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drying sort of necessity to dehydrate

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pepper joe

well i got pods from zanderspice some where starting to look and feel soft
i decided to buy a cheap dehydrator since the one i ordered wont be here till monday,long story ordered it last week and they took there time to send it,
went on graigslist got a really cheap new one no fan but warms up to 97*-102* been monitoring it the last 3 hrs before adding any peppers,i feel it is a low temp but it might be a fast fix since for this moment so i dont waste any pepper's
well my crazy ass put in my plant room has fan and window open to aerate,i have 8 trinidad scorpions,5 bhut jolokia,3 naga morich,2 golden habs, 2 carribean red habs,i knew there would be fumes but WHOOOA, i walk in to check the heat temps on it everything good and holding at 99* but i got hit in the face with those fumes and i felt like i got pepper sprayed(never been sparyed but now i know how it feels),

now what i'm asking have any of you used these cheapy brands nevco/north bay? has no fan just a basic 5 tray with heat element, lid and vents on the bottom and top with slide covers to close or open them as needed

just want to get an idea what to expect, now let me try to rinse my eyes out.....again,awesome

thanks joe
 
It seems as though you are earning your wings, the fumes can be quite inundating. I run three units, but all with fans and sometimes the fumes are so strong it chokes me up. I do know your pain.

Good luck!!
 
I always run my dehydrator with at least one open window and a fan running, PLUS I close the door to that room so it won't get too bad in the rest of the house.

Note that in times of higher humidity, it will take several days at that low of a temp to fully dry them. However, the fumes are only bad for about the first day or two. Drying them at low temps is the best, for both color and flavor retention.
 
Without a fan there in more of an anaerobic environment which can be ideal conditions for botulism, especially at low temps. Althouh botulism poisoning is rare, it is always very serious. You'll also need to move trays around to have them all dry properly.

+1 on low temps. Better color, more flavor, and less fumes. At low temps fumes don't bother any of my family
 
Hmm... no internal fan. Maybe keep all the vents open and run an external fan towards it - put the dehydrator between the fan and an open window, so the fan pushes the fumes towards the window.
 
i'm impressed this cheapy thing actually worked, keep in min it was only 1 tray of peppers but for what it's worth did the job crispy critters for but 3-4 pcs that are still drying.
the idea of the fan i like but after thinking about it this unit has no heat control plug and play thats it,
so i would lose more heat then the unit can produce,
now i did not think of botulism have to research that out a bit more before eating or doing anything else with the peppers.
thanks
guys
 
I use a Nesco American Harvester unit, which is supposed to be one of the best non-commercial dehydrators out there. It is also plug-and-play - you can set the temp, but it has no on/off switch and no timer.

Keep in mind that an electric dehydrator is not required to dehydrate pods - people have dehydrated food for centuries without them. The most common methods are to either hang them on a string or lay them on a rack. Point being that losing a little heat to ensure good air circulation is probably not a big deal.
 
here too

my wife cant get near the back room, it dosnt bother me quite as much but it get me in the back of the throat a little
sorry i dont know much about dehydrators the one i have im borrowing

its called ''THE SAUSAGE MAKER" its an all stainless commercial job goes up to 145 degrees good for jerky
thanks your friend joe
 
geeme said:
I use a Nesco American Harvester unit, which is supposed to be one of the best non-commercial dehydrators out there. It is also plug-and-play - you can set the temp, but it has no on/off switch and no timer.

Keep in mind that an electric dehydrator is not required to dehydrate pods - people have dehydrated food for centuries without them. The most common methods are to either hang them on a string or lay them on a rack. Point being that losing a little heat to ensure good air circulation is probably not a big deal.
Click to expand...

I'm running with the same rig and with no complaints.

 
no this unit is not a nesco it's a nevco/north bay brand, real cheaply made smaller then some of the nesco and other brands no heat controller,i have 2 nesco's coming tomorrow,
but i was just wondering if anyone has used the NEVCO brand thats just as basic as they get,
i'm finding out first hand that it actually works pretty decently probly take longer then the newer ones but i'll keep it around for the just in case times that the newer once decide to act up.

i dont have alot space to be dedicating for such things and along with the kids and cat yeah those wont work, so using a dehydrator is pretty much my option

and this cheapy unit only gets up to about 107-110 degrees, and after looking around and reading if i put a fan on this unit and lose say 20 degrees well that might actually do more harm then good,
i wont mess with it just leave it be,
thanks for the input guys
joe
 
I haven't dried peppers yet and my dehydrator should be waiting for me when I get home tonight. Are the fumes always an issue no matter what or is it just the super hots? I was planning on just having it run in the kitchen but might need to keep it in a spare bedroom instead.
 
well i since got my new dehydrator and yes the fumes are mainly with the superhots i did some arbol, jalapenos and cayenne and did not have the fumes that the bhuts and trinidads did,

but on some points the cheapy actually dried meatier peppers faster then the one with fan about 12-18hrs faster,

either way i'm getting peppers dried and be making my own powder for chilli, and other foods,
 
I've had success with a fan blowing air across my pods, provided that they are cut in half and the skin isn't terribly thick and fleshy. None of your pods seem like they would have too thick of a flesh for this. Pods would dry in about 3-4 days like that and since they dried at a perfect room temperature they would retain a nice flavor and color that you don't get with pods dried @ 130+F. This was the main reason why I refused to dehydrate in an oven, my first set of jalapenos that I dried at probably around 140-150F tasted like garbage. Since then I've moved on to the nice NESCO dehydrators that everyone seems to love.

As for your current setup, I agree with potawie that at those temps and no fan it seems practically like an incubator. I really can't be sure whether or not your pods would ever get affected by it, but I've always been a fan of playing it on the safe side. Good luck!
 
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