Okay, so I've got about 30# of venison cut into jerky strips & I need som advice as to what to do next. As far as marinades & rubs go I'll make it up as I go along (as usual!) but one thing I don't have is a dehydrator. I've done beef jerky in the oven before & to be honest I wasn't impressed. I couldn't get it low enough to dry, without cooking, the meat.

Can anyone recommend me a good, big dehydrator?

The kind of thing that can do more than a half-pound at a time. I've seen the small tray-types at Wally World & Lowes but I'm looking fo something a little bigger.

I haven't done it personally but a friend of mine does it on his families large smoker. They do about 50 lbs. at a time two or three times a year. With 2 brothers, Dad and 2 nephews they kill 8-10 deer a year.

They marinade in big coolers and keep their smoker at 160-175 degrees. I've never needed to do that much at once but they have it down to a art. It's good jerky.

Maybe someone in Your area can hook You up with a smoker big enough. And I have seen some very good smokers made out of 55 gal. drums they won't last a lifetime but you can get a couple of years out of them.

Good luck Rob, hope You find the help Your needing.

bretto

I have a large dehydrator form Cabelas that works great. set it @ 150 and then I rotate racks every 2 hrs. You can do the oven thing most ovens start @ 175 just put a something in between the door so it does not shut all the way and you can regulate temp that way. Dennis

Rob,

I have an Excalibur 9 tray that I really like. They make a bigger one but the one I have suits me fine.

Also there is no need to rotate the trays like some others since the fan is in the back and blows across all the trays.

Chris

Rob,
    I just got a 3900 series Excaliber 9 tray from e***. It has a ten year warranty and had a couple of free recipe books with it. Cheaper than Cabelas and way better warranty. If I can find my recipe, I have an awesome jerky marinade I'd be glad to share with you. Gimme a day or so and I'll see if I can rustle it up.
                              James

I like a smoker way better.  You can dehydrate with it basically if you want, but smoking is way better.  Plus you can make a lot more than jerky.  Stuff like pulled pork, smoked birds, pastrami, sausages of all kinds.  You can do low and slow long cook barbeque also.  Some of the new insulated electric smokers are set it and forget it easy to use.

I got on from a auction that looks like a microwave and has room for about ten pounds. I put it on 200 degrees and it takes about 6 to 8 hours Its called an excalibur food dehydrater.

QuoteOriginally posted by Chris Surtees:
Rob,

I have an Excalibur 9 tray that I really like. They make a bigger one but the one I have suits me fine.

Also there is no need to rotate the trays like some others since the fan is in the back and blows across all the trays.

Chris

i have this same one, and love it. i still haven't made jerky from strips, i use my venison ground and it turns out great. no need to rotate, i just take them out when done and dab the excess grease off and... yummy  

How did you use your oven?  When I do it in the oven, I don't close the door all the way.  Instead I stick a wooden spoon handle in the way so the door closes on that.  It lets a lot of the heat escape that way.

However, nothing can compete with a smoker for making great tasting jerky.  I've got an Oklahoma Joe smoker grill that I use for mine most of the time.  I made some wood frames out of about 2X2 scrap lumber and stapled some tight steel mesh with squares about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in size to them.  Basically the stuff you see in rabbit pens and such.  I made three racks and I can fill them up and place them in the grill stacked on top of each other with a small fire in the separate fire box and the jerky comes out great.

For that matter, you can smoke jerky in a cardboard box if you have a ditch and a scrap piece of sheet metal like tin from a roof.  Make your fire in the ditch.  Place the tin over the ditch on the uphill side if real calm out or on the down wind side if it's breezy.  You want the end of the tin to be over the fire.  This forms a chimney between the tin and the ditch.  Place your box at the end of the tin and stick dowels or something similar through the box to hang the meat from or to support drying racks.  Rig a flap at the top to regulate smoke and air flow.  Smoke till done.

If you start to worry that your meat is getting too smokey, take it off the fire and finish it in your oven using the wooden spoon trick.  Might have to shut the oven off and turn it back on a couple times if your oven does not go very low but the spoon SHOULD work.  Mine goes down to 190 degrees which is about perfect with the door cracked.

I have also done alot of jerky in our electric range. Like Dave says, put a spoon in the door, on low setting. I usually load it before bed and awake to jerky!

One thing I have wanted to try, was a bow cure oven, with bulbs and a fan! I really think it would work. Those who have made one, say the fan really helps.

Dry your bow wood and make jerky! Sounds like a plan!

Good shootin, Steve

The excalibur dehydrator works really well, makes great jerky

By the way, the cheapo Brinkman vertical smokers that are about 20" in diameter and maybe 3 ft tall work great for making jerky too.  I was never able to use mine worth a crap for bbq but it worked great for jerky.

To get the most possible meat in that little smoker, here's a great tip...

Do not try to lay them all out on the rack like little steaks or something.  Instead, to get about ten times the meat on the rack, cut each strip twice as wide as you want your finished jerkey to be and then slit it up the middle stopping short of the end by about 1/2".  My strips are usually a little over an inch wide before they are split and about 6 to 10 inches long. It will look like a little pair of pants.  Now, instead of laying the strips on the rack, hang them from the grill rungs.  Drape them over two wires in the rack instead of just one so they are separated and won't get stuck together as they dry.  I can slice up an entire roast and hang it from one little rack and smoke it all at once.  The other way, you couldn't hardly slice up a single steak and lay all the pieces out on the grill rack.  If your really want to lay them flat, you will need to rig up a multiple grill stack system like a dehydrator has.  

To give you an idea of how much space this saves, go look in your coat closet to see how much space your coats take up.  Now imagine those same coats all laid out flat on the floor side by side and picture how much room they would take up that way.  

Get it?

i just got a dehydrator from BassPro for 45.00,its suppossed to do 7 pounds at a time.I have a few days off i will use it and let you know how it works,Dave