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food preservation

How to create a small drying room

Matt McSpadden

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posted 6 months ago

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I wanted to share what I learned about creating a small drying room right away, but felt it was better to wait until I had some experience under my belt. So as the drying season comes to a close for me, I decided it might be time now to create a post about my journey. I am also terrible about taking pictures of projects, so you will have to be satisfied with words and a few screenshots of similar products.

Background
The only stuff I had dried before this was on a small electric dehydrator. Dehydrators work fine, but are often too hot for herbs and are too expensive to scale up. While researching other options, I came across a drying room, which is just a room or closet, semi-sealed off in order to control humidity. Unfortunately all my closets were full of stuff and all my rooms were full of people. I had room in the garage, but didn't really want to build anything. Then it dawned on me that there is an industry that already has products for this purpose. So I went to my local indoor growing store. I bought a 4x4 grow tent which is designed to be able to control the humidity. I bought some hanging drying racks to put the herbs on. I set it up, put the dehumidifier inside, ran the power and hose out one of the holes meant for vents, cinched up the rest of the vents, and added herbs. It worked quite well... eventually. It was a learning curve, but hopefully this will help you not to run into as many things as I did.

Things I learned (not all were mistakes):

Keep the room dark, as sunlight can damage the quality of the herbs

Herbs dry best between 80-110F

Keep the humidity around 30% (mine was often less than this and did not seem to affect the quality, but probably did affect my electric bill)

Running the humidifier constantly and leaving the herbs after they were dried, does not ruin them.

A normal household dehumidifier from a home improvement or hardware store will work fine. There is no need for a commercial level dehumidifier at this scale

Clean the filter on the dehumidifier!

In case you missed it... Clean the filter on the dehumidifier! I lost a lot of basil trying figure out why things were not drying properly.

Hanging racks are great if each shelf can detach from itself. Mine only came apart in pairs and while the drying worked... it was REALLY annoying to load and unload the bottom shelf in the pair.

While you can lay out things neatly... if you are doing bulk, things dry just fine if they are not lined up perfectly. I wasted SO much time (and space) picking off individual leaves and laying them side by side. Now I take handfuls of the whole stem and leaves and toss them on the rack.

Properly dried medicinal herbs will keep their potency up to 2 years... culinary herbs probably last the same

You do not need to keep the herbs as whole leaf. I have an entire thread trying to figure out how to do this efficiently and still keep the leaves whole. A whole leaf will keep the flavor and aroma longer than when broken into little pieces. However, this is REALLY hard to do, and is impossible to do at any scale if you want to make money. Fresh product, dried properly, will still be 10 times better than any normal store bought items, even if its not stored whole leaf.

For things like peppers, garlic, and onions, just use baking sheets. While a rack or shelving or spacers are probably better and definitely look better... stuff still dries if you just stack the pans perpendicular to the one below it.

If you don't mind things not matching, thrift stores are great places to pick up baking sheets

Parchment paper is your friend. You can't believe how sticky garlic gets before you dry it.

I was able to dry in the range of 10-15lb of herbs in a batch with 3 hanging racks in a 4x4 drying tent

A wireless thermometer and hygrometer are a must, so you don't have to keep opening it up to check.

If your drying tent is in your unheated garage, you can extend the season by wrapping it in 2" foam insulation. I got an extra 5 weeks of drying by doing this

Lastly, make sure you have places to put all your dried herbs. Canning jars are nice (and is what I have settled on), but food grade 5 gallon buckets are probably more efficient for scale. Every bit of extra cabinet space and some dresser space is being used for jars full of dried herbs.

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Visit https://themaineingredient.com for organic, premium dried culinary herbs that are grown, processed, and packaged in the USA.

Deane Adams

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posted 6 months ago

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I'm making an attempt to read your post with tearful eyes, I just finished hand dicing the last of the onions I bought last week. I load the trays (5) for the dehydrator with the onions and place them in my hanging air drying rack which is enclosed within a tarp in the basement. I too use a dehumidifier with an additional fan to act as a pre-dryer. Then tonight I'll transfer the trays to the dehydrator to finish up, I set mine to 110 or 115 degrees for almost everything.

I feel that this system works for the small amounts of things that I dry. I don't really know about the amount of electric use this adds to my monthly bill, last month it was $53.00. I can handle that!

Peace

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Deane Adams

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posted 6 months ago

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Update: The nearly three pounds of onions from yesterday were positively dry when I checked this morning. The only slight problem with my present system is that both the finished and unfinished basement areas sorta kinda smell like onions. Oh brother!!!

I have used the hanging air drying thingy twice this year as intended, for the two cuttings of my Bee Balm. It worked great, was easy to clean, just opened the zippers and gave it a good shake.

Peace

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Nolan Neal

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posted 2 months ago

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Is fresh air necessary? Did you supplement heat at all?
I have a room in a manufactured trailer home that’s 10x9x7.5 ft I’m going to split in half and turn once side into a cool storage and the other into a dry room. I’m wondering if I’ll somehow need to put an exhaust and put a filter ok it to keep the dry room clean. A seed starting area is the rest of the trailer

Matt McSpadden

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posted 2 months ago

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I don't think there is a need for fresh air intake or anything. The idea is to recirculate the current air, remove moisture, and send it back into the room dryer than before. The only "export" is the water it took out of the air.

I did not supplement heat... but I did add insulation around it, and then eventually stopped in the late fall because I couldn't keep the temps warm enough without extra heat.

My biggest concern with your idea is that you have seed starting (a very moisture heavy thing) next to a drying room (where moisture is the problem). If they must be next to each other... you will want to make sure these two rooms are sealed very well from each other.

Anne Miller

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posted 2 months ago

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I have done all my drying on the top of my washing machine. I have only dried herbs this way. And another factor for me is I live where there is no humidity.

For meat like when making jerkey, I use my oven on very low.

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Emmett Ray

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posted 2 months ago

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Wow. That was a fun read for me, so thanks Matt! I absolutely love hearing how other folks accomplish all the different ways of food preservation. Even if you're in a different zone, it's just smart to gather as many tips as you can so you have a variety of methods in your tool box to try. You never know what advice might land just right.

I plan to get back into everything from vacuuming sealing, drying, freeze drying, dry canning, water bathing, pressure canning, dehydrating, smoking, pickling, fermenting, cold storage, etc., (No, I'm not a prepper, but I am a homebody. And I like having extra to help others around me when they need it, especially single moms and seniors.)

Of everything you laid out, how much, if any of it, do you think is specific to success in your Zone 5A?

Thank you in advance to everyone for their replies, help, and suggestions! Forgive me if I miss any replies, I'm still learning how to keep up with threads I participate in!

Matt McSpadden

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Location: Central Maine (Zone 5a)

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posted 2 months ago

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Emmett Ray wrote:Of everything you laid out, how much, if any of it, do you think is specific to success in your Zone 5A?

Actually I doubt very much has to do with my climate. The temperature might be a bit harder to keep consistent in other climates... but since I did this inside a building, I doubt it would be very much. The humidity might be a little harder to control, but since this was done inside a tent designed to control humidity, again, I doubt it would be affected very much.

I attribute most of my success to starting with a good product and treating it well.

Emmett Ray

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posted 2 months ago

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Matt McSpadden wrote:

I attribute most of my success to starting with a good product and treating it well.

I appreciate it. Everything starts with a good product treated well.

Thank you in advance to everyone for their replies, help, and suggestions! Forgive me if I miss any replies, I'm still learning how to keep up with threads I participate in!

Alder Burns

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posted 2 months ago

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Long experience and a couple of futile attempts to build a solar drying cabinet have shown me that there are several excellent passive drying niches that nearly everyone can access: 1. your vehicle parked out in the sun (open or close windows as appropriate) 2. any kind of greenhouse that is not in use for growing, such as during the summer. (again, ventilate or not as appropriate), and 3. the attic space of a house. All of these can be further improved by running a fan over the screens of food. I have multiple times succeeded in drying down sliced tomatoes in these places, and in a humid climate too. No dehumidifier or electric warming elements needed, only a fan.

Denise Cares

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Location: USDA Zone 7a

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posted 2 months ago

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Great tips and suggestions Matt. I have an older Excalibur dehydrator 9 tray which holds a lot so I tend not to run it unless full. It is noisy and no doubt adds to my electric bill here in california where everything is overpriced to begin with. I have found an alternate way of drying soaked (sprouted) grains and seeds by spreading them out on cookie sheets or trays about 1/2 in thick. I set up cooling racks (which I find at thrift store) so they sit a bit high off the woostove (about 1-2 inches is ideal). Then I place the trays with seeds on them. If the temp of the stove is too hot, I sometimes move the trays to the mantle above the stove. The only downside is that some dust or ash will collect over time on the mantle, so removing the trays when I need to clean out the stove ashes is good practice. A fireplace mantle can be useful for drying all sorts of small things - like wet socks, hats, mittens. The fireplace is brick & masonry cement and I managed to insert small nails into tiny cracks here and there under the mantle where it meets the masonry. From these nails I've hung string with herbs fastened and even chili peppers to dry. It's my "country bumpkin" decor but it works!

Cécile Stelzer Johnson

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posted 2 months ago

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Matt McSpadden, you just gave me a great idea:
I have such a room but I never gave it a thought because this attic is more like a crawl space and it's dusty, but the 'dusty' part can be remedied, and I don't have to stay up there for the duration.
Here is the situation:
When it came time to house my chickens, I bought one of these mini-barn like structures. It was 10' X 16' with a gambrel on top. Since I live in pretty cold Central Wisconsin, I added a trap door for access. I also completely insulated the walls, door and gambrel ceiling. [I never do things half way.]
The walls are very smooth. They are made of white smooth bathroom panels, [when they were still costing only $15. piece].
For ventilation, I have 2 squarish removable panels 1' X 6", which may not be enough but I could make them larger. One to the North, the other to the South.: On the outside, it looks like the Ox-eyed decorative wood for a larger window.
I have used it as storage, which explains all the dust.
In the winter, it is cold but I don't think it freezes because I have a small ceramic wall heater [electric] downstairs for my girls, and heat rises.
In the summer, when I would do the drying, it is stifling hot, and staying more than a few minutes up there is exhausting, so I have the heat for free. It feels like a sauna, causes me to sweat profusely and I had to leave because of the heat on a sunny day. [I came close to passing out once!]
I could build some trays to dry stuff, make the 2 ventilation holes larger and vacuum all the dust out of there. I could also install a small barn fan.
If any of you similarly have a little used attic, that might just be the ticket to drying tons of herbs, fruit, veggies, maybe also storing them. I can almost stand up in the center, but frankly, it's more like a crawl space: No comfortable to stay any length of time. Even better for the quality of herbs: it is completely dark unless I bring up a light.

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Matt McSpadden

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Location: Central Maine (Zone 5a)

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posted 2 months ago

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Hi Cécile,
I think that could be a good spot in certain cases. I would be concerned about the dust/manure some how working its way from the chickens downstairs to the food upstairs. I would also be cautious about when I dried food. Some, like fruit or garlic, seem to be able to handle very hot temps without trouble. If you are doing herbs, this high heat can essentially cook things, which will reduce flavor and color, so you would want to do this during the shoulder season spring and fall probably.

Cécile Stelzer Johnson

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Location: zone 4b, sandy, Continental D

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posted 2 months ago

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Matt McSpadden wrote:Hi Cécile,
I think that could be a good spot in certain cases. I would be concerned about the dust/manure some how working its way from the chickens downstairs to the food upstairs. I would also be cautious about when I dried food. Some, like fruit or garlic, seem to be able to handle very hot temps without trouble. If you are doing herbs, this high heat can essentially cook things, which will reduce flavor and color, so you would want to do this during the shoulder season spring and fall probably.

Thanks, Matt. True: I would not be able to dry food every day. And true also that if not kept spic and span, that 'dust' would be a problem.
I do keep a very clean coop but the worst problem has been dust. Since it was used for storage of rarely used items, I have several years of dust in the attic ! In the spring, summer, fall, my girls spend most of their time outdoors, so the coop is easier to keep clean too.
I would also definitely need a temperature gauge attached to large, home made trays. To avoid the extremes of heat, I could also load the trays during the day and dry at night..? Where there's a will, there's a way!
I do believe that the dust could be handled by isolating the attic from the lower chamber, [Not sure how yet, but. I'm working on it,..] vacuuming before drying and making sure that I could install 2 large screened windows on the North and South sides. After that, the size of the barn fan would dictate how swiftly the air moves through the attic, cooling it and my girls in the hot summers we can experience sometime..
Those 2 large screened windows could also close completely during the winter [off season for drying anyway]. There are also 4 windows to the chicken coop for ventilation.
Thanks for all the suggestions! All I have now is a plug-in Excalibur dehydrator with 9 trays...

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Jennie Little

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posted 2 months ago

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Interesing... I'm in zone 5b, so pretty close to Matt's weather. I've alway just made bundles in brown paper lunch bags or used the dehydrator setting in my oven. I really like the idea of doing a lot more a lot quicker.

Thanks for the thought provoking post!

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C Cash

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Location: Greeneville TN

posted 2 months ago

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Did your dehumidifier have a hydrometer, so that you could set the humidity level? Having a hard time finding such a device that's small and compact.

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Matt McSpadden

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Location: Central Maine (Zone 5a)

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posted 1 month ago

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The dehumidifier had the ability to set and hold at certain humidity levels and showed current levels on a little screen. The sensor I used and showed above, from SensorPush, does both temp and humidity.

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