I am currently wrapping up my first batch of jerky in my bradley, now because i had some time to kill i was searching around and one recipe i found said to not use the water tray. so in your experience do you use the water tray or not? i used mine for the middle two hours while it was smoking but pulled it out so i can dehydrate the strips.
that's the way I do mine
Use the water tray. It helps prevent the grease from catching on fire.
All ways use it even cold smoking.
For making jerky you use the tray with water while smoking and then pull it out, drain the water and put it back dry to catch the drips. The water makes it hard to dry the meat but it may still drip.
thank you for your input guys