Food Dehydrator

[QLD.Andy]

I was looking at getting on of these: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/8-TRAY-FOOD- ... 3a6e09efd7
Your thoughts please.

[MacStill]

You going to put your prunes in it?

:text-lol:

[QLD.Andy]

HAHA you so funny

[Frank]

I was looking at getting on of these: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/8-TRAY-FOOD- ... 3a6e09efd7
Your thoughts please.

Hey Andy
1. you get what you pay for on eBay (hint: check out the 'Chinglish' description)
2. no way will you load it like in the pic and have similar success (unless, of course, you use plastic fruit too)
3. such machines are a complete b#stard to keep clean if you use 'wet' fruit (eg tomatoes) or leave it in too long or pack them incorrectly or....
4. the finished product will only last if you preserve it BEYOND making it wrinkly (eg with preserving fluid/powder) or turn it into sh#t asap
5. hmmmm IMO dont....you would be better off with a simpler (esp. less trays), stronger (eg metal) unit if you are serious about this. If you are not, then 800w of kitchen bench filler can be yours for only $159 I suppose. :dance:

Sorry mate, I have seen cheap ones and good ones working....and you asked ;-)

[QLD.Andy]

Thanks Frank, I wanted truth not prunes.
I would only be doing jerky

[R-sole]

You can build one easy enough for jerky.

Just need a box of some sort that isn't going to melt, a pie warmer element and a fan.

[cdbrown]

I purchased a Eurolab food dehydrator from dealsdirect for $30 - it's out of stock now and price has increased http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/eurolab ... ydrator-2/. It handles 1.5kg of topside roast cut into strips for jerky. Takes about 7 hours to dry it out. Will probably get used every 3-4 weeks depending on how quickly the jerky gets consumed.

[Rumdrinker]

Andy,
I would consider these types of dehydrators the Air-stills of the jerky world. Not a bad little unit to cut your teeth on, easy to operate & will give you a steady supply of produce with minimal input & can be operated on the kitchen bench.
Most people will move on to larger, more specialised units eventually.......

[crow]

Just trying to get my head around this , Whats wrong with fan force oven turned down low ?

[R-sole]

too hot and too expensive to run

same thing goes for some of the dehydrators, if they don't have temp control you are at the mercy of the machine.

Cooked jerky is awful

[crow]

:handgestures-thumbupleft: yeah my mum has a dehydrater she does fruit in and I wondered why she didn't use the oven

[cdbrown]

I did jerky in the oven once - turned right down and basically had to keep the door open slightly to ensure temp inside about 75C. Ties up the oven for most of the day and chews through a lot of power. Very happy with the cheap dehydrator I've got - no idea how long it will last, but as it's cheap I'm aware that it won't last too long. Has temp control as well. All that's required is to rotate the trays every hour or so to get even drying.

[maheel]

could you use an old oven hotplate lecy burner and PID / fridgemate it in a box

[Panda]

You can build one easy enough for jerky.

Just need a box of some sort that isn't going to melt, a pie warmer element and a fan.

Please,
Tell us more.

JERKY SUB FORUM, STAT!

[kiwikeg]

how we used to make jerky before biltong took over.
1-freeze meat so you can slice it thinner
2 - get butcher to cut meat into thinnist possible slice using his bandsaw
3- marinate in soysauce honey wine marinade
4- put meat sliceson oven rack in oven or hang on wire hooks off oven rack if doing a lot.
5- steal sisters hair dryer put on low heat setting and put in oven too leaving oven door slightly ajar
6- leave overnight
7- should be ready in morning wrap in brown paper bags and store in cool dry place.
.....its the constant low dry heat that does the trick you cant get a oven element temperature low enough.

[crow]

Tell ya what I'd love to try this not much time right now but some time soon . When I was a kid we killed pigs , Grandfather had a smoke house and we did metwurst black and white pudding speck , schinken , flinches of bacon all that stuff , Man o man I really miss all that so much

[maheel]

Hey Kiwi

you loose a fair amount of meat slicing it on a bandsaw (frozen) as "sawdust"
plenty sort of half-freeze it and use a ham / bacon slicer as there is a lot less wastage but getting it icy gets it to keep it's shape

i used to chop up dead animals for a living... (ex butcher)

[crow]

i used to chop up dead animals for a living... (ex butcher)

True as , if you were to post some small goods recipes up in tucker box of all the non distilling imfo it would be the most interesting , to me anyways

[R-sole]

You can build one easy enough for jerky.

Just need a box of some sort that isn't going to melt, a pie warmer element and a fan.

Please,
Tell us more.

JERKY SUB FORUM, STAT!

9 pages here, including my last two builds (please ignore the 80l keg i've chopped in half, twas before i knew better.

http://www.artisan-distiller.net/phpBB3 ... 28&start=0


Yes, you can certainly use an old hotplate and the pot that controls it. The 80l keg smoker in those pics had two, 1 in the keg and one in the smoke box. Both salvaged from the tip.

The other square smoker (my current one) used all new parts, but the same elements just from the electrical wholesalers.

Incorporating a fan was the best change in the new one. You can just use a 4" exhaust fan ($30 odd) but i changed it out for a metal framed fan similar to a computer one but 4", as the plastic ex fan used to get out of shape and noisy with the heat.

[QLD.Andy]

Thanks for all the input guys.
I have said it before and I will say it again, building things is not my forte, so buying one is my best option.
I liked the idea of the large square one because the fan is at the back not the bottom like the round ones but looking I can see how air flow will be the biggest problem.
I will keep looking, so keep the ideas flowing.
Some feedback on the product coming out of the small round one (from the guys using them) would be great.