Some BBQ GB jerky and an awesome surprise I got the other day

[Consooger]

Pikeman,
Based on your ideas below here's where I think I maye have gone wrong. I did add the vinegar to the 90/10 and beat it around the container I had it in and not much of the fat came out of it. I then added the spices and the bbq sauce that i picked out along with the cure. When mixing this by hand is when I had a lot of the fat come out of the beef. I had to let this sit in the fridge for the night as I had to go to work and I came home to make the jerky after work. I did let the mixture sit out for about 2 hours so it wouldnt be as stiff when shooting out of the gun and it wasn't as bad as I thought except for the issues I listed above.

I think either there was something worng with the mixture, with the batch of meat, or just the whole process all together. I think I am going to give this a go one more time but I am not a fan of the whole jerky gun to be honest. Where did you get or how did you make your jerky board? I see raves about these things and unfortunately right now I don't have the time to make one, but I will see to it that I do if I must.

Thanks so much for the help. I think I'm going to give this a go one more time next week with the advice you posted.

Thanks

-Sugar

Consooger
Did you use any meat cure in your mix. In order to make GB jerky you should first need to do the defatting trick. In case you didn't,t open the link I am attaching it again.
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=25768.0
The meat cure breaks down the meat protein and the heat of smoking or dehydrating recombines them into a solid sheet that does not crumble. First do the extraction process to remove as much fat as you can. Now you can add the meat cure and spices mix very well and shoot with your gun as fast as you can. Do not refrigerate or let sit before you try to shoot the mixture as it will become very stiff and hard to shoot. This is why I use a jerky board as the stiffness does not matter. It is not necessary to let the jerky to have time to cure in the fridge overnight unless you just don't have time to get smoking. Now here is what you have to accomplish in the smoker or the dehydrator. You will need to get the jerky over 155* but do not go up above 170 as you do not want to cook but to just dehydrate the jerky. The 155* is needed to kick off the cure and cause it to re jell the meat protein. You will know when the process has happened as the meat will go from brown to pink. You will find after it has turned pink it is much easier to handle and does not fall apart. If it does not turn pink then you are not running your equipment hot enough.  I like to give it a couple of hours of good solid smoke and then finish it in the dehydrator. Try this blend with about 10-12 pounds of GB and let me know if you don't think it is dang good.
10-12 pounds of GB as lean as you can afford and then Defat this as far as you can.
1/2 cup white vinegar to the fresh meat to change the pH and defatt the meat
after defatting add 3.3 oz SOY VAY Veri Veri Teriyaki per each pound of defatted meat.
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp of cure # 1 [1 tsp/5 pounds] adjust to what ever weight you end up with after defatting
3 TBS crushed red pepper. [ grind it even finer in a blender or coffee mill if you have one.]
remember as soon as you mix the spices and cure shoot the mixture. Make sure that you give the mixture a very good mixing. It is important to have the meat cure well mixed in.

[pikeman_95]

My jerky board is made from formice covered plywood. I used the cut out for a kitchen sink that I got from a friend that does cabinet work. They have these all time as they cover the complete counter top with formice and then cut it out with a router. I just squared it up with a table saw. The strips are made out of high density poly. I got some scraps from a local plastic manufacturing outfit. You could use some strips of oak or find a plastics place near you. Just have them cut some strips that are 1/4 inch thick and about 3/4 wide. You might work on the spacing between the strips to match your smoker screens. I have stainless sheets but heavy duty aluminum foil would work well in the place of my sheets. You just need something to hold the meat strips until they Jell.

Reading you note you indicate that you did put meat cure in your GB. Yet you indicate that it was crumbly. This makes me believe that at some time in you process that it got way too hot. If you take the GB jerky up to a temperature that causes the water in the meat to boil and the fat to sizzle it will become crumbly. [ you are cooking the meat and not dehydrating it] You only want the meat to reach a temperature of 155*. It will turn from brown to pink. The pink should be even and if it is not you are not mixing in the cure evenly enough. At no time would I go over 175* measured at the surface of the meat and not on the cabinet door or as a setting on a control. Give it another try and consider giving the spice suggestion I gave to you earlier. This make some of the best jerky that I have ever produced. At some point you might be interested on one of my 2 gallon mixers as they will thoroughly mix a batch of meat is less then a minute.