The Power Use of a Dry Check
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- A viewer asked to see how much power is used during a Dry Check.
Spoiler: It's less than 1.5 kWh
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We have been buying oxygen absorbers and 7 mil Mylar bags from PackFreshUSA since early 2018. During all that time (1000's of bag and oxygen absorbers, and about 6 year before before we added this affiliate link) we have been happy with the products and service we have received from them.
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Before buying a freeze dryer, perhaps research to find out more about the downside of the machine; some people have problems with their machine and it's big and heavy and hard to return!
When trying to decide what to freeze dry you can start by asking why.
Start by asking yourself this question. Why are you freeze drying food? Knowing this should help you decide what you should freeze dry first.
I'm freeze drying because:
Just to freeze dry leftovers?
You want to make your own food for camping/backpacking?
For if/when the SHTF?
For a short term emergency?
You have your own garden and want to freeze dry the food?
You love Costco but don't have a family of 6?
You are good at finding the food sales but only have 1 freezer?
When you cook homemade chili just for yourself you make 10 gallons? Because you have 3 full freezers and are worried about power outages?
If I knew then what I know now, I would have freeze dried things in a different order. Or maybe not, because I started freeze drying because we had 3 full freezers, I was thinking of getting another one, and I decided I should buy a walk-in freezer instead. I started looking into walk-ins and realized they were expensive to buy (even used ones) AND expensive to own and operate. Then I found out Harvest Right was making home sized freeze dryers. One of my first thoughts was "I like Mountain House!" I have used their food for backpacking almost 45 years and we even kept some in our travel trailer, for just in case.
Freeze dried food will stay fresh for many years and be ready and waiting when you need it.
We do videos showing how we are using our Harvest Right Freeze Dryer to freeze dry food for long term storage. (We have the medium size machine that we got in August of 2017) We talk about how to load and unload the freeze dryer, how to know if the food is dry, is it better to freeze dry raw food or cooked food, and do a few taste tests. Freeze dried food is also great for prepping or just for camping and snacking!
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As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases from the links provided. By clicking on the links, you can explore the products and tools I use.
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PackFreshUSA
We have been buying oxygen absorbers and 7 mil Mylar bags from PackFreshUSA since early 2018. During all that time (1000's of bag and oxygen absorbers, and about 6 year before before we added this affiliate link) we have been happy with the products and service we have received from them.
I earn from qualifying purchases from the links provided. - packfreshusa.com/?rfsn=7877576.a54e2a
Use the discount code "SchoolReports5" to get 10% off your first purchase when using the link.
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Harvest Right - If you are thinking of buying a freeze dryer, please consider supporting us by purchasing through our link. It helps us and costs you nothing!
affiliates.harvestright.com/995.html
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Before buying a freeze dryer, perhaps research to find out more about the downside of the machine; some people have problems with their machine and it's big and heavy and hard to return!
Here is the list of Freeze dryers I've heard of: (If anyone knows of any others, please add to the list) (as of July 23rd 2023)
harvestright.com/ (The only one I've used. We been very happy with it - affiliate link in description) All the others might be great, I've just never tried them.
p4lfood.com/ "The Cube" Same machine as the 4Patriots one? (Facebook page only a few months old?)
4patriots.com/products/4patriots-home-freeze-drying-system - Maybe built by Prep4 Life?
stayfreshfreezedry.com/ - One person start-up import business? (Judging by the corporation papers listing a home as the Registered Address)
www.cuddonfreezedry.com/products/ - Big - Probably not really a home unit. At least 20 times bigger than medium HR
wmmachinery.com/products/freeze-dryer-for-home-use - Lower priced. Shipped direct from China?
www.labrotovap.com/portfolio-item/large-home-freeze-dryer-lyophilizer-for-sale/ - Knockoff? Even used some of Harvest Right web page photos.
www.usalab.com/freeze-dryers/ - Two models? Do they make or rebrand.
freezedryco.com/equipment/food-cannabis/ Freeze Dry Company - more commercial
www.hudsonvalleylyomac.com/stratus-mp3-series-floor-model.html Hudson Valley Lyomac - not really home size units
d-freeze.com/ D-Freeze - Not out yet, being built in Canada
www.freezedryfood.de/en/ FreezeDry® German
bluealpinefreezedryers.com/ Blue Alpine Freeze Dryers - Idaho - Very new/Start-up - Looks promising
Being a fairly new FDer, I certainly appreciate any new info. Can you show how to vacuum seal in jars and mylar inside your FDer? Thanks again!
I guess I could but it would be a bit like having someone that doesn't like mint show you how to make mint candy. 🤣 I'd be happy to do a video about using the freeze dryer for vacuum sealing if you want me to. I believe I could be accurate about showing the process, but I'm not going to be enthusiastic about it and I will probably spend most of the time explaining why it's a bad idea. I'm not a fan of using glass jars for a number of reasons: weight, space, breakable, transparent, to name a few. I think jars have a place with freeze dried foods, just rarely for me.
I'm not against vacuum sealing the bags or jars (as long as there are oxygen absorbers), except for the cost of the chamber vac, time (maybe a minute per bag x thousands of bags), and the potential of crushing some delicate foods (if using bags), e.g. tomato slices, green beans or other delicate items. I have no plans to get a chamber vacuum for Mylar bag sealing. I would always use oxygen absorbers for long term storage, even when vacuuming, because there is _still going to be_ a small amount of air/oxygen between every particle of food. A lot more than people think. A little oxygen goes a long ways when it comes to damaging food. The oxygen absorbers will remove the oxygen exponentially better. I don't know if vacuuming the bag - and including oxygen absorbers - is any better than oxygen absorbers without vacuuming. I've seen nothing to say it is. If the bag has a lower pressure on the inside vs the outside, there will be a pressure pushing the oxygen in. The long term problem is permeability - oxygen is going to be going through the bag, slowly, forever. The better the bag the slower it happens. (That's the big plus with jars - not permeable) Of course if you have oxygen absorbers in the bags they keep absorbing any oxygen that comes through. No matter how we pack them, we always add oxygen absorbers. Just remember, even if it's vacuumed, if there is any air in the container, without an oxygen absorber, it's 21% oxygen. If you test a "vacuumed" jar and there's still 100 cc of air, 21cc of it is oxygen.
I remember someone telling me that _Phil at 4800 feet_ showed how he did this a year or 2 ago. I haven't seen any freeze drying channel for a long time, but I know that he was someone that seemed to do very good, data driven work. Check his channel for something like "vacuum sealing" or "vacuum jars." I was told he did it, but I don't know the results.
Please let me know if you find what you're looking for or not.
THE DRY CHECK IS THE VERY BEST WAY TO INSURE YOUR FOODS ARE COMPLETLEY DRY! Dont skimp on it. I run many of the same things ...and I record the weights.. across multiple loads.. So I know for a fact that if I were to take the food out at the standard factory default dry time that has completed.. THEY WOULD NOT BE COMPLETELY DRY! This is true almost every single load!!!!. So, I highly reccomend to add additional DRY Time.. I have mine set for 10 extra hours, even though I dont use it.. I can and do always arrow down to stop it, and perform the Dry Check. Because I record my loads of food.. I know how much extra time I actually need for a particular load of food..and it's pretty accurate within about 1 hour or better! The last thing I want or you should want is to open a bag of FD food a year later, or in an emergeny and find it spoiled because it was never completely dry in the first place.
Thanks! Yes a thousand times!
I can tell that you feel very strongly about making sure the food is dry before storing (duh:), and you know that I do too. Do you think I should stress this even more in the videos? I think I sometimes assume that everyone understands the importance of it, so even though I show the _Dry Check_ process, maybe I don't stress the reason and importance of it enough.
My sister and I have our machines set for 11 or 12 hours of "Extra" or "Final" dry time. I'm not sure I ever had a batch dry when the default setting "thinks" it is. The machine simply can't know. There are too many variables. Like you said, you can get pretty good at judging a particular load of food after you've done that one a bunch of times. Because you know how you loaded it before and you can try to do it the same each time.
By the time we get to this point in the process, we've put a lot into the food (money, time, etc), why would anyone skimp now?
I tell everyone the weight method is the ONLY accurate method. I also tell buyers to beware of buying food from FDers they don’t know to be in belief of this scientific proof process!
@@SchoolReports I learned this from you as well! I see other sites just feeling for hot and cold spots and wonder why everyone doesn’t do the dry test this way. So easy and provides peace of mind. Thanks for your thorough explanations. I’ve learned a great deal watching your videos.
@@tdknucklehead9416 Thanks!
If they are not testing, they are just guessing! 🤣
As far as I know there are no moisture meters up to the job at regular consumer prices. (And maybe not at any price) I've never heard of one that would do what I need it to do, and I've look a lot.
A thermal imaging camera can't tell if it's dry, only if it's warm.
A lumber moisture meter works okay (not great) for lumber, but it's not designed for freeze dried food and won't work for that.
Water activity (aw) meters are designed to test the moisture and water activity levels, but cost a lot and only test small samples. Even with the type of meter that I would consider using, ( AQUALAB 4TE Water Activity Meter aqualab.com/en/products/aqualab-4te-water-activity-meter ) I still wouldn't use it for this job, because if the food is only spot checked, you still have to hope and trust that you've found the wettest pieces every time.
When weighing the trays to test for dryness, how many grams difference over say a 2 hour period would make you go another 2 hours ? If only 1-2 grams were lost over a 2 hour period, would you go another 2 hours or is that close enough ?
If the weight drops during the _Dry Check_ it needs more time. I feel very uncomfortable with any number other than 0!
That being said, _if_ it was no more than 1 gram _and_ it's been at least a 2 1/2 or 3 hour _Dry Check, and_ the dry weight of the food on the tray is over 100 grams (meaning the loss was well below 1%), then I _sometimes_ will take it out.
You can see on this video at this spot- ua-cam.com/video/5cHronGQID0/v-deo.htmlsi=P8nUr6hs_1m8iamQ&t=1406 - that tray #1 had a 1 gram loss in 2 1/2 hours. After I mixed all 4 trays together for a total of 538 grams dry weight, the loss was less than 2 tenths of one percent.
The only reason I was kind of comfortable with taking it out after this small loss, is because after doing another round of _Dry Checks_ many, many times, I've found that the next weight check would show no loss under these conditions for that food.
🍕🙂🥩🙃🐟😇🥓❤🧀🐸
Thank you 🤗
You’re welcome 😊 The timing couldn't have been better on this one, it was ready for the _Dry Check_ soon after you'd asked about it!
@@SchoolReports I jumped into deep dive of freeze drying 😅 and my curiosity doesn't help, could you tell me how much Mwh do you use in a year +/-, thank you for your time 😊.
@@kuroimushi9421 We have only averaged about 100 - 120 batches per year and uses about 2800 kWh
Here are links to all the data. Your First 500 lbs of Food - Recapping the First 50 Batches - ua-cam.com/video/IRkac5wrCzI/v-deo.htmlsi=z5ng7srdGJ3CDBhj&t=888
Freeze Drying 50 Batches in 100 Days data sheet - First 500 lbs data spreadsheet link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ieekdk5aH_2OWLUealeOLurU9_zl03BfFEg_qhAgcaA/edit?usp=sharing
I recently tried to do a dry check on my machine. I've been going by mTorrs/temperature, but due to a major FAIL on ham and beans, I wanted to stop the machine and do a dry check. To my surprise, I couldn't get the machine to release vacuum. Twice I've tried this and it goes between 10-20 minutes and never releases. The drain is wide open. What I noticed the last time is that the pump is still running after I've run the time down to "0". I don't remember the pump being on during the dry check before and two friends said that it should NOT be running. Should it be on or off? If it's supposed to be off, would the problem be with the computer or the pump. Someone said that water was frozen in the drain, but I've checked and that doesn't appear to be the case. Any ideas would be appreciated! Linda McHam
The vacuum pump should NOT be running after the time gets to 0 and during the _Dry Check_ process. If it's still running with the screen showing 0 (and it should also be saying "Process Complete" ) something is not right. You could use the power switch on the vacuum pump to turn off the vacuum pump. (You could also turn off the vacuum pump for the _Dry Check_ process and never even stop the process countdown, but that's a separate issue)
Using the pressure/temperature is never good enough to tell if the food is completely dry or not. It can only tell you if it may be worth starting the Dry Check_ process. Never trust the machine to know if it's dry. - It can't know.
Thank you for your reply. I thought there was something wrong with the pump running. I’ll check with Harvest Right and see if they have a suggestion.
Thank you again. Your videos are wonderful!
@@lindamcham428 Yes, if your vacuum pump is not shutting off when it get to the "Process Complete" screen, you may have a bad relay or firmware glitch or something.
Someone on a FB group said to check my Setup Configuration. It was set to ON when it should have been set to OFF. I assumed (bad idea) that it was set the same way my previous circuit board was last summer. I’m doing another run now and hopefully this will release the vacuum. I will let you know! Thanks again for your help!
@@lindamcham428 I hope that solves your problem!
Is it the functional testing screen? (Like at this spot? - ua-cam.com/video/JJqCHYoylDE/v-deo.htmlsi=GyncIJogN1X8HPgj&t=111 ) That screen is really for manual testing of the components and they are right - it should be set to off. (All 4 things on that screen should be set to off) It's so obvious now that you say it and yet I would not have thought to look there because it's supposed to be off.