Commercial drying cabinets: producing jerky & dried goods

The drying cabinet is the quietest production machine in the trade: it transforms affordable raw materials into high-margin dried products – jerky, biltong, dried fruit, herbs – and operates almost without staff. The Beelonia TF series covers every business size, from the TF2 (15 tiers, from 6,135.64 €) to the TF6-100 (25 tiers); from the TF4 upwards, program control for multi-stage drying profiles is standard.

Last updated: 23 July 2026 · Author: Michael Vering, Beelonia GmbH · All prices: as of July 2026

Reading tip: The product recipes for the device: Beef Jerky and Biltong – both scale in the TF from hobby to production.

The TF series at a glance

The production logic: A TF4 with 20 tiers dries 15–25 kg of raw material per batch, depending on the load – for jerky (60% weight loss), this turns into 6–10 kg of finished product. The program control runs the profile (e.g. 40 °C initial drying, 65 °C main drying, gentle phase) automatically and identically – today's batch tastes just like last week's, and the documentation for self-monitoring is created along the way.

The combination with the smoker: Drying cabinet and smoker complement each other to form a refining line – raw sausages and Landjäger smoke in the smoker and finish drying in the TF, jerky optionally gets a cold smoke run, and the smoking trolley for drying cabinets (1,163.82 €) loads the large models on wheels.

Which products support the investment?

The margin stars are dried meat products: jerky and biltong sell in farm shops and online at kilo prices that are a multiple of the raw material. Added to this are dried fruit from your own harvest (apple rings, plums – saves graded produce), mushrooms and herbs as shelf products with a long shelf life, as well as vegetable chips for the snack range. For fruit growing and direct marketing businesses, the TF is therefore often the very first refining machine – even before the smoker. The hobby perspective with recipes is provided by the article Drying in the drying cabinet.

Frequently asked questions about commercial drying

How does the TF differ from a dehydrator?

Volume, air flow and durability: 15–25 tiers in V2A stainless steel (AISI 304) with even circulation instead of a household appliance under constant stress. If you dry daily, you need the production class – also because of spare parts and documentation capabilities.

How much energy does a drying batch cost?

Drying is time multiplied by moderate power – depending on the profile and model, a few euros per batch. The program control lowers consumption because it runs phases exactly instead of heating continuously.

Do dried goods need approval?

Commercial production means registration and self-monitoring; for dried meat products, the stricter meat rules apply. The framework is the same as for the smokehouse – clarify early with the veterinary office.

Reading tip: The investment perspective with amortisation is calculated in Financing a smoking system – the logic applies equally to drying cabinets.

Sources and technical basis: Beelonia product data TF2–TF6-100 (dimensions, tiers, program control, prices as of July 2026), smoking trolley accessories; jerky weight loss ~60% from drying practice; self-monitoring framework from the commercial dossier.