Problems with Jerky

[MoSmoker]

Hi All,

I have been making jerky quite a bit this year after I got a Bradley smoker for Father's Day but I can't get it down to a science yet.  I have seen alot of uneven cooking but I would guess just rotating the racks will fix that, but is that typical and they it is supposed to work?

Also, the cooking time is really long.  I was starting at 140 for an hour or two then moving to 180 degrees for the remainder but that was sometimes taking 8 or 9 hours.  Now I am going right to 180 degrees for 6 or 7 hours.  Is that normal as well?

The jerky is coming out too dry and I am trying to set up a process that is as low touch as possible....I'm the father of 4 young boys so the closer I can get to "set it and forget it" the better.

Any words of wisdom?

Thanks!

[Sailor]

Hi Mo and welcome to the forum.

The way I do jerky is smoke for 2 hrs at 150 and then let it ride at 150 till done.  Everyone has their special way to do jerky but that is how I seem to get the best results.  I do mostly Ground Beef jerky and it takes me about 10 hrs to get it just right.  Lots of guys will apply the smoke and then put it in a dehydrator to finish.  I think they run the dehydrator around 150.  I think running the smoker at 160 to 180 is going to start "cooking" and not drying it.  As for when it is done just bend it and it should not break.  If it breaks you had it in too long.  Practice makes perfect and I am positive you will find the sweet spot.

[NePaSmoKer]

I do the same as Jim


180 for jerky is way to high and just cooking it.

[MoSmoker]

Thanks, I don't have a dehydrator so have been using the smoker for that as well.  Are you rotating the racks much or seeing uneven drying?  I'll try moving the heat down....I have a batch going in tomorrow.

[Mr Walleye]

Welcome to the forum MoSmoker

Another thing is make sure your vent is wide open. You want all the moisture to escape, after all you are trying to dehydrate the meat.

Another tip is once the smoke portion is complete empty out the water bowl and don't put any water back in it. This also seems to help eliminate moisture in the cabinet which in turn helps dry out the meat.

Mike

[Consooger]

Welcome Mo,

I bought my Bradley last year and have been making Jerky solely through my Bradley (sometimes with combination of my dehydrator as well) and have had nothing but awesome results.

The way I do my muscle jerky is such:

I only use London Broil that I hand slice to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick depending on how thick I want the jerky. I use many different kinds of mixtures some dry and some wet and I tweak the flavoring alot to the flavor that I am looking for at that time. I have used some very good store bought flavorings and my favorite so far has been Hi Mountain which has everything in them that you would need.

My method I gathered from on here and as I said I have tweaked to the way that I like my jerky.

I will pull and set my jerky on the jerky racks with my frog mats and let sit about 30-45 minutes while my bradley gets heated. I set my temp for about 150.
After letting sit I will put the jerky in for an hour at a temperature of 155 for one hour NO SMOKE to dry any surface wetness from any mixture I had on it. After an hour I will start my smoke (normally I run hickory or apple and I do no less than 2 1/2 to 3 hours as I like more smoke to my jerky) When I start the smoke I bump my temp to 160 degrees and I rotate my racks front to back top to bottom every hour. You might want to do this maybe every 45 minutes if you have thinner pieces because they will esentially start to cook during these first 3 hours. Once my smoke is finished I do the following. Please note dehydrator and Bradley finishing methods I use below:

IN DEHYDRATOR:
after smoke I pull all jerky pieces and set dehydrator at 150 for 4-5 hours (normally jerky is done within 3-4 hours but just in case) The jerky is never dry or cooked too much, and comes out perfect.

IN BRADLEY:
Remove the water bowl with burnt bisquettes and do not put one back in. You do not want anymore moisture in the box. I will keep my temperature no higher than 150 as it will dry and cook the jerky. I keep rotating my racks front to back top to bottom. I will also look at the pieces and see if there are ones that are close to being done when rotating them since some of my piecec might be thicker than others since I only slice my jerky by hand. This will normally be finished to my liking at the same amount as the dehydrator. I normally do not finish my jerky in my Bradly unless I am running a large batch in the dehydrator already and have another one going in the Bradley at the same time.

As I said I am no pro but I make jerky almost every other week and have had it come out perfect every time by the methods I have learned here and that I have tweaked to my liking.

ALSO I KEEP MY VENT WIDE OPEN ALL THE TIME, since I took the vent cover off completely anyways.

As for what I have read on what you were doing and as Rick stated 180 is just cooking the meat not dehydrating it.

Hope this helps. Best of luck with the jerky.

We love pictures!

John

[DTJ]

A problem I had when i started making jerky was I over crowded the racks, practically completely covering the racks trying to get in as much as I could. This reduced the heat and air circulation increasing the time considerably and causing vey uneven "cook" times.

Daryl