The Harvest Right Freeze Dyer it will do 8 to 12 lbs per cycle. Freeze drying time is variable depending on what you’re drying. Scrambled eggs 40 hours and meats about 24 hours because they have less water. The less water, the less time it takes to freeze dry. However, keeping the pump working is the difficult part. You have to clean the oil after every use. So if you buy this freeze dryer ask them about the oil filtering system through another company. We bought this and we had to have the pump repaired after a few weeks because it blew the rear seal. We found out that water is the worst enemy for pump oil. The pump oil is expensive so learning how to filter it can save a lot of money. I wouldn’t suggest buying this unless you are serious about preparing a lot of food in advance. It’s not meant for using just once a month. To make it economical you have to be prepared to cook a lot of food. All meats must be cooked before putting it in the freeze dryer. The trays are easy to clean and the time is preset but you can also customize it. It also has three cycles, freeze cycle, the drying cycle which is controlled by a sensor, and the final dry time. The freeze cycle and drying time you can customize, and the defrost cycle we recommend doing each time because it accumulates a lot of ice. Yes, he would buy it again but we are serious about prepping. Me, no! it has too many problems but it’s the only thing out on the market at this time. You decide! I would like to know if there’s anyone else out there with the same problems that we have, if so, please leave a comment.
You can see the water built up around the oil. If you don’t keep it clean you could have real problems. We have it sitting on a wood table on a wood floor, if it was on carpet it would ruin it.
We’re getting ready to freeze dry yogurt. The Harvest Freeze Dryer comes with four shelves. Ours will do around 8 to 12 lbs at a time. We had a problem doing the yogurt the pump couldn’t Vacuum and the yogurt exploded inside.
Pros: You can freeze dry 8 to 12 lbs of food at a time.
CONS: Water builds up in the vacuum pump.
CONS: Send it back, they ask for the pump only and don’t replace it, and you have to pay for the shipping back to them which is around $35.00 to$ 40.00.
CONS: Poor Customer Service.
If you pay over 3,000.00 you expect good customer service, no excuse!
It has a one year warranty but not replacement warranty. You ship it, they fix it, and they pay for the shipping back to you.
I really feel for the price you pay you should get good customer service. This seems to be one thing lacking in a lot of businesses anymore, once they get your money, you’re on your own.
This freeze dryer needs some room so think about where you are going to put it. You have to have room for the pump that stands out and the drain system. I thought this was going to be something like a freezer where you plugged it in and that was it, not so!
So you see, what we are talking about when it comes to the operation of the Harvest Right you need plenty of room for the pump and the drain. We thought we were going to be able to fit this right into the kitchen, not so, we had to put it in the back bedroom. Another thing about this freeze dryer, expect that area of the house to be a lot warmer than the rest of the house. It also makes a lot of noise when operating. It took our kids a while to get use to the loud sound of the freeze dryer, and adjust. The heat they could tolerate in the winter, but I’m not sure about the summer months. It will probably cost extra on the air conditioning bill because the way it heats up that area of the house! These are the things to prepare for. Let us know what you think, and share your comments. The advertisement really makes it look easy to operate and function. I really wouldn’t have paid extra for the color of it if I would have known it was going to be hidden in the back room. This is our Harvest Right Freeze Dryer. I hope others are having better luck with theirs than we are.
Wednesday, March 1, My husband says the problems he had last night with the yogurt was his fault. He did a vacuum check with unfrozen items in there. very liquid items, that exploded.
The resolution was cleaning it out and he failed to check the vacuum hose connections, he assumed that they stayed tight, through use, the hoses can come loose and need to be checked periodically. Harvest Right was very helpful in giving him technical support.
Thursday, March 2, You can hear the noise. We’re still working on that yougurt freeze drying.
Friday, March 3, It’s complete!
The yogurt was a success! Yay! Now, I will take it out of the freeze dryer and store it in Mylar Bags. The freeze dryer takes all the moisture out of the yogurt so it will be like a powder.
This is what you wait to see, you know when you see this that it’s ready to place in Mylar Bags.
I will use what was left in the trays and sprinkle it over my fresh fruit. Yum! It took 16 hours to complete tghe process now the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer will go into defrost mode.
If you look inside of the freeze dryer you will notice the ice build up on each side, this is why you have to defrost it, and also why, I wouldn’t place the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer on carpet flooring. Now you see why there’s a drain tube.
I have to admit there are things you can do with the freeze dryer that you can’t do canning. And if you lose your electricity you still have the luxury of yogurt or ice cream and your favorite foods. You just add moisture back into it and it’s like fresh food.
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