Jerky Brine
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fatsnacks I have so far ran the dehydrator at its max temp of 160 although I’m not sure it’s necessary as the meat has already hit that temp. It probably speeds up the process though. As far as duration I don’t have an exact on that either. I kind of go based on the look, bend, feel, etc… Sorry to be so vague. Lol! I haven’t been in the jerky game long but each batch seems to improve by leaps and bounds. I will be making another batch this weekend and will try to take note of time frames!
Joe Hell well, lesson learned. I tumbled my jerky with the added percentage of water and brown sugar as suggested in one of the videos. I then loaded it onto the dehydrator racks and put it in the oven at 400 to get to 160. Of course dumb me didn’t even think about how much drippings there would be and now the bottom of my nice brand new convection oven is coated with a nice layer of burnt sugar
. Moral of the story: foil is your friend! -
fatsnacks I am doing some jerky today in the oven and some in the smoker to show the differences. You have inspired me to not only use a pan underneath my racks but also to foil that pan!
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Joe Hell well, lesson learned. I tumbled my jerky with the added percentage of water and brown sugar as suggested in one of the videos. I then loaded it onto the dehydrator racks and put it in the oven at 400 to get to 160. Of course dumb me didn’t even think about how much drippings there would be and now the bottom of my nice brand new convection oven is coated with a nice layer of burnt sugar
. Moral of the story: foil is your friend! -
Joe Hell I am going 325 on 1/4" thick, figure take no more than 15?
Get more help with your processing questions and learn more about processing meat by subscribing to our waltonsinc.com youtube page at https://wltns.link/waltonstv I am a Gorilla, love yourself
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Jonathon I would think that would would work just fine. The lower temp/longer duration might be the ticket. I figure that any drips are a reduction in flavor so if you can retain as much liquid as possible that it can only be a positive. I reduced my thickness to slightly less than 1/4” on the last batch and it seemed to help with the ‘evenness’ of the drying cycle a bit.
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Jonathon I would think that would would work just fine. The lower temp/longer duration might be the ticket. I figure that any drips are a reduction in flavor so if you can retain as much liquid as possible that it can only be a positive. I reduced my thickness to slightly less than 1/4” on the last batch and it seemed to help with the ‘evenness’ of the drying cycle a bit.
Joe Hell so after this whole process today, I DID NOT like how the jerky turned out using the added brown sugar and water. The brown sugar just overpowered the batch of pepper garlic and sweet chipotle, and it was way too tender (as crazy as that sounds) for my liking. If I just add water next time but no sugar, would I still want to use 20% of the starting weight added water or maybe cut it down some since not adding any sugar? Also, sorry for hijacking this post lol.
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Joe Hell so after this whole process today, I DID NOT like how the jerky turned out using the added brown sugar and water. The brown sugar just overpowered the batch of pepper garlic and sweet chipotle, and it was way too tender (as crazy as that sounds) for my liking. If I just add water next time but no sugar, would I still want to use 20% of the starting weight added water or maybe cut it down some since not adding any sugar? Also, sorry for hijacking this post lol.
fatsnacks Don’t apologize for good questions!!! I personally apologize if it didn’t turn out the way way you had hoped! I can understand fully why a more traditional (dry) batch of jerky would be more desirable! My first batches in the smoker were of that style were quite popular amongst friends though many wanted a sweeter, chewier style. For the drier variety I would absolutely recommend the standard Walton’s method while using a dehydration process with the smoker! For my personal taste I was trying to avoid excess sugars while maintaining a soft chew. The reduction in processing time using the oven method and Westin dehydrator was also a huge factor!
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Joe Hell It’s different for everyone, some people don’t like the texture or even the taste of doing it, everyone has different expectations. fatsnacks As for water content if you are making just a normal batch then I would recommend not going with a specific amount of water, you really just want the water to marinate the jerky in. So use just enough to cover the meat, remember, if you are looking to make a traditional jerky then you will have to cook out / dehydrate the water that you add to the meat.
Get more help with your processing questions and learn more about processing meat by subscribing to our waltonsinc.com youtube page at https://wltns.link/waltonstv I am a Gorilla, love yourself
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Joe Hell It’s different for everyone, some people don’t like the texture or even the taste of doing it, everyone has different expectations. fatsnacks As for water content if you are making just a normal batch then I would recommend not going with a specific amount of water, you really just want the water to marinate the jerky in. So use just enough to cover the meat, remember, if you are looking to make a traditional jerky then you will have to cook out / dehydrate the water that you add to the meat.
Jonathon I have a question on smoking and oven use, I have a gas convection oven with a dehydrate setting. my great grandchildren call it a smart stove. would you smoke first then oven or the other way to bring up to temp ?
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Jonathon I have a question on smoking and oven use, I have a gas convection oven with a dehydrate setting. my great grandchildren call it a smart stove. would you smoke first then oven or the other way to bring up to temp ?
craigrice I’d like to know what model oven that is! That sounds awesome!
I use my Kenmore gas/convection first then it’s off to the dehydrator. I would think the smoker would work for you in the same way. I haven’t made a jerky lately that I thought would benefit from added smoke or I would have tried it. I have a small batch of Bloody Mary Jerky that I considered using the new Pit Boss pellet grill to see if could give it just a touch of smoke before or after dehydrating.
I’d be really interested in the dehydrator method in your oven. That could really be an all in one jerky maker right there!
Better Living Through BBQ!
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craigrice I’d like to know what model oven that is! That sounds awesome!
I use my Kenmore gas/convection first then it’s off to the dehydrator. I would think the smoker would work for you in the same way. I haven’t made a jerky lately that I thought would benefit from added smoke or I would have tried it. I have a small batch of Bloody Mary Jerky that I considered using the new Pit Boss pellet grill to see if could give it just a touch of smoke before or after dehydrating.
I’d be really interested in the dehydrator method in your oven. That could really be an all in one jerky maker right there!
Joe Hell my stove is a Samsung 5 burner converted to propane it has bread proof. keep warm, and dehydrating cycles , I love the griddle plate on the top center burner and the wife and I have done a lot of home canning on it with no problems
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Joe Hell my stove is a Samsung 5 burner converted to propane it has bread proof. keep warm, and dehydrating cycles , I love the griddle plate on the top center burner and the wife and I have done a lot of home canning on it with no problems
craigrice I’ll have to check those out! Mine is also a 5 burner and has a warming drawer that I can turn on which heats the oven to a temp that is great for proofing. Doing some quick research it sounds like any gas convection can be used as a dehydrator so long as you can keep the fan going. My stove won’t run the fan under 300 degrees for some stupid reason. 170 is my lowest setting which isn’t ideal either
Better Living Through BBQ!
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craigrice I’ll have to check those out! Mine is also a 5 burner and has a warming drawer that I can turn on which heats the oven to a temp that is great for proofing. Doing some quick research it sounds like any gas convection can be used as a dehydrator so long as you can keep the fan going. My stove won’t run the fan under 300 degrees for some stupid reason. 170 is my lowest setting which isn’t ideal either
Joe Hell bought this one on a black Friday sale it has a favorites setting slow cook and also pizza settings, was $12 something paid & 670? and it is convection with a bigger oven
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Joe Hell bought this one on a black Friday sale it has a favorites setting slow cook and also pizza settings, was $12 something paid & 670? and it is convection with a bigger oven
craigrice I bought mine about 7-8 years ago for $800-ish. It was normally $1200 if I remember correctly. It’s built by Bosch but branded as a Kenmore. One reason I bought it was the 550 max temp so I could do pizza. Prior to my diet when I was eating that kind of thing I would preheat to 550 for an hour on convection with the pizza stone on the top rack then I would switch to high broil, add the pizza and it would finish in 2-3 minutes, tops!
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Joe Hell my stove is a Samsung 5 burner converted to propane it has bread proof. keep warm, and dehydrating cycles , I love the griddle plate on the top center burner and the wife and I have done a lot of home canning on it with no problems
craigrice I did end up using the Pit Boss this morning on the initial warming phase on half of my batch of Bloody Mary jerky. My Westin dehydrator racks fit perfectly! The edges definitely cooked quicker than the middle but I kind of expected that. Putting the rack on a sheet pan may help with that. The other half I heated in the oven as I have done with other recent batches. It will be interesting to see how much smoke was picked up in that time frame.
I tweaked the Bloody Mary recipe a bit by replacing some of the seasoning with some of the Garlic & Pepper, Habanero Lime and gigawatt Jerky seasonings. I also added ground horseradish, Worcestershire and some of the Pa’s Blackbull soluble as my liquid addition. I think I stumbled onto a very legit Mary with that recipe!!!
Better Living Through BBQ!
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craigrice I did end up using the Pit Boss this morning on the initial warming phase on half of my batch of Bloody Mary jerky. My Westin dehydrator racks fit perfectly! The edges definitely cooked quicker than the middle but I kind of expected that. Putting the rack on a sheet pan may help with that. The other half I heated in the oven as I have done with other recent batches. It will be interesting to see how much smoke was picked up in that time frame.
I tweaked the Bloody Mary recipe a bit by replacing some of the seasoning with some of the Garlic & Pepper, Habanero Lime and gigawatt Jerky seasonings. I also added ground horseradish, Worcestershire and some of the Pa’s Blackbull soluble as my liquid addition. I think I stumbled onto a very legit Mary with that recipe!!!
Joe Hell let me know the end compairson
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craigrice I agree with Joe on doing the cook cycle first. I would say run the fans with the convection function but since you are going to presumably have the meat sliced very thin and the oven set around 325-350 they shouldn’t need a drying stage.
Joe Hell is a marketers dream, he has never seen the new “toy” he hasn’t wanted to play with right away!
Also, joe I ended up liking the garlic & pepper with the sugar/glycerine a lot more than I would have thought. I did a batch with light bornw sugar and a batch with the glycerine and of the two I think I liked the glycerine more. I also did this on Venison so I knocked out a few tests at once!
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