Large Select

The Blue Alpine Large Select is a large freeze dryer for people who put food up in bulk: five 13 x 18 in trays, an average of 16 lbs of fresh food per 24 hours, and a 1/2 HP Cubigel compressor doing the cooling. It’s built in Idaho. Check your wiring first, because this machine needs a 20A circuit.

Power first: a large freeze dryer needs 20 amps

The Large Select runs on 120V, but it needs a 20A breaker and a 20A receptacle. Both. Most household outlets are 15A, and that isn’t enough here. Maximum draw is 17 A (2040 W) and the average is 12 A (1440 W).

Checking takes a couple of minutes. The breaker handle in your panel is stamped with its rating; look for a 20. At the wall, a 20A receptacle normally has one slot shaped like a sideways T, while a standard 15A outlet has two plain vertical slots (the NEMA connector article has pictures). No 20A outlet where the dryer will live? An electrician can add one. Don’t fake it with an adapter or a light extension cord.

Think about what else shares the circuit, too. A breaker trips on the total load, so a 17 A peak plus a toaster oven on the same run means a tripped breaker halfway through a batch.

How much a large freeze dryer holds

• Five half-sheet trays at 13 x 18 in, about 1,170 sq in of tray space
• Average output: 16 lbs of fresh food per 24 hours
• Maximum load: up to 25 lbs, or 2 gallons
• Average cycle: 12 to 20 hours

That tray area is exactly double the Medium’s five 9 x 13 in trays, which lines up with the output, 16 lbs against 8. Cycle time depends on the load. Thick, wet food usually takes longer than thin slices.

Large or Medium: picking a size

We sell both sizes. The choice mostly comes down to power, space and how much food you process.

• Power. The large freeze dryer needs the 20A setup above. The Medium Select plugs into a standard 15A outlet.
• Space. The Large is 24 x 25.5 x 34 in (W x D x H) and 130 lbs with the pump. The Medium is 20 x 21 x 30 in and 110 lbs.
• Volume. 16 lbs per 24 hours on average versus 8. Max load 25 lbs (2 gallons) versus 15 lbs (1 gallon).
• Price. $3,995 against $2,995.

A large freeze dryer earns its keep if you’re working through a big garden, buying meat by the case, or feeding a bigger household and don’t want the machine running every day to keep up. If your batches are small, or a 20A outlet isn’t practical, the Medium is less trouble. Neither size is fast. The bigger one buys you fewer cycles, not quicker ones.

What’s inside this large freeze dryer

Cooling comes from a Cubigel compressor, 1/2 HP with 14.3cc displacement. Blue Alpine says that’s roughly 28 to 43% more cooling capacity than competitor brands. That’s their figure, not a test we ran. The refrigerant is R1270, a natural, propane-based refrigerant Blue Alpine calls future-proof compared with R404 or R410.

A circulating fan inside the chamber blast-freezes the food, and a P100 filter in there protects the vacuum pump from particulates. The filter is the 3M 2097, so a spare pack is cheap to keep around. Every vacuum fitting is barbed rather than crimped, and threads are sealed with gasket material instead of Teflon tape. A solenoid in the pump keeps oil from flowing back into the chamber.

The controller uses PID control and solid-state relays. Recipes come pre-programmed, you can change any of them, and you set the pressure limit for each one. The frame is extruded aluminum. The door is 1-inch thick acrylic.

In the box

• The large freeze dryer itself
• Premium vacuum pump, with oil
• Impulse sealer
• 5 stainless steel trays and 5 silicone mats
• 50 mylar bags and 50 oxygen absorbers

A second set of trays lets you prep the next batch while one runs. Spare large freeze dryer trays are standard 13 x 18 in half-sheets. The large silicone mats fit Blue Alpine’s current tray model only, not trays shipped before December 2024. Refill mylar bags with oxygen absorbers come in packs of 50.

Where to put a large freeze dryer

At 130 lbs with the pump, a large freeze dryer is a two-person lift. Set it on a solid surface or a cart rated well above that weight. Keep the pump close, because Blue Alpine warns that vacuum hoses longer than 5 ft tend to cause errors. The pump measures 13.9 x 5.4 x 12.3 in, so leave room for it. Read the owner’s manual before the first run.

Still deciding?

Stuck between sizes, or not sure about your outlet? Call us at +1 (443) 514-5708 or write in through the support page. Wikipedia’s freeze drying article is a fair primer on the process, and the National Center for Home Food Preservation publishes research-based guidance on preserving food at home.