Smokin-It User Forum!
Recipes => Jerky => Topic started by: Smokster on August 03, 2014, 04:22:02 PM
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It's Jerky Time!
I have been inspired by Brian from Michigan to make some Jerky with all his jerky and cured meat posts. Then I came across the jerky gun for use with ground meat and I had to try it.
So to my local Bass Pro Shop I went. I picked up the LEM Jerky Cannon, seasoning and cure, and jerky selves for my #3. The other day I was at the grocery store and they were clearing out extra lean ground beef for $1.29/pound. Perfect timing, I jumped on the deal and picked up 20 lbs.
Today I am making jerky using 9 lbs of beef weighed with my digital scale so that I can track the yield. I added the "High Mountain" seasoning and cure yesterday then wrapped and refrigerated for 24 hours. Today I loaded the cannon for the first time and I am impressed with this gun, built to last and works great. Then I laid out the jerky onto the shelves and into the smoker.
I am using Brian's method of setting the temp to 250 with the door open with an empty smoker to get the smoke started. Once the smoke started, I dropped the temperature down to 120 and added the shelves to the smoker, closed the door and attached the jerky fan.
Pictures are below. I have 4 shelves in the smoker now with 4.5 lbs, therefore it will take two runs to complete the 9lbs of beef using 2oz of wood chips for each smoke.
In regards of the shelves I purchased made by LEM, they are the perfect size as they fit perfectly on the #3 shelves and at $12 a piece, they are a much cheaper alternative to purchasing the seafood shelves from SI. These shelves can also be used for seafood, cheese or smaller meats in the smoker and can be used in the oven for jerky as well.
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Awesome! I also have a jerky cannon and find it works great. One trick I do is spray the inside of the cannon and tip with non stick cooking spray. It helps keeps things sliding and not sticking. You may need to reapply depending on how many pounds your running.
I like the racks that is a good tip and can save some money. I have made many pounds of cannon jerky in the stove and you can do it on an oven rack or I'm sure an SI rack if your careful.
One last tip, COSTCO sells a Teriyaki marinade, sauce stuff in a clear jug with a blue and white label. There are Sesame seeds in it. We have blended it with ground meat with 2 teaspoons of pink salt per 25 pounds. Fantastic results. The seeds get blended in you don't notice them in the jerky.
I hope you had good results. Did you use chips or a block?
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Thanks for the marinade advice. I will have to try it some time.
The jerky is still in the smoker, but it does look great. I am 8 hours in and some pieces are close to being finished while others could be another 3 hours before they are ready.
I used 2 oz of wood chips as I didn't want to over smoke them. Would you recommend that I up the temp a bit, or leave them as is.
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No I wouldn't go up any I am OK with 100 actually especially since you are not going for more smoke. You want to dry it not cook it. I would open it up, flip everything over turn it down and let it go till bed time. Shut it down and start over in the morning if it is not totally dry. Or kill the heat and let the fan run till morning might even be better.
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Thanks Brian.
Since it is getting close to bedtime, I was actually thinking of pulling them all off so that I don't have to babysit them. But rather, I can start the next batch to run overnight, then in the morning I can add the first batch back in the smoker to finish them off.
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Looks great. I am looking forward to hearing your results.
I have a Jerky Cannon and it works great. I haven't used it lately as we purchased a 10lb. stuffer a couple of years ago.
It is a great purchase for anyone that is looking at wetting their feet in the jerky/stick smoking.
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Hey Gregg, kudos to you as well because it was your input with the post below that got me hooked to the LEM jerky cannon. There is a pic that you posted of a tub of snack six with a beer bottle that got my attention. When I saw it, I had to it.
http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1661.msg9463#msg9463
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I read that and thought "Cool, I have a picture like that also"......
Yea that's my picture.
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I removed the first batch of jerky to start the 2nd batch so that I can run it overnight while I sleep. The first batch turned out great, although it is not yet fully complete. I will add the first back to finish them some time in the morning
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Yeah, I'll definitely give the credit to Brian for the Pepper Stix Pictures in my thread. My first attempt was without a Jerky Dryer and had less than stellar results. I will be getting a jerky dryer before I try this again. Until then, I'll have to use the old Propane beast.
I bet your house smells wonderful!
Nice job!
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How do you like the round ones? They were not a hit at my house, the flat disperser though.
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Most at my house like the flat ones too. I think it is more of a texture thing verses flavor.
We rarely used the round tube attachment because of this.
I bought the add-on nozzle that does two flat tubes at a time:
http://www.lemproducts.com/product/jerky-cannon-double-jerky-nozzle/jerky-cannon-gun-accessories (http://www.lemproducts.com/product/jerky-cannon-double-jerky-nozzle/jerky-cannon-gun-accessories)
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The jerky turned out unbelievably perfect.
I am really impressed with the jerky fan and the LEM jerky cannon and jerky racks. As I mentioned earlier, these racks are a great alternative for jerky, seafood, fish or smaller items and can be placed on top of the original SI #3 racks for a third of the price of the SI racks. Each shelf will hold 1 pound of meat when making jerky.
I prefer the flat jerky, however my wife prefers the sticks. The kids don't have a preference.
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Curious, Tony - did the sticks hold together well, not using casing? Seems like they'd break pretty easy, as opposed to the flat strips. Just wondering, as I've never done the jerky cannon thing...always the solid stuff. But I'm intrigued by it!
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I realize that the question is for Tony but...
That is what I thought before I made some. The jerky Canon makes commercial quality meat. The grind is sticky from the cure then keeps its shape while loosing moisture.
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Thanks Brian - I figured one of you would know! ;)
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Both the strips and sticks form and keep their shape incredibly well. The sticks in particular are solid, you would have to cut them with scissors when finished and you definitely don't need casings.
My wife prefers them because they have a nice leathery exterior with a chewy interior. I find the flats are the same consistency as the sticks and drying time is the same for each.
I started with 9lbs of meat and my yield of finished jerky was 5lbs.
Below is a picture of the finished product. Needless to say some of the jerky never made it onto the plate... :)
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Man, that looks good! Lots easier than slicing and brining a roast, I'm sure! I have a local Cabela's that sells that stuff, too...I can see a trip in my near future! ;D
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After making jerky the traditional way and now with the cannon, I have to say that the cannon method is much easier with similar results. I will start seeing great returns with the jerky fan and cannon in the future.
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I'm getting ready to order the stuff I need for extruded jerky (gun, seasoning, 10x15 shelves for the #2, side rail assembly for more racks...). Looks like I can plan on 8-11 hours for flat strips at about 130?
My current plan is to try the Hi Mountain sampler pack for 5 different flavors and pick our favorite 1 or 2 out of that. I plan on letting it sit in covered bowls in the fridge for about 24 hours. Is there any benefit (or drawback) to making the strips one night and firing up the smoker early the next morning? What about rack rotation, every 2 hours or so?
Any other tips/tricks for making extruded jerky in a #2?
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I have done this before, and if you do not already have one or have it on your list, a Jerky Dryer like the James Jerky Dryer is an absolute must. Without it your jerky will just steam and the texture won't be right.
Regarding extruding the night before, you would only want to do this if your seasoning includes sure cure (aka Cure #1) as would be the case with the Hi Mountain Seasonings. You definitely want the meat to cure at least overnight. But, I am not sure if there would be any advantages or drawbacks to extruding the night before as I have never done it. It would start to air dry on its own I guess. Extruding with the Jerky Canon is soooo fast that I have never bothered. I have the double nozzle that shoots two strips out at a time and is well worth the money. The more I think of it, I don't think I would do this as it would just draw out the process even further than necessary as you would have to mix and let the mix sit overnight already. Adding another night to let the extruded jerky sit would be a waste of time IMO.
I would bump your temp to 140 and tray rotation every 2-4 hours is probably enough depending on how much your are doing at one time. Make sure you rotate top to bottom as well as front to back. I know on my smoker it is definitely hotter toward the back, so the front to back rotation is pretty important.
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Excellent job on the jerky!
Greg
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Excellent, thank you. I am planning on going the duct fan route rather than the James Jerky Dryer, but I did read through and realize that some sort of fan was necessary to draw the moisture out. Not sure I have a front to back temp difference (at least not a major one), but I'll rotate them that way too.
What's the best test to decide when it's done (other than biting into one when I think it's there which I'll be doing regardless ;D)? Bend it in a circle with resistance but no breakage?
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The duct fan route should work fine. You just need some way of pulling that moisture out of there. I would smoke for 2-3 hours without the fan first as the fan may cause combustion by moving that much air through there.
When it is done is a pretty subjective thing, but I usually just bend them in half and make sure it doesn't break until it is bent pretty far. You don't want it brittle, but you do want it dried/cooked through.
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I' been using the jerky cannon over 8 years now with LEM backwoods seasonings. Had a masterbuilt smoker,set at 200F for 2 hrs about 1 lb hickory chips,rotated at one hour. Perfect jerky. I make deer jerky but we make a lot of rabbit jerky,it takes 4 rabbits to make one lb. My sons crew loves the rabbit over the deer jerky.
I got my SI #2 Dec 23rd and had good luck with everything i've tried. The jerk was a let down, too much time in SI2. It took 9.5 hrs and a lot of time tending shelves and rotating without the jerky dryer. I ended up to putting jerk in dehydrator for 3 hrs per load to finish. Loaded all 9 racks in SI2 and total of 6 hrs in dehydrator,with a total time of 15 hrs. Jerky came out great with 2.2 oz of hickory wood chunk. but the time!! Going to order the jerky dryer today.
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Yeah, the jerky dryer is a must. Otherwise you just end up steaming the jerky.
I still contend that 200 is too high for jerky. But, if you like the results you are getting it works for me.
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Yeah, the jerky dryer is a must. Otherwise you just end up steaming the jerky.
I still contend that 200 is too high for jerky. But, if you like the results you are getting it works for me.
+1! 200 is way to high for jerky. The idea is to dry, not to cook. No way you're not cooking at 200!
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we make a lot of rabbit jerky,it takes 4 rabbits to make one lb.
200 makes sense for rabbits to me.
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Forgot to get pics, but my first attempt at extruded jerky was a partial success. It's pretty tasty, but could have gone a bit longer with a little less wood. I'm going to try again this weekend (just made a 2lb test batch last weekend) with those things in mind.
The idea was to have snacks (especially at work) and that idea has been working out pretty well. I pack some jerky, some fruit/veggies and some of the prepackaged cheese & crackers and eat half in the morning and half in the afternoon. Healthy (at least more so than many snacks), easy and tasty.
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I'm sure you'll give us pics next time, Steven... ;) ;D ;D
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Hi Everyone,
My SI3 has been in storage and I haven't had a chance to smoke for some time now. I finally had a chance to make some jerky with the Jerky Cannon.
I seasoned the extra lean ground beef using 'Hi Mountain' seasoning as follows:
1 lb beef with Cajun seasoning
1 lb beef with Mandarin Teriyaki seasoning
2 lbs beef with Hickory seasoning
I used 1 and a half oz of Apple wood chips pre-soaked in water. I then started the smoker at 180 to start the smoke and added my four shelves of jerky strips to the smoker for 30 mins, then dropped the temperature to 125 and added the jerky fan.
It took approximately 14 hours to complete, but well worth the wait. Below are a few picks of the results for your enjoyment. Some of the pieces obviously didn't make it onto the tray or the pics. The jerky turned out great, however next time I will turn the temperature up to 140 when I add the jerky fan to cut down on the time.
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Toronto T! Good to see you again, buddy! The jerky looks fantastic! I use 140 all the way through, on jerky. 2 hours of smoke, then the rest with the fan (for cured jerky, of course). The High Mountain seasoning is a cure, so you're OK there!
Hope you have the ol' SI3 tuned-up and ready for some more of your great Q! Don't be a stranger! ;)
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Hey Tony,
Thanks for the warm welcome back. It's been awhile, but I'm glad to be back and smoking again. I have check the forum every now and then, but it really is trying when your smoker is in storage.
Nice to see the forum has grown with lots of new members. It really was just a matter of time that people took notice of the SI brand and quality of smoker these tanks really are.
By the way, I did get the idea of raising the temp to 140 from one of your posts. You can always count on the good ol' SI forum for your information and go to needs when in doubt...
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Lots of new folks, and growing, Tony! Keep that smoker out of storage, will ya'? Not much time before old man winter returns to the great white north! :o
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Hey Tony
I'm putting the smoker in overdrive. I have 7 racks of ribs in the fridge that are going in the SI3. I also plan on making quite a bit of jerky as the kids can't get enough of it.
Before winter, I typically smoke a few butts for the freezer to hold me over for the winter season.
Next project, installing the PID controller I bought last year.
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I started with 9lbs of meat and my yield of finished jerky was 5lbs.
Below is a picture of the finished product.
Just so I'm clear....the photo taken is the 5 lbs of jerky, from one batch/cook on the SI3 model of 4 shelves?
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I had 4 available shelves in my SI3 which allows me to smoke about 5 lbs at a time. However you can try stacking the LEM shelves on top of each other rather than placing them directly on each of the SI shelves which will allow you to get more in there at one time.
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Was this photo the product of 5 pounds?
Or did you have multiple cooks to produce the amount in the photo?
Do you wish for more shelves (the shelf assembly)?
(https://www.smokinitforums.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokinitforums.com%2Findex.php%3Faction%3Ddlattach%3Btopic%3D2008.0%3Battach%3D3297&hash=6255aaaa0ee8680c28c90c94613746aa9a31b3cf)
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Hey Jake.
The amount in the picture is the total result of two cooks. Prep time takes very little effort when using ground meat with the cannon. It's a fairly easy process.
For jerky it would be nice to have more shelves and it's worth the investment if you are planning on making lots of jerky. For my other smoking needs, four shelves are more than enough.
One point that I didn't realize is that you can stop at any time by taking them off and storing in the fridge, then put them back in the next day. Also if you use the cannon with the tube attachment you can get more yield per shelf.