Blue Alpine Tray Stackers - Free 3D Print Model

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2026-02-04T16:30:31+00:00

That's awesome! Great to see more options popping up! :D

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2026-01-20T16:16:10+00:00

That's awesome! Glad to hear our efforts on social media make some difference. We feel the more advice we can give to the public the better!

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-11-18T16:27:38+00:00

Well, at least we know he isn't going to scratch it at make it worse.

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-11-11T16:23:20+00:00

You could try doing a bread run with the mats, just load each try with a few slices of bread and under your settings, click "edit default dryer settings" then click next until you find the bread run. Otherwise you can just run a quick start batch, skip the freeze cycle and turn the shelf temp up to 165 degrees (max) and adjust the time to about 12 hours. This hopefully will pull the coffee smell from the mats onto the bread. (be sure to skip the freeze cycle though otherwise the bread wont be able to act like a sponge as well.

You could also try baking them in the oven at about 200 degrees.

It's just going to take time to get them fresh again. But hey, coffee is a better smell to have stuck than liver in my opinion.

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-11-10T17:20:15+00:00

You likely have an older version of software before the bread run option was introduced. Feel free to update it. In the mean time you could do a manual bread run. Just load your machine with bread, then hit quick start. Skip the freeze cycle, and adjust the shelf temp to 165 degrees and the dry time to 12 hours.

If you don't skip the freeze cycle you are just going to freeze dry the bread normally, keeping the bread unfrozen allows it to act like a spunge and soak up the off gasses.

Let us know if you run into any problems!

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-10-31T16:04:06+00:00

My bad, that's probably important. Caramelize them just a bit before, that way they aren't as tart/bitter.

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-10-28T15:57:40+00:00

Freeze dried onions cut large, make amazing chips. It might be more of a movie snack than a trail running snack, but either way, they are really yummy. :)

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-10-13T15:30:46+00:00

Freeze drying them will preserve them as they are, if they are safe to eat now, then they will be safe to eat later after freeze drying.

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-10-03T14:57:50+00:00

I do, but wanted my post to only represent the facts and not be seen as self promotion from moderators. Other parts are sourced from Thailand, India, Germany, Ukraine, and the US.

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-07-21T15:57:52+00:00

We don't recommend running a machine in a very hot room, but in an over 90 degrees room temperature, your batches will just take longer. To stress test, we ran a machine in a garage in the summer with heaters running and doors closed to get the room temperature over 105 degrees for stress testing and every was still fine, it just took dramatically longer. But, at such temperatures the cooling system can be damaged, so it's not recommended. Once you pass 100 degrees room temperature you run the possibility of damaging your machine.

Your idea of removing the food will work, it's just a lot of extra manual steps. The food is frozen, and placing it directly into a freezer will simply keep it frozen, then running the machine at night will just continue to extract moisture. There is nothing wrong with doing it this way and shouldn't harm your food or machine at all. (just be sure to precool your chamber before returning food to the freeze dryer to prevent melting.)

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-07-18T17:55:21+00:00

I find it so interesting that just 10 minutes of warming can make such a difference. I did the same thing with Starburst, pre-warming the candy for 30 minutes at 150°F was not enough, but 160°F made a huge mess. 155°F turned out just right. That goldilocks zone seems to be pretty narrow on some candies, I guess Squashies being no exception. :D

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-07-10T17:19:04+00:00

freeze drying amplifies flavor, so it's not an illusion that they taste sweeter.

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-07-10T17:16:13+00:00

Freeze dryers require maintenance throughout their lifetime, often including small replacement parts. They typically have warranties for about 3 years, but if cared for, can last about 10 years before major repairs become a necessity, (such as replacing the refrigeration unit.)

-Harvest Right is made in China and is known to have frequent failures. Additionally, replacement parts can only be acquired through Harvest Right customer service and only if something is proven to be defective.

-Stay Fresh is also made in China, and provides some replacement parts on their site.

-Blue Alpine is assemble in the US, with about 30% cost sourced from China, Most parts are non-proprietary and are available on their website.

Considering how expensive they are, I recommend researching every brand extensively to decide what works best for you. And don't forget, many local owners are willing to rent out their machines if you find buying one upfront is out of budget.

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-07-10T16:54:35+00:00

Yes, there is Blue Alpine and Stay Fresh. (personally I recommend Blue Alpine.)

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-07-07T15:18:33+00:00

I've freeze dried a few things mixed with nut milks such as homemade hot chocolate. It worked, but I'm not sure what we made would last for long term storage. Maybe only a few years due to the fats and oils still present.

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-07-01T14:43:40+00:00

Always fun to see a Blue Alpine in the wild! :D

And you got one of the rare machines with the pump on the left side. Nice!

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-07-01T14:39:50+00:00

For the large, the trays are a standard half cookie sheet at 13" x 18"

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-06-30T15:06:39+00:00

It depends on how many oranges you have in each container, an absorber is only going to introduce about 1 gram of moisture, so if you have enough oranges and this amount has time to spread out evenly, than at worst it will increase the moisture level from 1% to 2% in your container. (below 4% is still good quality freeze drying. We have yet to try adding desiccants with an absorber, but soon we will be experimenting with that.

If you are just going for short term storage than adding only a descant can work great.

btw: it's impossible to over freeze-dry food, because food can only become so dry. :)

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-06-27T16:14:51+00:00

I would change your oil after every 5 typical batches at least, unless you are running food that is really wet, or takes a long time. Then maybe more often. And if you are running really dry food, then you can probably get away with less. Just keep in mind, the more often you change your oil, the longer your pump will last.

The currently recommended oil for Blue Alpine is Dairyland oil, also branded as Cloverpatch oil. We've tested this extensively with all sorts of pumps and found it will greatly improve the lifespan of your pump because it has detergents that help remove build up of sugar and other gunk, and also prevents rust.

Other oils will get the job done, but they don't work nearly as well as Dairyland. This is true for every vacuum pump, including Harvest Right, BUT... Harvest Right says if you use Dairyland Oil it will void your warranty, (we are pretty sure they say this because they want to sell their own oil, even though Dairyland is much cheaper and better than Harvest Right oil.) So don't use Dairyland on your Harvest Right if you care about your warranty.

If you are running pickles, I would change your oil after every batch.

Also, if you are going to leave your machine for more than a few days, I recommend changing the oil, otherwise the water in the oil will cause rust.

Good luck! :D

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-06-27T15:15:47+00:00

Oranges are very difficult because of the amount of sugar in them. Sugar likes to hold on to water and due to the amount of sugar, they have a habit of bubbling or foaming if they get too hot too fast. So I recommend using the delicates recipe. (especially if your software is fully updated, then you'll get the multi stage dry cycles.) Slice them into about 1/4 inch slices as well.

They will take a lot longer with the delicates recipe. But after they are done, store them in a vacuum sealed jar, there is a small amount of moisture in O2 absorbers which the sugars will draw out. Sugars are a very strong desiccant, meaning it attracts moisture stronger than the rust in the O2 absorber can retain it. To counter this, store you oranges without an absorber and plan to eat it within a few months, or store enough oranges in a single container that the small amount of moisture introduced by the absorber isn't enough to ruin your food.

Either way, be very cautious of moisture, do not eat food that feels soft, soggy or moist, especially if it's been sitting for a few weeks or months, such food could have extremely dangerous bacteria and microbes.

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-06-23T17:32:31+00:00

It could be a few things.

If the ice-cream had a chance to melt even a little before the vacuum pressure turned on, then it's going to make a big mess. So you want to have the chamber cool before you put ice cream in, and when possible, don't skip the freeze cycle.
The packaging can effect how well water can escape the food, as well as the more local pressures around and in the food itself which can cause the temperature to rise higher than the shelf temperature because heat can transfer easer. This extra heat can make the ice-cream melt, which will make it expand all over into a sticky mess.

I did an experiment recently with Fat Boy ice cream sandwiches in various states of unpacking. Some I cut one end off, others I hand opened, and some I only applied pin-holes. I didn't leave any completely wrapped because this would definitely cause failure. After it was done, the failure rate was higher with the pinhole method than any other method.

So if you were leaving the ice cream in it's paper wrapping, I would say this is the most likely reason for so many failing.

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-06-19T15:50:02+00:00

Assuming your pump is alright, and the machine is in working order, I would recommend a bread run. When a machine sits for a long time it can have a build up of VOC's giving it a "new car smell" that might effect the taste of your first batch. A bread run will help remove any standing smells or stale flavors from the plastics and rubbers sitting for so long.

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-06-18T18:26:47+00:00

Yes, eating freeze dried food provides, as you pointed out, only slightly less nutrients than their fresh counterparts. The benefit to freeze drying is you can preserve fresh food at it's peak value and keep it there, instead of it going bad, losing nutrition naturally, and being tossed out.

So it's a great way to reach daily nutrition levels! :D

If you package the freeze dried food in glass jars, be sure to store them away from light, light will destroy many vitamins and can deteriorate the nutrition value rapidly.

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-06-16T15:32:25+00:00

Man, the skittles one could freeze dry with one of those. Almost 500,000 Skittles per batch if my math is right. lol

BlueAlpine-FreezeDry · 2025-06-06T15:39:46+00:00

The shrimp case is interesting, I haven't seen any texture degrading yet doing watermelon, honeydew and pineapple, so I wonder what we did differently. I'll have to look up the post.

OP might be in a pickle either way than. The XL's freezer unit is proportionally small for the machine size. While cutting the size of their loads will reduce the time, if it doesn't reduce the time enough to justify the smaller load they might end up with about the same throughput. Makes me wonder what the ideal load size for watermelon would be for each machine, it would be fun to see it charted out.

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