Newbie - need some help with 4 rack Digital

[paulsnapp]

I need a little help with temperatures for my smoker.  I have the Digital 4 Rack Smoker and an Auber Dual Probe PID.  What I tried was 150 for 20 min to warm up the smoker.  Put in the jerky.  140 for 1 hour to dry, turned meat at 30 min.  160 for 2.5 hours for Hickory Smoke.  Rotated racks on the hour. I then raised the temp to 175 and had the PID set for internal meat temp of 158.  Rotated the racks on the hour.  After 3 hours the internal meat temp was still only 126 so I raised the oven to 200.  Took almost another 1.5 hours for the internal meat to reach 158.  To me the jerky was all but ruined.  It was very hard and kind of charred at the edges.  I am a newbie so I must have screwed something up.  I did a batch earlier before I got the Auber PID and it came out better but I then read about how poor the Bradley temp controller is.  The first batch I did not monitor internal meat temp and have no idea if it got to 158.  I read on this forum that it was an important safety step to get 158 inside the meat.  Can someone suggest if my approach using the Auber PID settings are correct or I overcook the jerky?  Thanks!

[GusRobin]

I can only state what I do.First, I don't control the PID by the temp of the jerky. In fact I don't think I ever have taken the temp of any jerky I have made.
I put it in and set the PID to control cabinet temp at 130 for 1.5 hrs, then 140 for an hr, 150 for 1 hr, 160 for 1 hr and 170 until done. I consider it done when it bends but not break. So starting when I start the cycle at 160 I check it a lot.

[devo]

Wow you got the meat probe into a thin piece of jerky? I sure wish you took a picture of that.

Anything that is sliced thin or small dia. I never ever use the meat probe because it is way off.

[paulsnapp]

Thanks for the help, I will give the sequence you outlined a try!

[KyNola]

Paul, you need to understand that with jerky you are not supposed to be cooking the meat.  You are supposed to be drying it.  It takes a long time.  According to your post the meat was in for 7.5 hours and was burned.  Your error was bumping the heat above 160 and worrying about the internal temp of the meat.(how you got that PID probe in jerky is beyond me).  You didn't mention what type of jerky you were making, ground meat vs whole muscle sliced jerky.  Approximately 8 hours at about 150 will handle ground meat jerky.  Sliced whole muscle may take longer depending on the thickness.

The others have given you great advice on how to judge the "doneness" of jerky.  Don't fret, you'll dial it in.  Just a learning curve.

[Tenpoint5]

Paul, you need to understand that with jerky you are not supposed to be cooking the meat.  You are supposed to be drying it.  It takes a long time.  According to your post the meat was in for 7.5 hours and was burned.  Your error was bumping the heat above 160 and worrying about the internal temp of the meat.(how you got that PID probe in jerky is beyond me).  You didn't mention what type of jerky you were making, ground meat vs whole muscle sliced jerky.  Approximately 8 hours at about 150 will handle ground meat jerky.  Sliced whole muscle may take longer depending on the thickness.

The others have given you great advice on how to judge the "doneness" of jerky.  Don't fret, you'll dial it in.  Just a learning curve.

I caught up with Paul in the chat room I think we have him headed in the right direction now. He is going to give it another go this weekend.

[paulsnapp]

I used whole muscle for my jerky.  It was Angus eye of round cut to 1/4 inch thick.  I did receive some good advice and I now know I was cooking and not drying my jerky.  I am ready to try again!

[Waltz]

Ground meat jerky is the first thing I made in my smoker and I still make jerky a lot but whole muscle more than ground now.
It usually turns out well provided you don't go above 160 degreesF and keep a close watch on it as it is near done. I have found it is best to err on the side of underdone if you are in doubt as it continues to dry out after you remove it from the smoker.
Best of luck with your future attempts.