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Blast chillers

mendonoma

By mendonoma
in Kitchen Consumer

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted

For what it's worth, when I'm speed chilling meat before grinding it for sausage I "blast" it on sheet pans in a small chest freezer with a $20 high-velocity fan.

It's only takes a few minutes.

If I'm doing a double grind a use a Hamilton Beach disher, before chilling, to make balls of appropriate size for my meat grinder.

Works a treat!

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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, JeanneCake said:

They're sold out of all three models so I guess I am safe for now ;)

 

 

As of four days ago when I asked they said they had units in stock even though the website didn't show them.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

Although Vesta has now clarified the blast chillers do not come with trays, they sent me a tray by second day.  Exceptional customer service in my opinion.  The tray they provided is a nice 1/2 size stainless steel hotel pan, 2 inches deep.  Rather like this:

 

Vollrath 90252 Super Pan 3 S/S Half Size x 2" D Food Pan

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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chromedome

chromedome

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Although Vesta has now clarified the blast chillers do not come with trays, they sent me a tray by second day.  Exceptional customer service in my opinion. 

 

 

Yes, I've always considered that "high road" approach to be the mark of an intelligently-run company.

Apparently a significant percentage of the returns Rubbermaid receives are actually not Rubbermaid products. I don't know if they still do this, but for years their response was to send back an actual Rubbermaid product as a (free!) replacement for the competitor's product, along with a friendly note along the lines of "the one you sent us wasn't actually our product, but we sent you one of ours anyway so you can see for yourself the difference in quality."

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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StumptownGeek

StumptownGeek

Posted
Posted (edited)

First experiment to characterize the ability of my Frysta BF100 and compare it with using my regular kitchen fridge's freezer.  Warning: there is math at the end...

 

I filled each of two 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bags with 2 quarts (1.89kg) of tap water.  Each was set out on a counter until they reached 65F (18.3c) as measured with my Thermapen:

 

IMG_20200406_160233.jpg.ff584afe94d90e432633a55ef2c5b082.jpg

 

I plugged in the Frysta, installed the just received GN1/2 tray, set it to -22F (-30c) and let it pre-chill for half an hour.

 

I then placed one of the bags in my regular freezer, which is set to 0F and heavily loaded with stock, ice cream, etc.:

IMG_20200406_165047.jpg.04075cfeea58df4a8ec00d04e1cde20f.jpg

 

The other bag I placed in the Frysta tray with the temperature probe in the water:

IMG_20200406_165335.jpg.5c14d69d0294d5a74ca6a6c2dad689b1.jpg

 

I closed my freezer door, closed the Frysta door and checked the Frysta probe temp.  It reported 61F (16.1c), 4F below the Thermapen measurement.

 

I set the Frysta to Hard Blast Freeze, 4 hours, -22F, and after the annoying Frysta compressor and evaporator fan start delay, we were off.

 

The Frysta probe temp reported 31F (-0.5c) after 37 minutes.  I checked my kitchen freezer bag at that time with the Thermapen and recorded a temp of 42F (5.5c).  However, since the initial Frysta probe temp didn't match the Thermapen, I watched for the temperature drop stall, which happened at a reported 29F (-1.7c), so that was when the machine actually hit a real 32F (0c).  So the Frysta was again off by about 3-4F, so its water was at about 35F when my regular freezer's was at 42F.

 

65F to 35F in the Frysta in the same time my kitchen freezer took to get from 65F to 42F...

 

At that point the Frysta was extracting latent heat for the liquid to solid phase transition, so there was no temperature change for quite a while.

 

The Frysta temperature finally starting dropping again right at the 3 hour mark.  I checked the bag of ice in my kitchen freezer.  It was almost completely frozen.  Not exactly an impressive showing by the Frysta...

 

I let the Frysta continue until it reported a probe temp of -1F (-18.3c) 3 hours and 27 minutes after the Blast Freezing started.

 

Now for the math...

 

Over the course of 3:27 (12420s) the Frysta removed about 904kJ from the water:

   (liquid->solid transition) + (temperature drop)

   (1.893kg x 334kJ/kg) + (1.893 kg x 4.184kJ/kgc x 34.4c) = 904kJ

Which is about 72.8J/s:

   904kJ/12420s = 72.8J/s

 

The Frysta User Manual claims that the BF100 capacity is 3kg from +90C to -18C in 240 minutes.  If that food were pure water that would require removal of about 2360kJ:

   (liquid->solid transition) + (temperature drop)

   (3kg x 334kJ/kg) + (3kg x 4.184kJ/kgc x 108c) = 2360kJ

Which is about 164J/s:

  2360kJ/14400s = 164J/s

 

Blast freezers seem to be commonly rated by weight capacity, which implies that there's a standard food defined with a specified latent heat of fusion and specific heat behind the ratings, but a few minutes of Googling hasn't turned it up for me yet...

 

 

Edited by StumptownGeek
Regular Freezer set to 0F, not 0C (log)
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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted (edited)

@StumptownGeek 

 

extremely fine work

 

Im impressed by your results.

 

Next Spring

 

Ill look for something else.

 

of course , if you are really interested in preventing 

 

"" macro crystals "

 

chill everything before crystals begin to form to

 

33 F

 

or  1 C

 

still ....................

 

 

Edited by rotuts (log)
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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

@StumptownGeek I applaud your choice of McConnell's.  My freezer does not get cold enough to store it.

 

My guess is that rated weight capacity is related to cavity size to allow sufficient air flow.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

Also have you been able to get your unit to cool without pressing the Blast button?  And can you toggle C/F back and forth?

 

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, StumptownGeek said:

 

I then placed one of the bags in my regular freezer, which is set to 0C and heavily loaded with stock, ice cream, etc.:

IMG_20200406_165047.jpg.04075cfeea58df4a8ec00d04e1cde20f.jpg

 

 

If your regular freezer is 0C how to you keep your McConnell's frozen?  My freezer currently runs -6C and McConnell's, when I can get it, not to mention my own ice cream, is too soft to enjoy.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

I misspoke.  I did not wait long enough to take a reading.  My freezer goes down to -11C.  Still not cold enough for McConnell's.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

Fortunately the temperature display of my Fysta is right on.  I put the Vesta probe and my reference probe in a bottle of Industry City Technical Reserve 95.6% ABV.  The Vesta probe tracked within a degree.  With the Vesta display reading -28C, the reference probe measured -28.45C.  The reference accuracy is +/- 0.05C.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, KennethT said:

I imagine there should be a way to adjust the temperature display to true to an external reading...

 

But I doubt there is.  When I contact Vesta again I'll ask.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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teonzo

teonzo

Posted
Posted
On 4/8/2020 at 2:17 AM, StumptownGeek said:

Over the course of 3:27 (12420s) the Frysta removed about 904kJ from the water:

   (liquid->solid transition) + (temperature drop)

   (1.893kg x 334kJ/kg) + (1.893 kg x 4.184kJ/kgc x 34.4c) = 904kJ

Which is about 72.8J/s:

   904kJ/12420s = 72.8J/s

 

The Frysta User Manual claims that the BF100 capacity is 3kg from +90C to -18C in 240 minutes.  If that food were pure water that would require removal of about 2360kJ:

   (liquid->solid transition) + (temperature drop)

   (3kg x 334kJ/kg) + (3kg x 4.184kJ/kgc x 108c) = 2360kJ

Which is about 164J/s:

  2360kJ/14400s = 164J/s

 

That's some serious under-permorfimg, especially in the liquid-to-solid stage. You should contact their support and ask for clarifications.

 

 

 

Teo

 

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Teo

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

I thought I ought to do my own experiment.  Plastic bag with 1kg of water placed on rack in pre-chilled Vesta.

 

Vesta04092020.png

 

 

Click image for graph in full resolution.  Readings every 15 seconds.  Time from +20C to -30C was 90 minutes.  Timer traceable to NIST.

 

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, teonzo said:

When you will forget to stock ice cubes in your freezer and you will be in need of a mai tai, then you will start to kiss your blast freezer.

 

 

 

Teo

 

 

See my comment above about licking flagpoles.  Or maybe that is just an American thing.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

Update:  I heard from Vesta that the BF100 is back up on the site for purchase.  The freezers are now being sold with trays included.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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