Nesco American Harvest dehydrator

[buffalosmoke]

I recently bought one these dehydrators. The 700 watt, adjustable temp model...and I'm pretty happy with it. We've done a fair amount of fruits and vegetables with it. I used to have an older dehydrator with no fan, and I'm not sure how many watts it was either. I used to make a ton of jerky in that thing though. Never used a cure either...but I didn't even know about cures back then....this was like back before Al Gore invented the internet....didn't have great forums like this!

Anyhow, I used the new dehydrator for jerky today, and I can't believe how quickly the jerky is done! I think it took about 5 hours total. I did both hand cut strips, and some home ground beef through a jerky gun. The old unit used to take forever to dry jerky....at least 12 hours or more.

The manual says to do jerky at 160 degrees....anybody think thats too high? What temps are you guys doing jerky at?

Thanks

 

[rbranstner]

I had our same experience. My old man use to make jerkey all the time with a dehydrator without a fan it would take forever. Now with the one I have with a fan it is done in 4-5 hours. I don't have a temp setting on mine though.

 

[buffalosmoke]

Yeah....it's a good thing I checked on it. I was just gonna let it go and check it after six hours or so. It'll be nice not having to wait all day for some jerky...I'll make it more often now.

 

[thunderdome]

I have the exact same dehydrator

I have yet to master the timing, and shifting of shelves to get an equally consistent product

It all turns out good, but i think it could be better.

I ordered a TON of cure and spice off their website too. The original jerky flavor is fantastic

 

[jaxgatorz]

I just got the square one ( fd-80) i think...Got 2 extra trays and had all 6 full of jerky..Didnt have to switch trays around for even drying...It seemed to do just fine without it...Havent tried fruit yet but would be interestd in any ideas for doing fruit in them..Thx in advance..

 

[smokingriley]

I have the same dehydrator, got it for Christmas. I have done about 15 pounds of London Broil and turned out excellent. Last Weekend I bought the Jerky Cannon and did 5 pounds of jerky and 5 pounds of snack sticks. Still haven't mastered the timing yet but they turned out good. I have been setting mine a 160 and it seems to work good? I also rotate my shelves about every 1.5 hours. The reason I do that is because I read it somewhere?

 

[meateater]

My Ye Olde Nesco hits 155*, it's been working good for me,I usually back it down to about 145* . I dont use cures also. Been thinking about a better unit this ones about worn out.

 

[buffalosmoke]

I didn't rotate my trays at all....heck I didn't even check on it until it was almost too late. It all looked evenly dried too. There was a cure in this jerky.

Fruit is easy....it helps to have a slicer or mandoline to get all the slices the same thickness.

 

[bassman]

Mine is quite old so I don't know if the directions have changed. In my book, the 160 is referring to pork, chicken or turkey. The recipe for beef jerky says meats should be dried at 145 to 150 degrees. I used to make tons of ground meat jerky (elk and deer) without using any cure. I didn't realize than that it would kill me so just kept making and eating it.