lol you have no idea how many times I have watch this. Even tried your method of loading the tray...yeah, maybe you can but I'll need a LOT more practice. Thanks so much for ALL your informative video's. I am so ready to expand beyond candy. Fours years and counting and I'm ready to diversify.
New FD owner here. How do you get the FD to pre-freeze, or is that part of the "extra freeze time" that you customize before the cycle? Thanks in advance!
Freezing and drying times is variable because there are lots of factors for how efficiently the machine operates. Things like the ambient temperature, humidity, moisture content in the food or ice cream etc. I typically see about an 8-12 hour freeze time and then 24 hours of drying that includes final dry.
You are partially filling the first tray, putting it in the bottom, then continuing up the trays to the top, then taking out the bottom tray and finishing it off? Why do two steps with the bottom tray?
I watched this vid a few times trying out ice cream bars im messing it up, great vid, what settings are u using like the freeze time, tray temp, dry time etc? Thanks again
Default settings at 125 degrees and final dry for 2-4 hours. There’s two different stages when you start, cooling the chamber and then starting the freeze process. Let the cooling the chamber phase get to 15 degrees or less and start working the tray method like I show in the video. Once you get about halfway through all the trays then press start for the freeze process but don’t close the drain value until you are done. Then close it and let the machine do it’s thing
This is so helpful! One question, does your freeze dryer have weight limits for each tray? Any advise for Harvest Right who advises 15 lbs for 5 medium trays. I’d love to be able to load more than 3 lbs per tray. Thanks!
I appreciate you're videos, I am going to spend my first 3000$ on a harvest right stainless steel freeze dryer so I can learn about the process of freeze drying and open a business, Would you suggest starting a business with a commercial kitchen or make the products from home?
I’d start from home first and understand the machine and get your customers built, then branch out to commercial. If you already think you can get wholesale then go commercial. When you buy, use my referral link: affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html Thank you!
Hi David. Thank you for the details of how you run the commercial kitchen. I wonder if Cottage Food Law allows us to sell the freeze dried ice cream sandwiches. And do you put a oxygen absorber into the bag or a silica gel bag? I wonder the differences. I would think silica gel bag makes more sense because we want everything to be dry, right? But internet says oxygen absorber doesn't remove the moisture but it keeps the food fresh. So, which one do you use for your business?
Most cottage food laws don't accept dairy products on your approved menu but you can always ask. I do not put OA's or Silica bags in my bags unless it's fruit.
I freeze-dried Fatboy ice-cream sandwiches. They turned out perfectly in texture, but they were way too icky sweet and I ended up tossing the batch. Have you found that the sweetness is concentrated or are the brands you are using better?
Thank you for watching! Depends on how you store the product. The shelf life in short-term windowed mylar bags is around 6 months. When I store finished product for future packaging, I use 12 Gallon Screw Top Pail. Here's a link to a 2-pack on Amazon (amzn.to/3i15k8i). They are worth the money to buy. I've stored finished ice cream sandwiches for over a year in these pails.
@@freezedriedbusiness when u store ur products in these bins for storage, how long does it last in there? If 6 months in a window mylar bag is 6 months i wonder what the bins would b, especially with other candies taffy, ranchers, skittles etc etc. Thanks man.
Great! Thank you for sharing this with us. I would like to make a suggestion, though. If you are not sanitizing those boxes of ice cream sandwiches, then I would definitely not be handling them, and then directly handling the unwrapped sandwiches. Boxes and packages from the store (or Amazon, etc.) are dirty, and have bacteria on them. Enjoying watching your channel!
Hey i have a question i got my frezze driyer today and i made the icecream sandwiches, but they exploaded so bad that everywhere was icecream just not in the trays anymore, was really mess to clean what did i do wrong?
You need to select the start button and it will start freezing the chamber, keep the drain value open and it will keep it cold for you open and rotate your trays
I have an older style Harvest Right and my factory setting is 120 degrees. My problem is that my ice cream in the middle of the ice cream bars is melting and forms a foamy bubbly consistency. Why is this?
I’m confused, are you leaving the tray in while it’s doing the initial 15 cooling? I just tried doing ice cream, put it in after the 15 min and started it right away yet the ice cream melted.
Make sure to watch the entire video, you need to put your trays in an actual freezer before you do them also 15 minutes is not enough time to get the FD to below freezing temperature. It needs to be below 32 degrees before you start the process
@@freezedriedbusiness I did watch the whole video, I think what was confusing me is how you put a partially full tray in then take it out to add more. I didn’t think the door could be opened once it starts freezing beyond that 15 minute cooling time because a vacuum is created.
Don't shut the drain value while you are prepping the sandwiches. That will keep it from not retaining a vacuum and really it shouldn't have a vacuum until the pump kicks on.
I pre freeze the trays in the freezer and let the machine pre freeze down to 15 degrees or colder. I have a ice cream video on my channel too! Basically need to do it quickly and once you feel the ice cream is getting too creamy, you out the tray on the FD and then start a new tray that is frozen and a new pint of ice cream.
My worst subject is math. I have questions but am a little embarrassed. Thx for not judging…what are, “margins” is that after you pay yourself, what’s left over or is that where $ to pay yourself comes from?
Profit margin is how many cents of profit has been generated for each dollar of sales. So if you sell a bag of skittles for $10 but it cost you $5 to make it, then your profit margin on that bag is $5. But it doesn't stop there because you then need to factor in you variable expenses such as your rent if you have one, insurance, taxes etc. Hope that helps!
I followed your instructions and they turned out perfect but when I took them off the trays they broke in half (lengthwise). Can you tell me what I possibly did wrong?
It would be a tight squeeze in between the shelving units, but you could try to see if it works because the ice cream sandwiches don’t really expand so you don’t have to worry about that.
