venison burger jerky help

[curbstop180]

hello all it's been a few since i last posted to busy smoking hahahaha but all that aside i would appreciate a little help from anyone who may offer it, i recently did a batch of venison whole muscle jerky from a nice 7pt i got on the 1st of nov. it turned out fantastic now i would like to do some burger, ive read the instruction's (high mountain) but cant help but think they want you to use the oven. so i decided to come to the place i knew would know aboot smoking. what im looking for is.....
                                1. what temp
                                2. how long
                                3. water in the bowl yes?/no?
                                4. and anything else you might think would be helpful
       I thank you in advance for your help and hope all is well curbstop180 ???

[jaeger]

curb,
Always use water in the bowl. You gots to put out the pucks!!!
I like using high mountain seasonings for the most part as well. I usually add a little mustard seed and maybe a little garlic powder , black pepper or crushed red pepper sometimes.
When I make chopped and formed jerky, I usually have the smoker pretty well on high if I am doing a full batch.(5 #)
I rotate every 45 minutes after the first 1 1/2 hours, front to back / top to bottom. It usually takes about 3+ hours depending on the usual variables. (Outside temp/batch size/wind chill factor)
I like to run the length of the sticks perpendicular with the heating element because by the time I rotate for the second time, I move everything around depending how the pieces look etc. (Flip pieces if needed, inside to the outside whatever as appears neccesary)
Instead of using a jerky shooter for chopped and formed, I made an attachment out of copper pipe that I attach to my stuffer. It is S000.... much easier.
Here are a couple of pictures for you to check out.
Good luck, let us know how they turn out for you.
Horn attachment

[iahkaferoaster]

A card on a 12pck of wood pucks offers this:
10 lb moose, deer, bear, or elk meat
1/4c Kosher salt
1c Turbinado sugar
2c water
4tsp fresh ground pepper

Mix all, cover and place in frig for 24h, rack the meat, put in the BS, THEN heat to 140-160F, NO water in bowl, damper WIDE open. Leave meat in until dried. My experience says this is the variable part but I would sample at 6 and 8 hours. I would also not skimp on the smoke (at least 4-6 hours worth of oak).
Helpful info in addition to above, have a cooler full of ice cold brewskies for while you wait.

[West Coast Kansan]

I love those recipe cards.  I stopped by the supermarket the other day and asked for the "moose heart". Can you imagine they dont carry it.  Not only did the guy behind the meat counter not offer to order up a couple for me,,, he didnt even smile.  Gotta love the northlanders and the recipe site.

[Gizmo]

Aligator sausage is hard to find in San Diego as well.  Haven't been able to make an aligator cheese cake since Louisianna.  Guess I'll have to stick to the habanero lime cheese cake unless I get some aligator from Bishers and make my own sausage.

[curbstop180]

jaeger i thank you for your insight and have a question or 2 for you
                   1.is that 3/4 copper or 1inch
                   2.whats the thikness after you crimpt the copper and how wide
                   3.you say in your reply "i have it set to high" is there a temp you like to keep it at,i plan on doing it at 130/140f for the first 1 1/2 hours then to 150/160f  for the remainder(yes/no) thats what i did with the whole muscle and it turned out great but like i posted earlyer this is my first attempt at burger so im kind of in the dark.
                   4. is burger as good as whole muscle?
once again jaeger i thank you for your insight with this issue  ??? ;D

[curbstop180]

hello again all, well i just took them out of the smoker and not too bad alot better then i excpected. i would have to say from my stand point that if you are looking for a softer jerky easy to chew (AKA denture wearers) then this would be the road for, you myself i like the whole muscle jerky, but on to how it was done --------high mountain original mix let stand in fridge for 4 1/2 hours took it out brought it to room temp approx 45min to an hour with the bs preheated to 200 give or take set them in there with hickory,enough for 100 min(5 pucks)
reason so few the gun i have shot the strips out at 3/8 thick pre cooked and i knew it wassent going to take long with that said first hour let stand at 135f then rotated them at 1 1/2 hours front to back up to down vise versa next 2 hours let stand at 150/160f very windy with an outside temp of 38f so it varried took them out at 3 1/2 hours,and like i said not bad at all the misses loves it so in other words she's happy so im happy i thank you all for your help in the matter
           jaeger thank you once again for your insight and still very curious to the questions that i have asked you, good day to all
                                                      curbstop180 ;D

[jaeger]

Good job on the sticks curbstop! I agree, it is well worth the effort if someone else in the family is happy with the results. My family is happy with either whole or chopped jerky. My daughter likes to slightly nuke  the chopped jerky. She considers it a treat to have some in her lunch pail. If I am making venison jerky, not all the pieces are right for whole muscle so when I make chopped venison I like to add some pork or bacon to keep it from being to lean. If I am making beef jerky sometimes I can get a good price on some nice boneless chuck roast and have a fine meatblock for chopped.
What I hate about the jerky cannon is when I have to refill the tube, it is so sticky and hard to refill without air pockets...it's such a pain in the ........as I said before, the stuffer is so much easier. Just turn the crank. No air pockets, no problem refilling the canister if needed. It's actually easier to clean as well!
.....anyway, I just took the stuffer tube along when I bought the copper. I used the medium tube and picked up a 1" piece. The width after bending is 1 1/4". The opening is 1/4" maybe just a shade more. (What I did, was put a file in the end and used my bench vise to compress. The file was used to keep it at an even width.  The edges got pretty stressed but did not split. I then smoothed everything out as needed from the cutting and bending.)

Temps- I usually make jerky more often this time of year. It is cold here in the Dakotas and with the damper open, rack rotations and the door open and closed so much, I pretty much have the temp on high the whole time. I tend to rotate and flip pieces as I go and with venison I like to take it to an internal temp of at least 165f. I usually have a full load when I make it as well which makes a difference IMO.

Here is another picture for you to check out.

By the way...if you know anyone that wants to buy a jerky cannon I know where they can get one cheap!!! ;)