Thank you for this awesome tutorial/lesson in 02 absorbers! One of the things I wondered was why they don’t mark them. I found it interesting that they blew smoke up your shorts; I guess I’m not the only one that sort of thing happens to. 😊 Really a shame though, I would’ve thought they would’ve given an honest answer. I am also curious to find out about desiccant packs, but that will have to be for another day obviously. 😊👍 Thanks again! ~Sharon
I am new to freeze drying and have not gotten my dryer yet, trying to learn all I can before it arrives. I have been watching videos for days and days.Had surgery an can't do anything outside much. Love all your hard work at making these videos. Keep them coming for the beginners like me.
Having same sized flasks with no absorbers as controls would have made it possible to check what amount of the change in volume you got was due to oxygen being absorbed versus barometric/temp. changes.
Thank you so much for the REALLY well presented and detailed presentation. You have truly explained very well on what needs to be done. Thank you again kind sir!
very very good...ive just got into dehydrating food and about to purchase my first oxygen absorbers living country high humidity has its complexities. so perfectly informed. thank you
Great video and I like your scientific approach. I think the problem people refer to botulism and O2 absorbers is that botulism thrives in a low oxygen environment. However, other factors need to be present such as warm temperatures and moisture.
Thank you for this!!!!! I have not used oxygen absorbers yet due to 1) cost and 2) anxiety about what gases or chemicals the packets make when they are removing the oxygen. It was very helpful that you measured the CO and talked about "safe" and "unsafe" levels. Thank you.
@@Philat4800feet Thank you. I have been vacuum packing pasta and rice in jars so far. But so many people talk about oxygen absorbers that i've been worried that I'm wasting food.
Hi Phil, I am new to food storage and am grateful for what you have explained in your videos. The less that 10% moisture rule seems to be well known, but I get confused when researching a trustworthy way to determine moisture content. I can wrap my head around the smash grain with a hammer and if it does not mush, I am good to go method, but not sure how scientific that really is. How do you determine the content of moisture before you pack your food for storage? I am about to do my first batch of wheat using mylar (probably an oxygen absorber), vacuum chamber (thanks for your video on that), and buckets. I would sleep easier if I had a good sense that I packed it at less than 10%.
Some FD'ers have gone as far as buying moisture meters, but this will only provide a sample where tested. I believe touch is the best method to use. Run your fingers through your food right after it comes out of the FD. feel for any cool spots. If any, continue to dry. Don't fool yourself that a cool spot (cool food) will be ok to bag. It's better to over dry than under dry.
Cool vid. I think one way one can test the capacity of an oxygen absorber would be to stick one inside of a sealed, 5-gallon bucket. From the bucket you'd run a thin tube to another vessel containing colored water. As the O2 absorber creates a partial vacuum in the bucket, colored fluid would be drawn into the bucket pretty much with the same volume as the oxygen absorbed. Later, you open the bucket and measure the volume of the fluid that was drawn in.
@@Philat4800feet I did try it, using my 21-quart pressure canner. With a plastic tube running from the vent pipe to a graduated, 1-liter Nalgene bottle full of water, I suspended a Harvest Right 700cc oxygen absorber inside the canner. Observing the water level in the Nalgene bottle and adding more as necessary, I noted that about 2,000 CCs of water had been drawn into the pressure canner, as the O2 absorber slowly consumed the oxygen that was inside the vessel.
Great informative video, thanks for that. Any idea what the shelf life of unused oxygen absorbers are? I'm guessing new vacuum sealed ones would last the longest and opened new ones stored in small sealed mason jars would have less absorption since they are in some oxygen inside the air the jar. I guess the smaller the jar the better.
Hello Phil, greetings from Germany and thanks for your video, which answered many of my questions. I've made a similar approach. I've sealed up an oxygen absorber in a twist-off glass and after waiting a week I pierced the lid with a nail while holding it under water. The weight of the water in grams equals the volume in mililiters. Weighing the glass empty and full gives the total volume. I came up with 19.8 %. Good enough for me. It will kill all insects and will keep the oils in my whole wheat flour from going rancid.
Hallo Rolf You may want to be careful using oxygen absorbers and oily foods, like brown rice etc. Removing oxygen and leaving oil or moisture may create anaerobic bacteria which may lead to botulism, an unwelcome surprise. Viele Gruesse Bernd Licht
@Bernd Licht, sorry about going off-topic. I do not consider clostridium botulinum a problem in dry goods. To grow and to produce its toxin, this bacterium needs water and anaerobic conditions. Water is missing, so not a chance. Even then, both the bacterium and its toxin are not tempreature stable and die / decompose at tempreatures over 80 drgrees Celsius. So even if the flour would contain them, baking would eliminate both. In canned goods the the bacterium would grow from the highly tempreature resistant spores and produce toxin. This can cause poisoning when the canned goods are consumed consumed cold. Heating the content of a contaminated can to boiling will kill the bacteria and destroy the botulinum toxin.
Great video Phil! I apologize if you covered this in the video, but do you have a particular brand of oxygen absorbers that you recommend? What about Mylar bags?
Hello Phil, I bought oxygen obsorbers and mason jars to preserve them. And I noticed that it was causing moisture inside the mason jars. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Should I use them for my myler bags? I am preserving beans and rice.
If your food isn't freezed dried, or dried by another method, you'll need to get it under 10% or less moisture. Oxygen absorber do not remove moisture. Desiccant packs do. Oxygen absorbers do heat up a little bit and may cause any moisture in your beans or rice to turn to condensate. You may want to experiment with placing your food on a cookie sheet under really low oven heat. and let it cool slowly. When hot items cool, they can cause condensation on the surface.
Phil, if I have freeze dried food that has been put up a while with an O2 oxygen absorber, can I vacuum seal in my freeze dryer and not ruin my O2 absorber, or do I need to open every package a redo them?
Good question, but not an easy answer. It depends on how the food was packaged. Not all oxygen absorbers are equal. Some provide extra capacity and some are underrated. Some people do what they can to remove the air before sealing. Some don't. This is what I would do. Cheap and easy to replace food, I would leave alone. Expensive foods like steaks, meats, cheeses, etc. I would repack with a new oxygen absorber and vacuum pack. protect your investment.
Great video, but it was missing the one thing I was looking for and have yet to find. How much are each packet suppose to weight from 100cc to 2000cc. I've been reading a lot of product on Amazon are fake OA weight. The only one person I found who actually provided a weight says 400cc is suppose to weight 10g. I use 2000cc but now I am concerned that my food could be bad if the OA were not correctly weighed, but I don't want to open them.
Wouldn't different sized absorbers have to have different weights? You could always drop them on the scales to quickly check they are at least the correct size before using, even though not labelled.
What happens if there is not enough moisture to allow the rusting process to take place? That reaction takes oxygen and moisture. Would it be beneficial to SLIGHTY dampen the packet prior to adding it to the jar/mylar bag?
I wouldn't damped the packet. Botulism thrives in zero, or near zero oxygen with low moisture. Most FD foods will have some moisture even if it's under 1%. You can squeeze most of the air out of your bag, but not all. the remaining air will also contain some moisture. The oxygen absorber will remove what O2 remains, along with some moisture and turn it to "rust". It may take longer, but it will.
Hi Phil, on a related note, is it true that all oxygen absorbers should warm up after removing from their packages. I ordered some directly from Harvest Right and they had a light pink dot (indicating the were good), but never became warm as my others have in the last. Any info appreciated.
I am curious to know how the rate of oxygen absorption changes over time. I think it would be useful to know how much time you realistically have to get the absorber into the bag. They tend to ship these sealed in bulk packs.
I am an information addict, so thank you for your research. I read on another site that I have approx 5 min to get my packet out of the manufacturers sealed envelope & into a filled mylar bag. The post goes on to say that if my packets are not sealed back up within that time frame then I have to throw away the remaining packets. Sadly, after reading this, I threw away a batch as I only used one packet. Any advice on how long a batch envelope can be opened without re-sealing?
I add a silica gel packet along with an oxygen absorber to my freeze dried bags or jars. Not sure how effective this though. I would imagine that it would depend on the moisture content of the food, where the moisture was present in the food (i.e. inside vs. on the surface). You know of any data on this?
I live in a dry climate, much different than near the costs, etc. If the FD food is really dry, and you're quick to bag the food, a desiccant may not be needed. I haven't done, or seen, any research on the subject. You might want to reach out to some of the Facebook groups on the subject. Good luck.
So how can you tell if a food has less than 10% moisture content? Say like pecans. People say you can't vacuum seal those yet I saw a vid where Alaskan Prepper had sealed some pecans and walnuts up for 6 years and that they didn't go rancid. Also how can you tell if the food you dehydrated is ALL completely dry? I mean it looks and feels dry, but sometimes it's hard to tell when doing tomatoes. Thx for the vid.
Many nuts have moisture less than 10%. These can be successfully freezed dried and packaged. You might want to contact a nearby extension office (such as USU extension) for more information.
To determine the water content in dried fruit and vegetables I use an accurate scale, 0.01 grams resolution. I weigh out 10.00 grams as close as possible (+/- 0.1grams) and place the sample in the oven at 250 F. Weigh in one hour intervals until the weight is constant. The weight loss in grams multiplied by 10 gives you the water content in %.
Hello, Phil. Your video is really helpful. Thank you very much! I have a question: so i want to start a juice bar business, how can i do to store my fruits -much longer? I want to store them much longer than if i store it in refrigerator. Thanks ✌️
Pulp or no pulp? Heat will help keep your juices around longer, but the temperatures will reduce the vitamins, etc. You may want to look into pasteurization. If the fruit was blended into a "smoothie" and freeze dried, then you could keep it around for years. If you do FD, you may need to water down the natural sugars.
I think you created something of a barometer when you experienced water uptake without an oxygen absorber. If the atmospheric pressure increased from the time that you sealed the glass in water then there would be relatively lower pressure in the glass when compared with the external environment.
I thought that too. In later experiments I had a control jar (an empty jar in water). I wanted to see if temperature or changes in barometric pressure would effect the water level. The amount was negligible, perhaps 4-8 ml.
I strongly suspect the reason companies don't print the weight on each packet is because they KNOW there's a great chance some will have created more rust than others. The ones with rust will weigh more, as you demonstrated in one of your comparison tests using the scale. It would be impossible to tell at any given moment which packets had "gained weight" and which had not after the packets were placed in the original larger package before it left the packing facility. Not labeling them saves the company from being accused of false advertising. An interesting experiment would be to weigh the original bag of packets before any are removed, then weigh the packets after they have been removed and have been sitting on the counter or in a bowl for an hour. I would imagine the difference would be remarkable since the very action of removing them from the original bag exposes them to the air and they become activated. Another reason they don't label them might be because it allows them to toss in some they KNOW have stopped working. It's like every time I buy a bag of Mandarin Oranges, I find one hidden in the middle that's already over-ripe.
industry standard its a term used so u cant sue them for certain things its a loop hole in the law youll notice every thing now a days is a industry standard
Phil, do you have any tips on making sure your freeze dried food is completely dried. Recently I checked some food I freeze dried and found it was no longer dried, hence what lead me to find you . I am not sure if my oxygen absorbers were bad or if my food wasn’t completely dried. I am on a mission to make this work. Thank you for all the information about the absorbers. I also am going to try your method on vacuum sealing the Mylar bags in the freeze dryer with the oxygen absorbers. I am also using Mason Jars now with the oxygen absorbers and sealing them with a vacuum sealer. I just ordered a Infrared Thermometer that I saw Retired at 40 use. Im not exactly sure yet how that works but I am hoping it takes the guess work out of making sure the food is completely dry. Any suggestions you have will be greatly appreciated. ~Kimberly
Once your trays are out of the freeze drier, you need to check for cold spots (cold = ice = water). With washed and dried hands, probe the food. Check for cool spots. there shouldn't be any. If you do find some, or a lot, spread out the food into the other trays and return to the freeze drier for additional dry time. When in doubt place the seal bag in the fridge for a couple of days and see if it's still crunchy when squeezed. If the bag is soft, place back in FD and add dry time.
@@Philat4800feet I put the freeze dried Chili in the bags in the refrigerator and one bag is already getting soft after 24 hours. I am going to do what you said and add it back into the FD. Can I skip the freeze and the vacuum freeze and go straight to the drying? If so how do I do that? I’m still on the old OS. I am planing on upgrading but I have an phone appointment on Tuesday with HR to make sure there is nothing wrong with my machine. It seems like I shouldn’t be having this trouble with my food rehydrating. After my appointment I will update my OS.
You'll need to make sure the food is frozen before applying vacuum or anything liquid will boil and "explode". Freeze them in your freezer or start a new batch in your Harvest Right. Once the food is frozen, just run the food through the extra dry time cycle. On the old OS press start, and then cancel, then add extra time.
Boil a load of salt in a little water, throw some small balls of 0000 wire wool in and boil of the water. Once dried place the salt saturated balls in a tea bag and seal, if you don’t have a tea bag wrap the balls in a paper towel and staple it up. You have just made a very long lasting oxygen absorber….for next to nothing.
I understand that botulism thrives in a low oxygen environment AND requires WATER to do so. When i think of "moisture", I think of water content. Why is oil lumped in with water when talking about moisture? Some foods like potato chips for instance, are very low in water but high in oil (fat). Can botulism thrive in a low oxygen, low water, high oil environment?
Good question. Botulism spores die at 250 degrees. Botulism toxin that is the cause of the disease dies at 185 F (below boiling) or boiling for 10min. Going back to potato chips, they are deep fried and often packed in nitrogen gas. Most botulism happens at home with poor canning practices. Freeze drying with the 20 year shelf life is a new trend. I bet there will be a spike in food poisonings when many reach the 20 year limit and start eating their food.
@@Philat4800feet Thanks for the prompt reply Phil, but i think you misunderstood my question. Let me re-phrase. I don't want my vacuum packed, long term storage, high fat content foods (such as nuts, crackers, Chex mix, Gardetto, etc.) to go rancid. Rancidity is caused when fats (oil) oxidize. If there is no oxygen, the fat (oil) cannot go rancid. So I vacuum packed my high fat content foods at 29" Hg vacuum and with oxygen absorbers. The popular consensus states that, "oxygen absorbers should NOT be used for foods that contains moisture or oils". I think that foods containing oil are Ok. Were am I going wrong?
I apologize, I have scrolled. our elevation is just above 300, so we are impacted with humidity and wondering how much that changes prep and storage from the onslaught of videos. already lost 5 trays, so this is a serious question. we have never had a Jerky problem, but heck, that was winter.
High humidity would affect packaging more than anything. I would make sure your food is as dry as possible, and pack as soon as possible. What other challenges do you face?
Storage.. wet and hot in the south. Thanks for asking. Mom said they got a notice up in the city of "they will be installing conservative.. blah. Blah" and threw it away only to find neighbor across the street has new gadgets attached to her house she has never seen before the power guy told her they are installing smart tech to shut off houses during rhe day while people are gone to conserve. What? Geeze..
Yes, the density of water is 1.000 at 4 degrees cenigrade, at 20 degrees it is 0.9982. That is an error of 0.2 %. Two cc more or less in one liter. I would call this insignificant and I tend to be a stickler for accuracy myself.
Not likely. CO is an airborne gas and heavier than air. Once a bag is opened any CO inside would dissipate and the amount of CO is extremely small. CO gas would not attach to food.
![ОРБАН приехал к ПУТИНУ и "отчитался" о поездке в Киев 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_0ukDovOWq8/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you! I have learned so much from your video and feel more confident about what I’m doing.
Thank you for watching.
Thank you for this awesome tutorial/lesson in 02 absorbers! One of the things I wondered was why they don’t mark them. I found it interesting that they blew smoke up your shorts; I guess I’m not the only one that sort of thing happens to. 😊 Really a shame though, I would’ve thought they would’ve given an honest answer. I am also curious to find out about desiccant packs, but that will have to be for another day obviously. 😊👍 Thanks again! ~Sharon
Always learn something from your information. Thankful you have the expertise and are willing to share it.
New freeze dryer here. I love that you ask questions! It makes us all think further, and increases our understanding of why we do what we do.
A scientific approach engenders increased confidence. Our country could use more of this.
I am new to freeze drying and have not gotten my dryer yet, trying to learn all I can before it arrives. I have been watching videos for days and days.Had surgery an can't do anything outside much. Love all your hard work at making these videos. Keep them coming for the beginners like me.
Good luck...freeze drying is addicting.
Such a thoughtful and informative video, thank you!
Love your videos
They are very informative
Having same sized flasks with no absorbers as controls would have made it possible to check what amount of the change in volume you got was due to oxygen being absorbed versus barometric/temp. changes.
Great information. Thank you
Although I flashed back to emergency response days with that meter, this was a great tutorial. I learned and it answered my questions. Thank you!
Thanks
Excellent video!
This is a wonderful educational video. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
Dude! Love your videos and your approach. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I appreciate that!
Thank you so much for the REALLY well presented and detailed presentation. You have truly explained very well on what needs to be done. Thank you again kind sir!
Thank you for your comments.
Thank you sir I like your video so much appreciate it 🙂🙂
Thank you Phil. The information you provided is priceless. Your analyses were all so intelligently conducted. Bravo!!
Kind words
very very good...ive just got into dehydrating food and about to purchase my first oxygen absorbers living country high humidity has its complexities. so perfectly informed. thank you
Best of luck!
I do enjoy your video. Thanks.
Thanks for watching!
That is good knowledge! TY!
Thank you so much.
Great video and I like your scientific approach. I think the problem people refer to botulism and O2 absorbers is that botulism thrives in a low oxygen environment. However, other factors need to be present such as warm temperatures and moisture.
LOL! I should have watched to the end before commenting. Great video!
You're forgiven. Thanks for the comments.
Great info. thx. for the video.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for this!!!!! I have not used oxygen absorbers yet due to 1) cost and 2) anxiety about what gases or chemicals the packets make when they are removing the oxygen. It was very helpful that you measured the CO and talked about "safe" and "unsafe" levels. Thank you.
You could vacuum pack as an option.
@@Philat4800feet Thank you. I have been vacuum packing pasta and rice in jars so far. But so many people talk about oxygen absorbers that i've been worried that I'm wasting food.
Hi Phil, I am new to food storage and am grateful for what you have explained in your videos. The less that 10% moisture rule seems to be well known, but I get confused when researching a trustworthy way to determine moisture content. I can wrap my head around the smash grain with a hammer and if it does not mush, I am good to go method, but not sure how scientific that really is. How do you determine the content of moisture before you pack your food for storage? I am about to do my first batch of wheat using mylar (probably an oxygen absorber), vacuum chamber (thanks for your video on that), and buckets. I would sleep easier if I had a good sense that I packed it at less than 10%.
Some FD'ers have gone as far as buying moisture meters, but this will only provide a sample where tested. I believe touch is the best method to use. Run your fingers through your food right after it comes out of the FD. feel for any cool spots. If any, continue to dry. Don't fool yourself that a cool spot (cool food) will be ok to bag. It's better to over dry than under dry.
Thank you Phil for another intelligent video. Can you know the capacity of an OA from its weight?
Good question. I'll have to test other sizes.
Cool vid. I think one way one can test the capacity of an oxygen absorber would be to stick one inside of a sealed, 5-gallon bucket. From the bucket you'd run a thin tube to another vessel containing colored water.
As the O2 absorber creates a partial vacuum in the bucket, colored fluid would be drawn into the bucket pretty much with the same volume as the oxygen absorbed.
Later, you open the bucket and measure the volume of the fluid that was drawn in.
That might work
@@Philat4800feet I did try it, using my 21-quart pressure canner. With a plastic tube running from the vent pipe to a graduated, 1-liter Nalgene bottle full of water, I suspended a Harvest Right 700cc oxygen absorber inside the canner.
Observing the water level in the Nalgene bottle and adding more as necessary, I noted that about 2,000 CCs of water had been drawn into the pressure canner, as the O2 absorber slowly consumed the oxygen that was inside the vessel.
Sounds like it worked.
Great informative video, thanks for that. Any idea what the shelf life of unused oxygen absorbers are? I'm guessing new vacuum sealed ones would last the longest and opened new ones stored in small sealed mason jars would have less absorption since they are in some oxygen inside the air the jar. I guess the smaller the jar the better.
In an oxygen free atmosphere, I guess oxygen absorbers could last forever. The smaller container for storage the better.
Hello Phil, greetings from Germany and thanks for your video, which answered many of my questions. I've made a similar approach. I've sealed up an oxygen absorber in a twist-off glass and after waiting a week I pierced the lid with a nail while holding it under water. The weight of the water in grams equals the volume in mililiters. Weighing the glass empty and full gives the total volume. I came up with 19.8 %. Good enough for me. It will kill all insects and will keep the oils in my whole wheat flour from going rancid.
Hallo Rolf
You may want to be careful using oxygen absorbers and oily foods, like brown rice etc. Removing oxygen and leaving oil or moisture may create anaerobic bacteria which may lead to botulism, an unwelcome surprise.
Viele Gruesse
Bernd Licht
@Bernd Licht, sorry about going off-topic. I do not consider clostridium botulinum a problem in dry goods. To grow and to produce its toxin, this bacterium needs water and anaerobic conditions. Water is missing, so not a chance. Even then, both the bacterium and its toxin are not tempreature stable and die / decompose at tempreatures over 80 drgrees Celsius. So even if the flour would contain them, baking would eliminate both. In canned goods the the bacterium would grow from the highly tempreature resistant spores and produce toxin. This can cause poisoning when the canned goods are consumed consumed cold. Heating the content of a contaminated can to boiling will kill the bacteria and destroy the botulinum toxin.
@@romar1581 Thank you for that information. This will help me!
wow great video and now I wonder if I should have purchased the freeze dryer?
I love my FD. It can be addicting.
Great video Phil! I apologize if you covered this in the video, but do you have a particular brand of oxygen absorbers that you recommend? What about Mylar bags?
FreshUs oxygen absorbers and 7 mil bags
Hello Phil, I bought oxygen obsorbers and mason jars to preserve them. And I noticed that it was causing moisture inside the mason jars. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Should I use them for my myler bags?
I am preserving beans and rice.
If your food isn't freezed dried, or dried by another method, you'll need to get it under 10% or less moisture. Oxygen absorber do not remove moisture. Desiccant packs do. Oxygen absorbers do heat up a little bit and may cause any moisture in your beans or rice to turn to condensate. You may want to experiment with placing your food on a cookie sheet under really low oven heat. and let it cool slowly. When hot items cool, they can cause condensation on the surface.
Phil, if I have freeze dried food that has been put up a while with an O2 oxygen absorber, can I vacuum seal in my freeze dryer and not ruin my O2 absorber, or do I need to open every package a redo them?
Good question, but not an easy answer. It depends on how the food was packaged. Not all oxygen absorbers are equal. Some provide extra capacity and some are underrated. Some people do what they can to remove the air before sealing. Some don't.
This is what I would do. Cheap and easy to replace food, I would leave alone. Expensive foods like steaks, meats, cheeses, etc. I would repack with a new oxygen absorber and vacuum pack. protect your investment.
Great video, but it was missing the one thing I was looking for and have yet to find. How much are each packet suppose to weight from 100cc to 2000cc. I've been reading a lot of product on Amazon are fake OA weight. The only one person I found who actually provided a weight says 400cc is suppose to weight 10g.
I use 2000cc but now I am concerned that my food could be bad if the OA were not correctly weighed, but I don't want to open them.
The weight that counts is the iron powder. I have only worked, primarily, with 300 cc, and the weight was all over the place.
Wouldn't different sized absorbers have to have different weights? You could always drop them on the scales to quickly check they are at least the correct size before using, even though not labelled.
I agree.
What happens if there is not enough moisture to allow the rusting process to take place? That reaction takes oxygen and moisture. Would it be beneficial to SLIGHTY dampen the packet prior to adding it to the jar/mylar bag?
I wouldn't damped the packet. Botulism thrives in zero, or near zero oxygen with low moisture. Most FD foods will have some moisture even if it's under 1%. You can squeeze most of the air out of your bag, but not all. the remaining air will also contain some moisture. The oxygen absorber will remove what O2 remains, along with some moisture and turn it to "rust". It may take longer, but it will.
Hi Phil, on a related note, is it true that all oxygen absorbers should warm up after removing from their packages. I ordered some directly from Harvest Right and they had a light pink dot (indicating the were good), but never became warm as my others have in the last. Any info appreciated.
There should be some "warmth" although chemicals are often added to control the reaction over time.
I am curious to know how the rate of oxygen absorption changes over time. I think it would be useful to know how much time you realistically have to get the absorber into the bag. They tend to ship these sealed in bulk packs.
I have been able to remove two year old absorbers from bags that still had absorbance capacity.
@@Philat4800feet thanks.
I am an information addict, so thank you for your research. I read on another site that I have approx 5 min to get my packet out of the manufacturers sealed envelope & into a filled mylar bag. The post goes on to say that if my packets are not sealed back up within that time frame then I have to throw away the remaining packets. Sadly, after reading this, I threw away a batch as I only used one packet. Any advice on how long a batch envelope can be opened without re-sealing?
You have more time than 5 minutes. I have a video dealing with this:
ua-cam.com/video/kOAAOJqTohw/v-deo.html
I add a silica gel packet along with an oxygen absorber to my freeze dried bags or jars. Not sure how effective this though. I would imagine that it would depend on the moisture content of the food, where the moisture was present in the food (i.e. inside vs. on the surface). You know of any data on this?
I live in a dry climate, much different than near the costs, etc. If the FD food is really dry, and you're quick to bag the food, a desiccant may not be needed. I haven't done, or seen, any research on the subject. You might want to reach out to some of the Facebook groups on the subject. Good luck.
I have read in other places that you should not use both an oxygen absorber and a desiccant at the same time.
So how can you tell if a food has less than 10% moisture content? Say like pecans. People say you can't vacuum seal those yet I saw a vid where Alaskan Prepper had sealed some pecans and walnuts up for 6 years and that they didn't go rancid. Also how can you tell if the food you dehydrated is ALL completely dry? I mean it looks and feels dry, but sometimes it's hard to tell when doing tomatoes. Thx for the vid.
Many nuts have moisture less than 10%. These can be successfully freezed dried and packaged.
You might want to contact a nearby extension office (such as USU extension) for more information.
To determine the water content in dried fruit and vegetables I use an accurate scale, 0.01 grams resolution. I weigh out 10.00 grams as close as possible (+/- 0.1grams) and place the sample in the oven at 250 F. Weigh in one hour intervals until the weight is constant. The weight loss in grams multiplied by 10 gives you the water content in %.
Hello, Phil. Your video is really helpful. Thank you very much! I have a question: so i want to start a juice bar business, how can i do to store my fruits -much longer? I want to store them much longer than if i store it in refrigerator. Thanks ✌️
Pulp or no pulp? Heat will help keep your juices around longer, but the temperatures will reduce the vitamins, etc. You may want to look into pasteurization. If the fruit was blended into a "smoothie" and freeze dried, then you could keep it around for years. If you do FD, you may need to water down the natural sugars.
I think you created something of a barometer when you experienced water uptake without an oxygen absorber. If the atmospheric pressure increased from the time that you sealed the glass in water then there would be relatively lower pressure in the glass when compared with the external environment.
I thought that too. In later experiments I had a control jar (an empty jar in water). I wanted to see if temperature or changes in barometric pressure would effect the water level. The amount was negligible, perhaps 4-8 ml.
@@Philat4800feet Thanks for the reply. Your findings make sense.
I strongly suspect the reason companies don't print the weight on each packet is because they KNOW there's a great chance some will have created more rust than others. The ones with rust will weigh more, as you demonstrated in one of your comparison tests using the scale. It would be impossible to tell at any given moment which packets had "gained weight" and which had not after the packets were placed in the original larger package before it left the packing facility. Not labeling them saves the company from being accused of false advertising. An interesting experiment would be to weigh the original bag of packets before any are removed, then weigh the packets after they have been removed and have been sitting on the counter or in a bowl for an hour. I would imagine the difference would be remarkable since the very action of removing them from the original bag exposes them to the air and they become activated. Another reason they don't label them might be because it allows them to toss in some they KNOW have stopped working. It's like every time I buy a bag of Mandarin Oranges, I find one hidden in the middle that's already over-ripe.
I agree
Phil, are you self-taught? You seem to have a tremendous amount of general knowledge and a knack for scientific method.
How about a lift time of curiosity and tinkering
@@Philat4800feet 'Murica!!! 😎
industry standard its a term used so u cant sue them for certain things its a loop hole in the law youll notice every thing now a days is a industry standard
Phil, do you have any tips on making sure your freeze dried food is completely dried. Recently I checked some food I freeze dried and found it was no longer dried, hence what lead me to find you . I am not sure if my oxygen absorbers were bad or if my food wasn’t completely dried. I am on a mission to make this work. Thank you for all the information about the absorbers. I also am going to try your method on vacuum sealing the Mylar bags in the freeze dryer with the oxygen absorbers. I am also using Mason Jars now with the oxygen absorbers and sealing them with a vacuum sealer. I just ordered a Infrared Thermometer that I saw Retired at 40 use. Im not exactly sure yet how that works but I am hoping it takes the guess work out of making sure the food is completely dry. Any suggestions you have will be greatly appreciated. ~Kimberly
Once your trays are out of the freeze drier, you need to check for cold spots (cold = ice = water). With washed and dried hands, probe the food. Check for cool spots. there shouldn't be any. If you do find some, or a lot, spread out the food into the other trays and return to the freeze drier for additional dry time. When in doubt place the seal bag in the fridge for a couple of days and see if it's still crunchy when squeezed. If the bag is soft, place back in FD and add dry time.
@@Philat4800feet thank you Phil. Thank you for responding so quickly 😊
@@Philat4800feet I put the freeze dried Chili in the bags in the refrigerator and one bag is already getting soft after 24 hours. I am going to do what you said and add it back into the FD. Can I skip the freeze and the vacuum freeze and go straight to the drying? If so how do I do that? I’m still on the old OS. I am planing on upgrading but I have an phone appointment on Tuesday with HR to make sure there is nothing wrong with my machine. It seems like I shouldn’t be having this trouble with my food rehydrating. After my appointment I will update my OS.
You'll need to make sure the food is frozen before applying vacuum or anything liquid will boil and "explode". Freeze them in your freezer or start a new batch in your Harvest Right. Once the food is frozen, just run the food through the extra dry time cycle. On the old OS press start, and then cancel, then add extra time.
@@Philat4800feet ok 👍. Thank you
Boil a load of salt in a little water, throw some small balls of 0000 wire wool in and boil of the water. Once dried place the salt saturated balls in a tea bag and seal, if you don’t have a tea bag wrap the balls in a paper towel and staple it up. You have just made a very long lasting oxygen absorber….for next to nothing.
How about some charcoal too?
I understand that botulism thrives in a low oxygen environment AND requires WATER to do so. When i think of "moisture", I think of water content. Why is oil lumped in with water when talking about moisture? Some foods like potato chips for instance, are very low in water but high in oil (fat). Can botulism thrive in a low oxygen, low water, high oil environment?
Good question. Botulism spores die at 250 degrees. Botulism toxin that is the cause of the disease dies at 185 F (below boiling) or boiling for 10min. Going back to potato chips, they are deep fried and often packed in nitrogen gas. Most botulism happens at home with poor canning practices. Freeze drying with the 20 year shelf life is a new trend. I bet there will be a spike in food poisonings when many reach the 20 year limit and start eating their food.
@@Philat4800feet Thanks for the prompt reply Phil, but i think you misunderstood my question. Let me re-phrase. I don't want my vacuum packed, long term storage, high fat content foods (such as nuts, crackers, Chex mix, Gardetto, etc.) to go rancid. Rancidity is caused when fats (oil) oxidize. If there is no oxygen, the fat (oil) cannot go rancid. So I vacuum packed my high fat content foods at 29" Hg vacuum and with oxygen absorbers. The popular consensus states that, "oxygen absorbers should NOT be used for foods that contains moisture or oils". I think that foods containing oil are Ok. Were am I going wrong?
I think you're on the right track.
I apologize, I have scrolled. our elevation is just above 300, so we are impacted with humidity and wondering how much that changes prep and storage from the onslaught of videos. already lost 5 trays, so this is a serious question. we have never had a Jerky problem, but heck, that was winter.
High humidity would affect packaging more than anything. I would make sure your food is as dry as possible, and pack as soon as possible. What other challenges do you face?
Storage.. wet and hot in the south. Thanks for asking.
Mom said they got a notice up in the city of "they will be installing conservative.. blah. Blah" and threw it away only to find neighbor across the street has new gadgets attached to her house she has never seen before the power guy told her they are installing smart tech to shut off houses during rhe day while people are gone to conserve. What? Geeze..
Did anyone else notice that CC is not equal to weight except for DISTILLED WATER at SEA LEVEL? CC is a unit if VOLUME.
Don't forget the water has to be at 4 degrees C. I'm sure at 4800 feet there's a bit of error, but again this is a freeze dryer not rocket science :)
Yes, the density of water is 1.000 at 4 degrees cenigrade, at 20 degrees it is 0.9982. That is an error of 0.2 %. Two cc more or less in one liter. I would call this insignificant and I tend to be a stickler for accuracy myself.
Can we get carbon monoxide poisoning our food, from the oxygen absorbers?
Not likely. CO is an airborne gas and heavier than air. Once a bag is opened any CO inside would dissipate and the amount of CO is extremely small. CO gas would not attach to food.
We are oxygen absorber manufacturer from China, please message me if you have any inquiry, hope we can work together in the future. Have a great day.
Why not just drop a lit birthday candle stub in the storage jar and seal it shut. Boom - no oxygen
I theory that would work in a jar, but would be interesting in "Mylar" bags, besides that's a lot of singing the Happy Birthday. :)