Food Dehydrators

[Timbertodd]

Im considering upgrading my food dehydrator. Currently I have a Presto unit that you stack the round trays one ontop of another and it heats from the bottom blowing the air up. Im looking at either the Excalibur or Samson. Anyone have any experience with either? From my research the Samson's big plus is how quiet it runs compared to the Excalibur. My Presto is one noisy rascal.

[Kevind62]

Im considering upgrading my food dehydrator. Currently I have a Presto unit that you stack the round trays one ontop of another and it heats from the bottom blowing the air up. Im looking at either the Excalibur or Samson. Anyone have any experience with either? From my research the Samson's big plus is how quiet it runs compared to the Excalibur. My Presto is one noisy rascal.

I have a Cabela's 60 liter dehydrator. I've had it for 12 years now and love it. I can process up to 20 lbs of jerky (wet) per batch. It's never given me any problems. If you pack it dense like I do, you do have to rotate the trays from bottom to top or the bottom trays will dry too much. You can take them out if they're dry to your liking, but I like to leave them in and just rotate them to have consistency with each batch. You can place them further apart to allow more air flow and not have to rotate them. I choose to rotate since I usually do quite a bit. I'm usually processing 50+ lbs of meat. I like to do all of my jerky at once at the end of the season. This is a single batch. The unit has handles on both sides for easy moving. It also has coated legs so it slides easily without scratching your floor or counter surface.

[Timbertodd]

Thanks for you input Kevin. I did search for reviews online for Cabelas unit over the weekend but didn't find much. Your firsthand experience is very helpful. That jerky looks delicious!

[BuckeyeCrappie]

That’s one nice dehydrator and I second that jerky looking delicious.

[Kevind62]

The unit is very well built and seals perfectly. I haven't used it for drying fruit yet but plan on trying it one day. Had a colleague bring some dehydrated mangos to work once that were amazing. They were dried to a stiff, chewy consistency. He said to let them get ripe enough to get really soft so they're high in sugar content first. I did use it to preserve my daughter's wedding bouquet. I did a test with some roses we had from he wedding and figured out that 72 degrees worked best to preserve the color. Higher temps made the flowers turn light brown. The bouquet was white and it remained white at this temp. (just in case you ever need it for this) The flowers had about a 35% or so shrinkage. Kind of cool because they just look like miniature roses. Cool thing about a dehydrator is you can use it for lots of things. A handy thing is potato chips. If they get stale, put them on the trays at about 95 degrees for 30 minutes and they're like a fresh opened bag. I also use it for small desiccant packs for my gun powder and larger ones for gun storage in my safe. The big packs I use for the gun safe I leave in at 145 degrees for about 4 hours. You can do this in your oven at 225 for about an hour but I don't like putting stuff in there just in case I were to forget about it. I put it in my dehydrator, set the temp and timer and leave it. If I have to leave I don't have to worry about it. It shuts off when it's done. This model also comes with hanger racks for Slim Jim sticks. It works great for them but I've yet to find a recipe I like. Still searching.

This is what the jerky looked like before loading it in to the dehydrator.

[SuperDave336]

While I don’t use a dehydrator this post is awesome. Yes the jerky looks good but you have my interest now with everything you’ve done with your dehydrator. Very cool! Think I might check them out.

[Slabprowler]

I have the Excalibur!
it does a good job but it is kinda noisy and if you load it up to much you have to rotate the trays to get even drying .
but if you space out your meat it dries fairly even.
have had it for 7 years and no issues!

[Timbertodd]

Ive only dried fruits and veggies on my Presto. It does a good job of it, but is slow.

[zummy]

Ive got the cabelas dehydrator. It works well for me.

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