Jerky drying time

I haven’t made whole meat jerky in a long time in my dehydrator and for the life of me I can find my notes. Can someone give me a rough guideline for drying time of 1/4″ thick slices of jerky in a dehydrator set to 155 degrees? I know this varies quite a bit depending on equipment and such, but I just need a general guideline. Is it roughly 8 hours, 2 full days, or am I not even close?

Roughly 10 hours in my smoker at that temp. sometime a couple hours more.

suzuki wrote:

Roughly 10 hours in my smoker at that temp. sometime a couple hours more.

thanks

Possibly less now that humidity is very low. You just convinced me to make jerky! Thank you!

I had a batch of jerky in the smoker yesterday for 4 hours, then it went in the oven set at 190 with the door cracked until 10 last night and allowed to rest in the oven over night when the heat got killed. My jerky is thicker than 1/4″ as a rule though. More in the 3/8″ area.

The thinner pieces are fairly hard this morning which is still not like a brick and the thickest pieces are just about right.

I dry cure/season my whole muscle jerky which helps pull moisture out of the meat so drying times aren’t extreme.

I tried a chunk right away this morning and its pretty darned good. I have round two in the smoker already.

I had maybe a pound of strips I couldn’t squeeze in anywhere so I bagged and froze them. When I do my sticks I’ll flip this left over jerky meat that’s already spiced up in the venison before I grind and it can help supplement the flavor of the sticks. can’t waste this stuff ya know.

I am dry rub/curing my jerky also, so maybe with that and the low humidity and the fact that I heat with wood(even less humidity) I should check it at about 4 hours, then every 2 hours after that…thoughts?

Tom, 4 hours in the smoker, then how long in the oven with heat on? What temp was the smoker set at?

Sticker, I have a charcoal smoker, actually two, one stacked atop the other, that I do my jerky and summer sausage in. I use the coal pan and lower chamber to make the smoke and have a baffle above the coals and wood to prevent direct heat.

I use applewood or a mix of applewood and hickory for my red meat. I use whole chuck wood. I cut seasoned logs of either variety into 4″ thick pieces and then hand split those down to roughly 4X3 inchpieces. Three of the pieces get wrapped in heavy foil, shiny side in, then wrapped in a second sheet of the same heavy foil. Two of these “bombs” go directly on the hot coals. The bombs are not vented in any way, yet they will smoke for about two hours, maybe slightly less. Yesterday and today are both fairly warm and todays batch will get about the same 4 hours of smoke, then to the oven.

I have no heat control or thermostat on or in the smoker. I’ve done so much stuff in this unit that everything is pretty much by “feel” or sight. The oven is set at 190. The jerky is just stacked up on the baking sheet I use an given a quite stir job after maybe four hours. I start checking the jerky right about 6 hours and as soon as a thick piece feels about right I shut the heat down and leave the jerky in the oven with the door closed until its completely cooled. I get zero sweating on the meat this way.

Once the meat is cold just bag or package as you want.

Mine last week cut at the same thickness took about 6 Hr’s at between 160-165. I tend to leave my Jerkey a bite more soft and moist than some. To get it really dry and tough I’d say around 8 Hr’s.

fishthumper wrote:

Mine last week cut at the same thickness took about 6 Hr’s at between 160-165. I tend to leave my Jerkey a bite more soft and moist than some. To get it really dry and tough I’d say around 8 Hr’s.

thanks

Tom Sawvell wrote:

Sticker, I have a charcoal smoker, actually two, one stacked atop the other, that I do my jerky and summer sausage in. I use the coal pan and lower chamber to make the smoke and have a baffle above the coals and wood to prevent direct heat.

I use applewood or a mix of applewood and hickory for my red meat. I use whole chuck wood. I cut seasoned logs of either variety into 4″ thick pieces and then hand split those down to roughly 4X3 inchpieces. Three of the pieces get wrapped in heavy foil, shiny side in, then wrapped in a second sheet of the same heavy foil. Two of these “bombs” go directly on the hot coals. The bombs are not vented in any way, yet they will smoke for about two hours, maybe slightly less. Yesterday and today are both fairly warm and todays batch will get about the same 4 hours of smoke, then to the oven.

I have no heat control or thermostat on or in the smoker. I’ve done so much stuff in this unit that everything is pretty much by “feel” or sight. The oven is set at 190. The jerky is just stacked up on the baking sheet I use an given a quite stir job after maybe four hours. I start checking the jerky right about 6 hours and as soon as a thick piece feels about right I shut the heat down and leave the jerky in the oven with the door closed until its completely cooled. I get zero sweating on the meat this way.

Once the meat is cold just bag or package as you want.

appreciate the feedback Tom!

Something merits mention here is drying or dehydrator temp. Anything that does not have an actual cure product in it to help in preservation needs much higher drying or dehydrating time. Nothing the has no cure used should be smoked since smoking temps are able to foster some nasty bacterial growth…can’t see it but it’ll make itself known when you eat it.

Jerky using whole muscle and the ground, formed stuff needs to have cure. The pink cure and/or Tenderquik from Morton are sufficient. The temperature at some point needs to get to at least 152 degrees in order to kill the last of the bacteria harmful to us. If the smoker will get to that, fine. If the dehydrator can be dialed that high, fine. I generally smoke at less than the 152 degrees but finish this in the oven where I more than exceed the needed 152 degrees.

Most all of the packaged seasoning products today will include the cure. Some may not and people need to be a ware of this. Also, a salt brine is NOT a cure. It will do nothing to kill any harmful bacteria. Cure does that.

I know brining is a common way to handle jerky meat but there will always be that outside change that things are growing in the meat that the brine cannot or will not control. Then things can get ugly.

Great info Tom, I am taking notes.

Here’s another little tid bit. Wet curing or brining starts the product out, wet. Even if its been patted down with toweling, the product is wet. Even meat [jerky, sausage] that’s dry cured but cold will sweat when you put it in a warm smoker cabinet. The first order of business for the smoke then is to dry the product off. When its wet, it does not take smoke at all well. I bring my product inside and allow it to come to room temp and then while the smoker is getting going I slip the meat in the oven at maybe 250 degrees on a cookie sheet or two. I want a single layer in the oven. I let the oven pre-heat the product and get rid of any surface moisture, then it goes in the smoker. Something like summer sausage will be in the oven for up to 30 minutes so some heat gets past the first 1/2″ of meat and even at 250 for a half hour the sticks will be fairly cool to handle yet. The idea is to eliminate the moisture before smoke hits it.

For those with gas or fired smokers that have smoke generators its simply a matter of hanging or placing trays of meat inside and pre-heating before put the smoke in gear.

Doing this will eliminate any areas of poor smoke penetration and give you a much nicer finished product. It also will reduce the amount of smoke you need to flavor your meat.

My summer sausage and jerky get about 4 hours of good smoke before getting the oven finish. Sticks will see between 2 1/2 and 3 hours of smoke. The sticks and summer sausage get hung when the come from the oven. The jerky rests in an open lug lined with freezer wrap for a full day before packaging. This allows any acrid smoke tar or other contact taste to dissipate before wrapping or vacuum packing.

I do a soak on my jerky at least overnight and longer if I plan ahead. I have 8 trays for my dehydrator and when I fill it up, it takes about 7-8 hours for me. I do sort through after about 6.5 and take out the smaller pieces that are dry and let it go longer for the larger pieces. I noticed when I grind first and use the jerky shooter it takes a lot less time since that is dry seasoned.

I set my timer for 6 hours and try to rotate the racks once or twice. The nice thing about the dehydrator is it’s so forgiving I set the timer and go to bed. I check it in the morning and if I feel it needs more time I hit timer for an hour and go to work and check it when it get home. This is out in the cool garage area.