Came for the turkey fryer burner. Left disappointed.

Waaaaaaay cheaper than buying pre packaged FD food and you get to dictate what goes in it.

I was freeze drying 60 eggs for less than $10 a batch 2 years ago. Freeze dried beef is like $60 a can….. I can do it for a quarter of that or less and the food will last the rest of my life…

set up and running the test batch of wet bread that the manual tells you to run

we shall soon see if it does freeze drying things

pre-freezing your food in a freezer, if possible, will allow you to get ahead without running your freeze dryer freeze mode as long...just an option. If you are starting to do a lot of food it helps.

another thing I do is add additional time to the freeze dryer if Im not gonna be around when its done...when it does finish, if you need more time you can keep the trays warm. There is ice in the chamber so it will begin to rehydrate if you take too long.

i thought the manual said it'd freeze again and have it wait on you?

not that i care about wet bread but how the hell would you know when something was gonna be finished if it varies with each batch?

You're not going to know. You'll have to manually check and make sure that the batch is dry when they machine finishes.  Sometimes it gets it right, sometimes it doesn't and you'll have to add more dry time.

You'll develop a good sense for when batches will finish.  And the machine will hold batches for you when they are done.

We never put unfrozen food in.  We pre-freeze everything.  We have lots of freezers though, so it is easy for us.

Can you freeze dry weed?

Working with industrial grade chambers we froze everything first before loading into the vacuum chamber. Bananas were kept at -30 and the ice creme sandwiches were at -40. Most of the other products were -20.

The majority of chamber times were 7-9 hours per run.

All dried food was packaged in dehumidified rooms.

I took delivery of a Harvest Right medium with Premier pump in May.

Ran it a ton the first couple months. Jacked up the electric bill and made me have to source a new supplier to get the bills back down to normal levels. I probably should have done it sooner anyway.

I bought a bunch of plastic air tight 6.5L containers to keep ready to eat stuff like bananas, pineapple, peaches, strawberries, cherries, mixed berries, Skittles, patriotic candy corn (tastes like Bomb Pop), ice cream sandwiches, and a couple other things handy.

I had filled all those air tight containers up and was about to start in on storing stuff in Mylar for long term storage when my Avid Armor chamber vacuum sealer took a dump on me. I'm still waiting to get it back. Just before it did, I did my first batch of meat; some cooked pork chops. I marked one bag as a test bag to open in a year and try.

I'm constantly looking up videos on how others have handled freeze drying stuff so I can avoid a steeper learning curve. I'm also a little paranoid about being overly cautious with meat and trying to pick up as much information with that as possible. I've got some roasts I picked up on discount at Sam's for when I get my sealer back.

I've got some pumpkin pie I was going to slice up into bite size pieces and freeze dry this weekend but things have been too busy.

So far I've loved everything about the Harvest Right. It's pretty simple to use and, as mentioned, runs itself when you start it. Personally I always opt for a decent bit of extra dry time, just to be sure.

Parchment paper is helpful for keeping stuff from sticking to the trays and making cleanup easier. I've run enough batches through it the pump needed an oil change about 2 months ago. I filtered it no problem but needed to add more to it. It's apparently just mineral oil but since the pump is such an expensive piece of equipment, I just went to TSC and picked up some bottles of the Harvest Right branded oil rather than chancing running plain mineral oil. It's handy they sell some of the accessories. I suggest keeping the door cracked open on it when not in use since there will still be some moisture in there after draining. If you keep the door closed and don't use it for a bit, you will get mold on the food particles that end up in there. Cleaning with a little bleach water cleans it right up.

ETA: I'm currently trying to free up some freezer space so I can start pre-freezing stuff and see if I can cut down on run times.

Shop around for vacuum pump oil. I recently bought a case (12) quarts of JB Black Gold on Ebay for $60 shipped.

Also Zoro was running specials on JB 7cfm 2 stage pumps for $467 plus tax with free shipping.

They are pretty damn proud of those units based on their pricing.  

Looked at them for a bit.  Figure you can only justify the cost if you treat it like a hobby.  I can buy 24 years worth of freeze dried stuff before I’d break even.

@BajaGringo

Hahahaha, no, you can’t, lol. Your math has a couple of extra zeros somewhere…

That's what I was thinking. The markup on commercial freeze dried from places like Augson Farms is quite high (especially meat items) unless you're only getting stuff from them when it goes on discount.

The commercial operations have their place (like with certain products that are more difficult to dry like butter or honey) but, if you're serious about prepping, a freeze dryer very quickly pays for itself.

Please show your math

I was just wondering what kind of starvation diet he was anticipating to survive on $300 or 400 a year for a Decade…

Friendly reminder that freeze dried stuff keeps well only if it is VERY low in fat and oil. Better no fat and oil. Fats and oils go rancid.

Working on a batch of candy.  It takes 2hrs and prep time is almost zero so it’s about all I’ll pull off during the week

Very interesting, top tray doesn’t seem to do the same as the others, even with the same candy, wondering if the heater on it is working correctly

My sister and her husband were already doing the farmer's market circuit, they just added a freeze dry machine. They do candy, but he's also a prepper, so he's doing foods too.

My top tray didn’t scatter shit. Any ideas as to why?



reading back through this thread i know why

some candy like jolly ranchers and lemon heads need to be heated in an over first, to get them soft enough

gummies are wild.  some brands work, some don't, you've just got to figure out what does and doesn't

i don't care to sell any candy at this point so all i'll do that i think is good enough to warrant a run is bit-o-honey and salt water taffy, those are great freeze dried

This is why commercial  Lyophilizers use temperature sensors on all shelfs.

Hundreds of miles away. But ~$2600 isn’t too bad on the pricing.

We did that last year. But then out Harvest Right quit holding a vacuum. I’m pretty sure it had to do with their candy mode software upgrade. In short, that mode used more heat than freezing, I’m almost certain it created leaks. Haven’t got around to fixing it yet.

Got the Harvest Right cooling down and about to put a run of cherries and strawberries in.

Attached File


Sam's and Costco's frozen fruit are great for freeze drying. Minimal processing, reasonably priced, already frozen.

For pineapple, I like using GFS's #10 canned chunks:

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I haven't tried any of their other canned fruits. The bananas, apples, peaches, and pears I've done were all fresh but I'd like to see how the frozen/canned varieties turn out.

Pro-tip for fresh fruit like grapes-Sandwich them between two plates and run a knife between to slice them in half in batches.

It’s really hard to get water thru the skin of a fruit or vegetable-they have to be opened.

Good point. That's another reason I like the frozen cherries. They've been mechanically pitted already so they're opened up. Let someone else's big, purpose built machine make your life a little easier for not much more money.

(I do have a cherry pitter for when my fruit trees mature and start producing.)

Unrelated pro tip: If you have your freeze dryer in the house in a common area (mine is in my kitchen until the walk in laundry/pantry is built down the road), running it in the Winter will help cut down on your heating bill!

Normally running mine I typically have to have a fan on it or I get a warm room warning on screen. Not so now!

mine is set up in my hurricane shelter so there's a window unit blowing right towards it

i meant to do peppers, onions, cilantro and some avocados today but processing peppers takes forever so i stopped halfway through and did apples instead

In a vacuum I can still smell those serranos, hell of a stout batch

we have had ours for some time.

We freeze dry mostly eggs and milk from our homestead (but buy bulk and FD that too)
had good luck with turkey breakfast sausage too

I also at time buy whole milk on sale and FD it/

Greatest thing ever and we just bought a chamber vac to store more.

Milk I drank this week was from a few years ago

Our house is solar/ battery so we don't use much in the winter. Summer time we crank it out.

I want to try eggs.

And you're right, a chamber vac is a good companion to a freeze dryer. Thankfully I should have mine back from Avid Armor Sunday!

now that i've done a few batches i can speak on these things

1) when you start a cycle, add extra drying time and then it'll just sit there and wait on you, it's not like it can dry out too much.  i've been adding 18 hours because i can't see any scenario where i can't deal with a batch in that amount of time

2) can't speak to the old style oil pump or the oilless pump but this premier thing is WAY quieter than i expected it to be

ok, on this there is indeed a learning curve

top and bottom shelves are closer to the ice so don't get as hot and gummies need more heat than say the skittles do

I’m ready for the end times now

I cut some angle iron (aluminum) for my wife.  She has it as a ice shield to keep ice from building up on the bottom trays.

Home Depot table lasts longer than cart

This is a work bench which has wheels, and is height adjustable. Stout wood surface and drawers for accessories etc.

Watch live life simple and or school reports on YouTube. Those are the more informative channels I have found.

we FD a lot.

Well in a middle of FD run we just got this....

Attached File

according to a quick check of the internets you can try to check the tray plug-in, update the software... or it might be a board that went tits-up

https://harvestright.com/v50/?_2v_uBizfZ3rs

Tag. I have a couple hundred cans of Mountain house stuffed in the back bedroom for a bad day, this is relevant to my interests

Welcome! Good shit, some items take forever depending on their water contend and if they are already frozen or not. The HR bag sealer is shite, a cheapie vacuum sealer from Amazon will work way better. Get a few rolls of freeze dry bag rolls and make your own. The HR bags are nice but pricey. Not everything will need a oxygen absorber, but for bulky dried products, it can help.

Youll eventually need to find vacuum leaks and reseal them with silicone. Its not a matter of if, but when. Not terrible, but annoying. No, warranty wont do dick unless its a large failure.

IF you got the premium pump, the seal WILL leak. Apparently the internals are robust, but the seal holding the reservoir to the pump body eventually leaks. IF the pump is run with an external leak, your arear where your set up will smell like burned oil when it gets up to temp.

The Britta filter for the vac pump oil is a joke. just get new mineral oil and treat it like an oil change on your car.

Be careful..... freeze drying yogurt, bananas, strawberries and ice cream WILL make you do it twice. Not because it sucks at it. No, its actually fucking amazing. You'll just eat the first few batches that come out before you can store them....

nothing exciting to report, been doing grocery store frozen vegetables

they're the easy button of freeze drying, just dump them on the trays and press start

last batch in now.  corn, broccoli, peas, green beans.

Bananas and pineapple

Smoked ham next

Someone local is selling 2 medium Harvestright's for $1500 for both. He said both need new display screens.

Someone could probably make a side business out of buying broken harvest rights, refurbishing them so that they actually work like they should then reselling them.

Very likely that HR won’t sell them. Check first, then run-do not walk-to go get them.

You're not using an insulator in your hatch?

Hah I hauled one of these home 2 weeks ago specifically for mine as well.  It's perfect.  I'm going to fabricate a couple mounts to go below the drawers, one for my drain bucket, another for the vacuum pump.