# How about cold smoking some jerky then putting it in dehydrator????



## jeff 1 (Sep 14, 2011)

I have some jerky soaking in my marinade,  this time I left out the liqued smoke becuase I want to hit it with some cold smoke from the amazn,  either dust or pellets, and then put  in dehydrator.  Anyhow I put cure in the marinade so that wont be an issue.   I was going to probably smoke it on the dehydrator trays so I dont have to transfer the meat,  just not sure if it will all fit in my smoker so I may need to do it in 2 batchs or make a big cardboard box.  I did have the idea to smoke the dehydrator and all with it on and in a big box but I dont want all that smoke getting all on the fan and heatng element so I nixed that idea.

I dont figure it should need much time in the smoke,  maybe and hour or two depending on output. 

Any suggestions???


----------



## nwdave (Sep 14, 2011)

I just did up 8 lbs of beef nuggets (Veri Veri Terkiyaki and Tender Quick for 30 hours swim in the fridge)  and cold smoked them for just shy of 3 hours (AMNPS with Todd's hickory pellet's, of course) in my BB GOSM, then dehydrated until satisfactorily finished.  I personally felt the smoke was just a tad heavy but SWMBO didn't so, go figure.  I'll go about 2 1/2 next time.  I also used stainless cooling grates, fine mesh for the nuggets in the smoker, then transferred to the dehydrator grates ( I have a pair of Excalibur's) just because the exposure to all that smoke might tint the dehydrator grates unpleasantly.  I use the dehydrator quite a bit and don't want to mix the two disciplines if you know what I mean.  There's really no hard and fast rules here.  Next time it'll Todd's Pure Pellets and about 2 1/2 hours.


----------



## bluebombersfan (Sep 14, 2011)

How much cure did you guys use in your jerky??


----------



## roller (Sep 14, 2011)

I do not see any problems doing it that way. I just smoke mine at 150* till its done with no problem.


----------



## jeff 1 (Sep 14, 2011)

BlueBombersfan said:


> How much cure did you guys use in your jerky??


I used 1 tsp of insta cure #1 in about 1/3 gallon of marinade


----------



## nwdave (Sep 15, 2011)

I used Tender Quick (TQ) and it's 1 tablespoon per pound of meat.  This is not the same cure as Jeff 1 uses.  His is Insta Cure #1, the pink stuff.  Nothing wrong with either cure, just can't mix the proportions.  I mixed my TQ with the teriyaki sauce before adding the sauce to the meat.  That insures a better blend for the marinade/cure mix.  Then I stirred the meat up, about every 4 hours, (when I thought of it).  SPECIAL NOTE:  WHILE TENDER QUICK AND INSTA CURE #1 ARE CURES, THEY ARE NOT THE SAME TYPE OF CURE.  BE SURE TO READ AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY FOR THE TYPE OF CURE YOU USE.  IF YOU'RE NOT SURE, DON'T GO ANY FURTHER UNTIL YOU CHECK HERE.  WE WANT YOU TO TELL US HOW GREAT THE JERKY WAS, NOT A REPORT OF HOW SICK YOUR FAMILY GOT FROM EATING THE JERKY.   Off the soap box now.


----------



## jeff 1 (Sep 15, 2011)

well I have 7 trays in the smoker,  I was worried I wouldnt get them all in there but I did.  I am using a mix of hickory, apple, and cherry pellets in Todds pellet smoker ( I love that thing ).   It set in the marinade for about 28 hours being turned and what not everytime I was near the fridge.  I put it on the dehydrator first on super low heat to get it to dry the outside and form a stiky layer like I do on everything that is going to be cold smoked and then put it in the smoker.  After about 2.5 hours of smoke its going back onto the dehydrator.  It is smelling good, I wanted to eat it raw


----------



## bluebombersfan (Sep 15, 2011)

Jeff 1 said:


> well I have 7 trays in the smoker,  I was worried I wouldnt get them all in there but I did.  I am using a mix of hickory, apple, and cherry pellets in Todds pellet smoker ( I love that thing ).   It set in the marinade for about 28 hours being turned and what not everytime I was near the fridge.  I put it on the dehydrator first on super low heat to get it to dry the outside and form a stiky layer like I do on everything that is going to be cold smoked and then put it in the smoker.  After about 2.5 hours of smoke its going back onto the dehydrator.  It is smelling good, I wanted to eat it raw


Sounds awesome!!  Did you rinse it off first or just let it dry a bit??


----------



## jeff 1 (Sep 15, 2011)

BlueBombersfan said:


> Sounds awesome!!  Did you rinse it off first or just let it dry a bit??


just let it dry for 1.5 hours on 120 in the dehydrator before putting in smoker.  No need to rinse with the marinade I make as I dont use any salt other then what is in the soy sauce and the insta cure is minimal.   It consist of soy sauce as the base with apple cider vinager, L&P, red wine, brown sugar, light corn syrup,  black pepper, red chile pepper,  white pepper, mixed pepper blend, garlic powder, onion powder, cardomon, coriander, and thyme.  I ground all spices and herbs in an electric spice grinder to a real fine powder,  And then added it to the liqued and brewed it all together for 30 min on low heat.   Doing it like this really gets everything to break down, disolve and combine  really well.  I then let the marinade cool  and put it in the freezer to get it cold before soaking the meat.


----------



## bfelgar (Sep 16, 2011)

Can't you do the entire process in the smoker, eliminating the dehydrator transfer?  Maybe take the chip loader out and rig a fan next to it?


----------



## bluebombersfan (Sep 16, 2011)

NWDave said:


> I used Tender Quick (TQ) and it's 1 tablespoon per pound of meat.  This is not the same cure as Jeff 1 uses.  His is Insta Cure #1, the pink stuff.  Nothing wrong with either cure, just can't mix the proportions.  I mixed my TQ with the teriyaki sauce before adding the sauce to the meat.  That insures a better blend for the marinade/cure mix.  Then I stirred the meat up, about every 4 hours, (when I thought of it).  SPECIAL NOTE:  WHILE TENDER QUICK AND INSTA CURE #1 ARE CURES, THEY ARE NOT THE SAME TYPE OF CURE.  BE SURE TO READ AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY FOR THE TYPE OF CURE YOU USE.  IF YOU'RE NOT SURE, DON'T GO ANY FURTHER UNTIL YOU CHECK HERE.  WE WANT YOU TO TELL US HOW GREAT THE JERKY WAS, NOT A REPORT OF HOW SICK YOUR FAMILY GOT FROM EATING THE JERKY.   Off the soap box now.


I thought that was 1 TBSP per pound of whole muscle meat.  I thought for ground mear and sliced jerky it was 1 1/2 TSP. per pound?

Brian


----------



## nwdave (Sep 16, 2011)

The beef nuggets are NOT ground meat.  They are square chunks of meat approximately 1 1/4 inch square.  Consequently, I follow the quidelines for whole muscle meat.  Further, since we know the weight of this product, I don't use a "spoon" measure, but weight and not in ounces but grams, so I can get the measure exactly correct.  Part of the habit I've developed from the exactness required for making bacon.  I know how accurate my scale is because I have a friend who works in weights and measures enforcement so I borrowed some exact weight items to check my scale with.  Anal?  You betcha when you're dealing with cures.


----------



## bluebombersfan (Sep 16, 2011)

NWDave said:


> The beef nuggets are NOT ground meat.  They are square chunks of meat approximately 1 1/4 inch square.  Consequently, I follow the quidelines for whole muscle meat.  Further, since we know the weight of this product, I don't use a "spoon" measure, but weight and not in ounces but grams, so I can get the measure exactly correct.  Part of the habit I've developed from the exactness required for making bacon.  I know how accurate my scale is because I have a friend who works in weights and measures enforcement so I borrowed some exact weight items to check my scale with.  Anal?  You betcha when you're dealing with cures.


Sounds good,  I have made a lot of jerky before I got into smoking and I never used cure.  Now I just want to make sure I am doing it right and adding the right amount.  Sounds like you have got it down.  The beef nuggets sure sound good!!  Any pics of them??  I have a couple of venison steaks that would work nice for these!!!

Thanks,

Brian


----------



## jeff 1 (Sep 18, 2011)

bfelgar said:


> Can't you do the entire process in the smoker, eliminating the dehydrator transfer?  Maybe take the chip loader out and rig a fan next to it?


I may try that some time but it wasnt practical for this batch,  it was a large batch and it was started in the eavning and I had to work the next day.  A lot easier to put it on my dehydrator and put it on a timer.  plus it keeps a constant temp and dries evenly.    I may try it sometime but I will need to do some things in order for it to work properly I am sure,  btw my smoker is a modded out ECB with 1 front door and I use it for all my cold smokes with  amzn dust and pellet smokers.


----------

