Im very late to the discussions but totally on board with FAQ and the similar thread suggestions! i realized some of the posts I made were questions made by others in the past. I am still totally agree that people can ask anyway and i still believe that whatever we do, some people (hopefully few) will still ask before their search. What we can do is to reduce that number down. Probably if you want, you can pin the topics that you think is necessary and new. Whilst there will be newer post regarding the same topics, we can answer to relate to the post and have that post deleted after few months of inactivity. It will reduce number of threads and probably confusion from others as well.

Seanlee Hardy what do you guys think of wood chips box? Will they make difference if i use them instead of wood chips tray?

Thank you so much for the tips!

alanburkholder

1. instead of soaking, i spray the wood chips before going in, that way i thought the chips wouldnt burn but wont produce too much smoke.
2. I will try using the automotive sponge like Jonathon tried before
3. what kind of internal fan can you recommend? I understand that since the heat source below is heated, temperature raise quickly although i tried to make it as low heat as possible.
4. I will try this thank you!

processhead True that! I saw the digital temperature control that may help but again im not sure in Indonesia made. What do you mean by OP? I will try to find a way to fix the analogue or otherwise change it to digital control

craigrice I have put the dampers close before the meat comes in. But after the meat comes in and wet chips added, i always put the dampers wide open. Then again, I saw the dampers are way too small so i am not sure if that makes such a big difference whether it open or close

Thank you so much once again.

How’s everyone doing??

I need some help with my smoker. I tried to use my new smoker last weekend and it turns out disastrous (LOL). Since Indonesia is so far away from US and I cant find any supplier to ship electric smoker to Indonesia (unless im willing to pay 500 bucks for shipping alone), I bought one locally made. I post the smoker picture in this thread as well

Ok now the problems :

1. As you can see the the box for wood chips is just above the heat source. I put the wood chips directly without soaking or spraying the wood chips. The first time i add the chips, it caught on fire. So i tried to use aluminium foil. Again, the aluminium foil and the chips caught on fire, even the smoke push the wood chips vents out to release inside pressure. Should i use wood chips boxes? Its hard to find wood pellet in Indonesia and importing from US cause the cost to be so inflated. So i think i wont use wood pellet but stick to wood chips that are readily available.

2. Even more so the internal temperature (although they state have thermostat) only off at 200F and come back on again at 130F (does this even called thermostat). So its hard for me to control temperature. Any tips on controlling temperature?

3. the top and bottom rack can have 50F difference so I got stressed out and called the manufacturer but they never responded to my claims. I figured I can try to rotate the racks but i do believe the meat is not exactly even either.

4. The meat result comes out black and have acidic aftertaste. Is this cause the smoke is too much? I also read and watch some explanations that state I shouldnt add smoke when the meat is still wet, then should I use dehydrator first then add to smoker?

I got stressed out because the manufacturer doesnt want to help in any way. Should have brought from Masterbuilt with extra bucks but actually working find

Please help me with this, I am so overwhelm cause I keep wanting good smoker and what I got is far from what I dream Thx!

@NDMike im a solar panel system distributor and installator. Also wanting to make a processed meat business

hi Jonathon and everyone! I want to give my intake and updates regarding the experiments that I made during the weekend. This is my recipe and every batch will be using this recipe as a base plus glycerine or brown sugar. Please note that every batch i make is only 330 gram (bear with me as Indonesia use metric quantities). I am already using tenderloin cut (no marbling inside and a little line of fat only) and cut into 1/4" thickness

Here is the base recipe
70 gram oyster sauce
35 gram soy sauce
50 gram honey
6 gram ground garlic
2 tsp white sugar
1/3 tsp basil
1/3 tsp oregano
1/3 tbsp papain
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
1/2 tsp smoke liquid

and here are my experiment list

Batch 1 - recipe + glycerine 18% + direct dehydrator
Batch 2 - recipe + 18% glycerine + 20% water + vacuum tumbling 40 mins + direct dehydrator
Batch 3 - recipe + 18% brown sugar + 20% water + vacuum tumbling 40 mins + direct dehydrator
Batch 4 - recipe + 18% glycerine + 20% water + vacuum tumbling 40 mins + 24 hour marinade + dehydrator
Batch 5 (control) - recipe + 24 hour marinade + dehydrator
Batch 6 - recipe + 18% brown sugar + 18% low sodium soy sauce + 1.2% rice wine vinegar + 0.6% lemon juice + vacuum tumbling 40 mins + 24 hour marinade + dehydrator

And here is my result :
Taste : Batch 1 is too sweet as there is no water and 18% of the glycerine definitely makes it way into the meat. Batch 2 and 4 doesnt show much difference in the taste. batch 6 and batch 3 is a little too sweet, but unlike glycerine batches, these batches gives better aroma from brown sugar and doesnt have aftertaste as the glycerine batches. However, this is supposedly salty recipes but all experiments comes out sweet!
Texture : Best Texture comes from batch 6 and 4, followed by batch 3, then batch 2, then batch 1, then batch 5 which is the most dry. I can see how glycerine and sugar does make the jerky much juicier but it doesnt really improve jerky tenderness leap and bound.

I want to point out 2 possible problems though, then I will straight to my question. 1. My vacuum tumbling is turning slowly as they dont give any barrier or blocker inside the tumbler and the meat just stay bottom of the tumblr. The vacuum does work though. 2. I forgot to put the batches into oven first for 160F internal meat temperature.

so my question is :

1. If i want to make salty tender jerky, should i still use glycerine? Will reducing the glycerine better or is it better to use phosphate for salty batches?
2. If i use phosphate together with glycerine, will it make it tender? anyone ever tried using both? I am concerned about aftertaste if i use both
3. Any other flaws can you take notes from my procedures? I want to know to make it better

I post my result photos as well. But as far as I know, I cant see any noticeable difference in appearance

Thank you!

Seanlee Hardy      

Hi Jonathon !! Thank you for your tipss! Will definitely try the soy sauce, Rice Wine Vinegar, and Lemon juice concentrate! This weekend I will definitely try small batches using all different kinds of tenderizing technique you and everyone else gives in this website. so this will be my list of project this weekend :

batch 1 (Control)
24 hour marinade

Batch 2
Vacuum Tumbling + glycerine

Batch 3
Vacuum Tumbling + glycerine + 20% water

Batch 4
Vacuum Tumbling + glycerine + 20% water + 24 hour marinade

Batch 5
18% brown sugar + 18% low sodium soy sauce + 1.2% rice wine Vinegar + 0.6% lemon juice + vacuum tumbling + 24 hour marinade

Everything will add to original recipe + oven + dehydrate for about 4 hours.

Any other ideas you guys want to compare the tenderness? I will try to make it and compare the flavour and tenderness

I will post the results for tenderness comparison and taste comparison on Sunday!

does it make any change between letting the meat sit overnight and go straight to cooking after you add glycerine and vacuum tumbling it?

what do you think will happen if we add 18% glycerine but not 20% water? If we are using liquid marinade, do we need to increase all the proportion of the liquid so that the flavours are not diluted with the water?

Tex_77

Oh Right! hahahah thank you for the tips! Here is my last week’s jerky! Teriyaki and Oyster Sauce type!

I will post again for this weekend for the glycerine project!

Thanks for all the tips this website give me, i can make awesome jerky at home now!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gl5KmsnVAXXGavfVwyZF29CoXGnaI0Ch/view?usp=sharing

How to post picture in the comment btw? I will share my link to the picture this time. This has 2 flavours, in the left is teriyaki sauce and on the right is oyster sauce. In dehydrator for 5 hours

Hi Jonathon! i tried to reply you several times during the weekends, sadly the websited couldnt post my reply.
We didnt try using oven since the the temperature control broke and there is no way we can control the temperature, so i went straight to dehydrator 2 hour 160F and 3 hour 150F.
Things were going good! I will post the picture and recipe later on.

I did try using tenderloin for the meat as they give the most tender cuts, the only problem is finding the least fatty one but overall i am surprised by how tender the beef is and i havent used glycerine yet! I will start my glycerine this week as there will be long weekend for Good Friday and Easter. I will also post pictures of the result this weekend!

Cheerios!

Hi everyone!

I have always tried using dehydrator instead of an oven! I thought cooking the meat will make the muscle harder instead of more tender, so I always go straight to dehydrator with 167F for 2 hours and 150F for extra 2 hours for 1/4" cut.

So if im using oven then dehydrator, will it make the jerky more tender? Will definitely try using glycerine as well. Do you have any principle in using glycerine? Like percentage of initial weight or dose of glycerine per pound of meat?

Thank you

thank youu @samspade2519 !!! I will also share some of my recipe when my batch is good and ready.
Trying to make jerky business here and looking lots of way to improve my jerky !

btw whats with team orange and team blue?

Hi Everyone!
I am lucky to find this website and learning a lot from you guys.
I saw from jerky packaging and find there is term “maltodextrin” and when i research about it, the term maltodextrin is used for water holding capacity as it is hygrocospic.

Is the effect the same as using glycerin / glycerol?

There are also bunch of chemicals i want to discuss with you guys including :

1. sodium nitrate vs sodium nitrite vs celery powder
2. dextrose
3. maltodextrin vs glycerin / glycerol
4. (not really chemical) i want to find a good smoker for entry commercial level what would be good for it? I am from Indonesia so buying from amazon is crazy stuff and hopefully i get the product good without any need of manufacture defect. Just to be clear : 1 MB digital wood pellet smoker 30" MB is $200 but shipping and custom in Indonesia require around $350!!!

Hopefully we can discuss a lot in this forum and learn from each other!!

Cheers!!!