn off and the display goes from “Drying” back to “Cooling”.

The 290 is a point at which I know the vacuum pump will correctly operate through the complete session without “giving up” the ability to pull a deep enough vacuum to properly FD your food.

During the “Drying” mode the default 7 hour timer will start counting down. Every time the mode goes from “Cooling” to “Drying” that 7 hour timer will be reset to 7 hours. When the heaters remain on long enough to zero the 7 hour timer in the “Drying” mode the machine will go into a 20 minute “Cooling” mode before shutting off the vacuum pump and displaying “Complete“.

No. 6 wash inside of door with water only and dry. Wipe down the large black gasket so the door seals to the gasket.

No. 10 adjust Freezing timer from the default of 9 hours to what you need it to. I recommend that when you are first starting out with your machine to leave the Freezing timer to the default 9 hours until you learn how much Freezing time it needed for each food.


Shutdown

A. Don’t turn off the machine until you know you will not be using it. This will keep the chamber cold and require less Freezing time if you decide to put some of the food back in the machine to finish FD’ing food that needs more time.

If your drain tube in setting in any water that water will be sucked into the machine when you open the drain valve to release the chamber vacuum so make sure it is not setting in water.

I would recommend that you keep a log of what you FD (type, size, preparation), times (Freezing timer setting, Cooling/Drying timer, Total time of session), which foods complete in one session and which one’s need more processing, and amount of water removed from food for that session. This information will allow you to more efficiently FD food. That way you can mix low water foods and higher water foods in one session and not overload the water removal limit of the machine, therefore not having to defrost the machine in the middle of a FD‘ing session. For foods that don’t quite finish in one cycle you might try adjusting the freezing and/or drying timers.

I try to get as much food processed in one session, in the shortest amount of time. There is no reason to spend 20-24 hours to FD two apples. It will take forever to “pay” for your FD’er. For myself I have a lot of meat to process and a very large garden of veggies to process including 175 lbs of potatoes. Time and quantity is important.

C. Testing the food for “doneness” by feeling the pieces of food in each tray. If any part of a piece of food feels “cold” or “cool” there is still frozen moisture in the food. Don’t take any chances. Either put it back in the machine and continue or put the tray in your freezer for processing on the next session. I recommend the later.

Also take the thickest pieces per tray, break apart and check if there are any frozen centers or moisture.

If most of the food on a tray is done you can remove it and just leave the pieces that are not done. Remember you can mix different foods on the same tray so if you have a few pieces from one tray and a few from another tray you can put them on the same tray to save space.

Unless most of the food is not complete I will remove the “undone” pieces and place them in my freezer to be re-processed in the next session, otherwise the whole tray goes into my freezer for re-processing.

One more tip: I have purchased extra trays and will prepare foods ahead of time and leave them in my freezer. That way if I come up a tray or two short for a full load I have food ready to go.

All commends are welcome and let me know if I’m doing something I shouldn’t. Thanks.

[Deryn]

Jim - a BIG thank you from me for that explanation of the cycles/timing. Definitely won't get a thumbs down from me when you make long posts (heck, I often drivel on and provide little to no info - yours are info packed!)

I have been bugging the poor guy I deal with at HR for some of that information - wanted to understand exactly what was happening so I can troubleshoot if necessary. I had already learned that the heaters come on at 500 mTorr and they go off usually around the 600 mTorr mark - but my last question was about whether the heater comes on at all during that initial untimed Cool/Dry cycle (particularly because I have had the timer come on at 0 minutes in and another time it wasn't on yet at more than 2 hours in so I was trying to figure out what was going on - and whether I needed to intervene).

My system has not yet gone up to your top number but I am not sure that is critical. It has however run a long time at your lower number (and even at xxx - meaning below the ability of the sensor to display) - I was told not to let it do that but it still seems to be ok if it runs a while on a lower than 500 mTorr setting though that does mean there is NO freeze-drying going on at all since the heater can't be on if the sensor is working properly).

I probably should not 'think' about any of this - I should just 'run' it (it is a great little FD'er and 'it' knows what it is doing) - but, I have this need to understand the process and at times that has caused me to overreact and stop the machine to check whether there was a leak I hadn't noticed 10 minutes prior.

Edited January 12, 2015 by Deryn (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I'd add reseat the gasket and check the door seal.

[finishman2000]

I received my machine last week and love it.

I will add that I have found that sometimes the seal on the door isn't set perfectly, I could slip a piece of paper between the gasket and the door. I called and was told to pull the gasket forward and let the door seat it to the machine.

I also ordered the oil off of amazon but did use regular mineral oil yesterday since I was out of oil and it worked fine. I won't have to do this again once my oil comes in but was happy I could keep going. 

So far I have done chicken, raspberries, cheddar cheese apple slices. working on eggs, green peppers and more cheese right now.

It's very addictive to see what to freeze next. I was also thinking of getting extra racks to pre-freeze but will see about that...an extra $150 I think.