It's Jerky time! On going through Tomorrow!

[mattmountz94]

Looks delicious!

 

[ShadowDriver]

Appreciate you sharing the process with us.

Sure looks delicious.

 

[blazinfire]

You really only need to give jerky a good hour of smoke. Ive tried just about every wood for jerky, and an hour of Hickory is my favorite. I dont even use heat for that hour. After that it goes right into my dehydrator @ 135 till it passes the bend test. I go with 3/16th and it takes roughly 6-8 hours in my dehydrator.

yeah while doing my research on doing jerky with a wood fire in an offset smoker, most people recommend smoking for a couple hours then using a dehydrator.

I pulled some off that was slighty chewy at 4 1/2 hrs, then I pulled the last batch of after 5-6 hrs. The last is much dryer than the first batch. I like the different textures of the two.

This was a project that I've been dying to do since I built my Vertical offset. Learn how to do the low temp smokes so I can do jerky, snack sticks and other items that requires it.

I wish I did it A LOT sooner. It is the easiest thing I've done with the cooker. Always wanted to pick the right time to do it because I thought it would be a real pita. I was wrong.

I am very pleased with how it turned out. I think for jerky the smoke level is near perfect. Was slightly worried about over smoking after reading people recommended smoking for a couple hours and finishing in the dehydrator. I'm all for doing it both ways. Sometimes you just don't want to fool with a fire all day.

I used cherry wood for the entire cook. I am suppose to buy another load of the same cherry and a load of hickory sometime soon.

 

[Friedturkeyspam]

I've got two buddies telling me they're going to make sure and bring me plenty of venison this season if I will make jerky, I've always done strictly dehydration, but have been hoping to find information on smoking so thanks a bunch!
What you've done here looks fantastic!

 

[WareZdaBeef]

Your doing it the hard way with tooth picks. Its alot faster and you can smoke alot more using SS skewers and some SS wire and some lath wood with holes drilled so the skewers fit inside.
I have since tweaked my setup and my SS wire is alot tighter so it does'nt sag under the weight. I can easily smoke 10lbs at a shot.

 

[blazinfire]

Your doing it the hard way with tooth picks. Its alot faster and you can smoke alot more using SS skewers and some SS wire and some lath wood with holes drilled so the skewers fit inside.
I have since tweaked my setup and my SS wire is alot tighter so it does'nt sag under the weight. I can easily smoke 10lbs at a shot.

Nice man! That's a pretty cool set up. The tooth pick thing is a pain, but it was the only method I had at the time. I was going to use paper clips to hang from the expanded metal grates, but realized the oven racks fit right in the smoker. If I start doing this more often I'll be looking at a better set up and looks like this is a good option.

I also need to have a buddy wield in sausage hanging racks now!

 

[Skinnyv]

Nice work, my latest has been London broil hand sliced. I smoke for up to 2 hours then dehydrator.

 

[blazinfire]

I've got two buddies telling me they're going to make sure and bring me plenty of venison this season if I will make jerky, I've always done strictly dehydration, but have been hoping to find information on smoking so thanks a bunch!
What you've done here looks fantastic!

If your using a wood smoker, all you need is a small fire. As I've said its a lot easier than you think. Sure there was a time or two I've had issues with a coal bed but not enough to ruin the whole cook. You will be pleased, This is smoked jerky done right. Better than my last attempt using the WSM and charcoal.

Hope you make a lot of venison jerky. I've already got a couple people asking me to do some this year for them after trying this jerky I made today

 

[cheez59]

Very nice there buddy. I'd hit some of that in a minute.

 

[WareZdaBeef]

Nice man! That's a pretty cool set up. The tooth pick thing is a pain, but it was the only method I had at the time. I was going to use paper clips to hang from the expanded metal grates, but realized the oven racks fit right in the smoker. If I start doing this more often I'll be looking at a better set up and looks like this is a good option.

I also need to have a buddy wield in sausage hanging racks now!

Do you use cure? I use cure#1 (aka pink salt) mainly because i prefer my jerky on the spicy side and i make alot at once and its too spicy for the family which means more for me :twisted:

 

[Smoke Dawg]

Looks Great Blaze!

 

[blazinfire]

Do you use cure? I use cure#1 (aka pink salt) mainly because i prefer my jerky on the spicy side and i make alot at once and its too spicy for the family which means more for me :twisted:

I used whatever cure was with the Hi-Mountain seasoning. I haven't messed with measuring and using my own cure. I'll be looking into this for my big batch because I want to try a few different techniques.

After looking at the two places Madman linked. I want to try almost all of those seasonings. Sounds like some nice flavoring

 

[blazinfire]

Very nice there buddy. I'd hit some of that in a minute.

Looks Great Blaze!

Thanks John and Smoke Dawg. Turned out great!

 

[AussieMatt]

Looks great mate. I'm going to try a batch in my UDS, maybe hit it for 1-2 hours them throw it in the dehydrator.

 

[blazinfire]

OK well here's my final update for this thread. Now that I've slept and Its the day after. I'm trying a couple pieces of the jerky without myself being covered with smoke. It's so good. You can really taste it being smokey but it isn't a bad thing. Best thing chew, then suck on it a little bit and draw the flavors out of the jerky! The cherry wood really gives a sweeter smoke flavor it seems. I nailed it! thanks everyone for looking. Thanks for those who helped me in my previous threads to get me started on this project!

Will be seeing more of these kind of cooks in the near future!