Beef Jerky gun and food dehydrator

[Runningwolf]

Thanks. I was looking at those tube smokers possibly when I decide to get something.

 

[Boatboy24]

This is the only smoker you need. It is a fantastic piece of gear and makes great ribs, chicken, brisket, chipotles, smoked cheese, salmon, etc. I've done tons of stuff on mine and absolutely love it! I haven't tried jerkey on it yet, but will.

This is the one I have. I've done 6 chickens at once on it, 18lb turkeys, etc. Plenty of room for the average Joe:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001I8ZTJ0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

This is the big boy:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001I8ZTJA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Oh yeah, and they came out with a mini this year:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FKE67V2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[zimmer2]

I have made homemade sausage for 30 years or so. I built my own smoker and use an oven thermostat control to control smoke/cook temps. Here are my thoughts. I have tried to accommodate my kids/family/friends and get thing how they like it. Some like casings on sticks and some do not, some like collagen casing and some like natural casings. Some like ground jerky and some like sliced muscle jerky. You will be making it many ways

BOTTOM LINE: get something you can do it all like this

http://www.dakotahsausagestuffer.com/

This will work out pretty well until you get where you want to make BIG batches.

 

[TxBrew]

As long as it has the adjustable temp control you're all good.

You can scorch a lot of things with the system that don't have it. I dehydrate all the time. I love it.

 

[olusteebus]

Damn it. Now I want to make jerky. It started with wine, then beer. Now I gotta get me a gun and dehydrator. I guess cheese is next. When does it stop?

 

[jswordy]

When you get ready to step up in dehydrators, get one of these. No plastigens in your food due to heating plastic trays and housings, the trays do not crack and disintegrate after long use. A rugged, lifetime unit.

http://www.sausagemaker.com/fooddehydrators.aspx

 

[TxBrew]

When you get ready to step up in dehydrators, get one of these. No plastigens in your food due to heating plastic trays and housings, the trays do not crack and disintegrate after long use. A rugged, lifetime unit.

http://www.sausagemaker.com/fooddehydrators.aspx

I want one of those so bad but can't justify spending $500 when I'm finding dehydrators at garage sales for $1.

 

[Sage]

One thing on using the drying racks in the oven. Rotate the botom 2 to the top half way through.

Never had a convection oven, but I bet that'd be sweet!!

I'm down to a dozen sticks of jerky, about time to make some more. I still have a couple packages of elk burger from last year to use up!

 

[knifemaker]

When you're ready to add another hobby to your growing list, google UDS, ugly drum smoker. I built one several years ago and use it for cooking ribs, poultry, brisket, pork butts, and jerky. They're cheap to build and once you've cooked on them several times are nearly set it and forget it! Dale.

 

[Troll]

I have been using a dehydrator from Kmart with no issues and have used it 50+ times. It is a different brand but has the motor and heaters on top that seem to make it work great and easy to clean. I use a "Jerky Cannon" and it seems to work well the only draw back is the capacity on all of them 1-2 lbs. Lems makes good seasonings and are widely available. Sheep casings make the sticks firmer and more durable and more like store bought. Good luck.

 

[jswordy]

I want one of those so bad but can't justify spending $500 when I'm finding dehydrators at garage sales for $1.

We bought ours for like $399 with free shipping. Shop around, they can be cheaper. I will not ever buy a plastic one again, after finding out you are releasing plastinogens (which mess with estrogen/testosterone balances and can affect sperm motility, just for starters). Plus, the plastic trays dry out after the kind of use we put them to, and they will disintegrate as the binders in them are vaporized by the heat. Sounds delicious, huh?

Want a smoker? Find a barrel and an old Weber grill! Works great, can smoke 100+ pounds if needed.

 

[Runningwolf]

I ended up buying 5 lbs of ground meat to make the beef sticks. I ended up with a little over 3.5 lbs after drying. I got a good jerky gun that holds 1.5 lbs of beef from Gander Mountain. What a pain trying to load the casings on the nozzle. The worst part was you could only load up enough for about 18" of beef sick at a time. I dried it for close to 5 hours in the new dehydrator. I was not real pleased with the taste as I sampled it right after it was done. Three hours later I tried it again and it was actually quite good. It is a lot of work, but very good.

 

[Sage]

I got a good jerky gun that holds 1.5 lbs of beef from Gander Mountain. What a pain trying to load the casings on the nozzle. The worst part was you could only load up enough for about 18" of beef sick at a time..

Go to the LEM site. They have all sizes of LONG tubes. When you slide the casing on, really pack it. You'll get several feet on a fill.

 

[sour_grapes]

I was not real pleased with the taste as I sampled it right after it was done. Three hours later I tried it again and it was actually quite good.

Did you bulk age it, or did you age it in the casing?

 

[Runningwolf]

Bulk aged for ten minutes then racked over to casings with no head space.

 

[Matty_Kay]

I'm a little late to the discussion by I have been using a Nesco dehydrator for a few years now mostly making jerky and drying Chile peppers and fruit for the kids and wife, they love the apple chips lightly dusted in cinammon. Mine has no timer but still a great machine. As for the smoker, I have been using a weber bullet and have made some great bbq. The dehydrator is great as I use the peppers I dry as part of my rib rub. Here is a look at one of my cooks this past summer right before I pulled the ribs off the smoker.

 

[Runningwolf]

Ok I bought the bigger jerky gun but didn't like it because you had to fill it up so many times but mostly because you were loading the casing up so much. I took it back and bought the 5lb sausage stuffer and like it a lot better. I still have the issue of having to load up casings often. Is there a trick to get them on easier. I got the brown casing that you do not have soak. Today I added cheese to to the beef. Looking forward to it.

 

[Julie]

Get some Swiss, Con Yeager sells it.

 

[Runningwolf]

Julie I used 4 cups of sharp cheddar with 5 lbs of beef. I did not get the high temp cheese since it was only in the dehydrator. They do sell that cheese at the new Field & Stream store by my house. The guy that works there was extremely knowledgeable and said I would be ok. After 5 hours I just pulled it out and all seems well. He also recommended mozzarella cheese with hot beef sticks mix. I'm going check out your place also.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

We run 2 Excaliber dehydrators for chile peppers, apples and squash and anything else that fits inside it. You need to stop fooling around with letting other people grind your mead, this is the first step in making quality jerkey, get a grinder, grind up everything in it you want and use either the grinder with attachments or your sausauge stuffer to fill them. Letting other people grind you meat and using premade seaonings is like making a cheap kit, sure its good but you can do so much better starting from scratch. We got tired of stuffing little things and went up to the big summer sausages and into the smoker. Why do you need a timer on a dehydrator? That is like telling someone they always need to rack on day 6, you have to check your jerky to tell when its done. WVMJ