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Stardew Valley: Best Keg, Preserves Jar, and Dehydrator Tips

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sv kegs v jars v dehydrators


New players of Stardew Valley might think this cozy little farming sim is all about relaxation: farmers taking their time, cultivating their crops, connecting with their local community, and stopping to smell the roses. More experienced players know that, while that is all true, Stardew Valley is also a game about profit and productivity. Building a successful farm with all its utilities and exciting additions can be an expensive business.

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For a long time, players have known kegs and preserves jars are the best way to make money, turning their delicious crops into artisanal goods. However, the recent 1.6 update introduced a new maker item, the dehydrator. With that, the artisanal goods game has gained some advantages. Here’s a great strategy on how to maximize profits with the dehydrator thrown into the mix.

Updated on December 31st, 2024 by Stephanie Harris: Stardew Valley 1.6 is now out on all devices, with a few subsequent patches under its belt too, having fixed a number of bugs that resulted from the update. 1.6 finally brought all players dehydrators, the much-sought-after artisanal tool that can create dried mushrooms, fruit, and raisins. Players can even use inedible fruits like coconut, rhubarb and ancient fruit to maximize profit in this way. For keen picklers, a lot more fruit and veg options have been added to the Preserves Jar, and kegs have a few new uses, including producing juice, and vinegar made from rice. The health and energy derived from wine and juice now scale with the base item’s values.

9

Build A Big Shed (Or Two)

Artisanal Makers Take Up A Lot Of Space

Stardew valley Lots of Kegs inside a shed

Managing real estate is an important part of farm planning. After all, most of the viable soil will be dedicated to growing crops. With that in mind, sheds are a great way for players to maximize their space. A Big Shed only takes up 7×3 spaces outside but is way bigger on the inside. At 17×12 spaces, an optimally laid-out Big Shed can hold a maximum of 137 makers.

Starting out with one Big Shed to fit everything is fine for most farmers. Kegs can go on one side, preserves jars on the other, and the dehydrators along the southern wall. However, as the farm continues to expand and crops become more plentiful, two sheds are preferable for all the artisanal goods players can make.

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Craft Makers

Lots of Kegs, Few Dehydrators

Stardew Valley Keg Tapper and Preserves Jar

Now, it’s time to start crafting, keeping priorities in mind. Preserves jars and kegs should be made in equal amounts, but kegs are generally more profitable. If resources are tight, focus on kegs first and foremost. It can all be evened out eventually.

Dehydrators are way more profitable than kegs, but since they work much faster (and use up way more crops), players won’t actually need very many. Thinking about how much each maker will be used will help determine how many of them to make. Keep the ratio of kegs to preserves jars the same, with just a few dehydrators thrown in for good measure.

7

Fill The Cellar With Casks

Kegs Still Have Their Place In This World

stardew-valley-cellar-casks

stardew valley dehydratorDehydrators
have become the true money-makers in Stardew Valley, but that doesn’t mean kegs have gone completely out of fashion. Alcohol and cheese are still the only items that can be aged in casks, raising their value to iridium star quality.

Players should definitely consider investing in upgrading their houses to include a cellar and filling it with casks. The cellar comes with 33 casks, but an optimal layout can hold as many as 125.

6

Place Down Mushroom Logs

Grow More Spores

Image of the required ingredients to make a mushroom log in Stardew Valley

The introduction of dehydrators has largely increased the value of mushrooms: alongside fruits, fungi can also be turned into dried goods to sell for massive profit. That’s why the 1.6 update also included mushroom logs, which produce bunches of them every couple of days.

Split image of a character holding a mushroom log and a character in front of a mushroom log that produced 2 common mushrooms in Stardew Valley
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Mushroom logs work faster when placed near lots of mossy trees, so it pays to have a dedicated mushroom forest somewhere on the farm. If players are worried that all their dehydrators are full of mushrooms, that means more fruit can go into kegs.

5

Collect The Goods

And Know Which Makers To Use For Them

Stardew Valley dozens of preserve jars outside beside greenhouse

Artisanal makers generally produce four different item types: fruit, vegetables, honey, and mushrooms. Fans of Stardew Valley have done a lot of math to figure out which items are the most profitable to place in kegs vs. preserves jars, but here’s the general rule of thumb:

  • Kegs: fruit and honey
  • Preserves Jars: vegetables
  • Dehydrators: mushrooms and fruit (5 at a time)

Keep a Big Chest or two inside or near the Big Sheds to hold all these items until it’s time to use them. This is especially important for Dehydrators since players will need five of whatever fruit/mushroom they want to dry at a time.

4

Capitalize on Berry-Picking Seasons

Nothing Like Some Dried Salmonberries and Blackberries

Stardew Valley Character among fall trees and bushes.

Twice a year, various bushes around town will be laden with fresh berries, waiting to be picked. From Spring 15-18, it’s Salmonberries, and from Fall 8-11, it’s Blackberries. Usually, these berries aren’t worth very much, even when sold in large quantities and after the Bear’s Knowledge challenge triples their selling price.

However, when using dehydrators, large quantities are perfect. It can take time to load up on regular fruit in increments of five, but during berry-picking season, it’s a cinch! So load up on dozens of berries, and start churning out plenty of artisinal goods!

3

Dried Fruit First, Make Wine Later

Dehydrators Are More Profitable Than Kegs

Image of the required ingredients for the dehydrator in Stardew Valley

Never mind preserves jars for now. They can be very time-consuming creations, turning vegetables into delicious pickles. The real competition is for who gets what fruit: the dehydrators and kegs.

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As mentioned previously, dehydrators are faster and more profitable, but they need more fruit. So, after any harvest, use the majority of the haul on dehydrators first. Anything left over can be placed in kegs for wine. Rarer items like Cactus Fruit or Coconuts should also go into kegs because they make the best wine.

2

Keep Kegs Wine-Only

No Hops, No Beer, No Coffee

Stardew Valley kegs and wine

Technically, there are other items that can go into kegs than just regular fruit to make wine. Hops create stardew valley pale alePale Ale
. stardew valley wheatWheat
turns into stardew valley beerBeer
, and five stardew valley coffee beanCoffee Bean
turn into, well, stardew valley coffeeCoffee
. However, these beverages aren’t nearly as profitable as wine, even before aging them in casks. So try to avoid processing these crops whenever possible.

Turning Honey into Mead is the only exception to this rule. For starters, kegs are the only way to make honey more profitable. Secondly, they’re a good way to keep the kegs busy when there isn’t enough fruit to go around, for example, in winter, when crops fail to grow anywhere but the greenhouse and foraging produces only Crystal Fruit.

1

Only Age The Finest Wine And Cheese

Casks Are A Major Time Sink

Stardew Valley basement full of kegs making wine

Dried goods from the dehydrator can be sold right away. But with wine, its true value can only be unlocked through casks. That being said, aging goods in the wine cellar takes upwards of four whole weeks (two in-game seasons). So, once again, players should establish their priorities.

With all the wine and cheese a farm can produce, players should save the best items to use first in their limited number of casks. Goat cheese is far better than regular cheese. As far as wine goes, the top sellers are the ones made from the following:

Players keeping this in mind will soon have the greatest winery in all of Pelican Town.

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