Jerky Result and a ? for Pakak or Eggor

Steve-B

I completed my first beef jerky batch with good results. I dried it a little bit too much for my taste, but still good. I now know what "take it off before you think it done" really means. It took ~8 hours at 180-190°. I think 6.5-7 hours would of been fine. [p]My question for Pakak or Eggor is this: With that new rack you used was the egg set up for direct cooking? I also noticed that your strips were a 1/2 inch thick. Is that why you used a temp of 250°?

Pakak

Hey, I've never done jerky in my life, I just took the pictures! It does sound like you had it on too long though, in my unprofessional opinion.[p]The cook WAS done direct, I do know that. I THINK the reason eggor likes 1/2" strips is they aren't as apt to turn to "potato chip" dryness. Anyway, I liked the jerky thicker because of that.[p]Eggor - how are those drawing scoming? hehehe[p]

eggor

Steve-B,
sorry it took so long to get to this, had some fires to put out. I cut the jerky 1/2 inch square by however long just because I prefer to trim the meat myself(I buy the entire bottom round). The benfit is you have the chance to remove as much fat and silverskin while the meat is whole, seems to go faster than if you have a butcher slice it and then trim. If you try to cut the jerky thin with a knife it is difficult to be consistant unless it is partially frozen. Or get a meat slicer. Besides 1/2 inch thick means about 3/8 after drying(bout right for me plus a lot less cutting). I smoke the jerky @ 250, some might say that is damn near cooking it, but it yeilds similar results in less time than going around 200. Now I never thought about it, but it does make sense to probably do indirect especially since i go for the higher temps and sometime the strips are some times 6 inches and they would get pretty dry on the end closest to the coals. If you recall I have some 1/4 sst rods between the box and the ring that i could set up for indirect if i put a pizza stone covered with foil. Might work pretty well.[p]Not smart enough on how to post a picture, thats been pakak's very helpfull contribution, so you will have to go back to the previous post if you need a refresher.[p]By the way, I had some requests for either shipping a jerky rack or more detailed plans. I am working on a newer version that does not require any welding(do not even bother with that mapp). I should have a pdf with dimensions and hopefully decent instructions to walk you thru building one of those racks in about an hour. But it will take me a little time to get the right dimensions for the small and medium. Give me till next weekend. And if anyone can help me post them???

Pakak

I can do that for ya. Just email the file to me, unless you want me to walk you through the procedure. It's not that difficult if you have a website. I don't currently have a full-blown website but have an addy I can load it up to for down-loading.