Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
The fan is something that concerns me. The one I drug up, which I already had is small, maybe 8 inches or smaller, but it's meant for cooling a small place for a person, so that may be too strong. Perhaps if the heatting element is in bottom and the fan in top pointed down, to push the hot air back down, and then vents on bottom so that the heat continues to rise, and any excess gets blown out through bottom? I'm just not sure. I have old tower cases of computers I have out-grown, and they have fans, but extracting them and using them... I just don't see myself messing with it. I've considered setting up a system in shelving in my bedroom closet even. Funny all of the things which cross your mind when you're being kind of cheap and lazy and looking at existing cabinets. My wife's grandmother told us that her neighbor used to put apples up on the roof for drying and I read an account on the net of people in the old days spreading them out on the tin roof of a shed. - Original Message - From: Betsy Whitney, Dolphin Press To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 11:01 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Speaking of using existing things, my friend that I mentioned yesterday tells me that she has now made a dryer out of the cupboard above her refridgerator. She took out the bottom and the top and replaced them with screen. For heat She installed a light fixture inside to create heat and the circulation from the refridgerator fan creates the circulation to move the air. She's been drying all sorts of things, but says that if you're drying such things as apples you may have to slice them thinner than you would for an actual dehydrator. At 04:36 PM 7/10/2010, you wrote: hahahah, funny you should mention that. I've been looking around for an existing closed cabinet or something which I could rig up like that, and one thing I have considered has been an old dressor. - Original Message - From: Keith Christian To: mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.comblindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 4:23 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Hi Matt, I use to grow hops for brewing. I dried them by setting them in an old dresser with a fan attached to the back side. The bottoms of the drawers were removed and I inserted some wire mesh to allow the air to flow through the hops. It worked great. Sounds like fun. Let us know what you decide and how it works out. Keith [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
RE: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
Hi Matt, Using the roof was not all that uncommon a practice years ago. You would, of course, need to have the fruit or whatever on some sort of rack such as hardware cloth and also covered by the same to keep the wee little birdies from dining out. This method is pretty blamed effective. Cy, The Anasazi From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:blindhandy...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Matt Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2010 6:58 AM To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator The fan is something that concerns me. The one I drug up, which I already had is small, maybe 8 inches or smaller, but it's meant for cooling a small place for a person, so that may be too strong. Perhaps if the heatting element is in bottom and the fan in top pointed down, to push the hot air back down, and then vents on bottom so that the heat continues to rise, and any excess gets blown out through bottom? I'm just not sure. I have old tower cases of computers I have out-grown, and they have fans, but extracting them and using them... I just don't see myself messing with it. I've considered setting up a system in shelving in my bedroom closet even. Funny all of the things which cross your mind when you're being kind of cheap and lazy and looking at existing cabinets. My wife's grandmother told us that her neighbor used to put apples up on the roof for drying and I read an account on the net of people in the old days spreading them out on the tin roof of a shed. - Original Message - From: Betsy Whitney, Dolphin Press To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 11:01 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Speaking of using existing things, my friend that I mentioned yesterday tells me that she has now made a dryer out of the cupboard above her refridgerator. She took out the bottom and the top and replaced them with screen. For heat She installed a light fixture inside to create heat and the circulation from the refridgerator fan creates the circulation to move the air. She's been drying all sorts of things, but says that if you're drying such things as apples you may have to slice them thinner than you would for an actual dehydrator. At 04:36 PM 7/10/2010, you wrote: hahahah, funny you should mention that. I've been looking around for an existing closed cabinet or something which I could rig up like that, and one thing I have considered has been an old dressor. - Original Message - From: Keith Christian To: mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.comblindhandyman@yahoogroups.com mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 4:23 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Hi Matt, I use to grow hops for brewing. I dried them by setting them in an old dresser with a fan attached to the back side. The bottoms of the drawers were removed and I inserted some wire mesh to allow the air to flow through the hops. It worked great. Sounds like fun. Let us know what you decide and how it works out. Keith [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
Yeah, but I figured the moisture would have trouble escaping, but... sooner or later it would dry out anyway I guess. - Original Message - From: Cy Selfridge To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2010 8:18 AM Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Hi Matt, Using the roof was not all that uncommon a practice years ago. You would, of course, need to have the fruit or whatever on some sort of rack such as hardware cloth and also covered by the same to keep the wee little birdies from dining out. This method is pretty blamed effective. Cy, The Anasazi From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:blindhandy...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Matt Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2010 6:58 AM To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator The fan is something that concerns me. The one I drug up, which I already had is small, maybe 8 inches or smaller, but it's meant for cooling a small place for a person, so that may be too strong. Perhaps if the heatting element is in bottom and the fan in top pointed down, to push the hot air back down, and then vents on bottom so that the heat continues to rise, and any excess gets blown out through bottom? I'm just not sure. I have old tower cases of computers I have out-grown, and they have fans, but extracting them and using them... I just don't see myself messing with it. I've considered setting up a system in shelving in my bedroom closet even. Funny all of the things which cross your mind when you're being kind of cheap and lazy and looking at existing cabinets. My wife's grandmother told us that her neighbor used to put apples up on the roof for drying and I read an account on the net of people in the old days spreading them out on the tin roof of a shed. - Original Message - From: Betsy Whitney, Dolphin Press To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 11:01 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Speaking of using existing things, my friend that I mentioned yesterday tells me that she has now made a dryer out of the cupboard above her refridgerator. She took out the bottom and the top and replaced them with screen. For heat She installed a light fixture inside to create heat and the circulation from the refridgerator fan creates the circulation to move the air. She's been drying all sorts of things, but says that if you're drying such things as apples you may have to slice them thinner than you would for an actual dehydrator. At 04:36 PM 7/10/2010, you wrote: hahahah, funny you should mention that. I've been looking around for an existing closed cabinet or something which I could rig up like that, and one thing I have considered has been an old dressor. - Original Message - From: Keith Christian To: mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.comblindhandyman@yahoogroups.com mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 4:23 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Hi Matt, I use to grow hops for brewing. I dried them by setting them in an old dresser with a fan attached to the back side. The bottoms of the drawers were removed and I inserted some wire mesh to allow the air to flow through the hops. It worked great. Sounds like fun. Let us know what you decide and how it works out. Keith [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
well i have 2 dehydrators. one is round and has no fan and i can make a full load of beef jerkey in about 20 hours. the other is square and has a fan and will make a full load in about 15 hours. so fan or not if the heats on the bottom and there are vents in the top it will work. jim [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
I really think that the fact that dehydrators use more electricity is mis-information. I keep two of them going almost all summer and don't notice any difference in the bill. They only heat to about 145 or so and they use about the same as a small lightbulb to heat and a small fan. Go to http://www.excaliburdehydrators.com I'm not plugging this site. Its just where I got my dehydrators from and am really happy with them. The site has a lot of good recipes and know-how there. Jim On Jul 9, 2010, at 9:55 PM, Victor Gouveia wrote: I've heard that dehydrators tend to use quite a bit of electricity, and while the dehydration process might be faster and easier, the savings on the electrical bill would more than offset the ease of it all. Mind you, this information was gotten based on the old Popiel dehydrators, so it may be out of date. Victor [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
Well I didn't use a fan because we always have breezes here and they are dryer than my sense of humor. What about using those rolls of that plastic screening that goes into storm doors? They might clean up easily with a waterhose outside. I guess you need to think about how many apples you are going to dry. My racks in the new dehydrator are maybe 14 by 14 inches. Haven't measured them. There are 9 in each unit. They are spaced with 1/2 inch clearance between them. Depending on how I cut them, I can get about 2 apples per rack. Jim On Jul 9, 2010, at 7:25 PM, Matt wrote: - Original Message - Matt Your wooden frame and screens is kind of what I am thinking just now to start with. Did you use a heat element and a fan? I'm rummaging around for unused stuff to play with the idea. Sitting here with a small fan in my lap just now and pondering perhaps an electric skillet as heat element to go in bottom? Probably here in east texas, all I would need is a screened in box with vented racks of some sort, and maybe a fan at top to speed up the process, but I haven't decided yet. I'm wondering about some sort of webbed or porous material to stretch over dowels or wooden frame as trays. Still in the pondering stage. From: Jim Gatteys To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 4:45 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Hi Matt! I used some old wooden frames and screen nailed across them for racks for years but finally broke down and bought an excalibur dehydrater. Best investment I ever made. I dry tons of stuff from my garden. I'm in west Texas and in the summer I keep the dehydrater outside while doing onions and tomatoes. Works great. Jim On Jul 9, 2010, at 4:37 PM, Matt wrote: Hi ya folks. Lately I've gotten into drying apples and cooking pies and stuff out of them. Mainly, I started out buying them already done from a Mennonite owned store. I quickly got addicted to them as snack food, then found recipes for making pies and breads out of them. I looked up instructions on drying your own. They suggested oven on the lowest setting, or in a car on a hot day. The oven works, but your spouse complains about the oven always being busy, and you can only get so many in there at 1 time. And it does take at least 6 hours the way I did it. My wife suggested I not buy a dehydrator, because as it is I am a gadget buyer. And ya start running out of space to live after so long. Just now I am considering building a wooden frame which would hold cookie sheets stacked but spaced from one another 1 on top of the other, and buying screen to cover the outside to keep some bugs out, and putting an old fan I have out in storage in one end of it. My idea lacks the heat element factor, but I live in east tx, and am figuring, I could set it up in the attic, or out in a back room where there is no air conditioning. I could go to the trouble of forming my own screen trays, if I wanted to build them, but then cleaning something like that with a wood frame? I don't think that would last long. Anyone ever done this stuff, say, to make jerky or whatever? just curious. Matt [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
my question is would be how much cuhnter or shelf space Jim d your machines take up? and then how do you tore the end roduct? If you do not mind I'd like to take some o f the discussion off list. Might I email you Lee. thanks On Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 04:45:11AM -0500, Jim Gatteys wrote: I really think that the fact that dehydrators use more electricity is mis-information. I keep two of them going almost all summer and don't notice any difference in the bill. They only heat to about 145 or so and they use about the same as a small lightbulb to heat and a small fan. Go to http://www.excaliburdehydrators.com I'm not plugging this site. Its just where I got my dehydrators from and am really happy with them. The site has a lot of good recipes and know-how there. Jim On Jul 9, 2010, at 9:55 PM, Victor Gouveia wrote: I've heard that dehydrators tend to use quite a bit of electricity, and while the dehydration process might be faster and easier, the savings on the electrical bill would more than offset the ease of it all. Mind you, this information was gotten based on the old Popiel dehydrators, so it may be out of date. Victor [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -- In vino veritas. [In wine there is truth.] -- Pliny
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
all this idea of dried fruit is making my stomach growl . so keep us posted Matt on how you make out. Lee \On Fri, Jul 09, 2010 at 12:42:06PM -1000, Betsy Whitney, Dolphin Press wrote: Aloha Matt, My friend made trays with extruded aluminum just like some folks use to make window screens. Then she could just take them out in the yard and squirt them off with the hose. She made a tent out of screen that was open on the bottom so it could just be set over the whole stack of trays. She used some sort of round metal sticks to separate the stacked trays. I remember that she had some sort of round stops on the separation sticks, and the frames of the trays had wholes for the separating sticks to fit into. I'll try to reach her via email. She lives in California now, but she used to dry apples, pineapple, bananas, papaya, mango, parsley, and basil when she lived here. Betsy At 11:37 AM 7/9/2010, you wrote: Hi ya folks. Lately I've gotten into drying apples and cooking pies and stuff out of them. Mainly, I started out buying them already done from a Mennonite owned store. I quickly got addicted to them as snack food, then found recipes for making pies and breads out of them. I looked up instructions on drying your own. They suggested oven on the lowest setting, or in a car on a hot day. The oven works, but your spouse complains about the oven always being busy, and you can only get so many in there at 1 time. And it does take at least 6 hours the way I did it. My wife suggested I not buy a dehydrator, because as it is I am a gadget buyer. And ya start running out of space to live after so long. Just now I am considering building a wooden frame which would hold cookie sheets stacked but spaced from one another 1 on top of the other, and buying screen to cover the outside to keep some bugs out, and putting an old fan I have out in storage in one end of it. My idea lacks the heat element factor, but I live in east tx, and am figuring, I could set it up in the attic, or out in a back room where there is no air conditioning. I could go to the trouble of forming my own screen trays, if I wanted to build them, but then cleaning something like that with a wood frame? I don't think that would last long. Anyone ever done this stuff, say, to make jerky or whatever? just curious. Matt [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -- In vino veritas. [In wine there is truth.] -- Pliny
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
Hi Lee! if you have questions off list that's fine. My dehydrator is about the size of a microwave and when the stuff is dry it goes into fruit jars that I seal with a device called a pump 'n seal from http://pump-n-seal.com It works like a foodsaver but its about 30 dollars and works great. I buy coffee beans and vaccuum seal them in jars and they stay that way for months. Jim On Jul 10, 2010, at 11:06 AM, Lee A. Stone wrote: my question is would be how much cuhnter or shelf space Jim d your machines take up? and then how do you tore the end roduct? If you do not mind I'd like to take some o f the discussion off list. Might I email you Lee. thanks On Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 04:45:11AM -0500, Jim Gatteys wrote: I really think that the fact that dehydrators use more electricity is mis-information. I keep two of them going almost all summer and don't notice any difference in the bill. They only heat to about 145 or so and they use about the same as a small lightbulb to heat and a small fan. Go to http://www.excaliburdehydrators.com I'm not plugging this site. Its just where I got my dehydrators from and am really happy with them. The site has a lot of good recipes and know-how there. Jim On Jul 9, 2010, at 9:55 PM, Victor Gouveia wrote: I've heard that dehydrators tend to use quite a bit of electricity, and while the dehydration process might be faster and easier, the savings on the electrical bill would more than offset the ease of it all. Mind you, this information was gotten based on the old Popiel dehydrators, so it may be out of date. Victor [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -- In vino veritas. [In wine there is truth.] -- Pliny [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
I don't know about electricity usage, they do not get very hot. But efficiency is the argument there that is unnecessary. I just wanted to chime in here with popiel being just fine for delicious banana chips; after a little trial and error on time and placement. it's a funny stack of trays, hard plastic and stackable. You can add or remove in process.the element is in the bottom and the top is just a lid. I strongly recommend something other for jerky as the fats will leak through the bottom. I don't know if the paperwork advises against meats, or omits them, but that's my advice on that. On Sat, 10 Jul 2010, Jim Gatteys wrote: I really think that the fact that dehydrators use more electricity is mis-information. I keep two of them going almost all summer and don't notice any difference in the bill. They only heat to about 145 or so and they use about the same as a small lightbulb to heat and a small fan. Go to http://www.excaliburdehydrators.com I'm not plugging this site. Its just where I got my dehydrators from and am really happy with them. The site has a lot of good recipes and know-how there. Jim On Jul 9, 2010, at 9:55 PM, Victor Gouveia wrote: I've heard that dehydrators tend to use quite a bit of electricity, and while the dehydration process might be faster and easier, the savings on the electrical bill would more than offset the ease of it all. Mind you, this information was gotten based on the old Popiel dehydrators, so it may be out of date. Victor [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
hahahah, funny you should mention that. I've been looking around for an existing closed cabinet or something which I could rig up like that, and one thing I have considered has been an old dressor. - Original Message - From: Keith Christian To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 4:23 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Hi Matt, I use to grow hops for brewing. I dried them by setting them in an old dresser with a fan attached to the back side. The bottoms of the drawers were removed and I inserted some wire mesh to allow the air to flow through the hops. It worked great. Sounds like fun. Let us know what you decide and how it works out. Keith [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
Speaking of using existing things, my friend that I mentioned yesterday tells me that she has now made a dryer out of the cupboard above her refridgerator. She took out the bottom and the top and replaced them with screen. For heat She installed a light fixture inside to create heat and the circulation from the refridgerator fan creates the circulation to move the air. She's been drying all sorts of things, but says that if you're drying such things as apples you may have to slice them thinner than you would for an actual dehydrator. At 04:36 PM 7/10/2010, you wrote: hahahah, funny you should mention that. I've been looking around for an existing closed cabinet or something which I could rig up like that, and one thing I have considered has been an old dressor. - Original Message - From: Keith Christian To: mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.comblindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 4:23 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Hi Matt, I use to grow hops for brewing. I dried them by setting them in an old dresser with a fan attached to the back side. The bottoms of the drawers were removed and I inserted some wire mesh to allow the air to flow through the hops. It worked great. Sounds like fun. Let us know what you decide and how it works out. Keith [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
Aloha Matt, My friend made trays with extruded aluminum just like some folks use to make window screens. Then she could just take them out in the yard and squirt them off with the hose. She made a tent out of screen that was open on the bottom so it could just be set over the whole stack of trays. She used some sort of round metal sticks to separate the stacked trays. I remember that she had some sort of round stops on the separation sticks, and the frames of the trays had wholes for the separating sticks to fit into. I'll try to reach her via email. She lives in California now, but she used to dry apples, pineapple, bananas, papaya, mango, parsley, and basil when she lived here. Betsy At 11:37 AM 7/9/2010, you wrote: Hi ya folks. Lately I've gotten into drying apples and cooking pies and stuff out of them. Mainly, I started out buying them already done from a Mennonite owned store. I quickly got addicted to them as snack food, then found recipes for making pies and breads out of them. I looked up instructions on drying your own. They suggested oven on the lowest setting, or in a car on a hot day. The oven works, but your spouse complains about the oven always being busy, and you can only get so many in there at 1 time. And it does take at least 6 hours the way I did it. My wife suggested I not buy a dehydrator, because as it is I am a gadget buyer. And ya start running out of space to live after so long. Just now I am considering building a wooden frame which would hold cookie sheets stacked but spaced from one another 1 on top of the other, and buying screen to cover the outside to keep some bugs out, and putting an old fan I have out in storage in one end of it. My idea lacks the heat element factor, but I live in east tx, and am figuring, I could set it up in the attic, or out in a back room where there is no air conditioning. I could go to the trouble of forming my own screen trays, if I wanted to build them, but then cleaning something like that with a wood frame? I don't think that would last long. Anyone ever done this stuff, say, to make jerky or whatever? just curious. Matt [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
Hi Matt! I used some old wooden frames and screen nailed across them for racks for years but finally broke down and bought an excalibur dehydrater. Best investment I ever made. I dry tons of stuff from my garden. I'm in west Texas and in the summer I keep the dehydrater outside while doing onions and tomatoes. Works great. Jim On Jul 9, 2010, at 4:37 PM, Matt wrote: Hi ya folks. Lately I've gotten into drying apples and cooking pies and stuff out of them. Mainly, I started out buying them already done from a Mennonite owned store. I quickly got addicted to them as snack food, then found recipes for making pies and breads out of them. I looked up instructions on drying your own. They suggested oven on the lowest setting, or in a car on a hot day. The oven works, but your spouse complains about the oven always being busy, and you can only get so many in there at 1 time. And it does take at least 6 hours the way I did it. My wife suggested I not buy a dehydrator, because as it is I am a gadget buyer. And ya start running out of space to live after so long. Just now I am considering building a wooden frame which would hold cookie sheets stacked but spaced from one another 1 on top of the other, and buying screen to cover the outside to keep some bugs out, and putting an old fan I have out in storage in one end of it. My idea lacks the heat element factor, but I live in east tx, and am figuring, I could set it up in the attic, or out in a back room where there is no air conditioning. I could go to the trouble of forming my own screen trays, if I wanted to build them, but then cleaning something like that with a wood frame? I don't think that would last long. Anyone ever done this stuff, say, to make jerky or whatever? just curious. Matt [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
Your wooden frame and screens is kind of what I am thinking just now to start with. Did you use a heat element and a fan? I'm rummaging around for unused stuff to play with the idea. Sitting here with a small fan in my lap just now and pondering perhaps an electric skillet as heat element to go in bottom? Probably here in east texas, all I would need is a screened in box with vented racks of some sort, and maybe a fan at top to speed up the process, but I haven't decided yet. I'm wondering about some sort of webbed or porous material to stretch over dowels or wooden frame as trays. Still in the pondering stage. Matt - Original Message - From: Jim Gatteys To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 4:45 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Hi Matt! I used some old wooden frames and screen nailed across them for racks for years but finally broke down and bought an excalibur dehydrater. Best investment I ever made. I dry tons of stuff from my garden. I'm in west Texas and in the summer I keep the dehydrater outside while doing onions and tomatoes. Works great. Jim On Jul 9, 2010, at 4:37 PM, Matt wrote: Hi ya folks. Lately I've gotten into drying apples and cooking pies and stuff out of them. Mainly, I started out buying them already done from a Mennonite owned store. I quickly got addicted to them as snack food, then found recipes for making pies and breads out of them. I looked up instructions on drying your own. They suggested oven on the lowest setting, or in a car on a hot day. The oven works, but your spouse complains about the oven always being busy, and you can only get so many in there at 1 time. And it does take at least 6 hours the way I did it. My wife suggested I not buy a dehydrator, because as it is I am a gadget buyer. And ya start running out of space to live after so long. Just now I am considering building a wooden frame which would hold cookie sheets stacked but spaced from one another 1 on top of the other, and buying screen to cover the outside to keep some bugs out, and putting an old fan I have out in storage in one end of it. My idea lacks the heat element factor, but I live in east tx, and am figuring, I could set it up in the attic, or out in a back room where there is no air conditioning. I could go to the trouble of forming my own screen trays, if I wanted to build them, but then cleaning something like that with a wood frame? I don't think that would last long. Anyone ever done this stuff, say, to make jerky or whatever? just curious. Matt [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
If you build a dehydrator, you haven't saved any space over buying one. By the time you build one, you could purchase one, maybe. The one you purchase can run all year, where if you have one that can only run in the warm weather, well, it can only run in the warm weather. Having said that, I would never really deter someone from taking on a project. So go for it. -- Blue skies. Dan Rossi Carnegie Mellon University. E-Mail: d...@andrew.cmu.edu Tel:(412) 268-9081
RE: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
Hi, I concur with the fact that you would probably be just as well of purchasing your dehydrator but in case you wanted to build one use ¼ inch hardware cloth. It is sturdy enough to keep out unwanted birds and such and will allow plenty of air circulation. I read (somewhere) that simply placing the fruit or whatever in your dehydrator on the roof will do a bang up job of drying it out. Cy, the Anasazi From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:blindhandy...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Matt Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 6:25 PM To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Your wooden frame and screens is kind of what I am thinking just now to start with. Did you use a heat element and a fan? I'm rummaging around for unused stuff to play with the idea. Sitting here with a small fan in my lap just now and pondering perhaps an electric skillet as heat element to go in bottom? Probably here in east texas, all I would need is a screened in box with vented racks of some sort, and maybe a fan at top to speed up the process, but I haven't decided yet. I'm wondering about some sort of webbed or porous material to stretch over dowels or wooden frame as trays. Still in the pondering stage. Matt - Original Message - From: Jim Gatteys To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 4:45 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Hi Matt! I used some old wooden frames and screen nailed across them for racks for years but finally broke down and bought an excalibur dehydrater. Best investment I ever made. I dry tons of stuff from my garden. I'm in west Texas and in the summer I keep the dehydrater outside while doing onions and tomatoes. Works great. Jim On Jul 9, 2010, at 4:37 PM, Matt wrote: Hi ya folks. Lately I've gotten into drying apples and cooking pies and stuff out of them. Mainly, I started out buying them already done from a Mennonite owned store. I quickly got addicted to them as snack food, then found recipes for making pies and breads out of them. I looked up instructions on drying your own. They suggested oven on the lowest setting, or in a car on a hot day. The oven works, but your spouse complains about the oven always being busy, and you can only get so many in there at 1 time. And it does take at least 6 hours the way I did it. My wife suggested I not buy a dehydrator, because as it is I am a gadget buyer. And ya start running out of space to live after so long. Just now I am considering building a wooden frame which would hold cookie sheets stacked but spaced from one another 1 on top of the other, and buying screen to cover the outside to keep some bugs out, and putting an old fan I have out in storage in one end of it. My idea lacks the heat element factor, but I live in east tx, and am figuring, I could set it up in the attic, or out in a back room where there is no air conditioning. I could go to the trouble of forming my own screen trays, if I wanted to build them, but then cleaning something like that with a wood frame? I don't think that would last long. Anyone ever done this stuff, say, to make jerky or whatever? just curious. Matt [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
RE: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
Hi Matt, Ahha, I found the original article on this thread. (LOL) You can make trays for holding the fruit out of hardware cloth. I believe that the ¼ or 3/8 inch hardware cloth would be plenty strong to hold the fruit without the use of a wooden frame. Just make some slots for the hardware cloth to fit on and all should be fine. I would set the contraption right out in the sun to dry, it should be complete in a day during the summer and a couple of days in fall. Good luck. Cy From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:blindhandy...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Matt Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 3:37 PM To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Hi ya folks. Lately I've gotten into drying apples and cooking pies and stuff out of them. Mainly, I started out buying them already done from a Mennonite owned store. I quickly got addicted to them as snack food, then found recipes for making pies and breads out of them. I looked up instructions on drying your own. They suggested oven on the lowest setting, or in a car on a hot day. The oven works, but your spouse complains about the oven always being busy, and you can only get so many in there at 1 time. And it does take at least 6 hours the way I did it. My wife suggested I not buy a dehydrator, because as it is I am a gadget buyer. And ya start running out of space to live after so long. Just now I am considering building a wooden frame which would hold cookie sheets stacked but spaced from one another 1 on top of the other, and buying screen to cover the outside to keep some bugs out, and putting an old fan I have out in storage in one end of it. My idea lacks the heat element factor, but I live in east tx, and am figuring, I could set it up in the attic, or out in a back room where there is no air conditioning. I could go to the trouble of forming my own screen trays, if I wanted to build them, but then cleaning something like that with a wood frame? I don't think that would last long. Anyone ever done this stuff, say, to make jerky or whatever? just curious. Matt [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
Don't people get valley fever from spores in the raisin drying process in California in the '30s?? If you use a heating element be sure to have a reliable thermostat. You probably don't need so much heat as you do adequate air movement. How about a clothes drier maybe with a tilt and chute like a cement mixer GRIN - Original Message - From: Cy Selfridge To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 8:52 PM Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Hi, I concur with the fact that you would probably be just as well of purchasing your dehydrator - but - in case you wanted to build one use ¼ inch hardware cloth. It is sturdy enough to keep out unwanted birds and such and will allow plenty of air circulation. I read (somewhere) that simply placing the fruit or whatever in your dehydrator on the roof will do a bang up job of drying it out. Cy, the Anasazi From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:blindhandy...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Matt Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 6:25 PM To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Your wooden frame and screens is kind of what I am thinking just now to start with. Did you use a heat element and a fan? I'm rummaging around for unused stuff to play with the idea. Sitting here with a small fan in my lap just now and pondering perhaps an electric skillet as heat element to go in bottom? Probably here in east texas, all I would need is a screened in box with vented racks of some sort, and maybe a fan at top to speed up the process, but I haven't decided yet. I'm wondering about some sort of webbed or porous material to stretch over dowels or wooden frame as trays. Still in the pondering stage. Matt - Original Message - From: Jim Gatteys To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 4:45 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator Hi Matt! I used some old wooden frames and screen nailed across them for racks for years but finally broke down and bought an excalibur dehydrater. Best investment I ever made. I dry tons of stuff from my garden. I'm in west Texas and in the summer I keep the dehydrater outside while doing onions and tomatoes. Works great. Jim On Jul 9, 2010, at 4:37 PM, Matt wrote: Hi ya folks. Lately I've gotten into drying apples and cooking pies and stuff out of them. Mainly, I started out buying them already done from a Mennonite owned store. I quickly got addicted to them as snack food, then found recipes for making pies and breads out of them. I looked up instructions on drying your own. They suggested oven on the lowest setting, or in a car on a hot day. The oven works, but your spouse complains about the oven always being busy, and you can only get so many in there at 1 time. And it does take at least 6 hours the way I did it. My wife suggested I not buy a dehydrator, because as it is I am a gadget buyer. And ya start running out of space to live after so long. Just now I am considering building a wooden frame which would hold cookie sheets stacked but spaced from one another 1 on top of the other, and buying screen to cover the outside to keep some bugs out, and putting an old fan I have out in storage in one end of it. My idea lacks the heat element factor, but I live in east tx, and am figuring, I could set it up in the attic, or out in a back room where there is no air conditioning. I could go to the trouble of forming my own screen trays, if I wanted to build them, but then cleaning something like that with a wood frame? I don't think that would last long. Anyone ever done this stuff, say, to make jerky or whatever? just curious. Matt [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [BlindHandyMan] Considering building my own apple drier or dehydrator
I've heard that dehydrators tend to use quite a bit of electricity, and while the dehydration process might be faster and easier, the savings on the electrical bill would more than offset the ease of it all. Mind you, this information was gotten based on the old Popiel dehydrators, so it may be out of date. Victor
