James Jerky Directions / Question

[jamiedolan]

Hello;

I got the James Jerky Dryer for our #3.  We have 6 pounds of Top round steak that the butcher cut to 1/4 inch thick curing right now and I plan to put it on early tomorrow. 

I may have missed them, but I'm not seeing much in the way of jerky directions / suggestions for temperature and for how long to use the dryer for. 

If anyone has any experience or just general suggestions to send me in the right direction with drying this jerky, I'd really appreciate know any times / temps / amount of wood to use.

Thanks,

Jamie

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[DivotMaker]

Hi Jamie,

Here's a pretty good discussion on jerky and the James dryer:

http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=896.0

There's a couple more out there; just type "Jerky" in the search box above and press enter.

Hope this helps!

[vwbrad]

Jamie, Thanks for posting this, I had the same questions.  I just purchased the dryer last week and the instructions are unclear on the cooking times and temp.  Very confusing.  6 lbs of jerky, booyah!  That's a lot of jerky!   I'm cooking 2.5 lbs in my #1

[DivotMaker]

You guys are making me drool on my keyboard.

[cwshiles]

Me too!   I just got my parents a dehydrator for Christmas for them to make Deer jerky. I have made that in the past, but it is ground and put through a jerky gun. My wife is not crazy about the jerky gun ground jerky and wants me to make it like you guys are making it here.

How are you slicing the meat into uniform strips?  Slicer?

I would love to see some pics of the process and the finished product. The pics in the beginning of this post sure do look good!

Let us know how it turns out.

[DivotMaker]

Charlie,

A good slicer is definitely a worthwhile investment!  When I've made jerky in the past (dehydrator, and once in the SI without a dryer attachment), I pre-freeze the meat until it's nice and firm (about an hour or so).  Then, 1/4" slices come out very uniform with the electric slicer.  It's also great for slicing homemade Canadian bacon or other cured meats.

[cwshiles]

6 months ago when is was looking at the $180 Masterbuilt electric smoker I had no idea about all the cool new toys I would "need"  , or at least that's what I tell my wife.

Adding slicer and Briner jr. bucket to the list. :-)

But seriously, I am so glad I went with the Smokin-It!

[vwbrad]

Just curious, what is the advantage of a briner jr. bucket?  I was using a stainless steel stockpot.

[DivotMaker]

Just curious, what is the advantage of a briner jr. bucket?  I was using a stainless steel stockpot.

While a little pricey, the Briner and Briner Jr buckets are pretty innovative containers.  They have an internal disc that holds the meat submerged.  Not mandatory, but handy.  Most people use food-grade plastic containers for brining, and usually avoid metal containers due to the salt and acidic nature of most brines.  You don't want to run the risk of a brine reacting with the metal.

[jamiedolan]

Thanks for the tips.

It's making progress.  More updates later, a couple quick videos for now:

http://youtu.be/ifjb1mBKhXw

http://youtu.be/nwhCrE2aB9M

[jamiedolan]

It defiantly needs more time, still seems more like cooked steak at this point to me.

Video Update:

http://youtu.be/KSa9Y-3FsVU

[old sarge]

Good videos.  Thanks.

[DivotMaker]

Awesome, Jamie!  Can't wait to see the final results!  Tell me you at least tasted those pieces you tore off in the last video!

[jamiedolan]

Awesome, Jamie!  Can't wait to see the final results!  Tell me you at least tasted those pieces you tore off in the last video!

They all turned out really well, I'm about to crash for the night, but will finish uploading my videos / pictures of them tomorrow.  They look very similar to what the meat market turns out.

This was a Nesco cure mix.  Next time I'll get some fresh pinking salt and make my own seasoning mix.  Total time was around 10 hours.  I didn't have an exact temp for a lot of that time due to the dryer being on the unit, but it was set to around 150-160 for most of the time, I did run it a bit higher at first.  I gotta review my videos tomorrow to see exactly what I did.

A few quick snapshots here:

http://jamiedolan.com/2014/01/05/beef-jerky-photos-home-made-today-152013/

Thanks

Jamie

[DivotMaker]

Looks great, Jamie!