I just received my medium Blue Alpine Freeze Dryer on Monday and have completed 5 runs (in less than 5 days). Setup was a breeze. I love the built in recipes. I appreciate your incredible customer support. Made in the USA!
We got the large model a few weeks ago and have been super pleased and impressed with the quality and functionality. Blue Alpine has been very responsive to our questions both before and after purchase. Highly recommend.
Doing my first run right now. So far I've been super happy. Very well built, clean lines, set up was extremely easy. I love the fact that included in the paperwork is the inspection verification with signatures. The only caveat I wish was provided is a "First run" instructions, but, with a bit of googling it was fairly easy to figure out.
Good to hear! Glad you're enjoying your machine so far! And thanks for the feedback, we'll take a look at our owners manual and maybe add some "First run" Instructions. The interesting thing is most other brands haven't degassed their machines so they encourage doing a "bread run'" in order to remove that "new car" smell. For our machine we've already degassed them by running about four hours of test on each one before shipping out, so the customer can start freeze drying anything right away. We encourage doing a simple candy run first because it's fast, easy and fun. (That's why we include a small bag of candy with each machine.) However, it doesn't hurt to do a bread run, in fact some have reported that if their machine has sat inactive for a few months they will worm it up with a bread run to make sure it's freshly degassed. But it might be a good idea to include a bit more of this information in the owners manual. Thanks! :D
@BlueAlpine The simple candy run came out fantastic. Me being an aircraft mechanic I look for technical details and settings but with that said yalls videos have been a tremendous help.
Why I choose Blue Alpine? They didn't want to nickle-and-dime me to death. Want more trays? Go to your favorite big box store or favorite kitchen store; they are standard size. Want parchment paper or silicone mat? Same. Standard size trays. Want a filter replacement? Go to the store everyone loves to hate on. The filter is a standard.
First time hearing about your company. I'll be looking at your machines as I love to freeze dry. When you defrost it appears your drain hose is lower so non need to tip the unit if I understand correctly. Thank you for creating machines made in the USA.
That's awesome! Yeah, most of the time you don't have to do anything extra to drain the water, sometimes you'll have a little bit still at the bottom which can be wiped up with a paper towel if you are doing back to back batches.
Can you explain the specific differences between your machine and stayfresh I’m deciding between your two brands and I’m really hesitant to go with you guys because I’ve seen a lot of promises but then I’ve seen some videos that don’t seem to match your promises so I’d like to be able to separate hopeful promises from reality
Sorry to be so picky. I really like your controller compared to that of the brand that shall not be named! I worked almost my entire career in the diagnostic/pharmaceutical field (45 years) and throughout that career, I not only operated lyophilizers (huge ones) but I eventually designed three large 'freeze dryers' that my employer purchased. Each dryer had 10 refrigerated shelves measuring 5' X 6' and a separate large cylindrical condenser. Between the product/shelf chamber and the separate condenser we had 30" mushroom valve. The chamber and shelves were all 316 stainless and the condenser chamber had a half mile of refrig condenser tubing which had about a 500 L ice capacity. I specified three Bitzer semihermetic refrig compressors and the vacuum pump was a highly efficient scroll pump on each dryer that could get the entire chamber and condenser chamber down to 5 milliTorr in less than 30 minutes as part of the validation testing. Sorry to bore you. I like your design for user serviceability and standard trays--brilliant with the compressor refrigerant as well. Best of luck to you fellas with your business.
I just got my machine and started the 1st bat h of candy. Everything started okay, then after about an hour I got a "sensor error" instruction on screen says reattach sensor and restart. Also said to check manual. I cannot find anything about sensors in the manual. I did a Google search and nothing comes up. I went to the websire and did a search and nothing comes up. Anyone else having this problem?
great description of your program controller as well as the disclaimer that your preprogrammed 'recipe's aren't necessarily optimized for all items within each category, e.g. fruit.
Thanks. What is good though, each recipe can be adjusted and tweaked to fit the specific food being freeze-dried, the base recipes provide a great starting point.
I live in Spokane WA. I may have to choose you over the other guys. One issue I don't like in this industry is the oil vs oiless pumps. I don't like the idea of oil anywhere around food as I'm extremely organic minded, no matter what people try to say that it's not an issue. If there is any chance of oil getting into the food, that's a huge toxic problem. then somebody might say, "You can't taste any oil so it's nothing to worry about." SMH Just because you can't taste something, doesn't mean it's not there. Then we have the oiless pumps... I hear they break down over a short period of time like every couple years and it's hundreds of dollars to repair? Why can't sombody make a good pump? I went through all of this with Harvest Right.
That is a legitimate concern. While there is always a chance, we have done everything we can to prevent oil from getting on the food through the machine, including a solenoid shutoff when the pump is inactive and an oil filter were it connects to the chamber. That way any air that might backup in the vacuum tube will be filtered. The dairy industry just has a direct connection to a vacuum pump without any solenoid or even a filter, so for most people in similar industries the base unlikelihood of oil getting on the food is good enough, but we wanted to go a few steps further to reduce the possibility as much as possible. Sadly, oilless pumps are very expensive and most often end up requiring more maintenance than is worth it. Some people do prefer it though, and with the right brand you might be alright. Hopefully one day we can get a quality oilless pump that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
I just received my medium Blue Alpine Freeze Dryer on Monday and have completed 5 runs (in less than 5 days). Setup was a breeze. I love the built in recipes. I appreciate your incredible customer support. Made in the USA!
We are so happy to hear that! Thank you! Glad you are loving it.
We got the large model a few weeks ago and have been super pleased and impressed with the quality and functionality. Blue Alpine has been very responsive to our questions both before and after purchase. Highly recommend.
That's good to hear! Glad you are enjoying it! :D
Doing my first run right now. So far I've been super happy. Very well built, clean lines, set up was extremely easy. I love the fact that included in the paperwork is the inspection verification with signatures. The only caveat I wish was provided is a "First run" instructions, but, with a bit of googling it was fairly easy to figure out.
Good to hear! Glad you're enjoying your machine so far! And thanks for the feedback, we'll take a look at our owners manual and maybe add some "First run" Instructions. The interesting thing is most other brands haven't degassed their machines so they encourage doing a "bread run'" in order to remove that "new car" smell. For our machine we've already degassed them by running about four hours of test on each one before shipping out, so the customer can start freeze drying anything right away. We encourage doing a simple candy run first because it's fast, easy and fun. (That's why we include a small bag of candy with each machine.)
However, it doesn't hurt to do a bread run, in fact some have reported that if their machine has sat inactive for a few months they will worm it up with a bread run to make sure it's freshly degassed.
But it might be a good idea to include a bit more of this information in the owners manual. Thanks! :D
@BlueAlpine The simple candy run came out fantastic. Me being an aircraft mechanic I look for technical details and settings but with that said yalls videos have been a tremendous help.
Why I choose Blue Alpine? They didn't want to nickle-and-dime me to death.
Want more trays? Go to your favorite big box store or favorite kitchen store; they are standard size.
Want parchment paper or silicone mat? Same. Standard size trays.
Want a filter replacement? Go to the store everyone loves to hate on. The filter is a standard.
Exactly! We offer all those things, but if it's easier to get them local or wherever else then do what works best for you! :D
A comparison with blue alpine, harvest right, and stay fresh internals would be dopeeee.
I agree that would make a great review. The problem is who would do the review?
Just received my machine and really ready to get going,.
Have fun! Hope you enjoy it. Let us know if you have any questions that come up!
First time hearing about your company. I'll be looking at your machines as I love to freeze dry.
When you defrost it appears your drain hose is lower so non need to tip the unit if I understand correctly. Thank you for creating machines made in the USA.
That's awesome! Yeah, most of the time you don't have to do anything extra to drain the water, sometimes you'll have a little bit still at the bottom which can be wiped up with a paper towel if you are doing back to back batches.
Can you explain the specific differences between your machine and stayfresh I’m deciding between your two brands and I’m really hesitant to go with you guys because I’ve seen a lot of promises but then I’ve seen some videos that don’t seem to match your promises so I’d like to be able to separate hopeful promises from reality
Give us a call at 208-607-1722 😊
Which one did you buy?
Does it work for Cannabis Hash?
We have a few customers that use it for that. So yes!
Sorry to be so picky. I really like your controller compared to that of the brand that shall not be named! I worked almost my entire career in the diagnostic/pharmaceutical field (45 years) and throughout that career, I not only operated lyophilizers (huge ones) but I eventually designed three large 'freeze dryers' that my employer purchased. Each dryer had 10 refrigerated shelves measuring 5' X 6' and a separate large cylindrical condenser. Between the product/shelf chamber and the separate condenser we had 30" mushroom valve. The chamber and shelves were all 316 stainless and the condenser chamber had a half mile of refrig condenser tubing which had about a 500 L ice capacity. I specified three Bitzer semihermetic refrig compressors and the vacuum pump was a highly efficient scroll pump on each dryer that could get the entire chamber and condenser chamber down to 5 milliTorr in less than 30 minutes as part of the validation testing. Sorry to bore you. I like your design for user serviceability and standard trays--brilliant with the compressor refrigerant as well. Best of luck to you fellas with your business.
Awesome! Sounds like you know your stuff, so glad to hear to approve of our design! :D
I would love to make the kids freeze-dried 🍬 and the blue one 💙 my favorite color.
It’s a fun treat!
I just got my machine and started the 1st bat h of candy. Everything started okay, then after about an hour I got a "sensor error" instruction on screen says reattach sensor and restart. Also said to check manual. I cannot find anything about sensors in the manual. I did a Google search and nothing comes up. I went to the websire and did a search and nothing comes up. Anyone else having this problem?
Hi! Can you give us a call or email us at contact@blueaplinefreezedryers.com, we'll help you get your machine going again.
What setting and temp would be used for mushrooms?
I have never done them so this is just a guess but I would do them on delicate. So 103F and 1200mTorr.
I did them on the quick start setting and they came out great. I did shiitake.
I have been looking for answers to this question for days! Thank you for asking. And thank you Cory for answering @patentpendingpythons question.
Price of small one
Check their website. I think it ranges approx 3k. They are not cheap.
Mistakes happen during the process that can make a mess inside the chamber. It would have been beneficial to demonstrate removal of the trays.
That's a good idea, maybe we'll do a special video for common machine maintenance tips and tricks.
great description of your program controller as well as the disclaimer that your preprogrammed 'recipe's aren't necessarily optimized for all items within each category, e.g. fruit.
Thanks. What is good though, each recipe can be adjusted and tweaked to fit the specific food being freeze-dried, the base recipes provide a great starting point.
I live in Spokane WA.
I may have to choose you over the other guys.
One issue I don't like in this industry is the oil vs oiless pumps.
I don't like the idea of oil anywhere around food as I'm extremely organic minded, no matter what people try to say that it's not an issue. If there is any chance of oil getting into the food, that's a huge toxic problem.
then somebody might say, "You can't taste any oil so it's nothing to worry about." SMH
Just because you can't taste something, doesn't mean it's not there.
Then we have the oiless pumps... I hear they break down over a short period of time like every couple years and it's hundreds of dollars to repair? Why can't sombody make a good pump?
I went through all of this with Harvest Right.
That is a legitimate concern. While there is always a chance, we have done everything we can to prevent oil from getting on the food through the machine, including a solenoid shutoff when the pump is inactive and an oil filter were it connects to the chamber. That way any air that might backup in the vacuum tube will be filtered. The dairy industry just has a direct connection to a vacuum pump without any solenoid or even a filter, so for most people in similar industries the base unlikelihood of oil getting on the food is good enough, but we wanted to go a few steps further to reduce the possibility as much as possible.
Sadly, oilless pumps are very expensive and most often end up requiring more maintenance than is worth it. Some people do prefer it though, and with the right brand you might be alright. Hopefully one day we can get a quality oilless pump that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
@@BlueAlpine Thanks for the info. I'm looking forward to picking one of your machines soon. Be blessed!
Eutectic, not eutetic.
Oh man I have been saying it wrong for so long. I will have to change that. Thanks so much
I really love this business model. I think I'll be a customer soon. 🫡