Anyone tried making Jerky like this?

[dannyd]

Alton Brown demonstrates an alternative method of drying jerky in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfI0NKl-Kq0

start watching from around 4 mins 25 seconds.

he says that using a dehydrator heats the meat and essentially cooks it and that what u really need is moving cold air instead of warm. He uses a box fan and some furnace filters!

What do you guys think?

Think fibres from the filters would stick to the beef?

[BigJohnT]

He uses paper filters...

John

[FLBentRider]

I thought about that method... did my first jerky in the convection oven on "dry" since I had it.

Bought a Dehydrator a few months later.

The paper filter thing would not work so great for "wet" jerky...

[dannyd]

Thanks for the replies John and FL.
Oh, thought he said he was using fibreglass filters.
Do dehydrators generally have a cool setting so as not to get the partial cooking effect? I wonder if Jerky could be made in a cold smoker? That ought to dry it enough rite?

[FLBentRider]

My Dehydrator can be set from 50F (not in my garage this time of year, ambient is more like 95F) to 165F.

I dry mine @ 145F

[dannyd]

Nice, that's like 10 C!
What dehydrator you using FL?
We don't really have access to the decent selection over here in the UK that you have in the USA. The best we've got is the Excalibur Food Dehydrators that I'm a bit dubious about coz of the cracking that Nepa talks about and the other weak reviews others have left...

[mikecorn.1]

I call b.s. on the fiberglass filter. Sure if they showed it on there, they replaced them for consumption.

[FLBentRider]

Nice, that's like 10 C!
What dehydrator you using FL?
We don't really have access to the decent selection over here in the UK that you have in the USA. The best we've got is the Excalibur Food Dehydrators that I'm a bit dubious about coz of the cracking that Nepa talks about and the other weak reviews others have left...

I have the same as NePas and Mr Walleye. The Cabelas 80L. The Excalibur was my second choice.

[OU812]

Nice, that's like 10 C!
What dehydrator you using FL?
We don't really have access to the decent selection over here in the UK that you have in the USA. The best we've got is the Excalibur Food Dehydrators that I'm a bit dubious about coz of the cracking that Nepa talks about and the other weak reviews others have left...

I have the Excalibur and its going on 8 years now with no troubles and i use it about every other weekend some times twice a week. I also do jerky at 140 F

I have the same as NePas and Mr Walleye. The Cabelas 80L. The Excalibur was my second choice.

[BigJohnT]

If you just want to dry the jerky why can't you just put the jerky on your racks and open the door on the Bradley and put a fan in front of it... Or make a fancy drying rack to fit your racks... I can see that one in the works as soon as I finish up some other projects.

John

[NePaSmoKer]

Nice, that's like 10 C!
What dehydrator you using FL?
We don't really have access to the decent selection over here in the UK that you have in the USA. The best we've got is the Excalibur Food Dehydrators that I'm a bit dubious about coz of the cracking that Nepa talks about and the other weak reviews others have left...

My Excalibur was good but the housing kept cracking. They sent me new ones that were supposed to be better but they did the same thing.

My Cabelas 80L is the best i have had.

nepas

[dannyd]

Thanks for the replies everyone! :-D

I mean i guess if dehydrators go as low as 50 that shouldn't do any "cooking" to the drying product. I just watched a few of his episodes and he kept on mentioning how dehydrators cook the product in their heat as well which was the only reason i was put off.

The fan in a Bradley sounds like a good idea perhaps that would work pretty nicely!

OU812, what is the coolest temp the Excalibur will work at?

Id love the get myself a Cabelas but they wont ship to England :(

[NePaSmoKer]

Doing it my way  ;D

Prob turn out like SA biltong  ;D





nepas

[OU812]

dannyd

The lowest setting on my Excalibur is 95 F and putting your hand inside you could hardly feel any heat with the fan blowing but i put in a thermometer in it and it was 95 F on the money. The nob does go lower but there is no telling what the temp is without a thermometer. I have no reason to go any lower than 95 F and thats not very often.

[dannyd]

Mmmm i love biltong!  ;D

Good to know that the Ex dehydrator goes that low. Thank you guys very much for the feedback, i appreciate your time!