Technology ConnectionsI have been working on this video in the background for months, and I barely got it together before no effort november.
So let's learn about freeze dryers and how bonkers it is to own one (in my opinion, anyway)
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puffball: trianglemancer@TechConnectify technology connections video!!!!!!!!! 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖
Solarbird 
@TechConnectify ...there are home freeze-dryers?
I had no idea there were home freeeze-dryers. Neat!
@moira Only on a technicality!
KeithTheEE@TechConnectify That is the best opening sentence that there could be for this video.
I've loved these looks into so much technology of domestic life (and it's fringes) and I'm excited for this one!
Crazypedia⍼@TechConnectify your videos are so much fun, I'm looking forward to this later tonight 
SkaveRat 🐀 
@TechConnectify Cool video. A bit dry
The puns were sublime
gudenau@TechConnectify I've wanted to build one for years, it sounds like a fun "simple" project.
Edit: You got me in the first 5 seconds of this video.
stfn 
@TechConnectify You made a lot of videos about heating stuff, now it's about cooling stuff, what's next? Sublimating? Turning into plasma? Can't wait, love your content!
Leif@TechConnectify how is it possible that it is no effort November again
Chris Dell@TechConnectify You're videos are so good I watch them even if I have initially zero interest in the subject matter. Thank you for making them!
irina [moved to critter.cafe]@TechConnectify wait, how does this help with my laundry?
RodneyPetersonTalentAgency@irina @TechConnectify Eliminates the need for starch and therefore more than pays for itself!
RouseWorld@irina @TechConnectify Yes, very disappointed this isn’t about laundry :-)
InsertUser@irina
I vaguely remember something about someone getting the smell of smoke out of clothes with a vacuum chamber.
Edit: Might have been this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhlicgysikc
@TechConnectify
Put your clothes in a vacuum chamber to clean them I guess?
It's like washing your clothes with a machine, but not quite as good, and it takes longer, and is less efficient, and I'm going to raise 30 billion in vc mon...
Phyxis@TechConnectify @irina It all starts with the denim folks thinking that putting their jeans in the freezer "cleaned" them…
niarbeht@TechConnectify yay I have something to look forward to when I get home
Raven Luni@TechConnectify You're an educator rather than an influencer. You make informative content that appeals to people with all levels of understanding. That takes a rare talent.
Influencers on the other hand tell people what to think, what to buy and generally how to conform to a set of ideals in way that benefits them. That's not you.
If I havent said it before, thankyou what you do.
Lockpick Extreme@TechConnectify My LockEx partner, Christine has a freeze dryer and says Skittles are amazing when freeze dried. I get to actually taste the rainbow tomorrow when she brings me some for #bsideschicago this Saturday.
Your Future Ex@TechConnectify [confusion intensifies]
Andy Fletcher@TechConnectify Thanks for the great laugh at you trying to eat your McDonald meal :)
AsgerGitz@TechConnectify always looking forward to your videos!
Unsolicited video idea: Perhaps you could make a video on car engines, or just a part of the car? I know you drive EVs, but I feel like your way of explaining things would make it make so much sense. It could be difficult to demo though.
Mx. Aria Stewart@TechConnectify 😂 the faces you make in this video are deeply enjoyable. Thank you for taking the hit.
Tobias Klausmann@TechConnectify One of the things I love about this video is that it illustrates that a purely rational/by-the-numbers approach to matters like food does not work, and enjoyment and mouth-feel and all manners of je-ne-sais-quoi stuff is important about food.
And that you spell that out, and acknowledge that sometimes, "gut feeling" (haaa) ist just as important.
Would I rather starve than eat freeze-dried crunches? Of course not, but that isn't the point, is it?
Big Kumera Energy@TechConnectify we've considered it - thanks for the breakdown and saving us $3k :)
Juho MäntysaloI say this sincerely: you're my favourite influencer ❤️
Ewzzy Rayburn@TechConnectify While you're still toying with that thing, try making freeze dried Lemonheads. They pop like popcorn and the rock candy interior turns into a melts-in-your-mouth powdery texture. The exterior is mostly unaltered but it's easier to focus on the sour flavor without the dull interior.
@TechConnectify They're popular enough that you can just buy them at Walgreens and Amazon. They all are doing weird copyright dodges that make them look like weed gummy packaging. Despite that they seem to all be using bulk retail Lemonheads™ as a base.
Anigma@TechConnectify Awesome video, thank you! Now I also want a freeze dryer to play with it 😂
Marcos@TechConnectify Thank you for this! I follow a homesteader that uses one of these legitimately to preserve a lot of what they grow, and I've been curious about what it's like to use one. It doesn't seem especially practical for average people, but I could see it being useful for people who grow their own food or are involved in a co-op situation. I could also see it being used by folks that want to freeze dry the fun stuff (candies) and re-sell. Nifty!
Exellent@TechConnectify oh im looking so forward to watch it later. I love your videos, your style and your humor so much!
Martinius@TechConnectify I wonder how well this maschine works to to dry 3D printer fillament
@Martinius That's a great question! I don't really know the mechanisms by which filament takes on moisture, but I don't know why it would at least reduce it.
James Holden@TechConnectify @Martinius People definitely use small domestic dehydrators to dry filament. Damp filament prints badly because the moisture boils as it’s extruded at ~200°C and ruins the finish and integrity of the print. You can tell if you have damp filament because it crackles as it prints.
Darryl RammWaiting for the video of trick or treaters trying freeze dried gummies etc.
@darryl_ramm I'm pretty sure handing those out would get me put on some kind of list
My ex tried handing out healthy whole fruit one thanksgiving in addition to the candy. Trick or treaters sure were not having any of that. Lots of little kids making "you are crazy lady" faces...
minecraftchest1For some reason this reminds me of the video of a racoon shocked that cotton candy disappears when you wash it.
I wonder how thin a sugar solution you could freeze dry. Can you get it thin enough that it just sort of disappears on the tongue?
I'd worry there'd be too much risk of someone inhaling it to give out as a prank.
Disappearing candy = prank,
candied lung = a horrible horrible thing (probably)
Arve@TechConnectify Already said this in the YT comments, but two of the biggest Ecoflows and a ~400L chest freezer is literally cheaper than the cheapest freeze dryer available here in Norway. Those two Ecoflows (7.2 kWh total) would keep the freezer cold for about a month. In an apocalyptic scenario with month outages, we're quite literally back to being hunter-gatherers again.
Cegorach@arve @TechConnectify add some solar panels (really cheap - like near 100€ per KWp now) and you got yourself near-infinite freeze storage
…and just salting it or cooking it into jars is still cheaper, easier and needs no uptake
There's a reason the old ways of food preservation worked for centiries
Michael Gemar@TechConnectify I was disappointed there was no freeze-dried cheese — it’s a great snack!
@michaelgemar I should have mentioned this because that was an early freeze-dry run.
And... well I think we'd disagree on its greatness! Every cheese I tried I strongly preferred as normal cheese.
@TechConnectify I really like commercial vacuum dried cheese snacks, like Moon Cheese, but as I haven’t made any myself, there may be other magic involved.
Are there any non-food uses for a home freeze dryer?
Eli the Bearded
@elithebearded @TechConnectify Well *that’s* horrific….
No less horrible than sausage.
@elithebearded @TechConnectify YOU EAT YOUR PETS?!?!?
In the span of human history, the line between food animal and companion animal is thin and blurry.
I suspect it's less that the walls attract the water vapour, but more that the atmosphere is thin enough that it just happens to be what it hits first as it (mostly) travels in straight lines. It then loses what energy it has to the cold walls and stays as a solid.
I would guess that if the refrigeration part was broken the vacuum part would be the thing removing most of the water vapour, but has a tiny port in a big wall so that would take ages (and might damage it).
@InsertUser @TechConnectify That is. Cool walls attract water vapor, in the same way a sink hole attract water: it just remove some water and pressure move water where there are less water.
Meko #nowar@TechConnectify I wonder how cursed will it be to try drying some electronics 
J. Steven York RESISTS@TechConnectify
I haven't watched this yet, but I'm already sharing it because they're always good (for those of us with a certain kind of technical nerdery). I've never wanted one of these, but I've been curious since I saw one in the store, and that thick slab of glass forming the door. Must know more...
I haven't watched this yet, but I'm already sharing it because they're always good (for those of us with a certain kind of technical nerdery). I've never wanted one of these, but I've been curious since I saw one in the store, and that thick slab of glass forming the door. Must know more...
@TechConnectify How many puns can one put into the first minute of a video?-)
@TechConnectify
It seems to me that you have completely missed the point of freeze dried meals.
THE WEIGHT
The point isn't preserving, it is weight reduction.
Go to any outdoor shop and you will find racks of ready made freeze dried meals just add (boiling) water.
They are really expensive and just all right tasting nothing special but well worth it for the weight loss.
For a trek of over 3 days carrying fuel and stove becomes a lot lighter than the water from 6 meals (lunch and dinner).
@TechConnectify
You are quite focused on hating on preppers but staying in a bunker during the apocalypse is not the reason mankind developed food preservation.
If your source of food is NOT the supermarket but rather you farm/forage/hunt you end up getting most, if not all, your supplies during the fall months (harvest season) and this poses the problem of a human not having evolved to eat it all during those weeks and hibernate until next year.
@BJ I think there are several points to wanting a freeze dryer, but even this one is one that is very difficult to make the math work for spending $3,000 on a machine which you will then spend many many hours fiddling with.
If you're an avid hiker and truly think it could be of good value to you, then sure I guess. But you're gonna really have to work hard to have a reasonable ROI (and value your labor at $0)
@TechConnectify
Not all returns are financial.
There is also the point of being able to make a home cooked meal, to your own preference, and freeze dry it.
A home cooked meal on the go.
It also makes it easier to cater to your food intolerance, allergies etc. which can severely limit the variety of freeze dried meals available to you.
This last point doesn't only apply for trek food, some allergens don't survive desiccation.
I believe people suffering from (some forms of) egg allergy could eat your scrambled eggs from the video because the freeze drying process prevents them from having a reaction.
@BJ do you own a freeze dryer or are you really just incapable of imagining other ways to do the same things?
This has never been about whether freeze dryers have a point or not, it's whether it's reasonable for individual people to drop $3,000 on them.
No I don't own one, but I also don't see what the "other ways to do the same things" are, but I'd love to hear them.
Because if you know a way to achieve the same results for cheaper, boy am I intrigued.
I mean yes $3000 is steep but it's not outlandish.
For someone who wants to be able to make their own freeze dried meals ... then that's the prize.
Being able to offer it for that low is an achievement in and off itself since not to long ago this technology was exclusively available to industry.
Because if you know a way to achieve the same results for cheaper, boy am I intrigued.
I mean yes $3000 is steep but it's not outlandish.
For someone who wants to be able to make their own freeze dried meals ... then that's the prize.
Being able to offer it for that low is an achievement in and off itself since not to long ago this technology was exclusively available to industry.