If you’re lacking on any of those things, then it’s best to get buckets or other forms of long-term storage food. Just be sure to fill your pantries first.

Reattached hose and ran another full system test (results, 750 mTorr lowest steady reading - looking through the oil level window, some bubbling seen in oil even after an hour of pumpdown - some "air" noises from pump)

(had to replace the whole galvanized T piece with new wires in it) Seems they are epoxied in there, and in my experience passthroughs are a problem spot, so it's not at all surprizing that there was a slight leak there. In any case, I thanks the folks at HR for sending parts and sticking with me throughout.

In fact, my son’s friends often comment that they wish they could have his freeze dried meals rather than whatever they are eating!

As I've shown you, the Small Harvest Right Freeze Dryer is the most affordable freeze dryer. However, if that's not what appeals to you, I know you can't go wrong with the other models. After all, I own the large model.

Odds are the problem is the vacuum hose or its end connections, the drain valve, or the door gasket. Based upon my experience I'd double check the fittings while installed on the FDer.

I did wonder though, since this is gravity flow and not pressure driven as on a car, if having the filter mounted horizontally might result in using only "half" the filter, as the oil would tend to travel through the low side of the filter -- although in practice, I suppose, as the filter material gets plugged it would force the fluid level higher.

So I corrected the oversight - I drilled and tapped the elbow to add the port. Here is a picture. It worked great today when I flushed the pump to clear out the gunk.

We love to get together with family during the holidays. Our family is massive and my son is the only one who is gluten-free. Although our family members are sympathetic and want to be accommodating, they don’t always realize that gluten is in found in more than just bread.

I asked her what she was planning to serve and offered to bring something similar for my son so she wouldn’t have to worry about accommodating him. She said she didn’t want me to have to make food.

So, while it might be tempting to stuff just as much as you may onto a tray, an arranged harvest right freeze dryer tactic making use of these applications will produce the best freeze dried foods, batch immediately after batch.

Another best practice is to set up a station. This will take space. Having a freeze dryer, freezer, prep table, and processing area all together has been a good decision. It can all be done in a large kitchen, but the machines are noisy and a freeze-drying project can take up a lot of space.

Monitoring the FDer internal temps and once I see -40F I start the dry cycle, except get more info for high sugar content food which I give an Em excesso hour. I'm still experimenting with Ice cream and a few fruits to determine optimal freeze time to get the best results. The cooling cycle ends up much shorter.

Of course, if someone used a larger can, say a #10, that is bigger than the top of the container that surrounds the filter and captures the oil, then the "disk" wouldn't be needed at all. In that case, an AN8 fitting might work -- or maybe there are longer ones out there somewhere.