Freeze Dryer

A freeze dryer is a machine that helps you preserve food by removing as much moisture content and while retaining its physical characteristics. In effect, you get a longer storage life without altering any flavors.

Freeze drying entails three steps: freezing, primary drying, and secondary drying.

Freezing entails taking your starting material to a temperature between -20 and -40 degrees Fahrenheit for rapid freezing to avoid the formation of large crystals, which can ruin your product.

Primary drying seals your food or buds in a vacuum to vaporize ice crystals without evaporating them.

Secondary drying involves raising the temprature of your starting material to a higher level than in the primary drying stage, and a lower pressure is applied to further remove the residual moisture

The end result of freeze drying is a dry, stable material with a long shelf life. Freeze drying removes water from a material by sublimation, which means the frozen water is converted directly from a solid to a gas without passing through a liquid phase. This process preserves the material's structure and properties while removing the water, resulting in a product that retains its original shape, size, color, and nutritional value.

A freeze dryer costs anywhere between $2,400 and can go up to almost $950,000 for industrial-capacity machines. They might not be cheap machines, but having one will improve productivity in food preservation or cannabis curing and pay for itself quickly.

Cannabis growers will also greatly benefit from using freeze dryers to cure their buds. For one, you can have cured buds in days instead of weeks. You save on space, as you don’t need a dedicated room to dry and cure your buds for long periods. If you like making bubble hash, a freeze-dryer quickly removes the moisture, which takes days to dry. By freeze drying, you let your hash dry faster and in a more controlled environment, which retains flavor qualities. And because the environment is controlled and done faster, you can use these dried buds and hash to extract high-quality live rosin.

Due to the diverse range of applications for freeze dryers, certain manufacturers such as Harvest Right and CannaFreeze have dedicated efforts to develop specialized freeze dryers specifically tailored for cannabis and herbal-related purposes.

The energy consumption of a freeze-drying machine depends on its size and the duration of the drying cycle. On average, a home freeze dryer might use between 1.0 and 2.5 kWh per hour. This means that a 24-hour drying cycle could consume between 24 and 60 kWh.

The freeze-drying process can take anywhere from 20 to 40 hours, depending on the type of food and its water content. For example, fruits and vegetables typically take shorter to process compared to meats.

You can freeze dry a wide variety of foods, including fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy products, complete meals, and desserts. In addition to food, you can also freeze dry flowers, medicines, and biological specimens. Always check the manufacturer's guidelines or consult with a professional to determine what you can and cannot freeze dry.