# First time making jerky in the smoker (Q-view to follow soon)



## ihocky2 (Jan 11, 2012)

Hi everybody, I have a venison hind quarter thawing in my fridge right now and will be picking up a pack of the Hi Mountain Jerky Seasoning either tonight or tomorrow night. I just want to run my plan by everybody to get a little feedback before i get too far into this. I got a MES 40 for Christmas and other than seasoning this will be my first run in it and my first run making jerky in a smoker.

My current plan is to slice up the meat and season according to the Hi Mountain instructions. This kit uses a dry cure, so I will let it cure for 24 hours per the instructions. Once cured I plan to hang the meat on skewers in the smoker. This is where I run into a few questions. The instructions say to smoke at 200* for 2 hours. After reading through a lot of the posts here I am thinking about changing this a little. I am thinking about running it at 170* for 1 hour with no smoke to cook out a lot of the moisture and then adding wood to smoke until it is dried to my liking. Since it is thin strips of jerky I know there is pretty much no way to test the IT of it. Does this sounds like a decent plan or should I maybe go a little cooler or even a little hotter?

Also, I am probably going to do two small runs since I have about 10 gallons of pieces of apple wood and about 5 gallons a peach wood and will try a run with each to see if I notice a difference or if one is better than the other. The peach is a trunk from a tree that is about 4-6 inches in diameter and the apple ranges from thumb sized pieces to stuff about 3 inches in diameter. The smaller pieces I am thinking to just add in as is. The bigger stuff, should I split down to thumb sized as well or go smaller? Does it make a difference in flavor if I leave the bark on?

I have also read about varying temperatures throughout the smoker and saw someone mention putting a baking pan at the bottom will help even out the heat. Will that work, I could also use that as my drip tray?


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## solaryellow (Jan 11, 2012)

I would go a little cooler on the drying time. 120-130*F. I would follow the instructions for the hot smoking time though since you are using wild game.

I don't have a MES otherwise I would take a stab at the 2nd group of questions.

Good luck!


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## garyinmd (Jan 11, 2012)

If you look at a bag of chips (not chunks) in the store I would not have them much bigger if at all.  The MES is insulated pretty well so the element does not run a lot so if they are too large you might not get them to smoke.

Gary


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## ldrus (Jan 11, 2012)

i just did  some beef jerky in my mes 30  ran temps at 150/160 took 7hrs


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## smokinhusker (Jan 12, 2012)

I use the Hi Country Jerky seasonings when making jerky but do not follow their high temps. I have a 30" MES and start out at 120-130 to dry it out to the touch, then bump temp to 150 and start adding smoke for a couple hours, then bump to 160-170 to finish it off to where it will bend and have the white fibers visible (per their instructions). Depending on the weather, it usually takes 7-8 hours. Good luck and can't wait to find out the results!


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## neut68 (Oct 8, 2012)

SmokinHusker,

 I am going to be smoking a bunch of Venison jerky for the first time on my MES 30 this weekend and was wondering how long it takes for the jerky to become "dry to the touch"??  Is there a reason you dry to touch before you smoke? I am using the AMPS and was wondering what type of wood you would recommend? If i dont have it i need to call Todd and have some shipped to me before weekend rolls around. Thanks for you help..


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## ihocky2 (Oct 9, 2012)

Meat generally does not take the smoke as well when it is still wet. As it starts to dry is when it picks up the most smoke. I just run smoke the whole time. For venison jerky I have used oak and apple and peach. The apple and peach have a much milder flavor if you want it less smokey. The oak is along the lines of hickory.


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## neut68 (Oct 9, 2012)

ihocky2,

 Thank you for the input... I am looking forward to the smoke this weekend..


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## da maxx (Oct 9, 2012)

ihocky2, I have the MES30 vs. MES40. I've done about 15-20 batches of beef jerky. The MES30 doesn't produce, well, below 200 degrees. The AMNPS is perfect when making jerky or cold smoking. Just a thought.


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## da maxx (Oct 9, 2012)

I should read my posting better before hitting the "submit" button. I meant to say it doesn't produce "smoke", well below 200 degrees.


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