Newbie Ash Jerky - Help...

[smokeyrick]

First attempt at smoking and decided to make jerky.  I used the recipe that came with the smoker - said to smoke for 6 hours, slice beef 1/8" thick.  Long story short - I have little dried out pieces of meat that taste like ash.[xx(]<font face="Arial"></font id="Arial">
What did I do wrong!!!!! Help!

[jaeger]

To bad about the jerky. Don't be discouraged. Jerky is one of my favorites from my Bradley. I usually slice the meat almost 1/4 inch and smoke for about 2 - 2 1/2 hours. Total cook/smoke time on average is about 3 1/2 hours. I leave the temp pretty much on high the whole time. Damper about half open and I start to rotate the racks, top to bottom, front to back at about the 1 - 1 1/2 hour mark. At about 2 1/2 hours I start to remove the pieces that look and taste done. I don't like to totally dry out jerky when I make it. I usually end up with about a 50% shrink by weight.
I would suggest to file the Bradley recipe book and do a search on this forum or check out Olds site for tested and successful recipes for your next smoke. Also, don't be shy about asking a few question here. You will usually get quick advice. [;)]





<font size="4"><b>Doug</b></font id="size4">

[smokeyrick]

Thanks for the help!  I'm definately gonna keep searching this forum - great tips (ie: the bubba pucks!!).
Cheers,
Rick