Pollen dryer 15-20kg (10 trays)

01 · TEMPERATURE

The machine reaches 90 °C; the pollen does not

The thermostat goes up to 90 °C because this is a general-purpose hot-air dryer, but pollen is dried below 45 °C. Bogdanov recommends the lowest temperature possible, with 30 °C as the technical ceiling when the most delicate components are to be preserved; Spanish drying practice sits around 40 °C.

Above that you lose colour, aroma and part of what makes pollen worth what it is worth. And the sun, which is the free temptation, is worse still: it bleaches the grains and stretches the exposure.

02 · THE LOAD

A thin layer, not a full tray

Each tray takes 1.5-2 kg, but what governs is the depth: no more than 2 cm. With all ten loaded you dry 15 to 20 kg of fresh pollen per batch, which comes out at around 15-16 kg dry — the rest was water.

Time depends on the starting moisture and on how much you load: 6 to 12 hours is the usual range. With the air spreading through all the trays, it is worth rotating them if the bottom ones run ahead.

03 · THE END POINT

Between 6 and 8 % moisture

That is the target. Above 10 % pollen ferments in the tub; below 6 % it turns too dry and you notice it when eating it.

And one step almost nobody takes: before taking it out, 10 to 14 minutes of cold air. Pollen that comes out hot reabsorbs moisture from the room as it cools, and part of the work undoes itself on the bench.

04 · THE MACHINE

304 stainless, 1,000 W and all of it removable

The trays and everything that touches the pollen are food-grade 304 stainless steel and go in the dishwasher, which is what lets you move from one lot to the next without carrying residues across.

It runs on 220 V at 1,000 W with a quiet fan, so its place is the honey house and not the apiary. The LED panel sets the time in 30-minute steps and the temperature in steps of 5 degrees.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

A dryer only solves half the problem: the other half is collecting daily and getting there soon.