FOOD Dehydrator help needed

[rolenrock]

I am looking at buying a good dehydrator and think the Excalibur brand is probably the best. With all the experience on this board I'd like to ask your opinions on Excalibur dehydrators for meat and vegetable dehydration. Is there a better brand out there? What brands/models would you suggest? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

 

[Rabbit]

Check out this site. There are many to choose from without the hefty price of an Excalibur. Look at the reviews and think about how often you will use it and decide which will better serve your needs.

https://www.bestreviews.guide/dehydrators

 

[Red Baron]

LOL, I have the original $19.95 Ronco food dehydrator.

No fan, no heat settings, just plug and play.

It actually works fine for making jerky or dried vegetables.

 

[Macgyver]

I second the Excalibur. Used several of the round ones and they suck compared to it. Allot of the other large square style ones have horrible reviews especially the Cabela's branded ones.

 

[ktrapper]

I third the Excalibur. Its a great unit.

 

[2Trish]

Excalibur is the best in my opinion. They're a little pricey but worth it in the long run. I'm arguing with myself right now about trying to make some jerky in mine or pull out the old smoker which requires more monitoring.

 

[summerthyme]

I burned out three American Harvest dehydrators doing meat (drying chicken hearts and livers, and pork liver slices for dog treats) before I broke down and bought my Excalibur. Will NEVER go back! The AH machines DID work... but didn't dry evenly, and I always was overdrying one side while the stuff on the other side was still juicy (don't have time to "babysit" a dehydrator around here)

For us, the 5 tray machine was enough, but if I still was feeding a family, I can see the larger model would be much nicer.

Summerthyme

 

[watchin]

I've had my Excalibur for years & the only regret is that I didn't get a bigger one. I had one of those little round ones with a light bulb & it was almost useless, but the Excalibur does exactly what it's supposed to do.

I usually turn the trays around & rotate the height of them to speed up the drying, because the back & the middle trays dry fastest.

 

[Ractivist]

I built one using a broken freezer for the shell. I removed the door shelving and replaced it with a sheet of plastic like used in walk in coolers. I added two holes in the bottom sides with filters and one hole on top which can be adjusted to allow air out at different rates. I went and put a cheap window on the door as well. I added a hot plate on the bottom and a couple of fans inside. It can achieve up to 165 degrees. It works quite well and was very inexpensive in dollars and time to build. Gonna make another one this week, as deer season is about here. Total cost, maybe a hundred fifty dollars.

 

[kyrsyan]

I use Excalibur styled but only one of my 4 is an Excalibur. I had horrid results with the circular bottom heat models. If you get another brand look for a solid door. It lets you do more. Timers aren't really needed.

 

[rolenrock]

I use Excalibur styled but only one of my 4 is an Excalibur. I had horrid results with the circular bottom heat models. If you get another brand look for a solid door. It lets you do more. Timers aren't really needed.

kyrsyan, What do you think about the other than Excalibur dehydrators? Do they equal the Excalibur in quality machine, durability and good quality dried food ?

 

[Wise Owl]

Get the Excalibur. You will learn to hate the others really fast for all the reasons listed to hate them above. I have one of the round ones with the fan in the bottom. Worthless piece of junk that took DAYS to dry some herbs! Plain basil and oregano dried at different times so tasts wasn't an issue both took 3 days out on the deck under the awning to dry out. I had better luck in a slightly warm oven. If I ever decide to dehydrate anything again I will get an Excalibur.

You take a chance with the lessor value ones and you want your food to dry evenly. Dad always said, you get what you pay for. You buy cheap, you get cheap and that's always been true for me.......

 

[Rabbit]

I have an Excalibur and I like it. A friend of mine got a cheaper dehydrator from Sam's (same square design with shelves) and loves it. Dehydrators are not complicated. I do believe those with heat and fan in the back blowing across the shelves are better, my opinion.

 

[Jubilee on Earth]

Honestly, if you plan on using it a lot, or if you live in a high humidity area, spend the money and get an Excalibur. I have one of the cheaper ones that has only the on/off buttons (similar to the Ronco one above), and while it works great for herbs or kale or thinly sliced fruit, anything with a lot of water content takes forever. Jerky, blueberries, etc. take pretty much a full day, and if I have a big batch, we’re talking three to four days just for one food item. Literally I have to run it 15-24 hours for most things, and even then some on the edges aren’t fully dehydrated. I figure the price of buying a more efficient model will even out the amount of electricity (and time babysitting) with the cheaper model.

 

[Melodi]

Excalibur! I was so frustrated with a cheap one that didn't adjust temperatures; they are OK if you are ONLY doing meat and tomatoes (high heat) but start making junk with some vegetables and a lot of fruits; plus you can't really dry herbs at all.

Husband uses mine almost as much as I do as he loves drying and using herbs, I haven't raised bread it in yet but I probably will in Winter.

I was very lucky to get mine on a super sale; I think someone brought them into Ireland (it was "green company") and then found out that almost no one here had either heard of them or was willing to pay the full price for them, so they sold them at a loss (or probably what they paid for them).

I got the 9 trays one since the only things I saw in reviews that were negative was "I should have bought a larger one," that and the new tiny model has some problems; the company admitted it is the only one not made in the US and that may have been a mistake.

 

[Martinhouse]

I bought an Excaliber but returned it because most of my dehydrating is leafy things, and the dried leaves would blow out all over the floor when I'd open the door to check on them. (It was a pain to reach the outlet to just unplug the unit).

I've always used the better of the Nesco/American Harvester dehydrators and they are very good. They don't let sliced tomatoes get moldy on one side of the tray while the slices on the other side are scorching. That's what happened with more than one type of cheapo.

I do admit that the Excaliber is probably better if one is dehydrating a lot of meat and heavy vegetables. I would have kept mine if it had had an on/off switch.

 

[thompson]

Another satisfied Excalibur owner here.

 

[Taz]

I have had the Excibur for years. Love it. But never thought of raising bred in one. May try that this winter.
Taz

 

[summerthyme]

I make yogurt in mine. I got my ironsmith neighbor to fabricate a heavy shelf out of expanded steel mesh, "framed it" with white duct tape to kerp the edges from scratching the plastic, and it will hold 16 half-pint jars of yogurt.

Works great!

Summerthyme

 

[Roadkill]

Excalibur. We have two, one with a timer, one without. Both have done exactly what we want them to do.

 

[rolenrock]

So pleased to hear all the responses and the support Excalibur has with you all. I respect you all's opinions very much and appreciate all the input. But here's another question: I have looked and looked and cannot find out if Excalibur makes a model that is solid stainless steel with no plastic inside the unit. Anyone know?

 

[kyrsyan]

kyrsyan, What do you think about the other than Excalibur dehydrators? Do they equal the Excalibur in quality machine, durability and good quality dried food ?

Yes. But here is the thing. They are old models. As in 70's models. The are built of steel. Heavy and strong. Excalibur is about the only thing today that can equal them. Three have solid front doors which allows for a whole variety of uses. They have saved shoes, books, phones, in addition to running nonstop at harvest season.

I have one that is stackable trays and rectangular. From a family member that really didn't understand our discussion on dehydrators. I use it in the detached garage for the hot peppers - stuff like reapers.
There are models that work similar to Excalibur but the front of the trays are the "door". Avoid those. Dehydrators can be used for so much more than drying food but not in those models. There are folks that use them to make yogurts and a whole slew of fermented things.

 

[kyrsyan]

So pleased to hear all the responses and the support Excalibur has with you all. I respect you all's opinions very much and appreciate all the input. But here's another question: I have looked and looked and cannot find out if Excalibur makes a model that is solid stainless steel with no plastic inside the unit. Anyone know?

They did at one point. It was a commercial model. And it costs big bucks. I haven't checked recently though. When I hit number 2, I stopped looking. Numbers 3 and 4 were from others that didn't realize that I had enough. They still get used.