Want to support the channel? Buy me a coffee :-) www.buymeacoffee.com/DanZm If you are thinking of buying a freeze dryer, please consider supporting us by purchasing through our affiliate link. It helps us and costs you nothing! affiliates.harvestright.com/995.html Before buying a freeze dryer perhaps research to find out more about the downside of the machine; like with any big machine, some people say they have had problems with their machine and it's big and heavy and hard to return! Batch worksheet link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13DCB2hXo9_ZYrhIUicLk2IrEaQGszwbaJTcEH8wJxk4/edit?usp=sharing Freeze Drying: The Next 50 Batches 551 to 600 docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SeVFOmCqhu75fg96E9lAjUXsK9zJotiZ_HKhzQ0dAXA/edit?usp=sharing
Didn't realize that the 2 middle shelves were so much warmer. I've never weighed the end product like that either. Now I have some tweaking to do with my process. Thanks for the info. That's one of my gripes about HR, very little info from them on using the machine properly.
I agree wholeheartedly. I do think companies selling these are doing a disservice in portraying them as "fully automatic" and suggesting that you just throw the food in, it does the rest and "DING" it's done and ready to bag. You do really need to check it yourself and the manual just says ". . .Check the material thoroughly to make sure it is completely dry . . ." with no hint as to how to accomplish this in a way to ensure it's 100% dry every time! Don't trust the machine; it has no way of knowing if it's dry or not.
Love your videos. I purchase my chicken breasts the same way. I always slice them, marinate them, and then BBQ them. Throw them in the FDer. They are wonderful rehydrated.
Considering using Soue Vide cooking at 140F for 3 hours to cook chicken breast. With a large Soue Vide you can cook all 10 lbs at once. Also it would be good to explain the difference between new HR FDers and your older model. They have much better software and drying algorithms with an automatic “extended” dry time when you can’t be there when it finishes.
I thought I was going to head off the soue vide comments with this acknowledgement of my need - ruclips.net/video/4A6PxcnRjSI/видео.html 🤣 Didn't work! Ha! I've had soue vide tabs open on my screen for about a week, and I still don't know which one I should get. Any suggestions on a good one? So far my sister has around 30 or 40 batches with her new machine, and I honestly see little if any improvement in the machines "knowledge" of how dry it is or how far along in the process it is. Certainly not "much better." Where did I miss the "automatic" extended dry time information that's any different than the old machine? (Manual version and page?) I think I've read all of the different version manuals, from 2017 to present, and I don't remember seeing this. (I did a word search and still can't find it)
@@SchoolReports In SW update 5.x.24 the drying algorithm has changed to improve accurate determination of drying finish to include allowing the vacuum to rise above 1500 while running a batch and adjust for this in the algorithm. Around 5.x.17 a feature was added to allow additional drying time (adjustable from 30 min to 12 hours in the settings) to be added automatically after the FDer determines it’s done vs going straight to refreezing.
@@echopapa243 Again, I have read those manuals. I also know that we can (an do) add extra final dry time. We add 10 hours on her machine. Still not enough. The question remains; where is the "automatic" extended dry time. It's not automatic if I need to set it for the time, it's just me setting it, just like I add extra "Final Dry" time on mine, which I've had since day one. I have only seen at most, an approximately 5 to 10% time improvement with her machine, which is better than a sharp stick in the eye, but not the 25% that was suggested when they first started talking about the newer firmware on the newer machines. Don't get me wrong, I still think the new machines are a great improvement over the older ones (I mostly love the fit and finish), I'm just not impressed with the new firmware. I just thought it was going to be a bigger leap in greatness! Expectations vs reality. 🤣
What is the clear round plate you install before closing the door? Also, what is the foil around the black door gasket? Your machine looks like mine, running original software of 3.6. (2017) Thank you for your videos. Very informative.
Thanks for the question. Ours is a 2017 Harvest Right running version 2.4.3 (I have never 'upgraded' our firmware and wouldn't. I'm happy with that version) The front disc is 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 the pad that came with ours. (think airplane window) Once the machine is under vacuum the pad or disc probably don't matter, but while it's freezing it seems to help. I love how good of a job it has done and have not experienced any downside. It also works when I want video inside the chamber while freeze drying. Here is how I made it. Making an Acrylic Disc Front for a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer ruclips.net/video/erH1VDqNi80/видео.html If your freeze dryer is like ours, (2017) the opening is not quite round. For my first test piece I cut a very accurate circle out of a piece of foamcore and it had gaps of 1/8"+ (3mm +) around the edge. My sister's new (late 2022) machine has a chamber that is very round. We will be making a disc for her machine and I think the fact that it's round will make it easier. Her machine is a medium and I think hers is just a simple 11 7/8" diameter actual circle! The machines don't _NEED_ the disc. However, for us it's a useful addition because of two related things: condensation and heat transfer. First, while it's cooling, but before the vacuum pump starts, it helps with heat transfer. Second, because I often (very often!) don't get to the machine right away when it finishes, it just sit there chilling. Sometimes it waits 12 hours or more. Very chill, -40 chill. By the time I get around to it, without the front disc and seal insulation, the entire door and seal would be covered with condensation, both liquid and frozen. And then it melts and makes a mess. For people that stay right on top the the process, ready to take it out and check it the minute it beeps, all this is totally unneeded. The silver stuff is metalized film bubble stuff that is used for shipping cold stuff. We got our bubble stuff when it arrived wrapped around some frozen food, (a cake, I think) with frozen cold packs, from Harry & David. I saved it knowing that a use for it would show up. And Voilà! (You can get it at home improvement store and Amazon - it's similar to like this stuff) I put this on to better insulate the seal area because the seal would freeze and end up with ice and frost on it. Then, when the freeze dryer was defrosted, the ice would melt and water would run down the front of the freeze dryer. I measured the space between the door and the front of the freeze dryer and cut strips of the insulation material that wide. Next, I cut enough to wrap around the seal 3 or 4 time, taped them together end to end, and finally, wrapped it around the seal and taped the end. This has to be done a differently on the newer machines, I'm working on it (and a video) for my sister's newer machine. Adding Front Seal Insulation To A Harvest Right Freeze Dryer ruclips.net/video/LA1sHVUqKts/видео.html
Sorry, I'm not currently planning to get into selling/making 3D printed stuff for other people. (I wasn't planning to get into teaching 3D design and printing either, but ended up teaching for 3 years, so who knows.) You can download the file and print them. If I ever start making them to sell, I'd have to sell the pan with them because it seems like every time we bought a batch of pans they were a tiny bit different. And, the shipping would probably make the whole thing ridiculous. 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.
Wouldn't it be a good idea to flip all the pieces during the dry check. Since one of the major ways heat is transferred in a vacuum is by radiation... exposing the undersides of the pieces would help to get them dry faster.
True, but it would be work! 😁 You do also have the radiant and conduction heat from the tray heater below as well as above. It would have made the biggest difference with the double stacked ones if I had not flipped them, but moved the bottom up on top of the top layer and left them in the same orientation so that the driest layers were touching. With that said, the food does dry from the top down faster than from the bottom up.
@@SchoolReports Dang! didn't think about the work part, good point 🙂 No actually I admire your FD workflow and recomend you channel a lot on FB especially for people trying to figure out how to determine dryness.
We have never freeze dried raw chicken. Raw vs cooked meats is going to be a personal choice, but I can share a bit of my reasoning. We have freeze dried less and less raw meats as our freeze drying years have gone by. I think we did a lot of raw meat at first because we could! It works. However, freeze dried raw meats need to be treated the way you would treat any other raw meat. Any pathogens the food might have can still be alive and well in the freeze dried meats. Having said that, beef (steaks & burger patties), pork and salmon patties did just fine raw, as well as cooked. Raw burger patties seem best when we want to grill burgers. Burger patties that are already cooked broke apart more often when freeze drying than the raw ones.. Raw salmon fillets are the only one that didn't seen to rehydrate at all. (never tried raw chicken) I haven't tried raw salmon again with a different method because it's too expensive to try and have them fail. Never tried raw chicken. Then I realized that I really didn't want a bunch of raw meats, I wanted ready to eat bags of food. We are now precooking (if needed) most foods. We are doing a small amount of raw meats for specific future uses, but for the most part we also want things to be edible right out of the bag. So many foods are good dry. In general, I prefer to have as much of my stored food as possible already cooked and ready to eat, except for those we could eat raw anyway. That way - even if cooking or rehydrating later is not an option (for whatever reason) - the food would be able to provide immediate calories and nutrition.
The short answer is yes, the fats can go rancid in the Mylar bag. (Or in any other storage container) The real question should be "How long will it last in storage before it goes bad." My answer is - a very long time if we've done it right. I REALLY need to do a video and/or livestream on this subject! The funny thing is that I get lots of comments about fat for every food I do that has ANY visible/known fat in it, but not when I do ice cream or cheese! (or other foods with LOTS of hidden fats) I only have 5 1/2+ years and 600+ batches of personal experience with OUR freeze dried items, so I only KNOW it's good for about 5 1/2+ years. I do try to minimize fats, but I don't let it worry me too much. I know that some foods will have a shorter shelf life; Mountain House only gives their ice cream bars a 3 year life span, and by way of comparison, has freeze dried ground beef that's good for 30 YEARS and has PLENTY of fat. (15 grams of fat in a 37 gram dry serving) mountainhouse.com/collections/freeze-dried-meats/products/ground-beef-10-can or Mountain House Beef Stroganofff with 12 grams of fat in a 61 gram (dry) serving. mountainhouse.com/collections/pouches/products/beef-stroganoff-pouch or Mountain House Scrambled eggs with bacon with 23 grams of fat in a 63 gram (dry) serving mountainhouse.com/collections/10-cans/products/scrambled-eggs-with-bacon-10-can I assume (without proof, because I only have 5 1/2 years of data) that we should be able to get a similar shelf life for similar products. If we could only get 75% of that I'd be happy. I know that we don't really have the SAME product, just similar. I'm sure they have spent a LOT of time and money to perfect their recipes, ingredients, and processes. But, I'm also a big advocate on rotating our food stock, so I don't expect to have anything older than maybe 10 years. There are plenty of scientific and industry papers out there about food rancidity, and I've found them to be very interesting and informative; here's one - Chemists define roughly two ways a product can turn rancid: (Super simplified ) 1. Oxidative rancidity: Reaction involves oxygen 2. Hydrolytic rancidity: Reaction involves water. 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 (I can give you links to more if you're interested) There is so much to learn about this, I'm still a beginner and not a food scientist of any kind. Remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet. Don't listen to me. I could be wrong. Research. The #1 joke at our house is "But, I saw it on the internet!" Consider looking at what commercial companies are doing. That's where I look to for guidance. If they can do it, we probably can too. (with method adjustments)
Want to support the channel? Buy me a coffee :-) www.buymeacoffee.com/DanZm
If you are thinking of buying a freeze dryer, please consider supporting us by purchasing through our affiliate link. It helps us and costs you nothing! affiliates.harvestright.com/995.html
Before buying a freeze dryer perhaps research to find out more about the downside of the machine; like with any big machine, some people say they have had problems with their machine and it's big and heavy and hard to return!
Batch worksheet link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13DCB2hXo9_ZYrhIUicLk2IrEaQGszwbaJTcEH8wJxk4/edit?usp=sharing
Freeze Drying: The Next 50 Batches 551 to 600 docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SeVFOmCqhu75fg96E9lAjUXsK9zJotiZ_HKhzQ0dAXA/edit?usp=sharing
It’s so nice watching your videos, very informative and I find it calming to watch your vids
Always the most boing presentation of the most useful information ;-)
Thank you for your videos, I am learning a lot from you.
I processed 5 of these boxes of 40 pds. I baked them on racks. I kept all of the dripping and freeze dried for chicken bouillon. Rehydrated excellent.
That's great! I have racks for my pans and I was going to use them, but I forgot!😁
Didn't realize that the 2 middle shelves were so much warmer. I've never weighed the end product like that either. Now I have some tweaking to do with my process. Thanks for the info. That's one of my gripes about HR, very little info from them on using the machine properly.
I agree wholeheartedly. I do think companies selling these are doing a disservice in portraying them as "fully automatic" and suggesting that you just throw the food in, it does the rest and "DING" it's done and ready to bag. You do really need to check it yourself and the manual just says ". . .Check the material thoroughly to make sure it is completely dry . . ." with no hint as to how to accomplish this in a way to ensure it's 100% dry every time! Don't trust the machine; it has no way of knowing if it's dry or not.
Thank you for all the info, I’ve learned so much from you. Also, I got the heat strip changed on my sealer.
No shame on cooking your stuff to well done. Exactly how I like mine too.
Love your videos. I purchase my chicken breasts the same way. I always slice them, marinate them, and then BBQ them. Throw them in the FDer. They are wonderful rehydrated.
That's the way we did our last box, and overall I think I liked it better that way, but I thought I'd try it this way. It's okay this way.
Considering using Soue Vide cooking at 140F for 3 hours to cook chicken breast. With a large Soue Vide you can cook all 10 lbs at once.
Also it would be good to explain the difference between new HR FDers and your older model. They have much better software and drying algorithms with an automatic “extended” dry time when you can’t be there when it finishes.
I thought I was going to head off the soue vide comments with this acknowledgement of my need - ruclips.net/video/4A6PxcnRjSI/видео.html 🤣 Didn't work! Ha! I've had soue vide tabs open on my screen for about a week, and I still don't know which one I should get. Any suggestions on a good one?
So far my sister has around 30 or 40 batches with her new machine, and I honestly see little if any improvement in the machines "knowledge" of how dry it is or how far along in the process it is. Certainly not "much better."
Where did I miss the "automatic" extended dry time information that's any different than the old machine? (Manual version and page?) I think I've read all of the different version manuals, from 2017 to present, and I don't remember seeing this. (I did a word search and still can't find it)
@@SchoolReports In SW update 5.x.24 the drying algorithm has changed to improve accurate determination of drying finish to include allowing the vacuum to rise above 1500 while running a batch and adjust for this in the algorithm. Around 5.x.17 a feature was added to allow additional drying time (adjustable from 30 min to 12 hours in the settings) to be added automatically after the FDer determines it’s done vs going straight to refreezing.
@@echopapa243 Again, I have read those manuals. I also know that we can (an do) add extra final dry time. We add 10 hours on her machine. Still not enough.
The question remains; where is the "automatic" extended dry time. It's not automatic if I need to set it for the time, it's just me setting it, just like I add extra "Final Dry" time on mine, which I've had since day one. I have only seen at most, an approximately 5 to 10% time improvement with her machine, which is better than a sharp stick in the eye, but not the 25% that was suggested when they first started talking about the newer firmware on the newer machines. Don't get me wrong, I still think the new machines are a great improvement over the older ones (I mostly love the fit and finish), I'm just not impressed with the new firmware. I just thought it was going to be a bigger leap in greatness! Expectations vs reality. 🤣
I love that t shirt
🤣 This video was made over so many days that there are 5 different shirts in it. My favorites are the first and last.
What is the clear round plate you install before closing the door? Also, what is the foil around the black door gasket? Your machine looks like mine, running original software of 3.6. (2017)
Thank you for your videos. Very informative.
Thanks for the question. Ours is a 2017 Harvest Right running version 2.4.3 (I have never 'upgraded' our firmware and wouldn't. I'm happy with that version)
The front disc is 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 the pad that came with ours. (think airplane window) Once the machine is under vacuum the pad or disc probably don't matter, but while it's freezing it seems to help. I love how good of a job it has done and have not experienced any downside. It also works when I want video inside the chamber while freeze drying. Here is how I made it. Making an Acrylic Disc Front for a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer ruclips.net/video/erH1VDqNi80/видео.html If your freeze dryer is like ours, (2017) the opening is not quite round. For my first test piece I cut a very accurate circle out of a piece of foamcore and it had gaps of 1/8"+ (3mm +) around the edge. My sister's new (late 2022) machine has a chamber that is very round. We will be making a disc for her machine and I think the fact that it's round will make it easier. Her machine is a medium and I think hers is just a simple 11 7/8" diameter actual circle!
The machines don't _NEED_ the disc. However, for us it's a useful addition because of two related things: condensation and heat transfer. First, while it's cooling, but before the vacuum pump starts, it helps with heat transfer. Second, because I often (very often!) don't get to the machine right away when it finishes, it just sit there chilling. Sometimes it waits 12 hours or more. Very chill, -40 chill. By the time I get around to it, without the front disc and seal insulation, the entire door and seal would be covered with condensation, both liquid and frozen. And then it melts and makes a mess. For people that stay right on top the the process, ready to take it out and check it the minute it beeps, all this is totally unneeded.
The silver stuff is metalized film bubble stuff that is used for shipping cold stuff. We got our bubble stuff when it arrived wrapped around some frozen food, (a cake, I think) with frozen cold packs, from Harry & David. I saved it knowing that a use for it would show up. And Voilà! (You can get it at home improvement store and Amazon - it's similar to like this stuff)
I put this on to better insulate the seal area because the seal would freeze and end up with ice and frost on it. Then, when the freeze dryer was defrosted, the ice would melt and water would run down the front of the freeze dryer. I measured the space between the door and the front of the freeze dryer and cut strips of the insulation material that wide. Next, I cut enough to wrap around the seal 3 or 4 time, taped them together end to end, and finally, wrapped it around the seal and taped the end. This has to be done a differently on the newer machines, I'm working on it (and a video) for my sister's newer machine.
Adding Front Seal Insulation To A Harvest Right Freeze Dryer ruclips.net/video/LA1sHVUqKts/видео.html
Good Stuff thanks for sharing
Can /will you make me some dividers for medium?
Sorry, I'm not currently planning to get into selling/making 3D printed stuff for other people. (I wasn't planning to get into teaching 3D design and printing either, but ended up teaching for 3 years, so who knows.) You can download the file and print them. If I ever start making them to sell, I'd have to sell the pan with them because it seems like every time we bought a batch of pans they were a tiny bit different. And, the shipping would probably make the whole thing ridiculous.
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.
Wouldn't it be a good idea to flip all the pieces during the dry check. Since one of the major ways heat is transferred in a vacuum is by radiation... exposing the undersides of the pieces would help to get them dry faster.
True, but it would be work! 😁
You do also have the radiant and conduction heat from the tray heater below as well as above. It would have made the biggest difference with the double stacked ones if I had not flipped them, but moved the bottom up on top of the top layer and left them in the same orientation so that the driest layers were touching. With that said, the food does dry from the top down faster than from the bottom up.
@@SchoolReports Dang! didn't think about the work part, good point 🙂 No actually I admire your FD workflow and recomend you channel a lot on FB especially for people trying to figure out how to determine dryness.
@@DM-fz3ly Thanks!
Two of my long time mottos to live by have been "Laziness is the mother of invention"and "Procrastination: The key to flexibility"🤣
😀 😄 ❤️ 🐸 😋
If you don’t like dark meat it’s a better choice than the Costco route
I'm not a big fan of dark meat, and that's why we got this box. But I don't mind dark meat too much in the rotisserie chicken.
👍👍👍👍👍
Do you ever dry raw chicken?
We have never freeze dried raw chicken.
Raw vs cooked meats is going to be a personal choice, but I can share a bit of my reasoning. We have freeze dried less and less raw meats as our freeze drying years have gone by. I think we did a lot of raw meat at first because we could! It works.
However, freeze dried raw meats need to be treated the way you would treat any other raw meat. Any pathogens the food might have can still be alive and well in the freeze dried meats.
Having said that, beef (steaks & burger patties), pork and salmon patties did just fine raw, as well as cooked. Raw burger patties seem best when we want to grill burgers. Burger patties that are already cooked broke apart more often when freeze drying than the raw ones..
Raw salmon fillets are the only one that didn't seen to rehydrate at all. (never tried raw chicken) I haven't tried raw salmon again with a different method because it's too expensive to try and have them fail. Never tried raw chicken.
Then I realized that I really didn't want a bunch of raw meats, I wanted ready to eat bags of food.
We are now precooking (if needed) most foods. We are doing a small amount of raw meats for specific future uses, but for the most part we also want things to be edible right out of the bag. So many foods are good dry.
In general, I prefer to have as much of my stored food as possible already cooked and ready to eat, except for those we could eat raw anyway. That way - even if cooking or rehydrating later is not an option (for whatever reason) - the food would be able to provide immediate calories and nutrition.
What happens if you get some fat in the meat that you freeze dry? Will it spoil the Mylar bag?
The short answer is yes, the fats can go rancid in the Mylar bag. (Or in any other storage container) The real question should be "How long will it last in storage before it goes bad." My answer is - a very long time if we've done it right. I REALLY need to do a video and/or livestream on this subject!
The funny thing is that I get lots of comments about fat for every food I do that has ANY visible/known fat in it, but not when I do ice cream or cheese! (or other foods with LOTS of hidden fats) I only have 5 1/2+ years and 600+ batches of personal experience with OUR freeze dried items, so I only KNOW it's good for about 5 1/2+ years. I do try to minimize fats, but I don't let it worry me too much.
I know that some foods will have a shorter shelf life; Mountain House only gives their ice cream bars a 3 year life span, and by way of comparison, has freeze dried ground beef that's good for 30 YEARS and has PLENTY of fat. (15 grams of fat in a 37 gram dry serving) mountainhouse.com/collections/freeze-dried-meats/products/ground-beef-10-can
or Mountain House Beef Stroganofff with 12 grams of fat in a 61 gram (dry) serving. mountainhouse.com/collections/pouches/products/beef-stroganoff-pouch
or Mountain House Scrambled eggs with bacon with 23 grams of fat in a 63 gram (dry) serving mountainhouse.com/collections/10-cans/products/scrambled-eggs-with-bacon-10-can
I assume (without proof, because I only have 5 1/2 years of data) that we should be able to get a similar shelf life for similar products. If we could only get 75% of that I'd be happy. I know that we don't really have the SAME product, just similar. I'm sure they have spent a LOT of time and money to perfect their recipes, ingredients, and processes. But, I'm also a big advocate on rotating our food stock, so I don't expect to have anything older than maybe 10 years.
There are plenty of scientific and industry papers out there about food rancidity, and I've found them to be very interesting and informative; here's one - Chemists define roughly two ways a product can turn rancid: (Super simplified ) 1. Oxidative rancidity: Reaction involves oxygen 2. Hydrolytic rancidity: Reaction involves water.
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 (I can give you links to more if you're interested)
There is so much to learn about this, I'm still a beginner and not a food scientist of any kind.
Remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet. Don't listen to me. I could be wrong. Research. The #1 joke at our house is "But, I saw it on the internet!" Consider looking at what commercial companies are doing. That's where I look to for guidance. If they can do it, we probably can too. (with method adjustments)
@@SchoolReports that would be a good video