Let's Talk Food Dehydrators

[delia_peterson]

ive looked on here and cant find a homemade dehydrating system. have you thought about a home made one? ive been looking and they seem fairly easy to make out of stuff lying around. Does anyone here have a pic of their homemade one? Im about to make one myself but would love to hear pros and cons of tried and true projects

I think it is delia from TX, she has a whopper of a dehydrator on wheels!! All from scrounged material. I'll look around and get back to you.

BBH...stop talking about my car!!!! I dont have a dehydrator--..I wish I did! Are you thinking about xpc and his solar oven?

 

[big brown horse]

ive looked on here and cant find a homemade dehydrating system. have you thought about a home made one? ive been looking and they seem fairly easy to make out of stuff lying around. Does anyone here have a pic of their homemade one? Im about to make one myself but would love to hear pros and cons of tried and true projects

I think it is delia from TX, she has a whopper of a dehydrator on wheels!! All from scrounged material. I'll look around and get back to you.

BBH...stop talking about my car!!!! I dont have a dehydrator--..I wish I did! Are you thinking about xpc and his solar oven?

It wasn't you with that giant homemade dehydrator? My bad y'all!!

Well who was it then I wonder?

 

[delia_peterson]

I dont know..but would love to find out and see how hard it is to make!

 

[ORChick]

I remember reading in an old "Organic Gardening" (actually, it was an old "Organc Gardening and Farming", which is an indication of just how old it was ) about someone re-purposing a cupboard in their kitchen. It was floor to ceiling, I think, though I don't suppose it matters. Anyway, they installed a porcelain light socket on the floor of the cupboard, with an incandescant light bulb (for heat) and then, I think, they hung a board over that as a baffle, to let the heat rise, but shield the light. And then they put cleats along the sides, to hold shelves, and made shelves out of hardware cloth framed with 1"x1". They must have also put some sort of vent near the top. The bottom shelves were warmer, and were used for dehydrating. Further up was a good spot for incubating yogurt, and proofing bread. And the very top was where the cereal and crackers were stored; the residual heat kept them crisp. I have held this thought for, probably, 30 years, since it sounds like such a good idea. Unfortunately I have never had a suitable cupboard .

 

[davaroo]

I remember reading in an old "Organic Gardening" (actually, it was an old "Organc Gardening and Farming", which is an indication of just how old it was ) about someone re-purposing a cupboard in their kitchen. It was floor to ceiling, I think, though I don't suppose it matters. Anyway, they installed a porcelain light socket on the floor of the cupboard, with an incandescant light bulb (for heat) and then, I think, they hung a board over that as a baffle, to let the heat rise, but shield the light. And then they put cleats along the sides, to hold shelves, and made shelves out of hardware cloth framed with 1"x1". They must have also put some sort of vent near the top. The bottom shelves were warmer, and were used for dehydrating. Further up was a good spot for incubating yogurt, and proofing bread. And the very top was where the cereal and crackers were stored; the residual heat kept them crisp. I have held this thought for, probably, 30 years, since it sounds like such a good idea. Unfortunately I have never had a suitable cupboard .

Awesome! You gotta love it.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I remember reading in an old "Organic Gardening" (actually, it was an old "Organc Gardening and Farming", which is an indication of just how old it was ) about someone re-purposing a cupboard in their kitchen. It was floor to ceiling, I think, though I don't suppose it matters. Anyway, they installed a porcelain light socket on the floor of the cupboard, with an incandescant light bulb (for heat) and then, I think, they hung a board over that as a baffle, to let the heat rise, but shield the light. And then they put cleats along the sides, to hold shelves, and made shelves out of hardware cloth framed with 1"x1". They must have also put some sort of vent near the top. The bottom shelves were warmer, and were used for dehydrating. Further up was a good spot for incubating yogurt, and proofing bread. And the very top was where the cereal and crackers were stored; the residual heat kept them crisp. I have held this thought for, probably, 30 years, since it sounds like such a good idea. Unfortunately I have never had a suitable cupboard .

Too cool!!!

 

[VT-Chicklit]

I have a Mr Coffee dehydrator. It has a fan and it heats up. If yours does not heat up, check the wireing to the heater element. There may be an issue there.

In addition to my little Mr Coffee dehydrator I have a huge one made by Chevy. The model number is the S10 model. I place larger quantities of items to be dehydrated, on cookie sheets or sheet pans in a single layer. I then place them in my "dehydrator" on the dash and the seats. I keep the windows up, with only a slight gap to let out the humidity as my items dry. I point the "dehydrator" towards the sun and in a day or two my items are dried by using free solar energy. It works great!

 

[dragonlaurel]

I have a Mr Coffee dehydrator. It has a fan and it heats up. If yours does not heat up, check the wireing to the heater element. There may be an issue there.

In addition to my little Mr Coffee dehydrator I have a huge one made by Chevy. The model number is the S10 model. I place larger quantities of items to be dehydrated, on cookie sheets or sheet pans in a single layer. I then place them in my "dehydrator" on the dash and the seats. I keep the windows up, with only a slight gap to let out the humidity as my items dry. I point the "dehydrator" towards the sun and in a day or two my items are dried by using free solar energy. It works great!

I love the Chevy dryer I used to put a frozen burrito ( in the wrapper) on the dash of the car to cook. Come back to the car in an hour or two and it would be done!

 

[Islay]

Here's how uneducated I am - I'd never even heard of dehydrators until opening this thread! I guess they're not that common in the UK?

I really want one now though! I've been drying apple rings in the oven on a very low temperature, and the amount of energy it uses is insane.

 

[Iceblink]

I have an American Harvest Dehydrator that I like fine...... I am saving my pennies for a dehydrator with square or rectangular trays. I hate the round ones.

My mom has a REALLY old Excalibur that still works great. I told her to make sure I get it in her will, I'm sure it will still be working then.

As far as a home made dehydrator, I would think it wouldn't be that different from an incubator. I made one this summer, and it wasn't that hard. On dryit.com the lady talks about using her dehydrator as an incubator actually. I suppose really they are pretty much the same, a box with a fan and a heat source and thermostat.

If I had a box dehydrator it could multi task much better. Besides being a part time incubator, I could rise bread dough in it, incubate yogurt in it...not all at the same time of course.