How to Dehydrate Beef Stock to Make Beef Bouillon – Dehydrating Beef Stock, A Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1. The Process for Dehydrating Beef Stock

What we are making first is beef stock gelatin.  For every 32-ounce container of no-sodium beef stock, you’ll need 4 envelopes of the Knox unflavored gelatin.  The Knox unflavored gelatin box says to use 1 envelope for every 8 ounces of liquid.

Prepare according to the directions for the unflavored gelatin package.  This is how I prep for making dehydrated beef stock.

Bring 3 cups of beef stock to a boil in a saucepan.

Meanwhile, sprinkle the contents of the 4 envelopes of gelatin over the remaining beef broth in a large bowl; let stand for 1 minute.

Add the hot beef broth into the large bowl of softened gelatin; stir for 5 minutes or until completely dissolved. 

Pour the liquid onto a 10×16-inch or similar-sized baking sheet.  You don’t want the liquid to be too thick.

Refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm.

Cut into 1- to 2-inch squares using a pastry dough scraper, small stainless-steel spatula, or similar kitchen tool.  A pastry dough scraper also makes it easy to get the beef stock gelatin squares off the baking sheet and onto the dehydrator tray removable fruit roll sheet inserts.

Step 3. Dehydrating Beef Stock

Start dehydrating the beef stock gelatin at a drying temperature of 160 °F / 71 °C until dry, approximately 24 hours, depending upon the ambient temperature and humidity and how crowded you fill your trays. Remember to use drying times as a guide.

Step 4. When is the Dehydrated Beef Stock Done

The beef stock will take 24 hours to fully dehydrate at 160 °F / 71 °C depending on ambient temperatures and humidity.

Drying times will vary depending on your dehydrator. Refer to your dehydrator owner’s manual for recommended temperatures and times for dehydrating specific foods. Remember to use drying times as a guide.

When the beef stock has fully dried, it will easily snap into little pieces. There should be no tacky spots. 

Step 5. Equalizing and Conditioning of Dehydrated Beef Stock

We always recommend letting food items cool completely after they have finished dehydrating and before packing them into an airtight storage container for equalizing and conditioning. Warm food may cause sweating, which could provide enough moisture for mold to grow.

It does not take long for dehydrated food items to start hydrating from ambient household humidity.  Do not leave dehydrated food items exposed to the elements any longer than necessary because of the increased risk of mold growth. 

Break apart the larger pieces of dehydrated beef stock into smaller shards. The thicker areas of the dried beef stock remind me of making sugar glass and how easily it breaks.

A quality stainless steel or plastic canning jar funnel makes the messy job of getting dehydrated foods off the dehydrator tray removable inserts and into the canning jars an easy task. Take a minute or two and check them out on Amazon.

After a short cooling period, pack the dehydrated beef stock shards into a clean, dry, insect-proof, and air-tight storage container. We use pint-size and quart-size canning jars for conditioning.   Since the canning jars are clear, it’s easy to see what’s inside.

When the dehydrated food is removed from the dehydrator, the remaining moisture may not be distributed equally because of its location and position in the dehydrator. Equalizing and conditioning is a process for freshly dehydrated foods that ensures any residual moisture remaining in any piece is spread or equalized among all the other pieces in the batch. Let the dehydrated food equalize and condition in the storage container for 7 to 10 days.

Every day, check the jar for moisture. Roll the jar contents around and note any clumping or sticking. If seen, put the contents back on the dehydrator for several more hours. Since canning jars are clear, it’s easy to see what’s inside.

If you notice any mold at all, even the smallest bit, throw it all out. What you see are the mold spores finally blooming enough to make them visible. But there are more, even tinier mold spores in the rest of your jar that make your dehydrated food inedible. Toss it out and start another batch.

Step 6. Storing the Dehydrated Beef Stock

Regardless of the type of storage container, it must be air-tight. 

We are going to powder the dehydrated beef stock using a spice grinder. This is the spice grinder we use, it’s available at Amazon.com. It has close to 4,000 customer reviews, with an average of 4.4 stars out of 5.  It comes with 2 grinding bowls, a 2-blade grinder, and a 4-blade chopper. It’s also easy to clean out the spice residue when you’re finished.

A standard canning jar funnel works great here as it fits inside the spice grinder bowl. Using a canning jar funnel makes it easier to get the shards of dehydrated beef stock into the spice grinder bowl.

For shorter-term storage of small batches of powdered beef stock, we use spice jars or canning jars if we have enough dehydrated beef stock.  Since the canning jars are clear, it’s easy to see what’s inside.

We use these inexpensive food-safe desiccant packets, which are available from Amazon. These 5-gram packets have over 5000 of mostly 4- and 5-star customer reviews, with an average of 4.7 stars out of 5.  Our bag of 60 desiccant packets will last quite a while because they can be recharged and reused multiple times. Other food-safe sizes are available.

Do not leave your dehydrated food items exposed and unprotected any longer than necessary for the task at hand. It does not take long for dehydrated food items to naturally start hydrating from ambient household humidity.  As such, this will increase the risk of mold growth.

With any of these storage methods, I’ll include a short note describing the contents and the date the product was dehydrated. The note also informs us where to go in the dehydrator logbook to make another note or two if needed.