# Are the dehydraters any good?



## pandemonium (Sep 12, 2009)

i want to try to make some jerky


----------



## mballi3011 (Sep 12, 2009)

I have made some jerky many times and I have a dehydrater. I have used it and it works good you just like anything else you habe to keepan eye on it so you don't end up with little blades of non-elible meat lookin sticks. On the other hand you don't have to use a dehydrater you can use your smoker. Now I haven't tried any yet but If you want to I'm sure someone who has will be by right shortly.


----------



## irishteabear (Sep 12, 2009)

I just bought an American Harvest Gardenmaster dehydrator (that Mikey found for me) and love it. It's quiet and does a great job. I haven't used it for jerky, yet, but have been pleased with the results on the onions, peppers and tomatoes that I have dried in it. I can highly recommend it.


----------



## eaglewing (Sep 12, 2009)

Good question,      pandemonium

I have wanted to get one myself... seen plenty on display at Cabelas and wondered if "you get what you pay for"...


----------



## pandemonium (Sep 12, 2009)

just got my food slicer and wanna try some jerky and figured this would be easier than using smoker


----------



## eaglewing (Sep 12, 2009)

What food slicer did you get...I need one of those too!!!


----------



## pandemonium (Sep 12, 2009)

the chefs choice 610, had great reviews
getting ready to slice up a turkey roast i did on the ronco rotisserie and make turkey bacon cheese lettuce and tomato samiches


----------



## tasunkawitko (Sep 12, 2009)

i've done well with the round american harvest/nesco-type dehydrators. 

until you get one, a very acceptable alternative is to use your smoker for a couple of hours to get the smoke in (i prefer a little chief for this due to the lower temps, but any smoker will do the job very well), then finish in the oven at the lowest setting with the door prpped open by a butter knife or wooden spoon. the airflow is what's most important as jerky is DRIED, not COOKED.


----------



## ddave (Sep 12, 2009)

What he said.

I use my SnP with the Afterburner and when I feel that is has had enough smoke (3 - 4 hours) I take out the wood chunks and just leave the burner going.  Kind of like an oven disguised as a smoker.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Dave


----------



## danbury (Sep 12, 2009)

I've been using the Excalibur brand dehydrator for over 10 years now.  Still using the same one and don't have any complaints at all.


I sometimes use my GOSMS, but not often anymore


----------



## richoso1 (Sep 12, 2009)

I use the american harvest round unit, and it mostly used for drying chile pods. It works very well, and is quite.


----------



## beer-b-q (Sep 12, 2009)

I have a Ronco 7 shelf and the only time I ever used it was when I bought it and I dried some chilies and some bananas in it.

It has sat in its box for the last 6 years, I thought about digging it out this year and drying some chilies again...


----------



## scarbelly (Sep 12, 2009)

I have had a 3 shelf Ronco for over 15 years - use it every so often - one of my favorite uses is to dry thinly sliced tomato to use like sun dried 
Have also done fruit leather with some success althouh I lost my favorite recipe.


----------



## kookie (Sep 12, 2009)

Hi have made jerky in the oven and in my smoker and in a dehydrater and I prefer making it in the smoker. To me it just has a better flavor and texture. Granted all I make is ground jerky. I have found in a good smoker you can make it fairly easy and quick.


----------



## pandemonium (Sep 13, 2009)

i almost bought the ronco one at target but didn't, figuring the only thing i would use it for would be jerky. it just doesn't seem right to dry out fruits? why would you want to do that to a good thing? doesn't it take out all the good vitamins and all? plus the ronco one didnt get good reviews from what i have seen.


----------



## bassman (Sep 13, 2009)

I've made tons of ground formed jerky on my Gardenmaster.  A couple of weeks ago, I did 14 trays of cured elk meat jerky.  Came out excellent.  Just set it at about 145 degrees and let it do it's magic.


----------



## hoser (Sep 13, 2009)

I still like to do my jerky in the GOSM...just can't beat that smoked flavor, and I refuse to go the liquid smoke route then dry.


----------



## dropastone (Sep 13, 2009)

Just my 2 cents. You can't get any better than doing jerky on a smoker. I've done mine on my MES for years. Here is a good tip that I got from my butcher. Weigh 1 piece on your digital kitchen scales or whatever type of scales you have and remember where that piece is on the smoker and keep checking the weight every now then. When that piece hits half the weight you started out with it's done. You could use this method with a dehydrator as well.

What ever way you decide to go will I'm sure you will be pleased with the results. Around my neck of the woods jerky runs about $20.00 a LB. So it's always best to make your own.


----------



## alx (Sep 13, 2009)

I use the excalibur 9 tray.No problems on both of mine for 4 years-i use them ALOT.I needed much more room then a smaller unit would provide.

Has a 28 hour timer and are convection fan for excellent circulation of heat-this can be a major issue with some that just heat from bottom....

Never done jerky.I dehydrate fruits,veggies for trailmix as well....besides tons of peppers,garlic,onion etc....


----------



## zopi (Sep 13, 2009)

I have the 80 qt Cabelas dehydrator....you better be serious about to blow 300 bucks, but it is a really nice piece of equipment.


----------



## jerrykr (Oct 7, 2009)

I have that American Harvester I got at Walmart a few years ago.  It has no adjustments, just On or Off.  I've tested it for temp and it runs at 160F.  Works well for Jerky IMHO.  I ususally cold smoke the jerky for a couple of hours after it comes out of the dehydrator.


----------



## scpatterson (Oct 16, 2009)

I use the Excailbur 9 trey myself and have been using it for about 8 years and have had teh same one and made no telling how many hundreds of pounds of jerky. That thing works great and gives me no trouble at all...Holds roughly 30#s raw which will yield about 10#s jerky


----------



## beer-b-q (Oct 16, 2009)

For a cheap dehydrator the RonCo works pretty good... We finally used it this summer to dry some peppers and it did an excellent job...


----------



## igolf2 (Oct 16, 2009)

I smoke first on the GOSM - then into the Ronco dehydrator to finish - works really well.


----------



## scubadoo97 (Oct 24, 2009)

I'm thinking of adding a fan to my MES vent to aid in jerky making



More info to follow


----------



## piker (Nov 1, 2009)

Recently purchased a Nesco Gardenmaster, 1000 watts with thermostat and it works great. Does 6 full trays in 4 hrs. and I do not have to rotate trays as I did on my old one. Piker


----------



## BandCollector (Nov 5, 2009)

Dehydrators are a great alternative to a smoker.  I use mine for making jerky when I do not have time to pull out the smoker.


----------



## phreak (Nov 6, 2009)

Has anyone modified a dehydrator to add a smoke pistol or something similar?  The Goodwill by my place always has dehydrators, so I was thinking about giving that a go.  Being in Florida it's often hard to get a cold smoke working.


----------



## jerrykr (Nov 6, 2009)

I have an older American Harvester I got at Walmart.  It's not heat adjustable, but I've tested it, and it runs at 160F.  I have another brand that runs cooler, and it takes forever.  It's going on Craigslist soon.  I just ordered a second American Harvester adjustable one from Walmart.  

I put my marinated jerky meat in it at around 9 PM and pull it out about 5 AM before I go to work.  My garage sure smells good all night. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






After the jerky is dried, I cold smoke it for about 3 hrs, using the tin can and soldering pencil with smoking sawdust or chips.  I guess you could get a smoke pistol or whatever, but the cheapo rig works great.

BTW: for food safety's sake, I highly recommend that you use Morton Tender Quick in their recommended amounts for the salt in your marinade.  Even tho the dehydrator runs at 160F, the meat is going to be in the USDA specified "danger zone" of 40F to 140F for a period of time while it is drying.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/...Food/index.asp

Avoid creating those nasty buggies that could make you sick.

Jerry


----------



## markmcrae (Nov 6, 2009)

I love my dehydrator for making jerky. I use it all the time and it does great.


----------



## rhino70 (Nov 6, 2009)

I have an american harvest dehydrator, and it works great for jerky.  However, I find that if you use it and want the smoke taste, you need to add liquid smoke, or some kind of granular smoke flavoring if you are doing ground jerky with a jerky shooter.  I have a little chief smoker that make jerky in, and on a cool to cold night, I can maintain about 160 in the chamber, and about 5 hours of smoke at 160 gets you some great jerky.  so i get home from work and do my prep setting up the smoker at 4:00 or so, smoking by 5, you've got finished jerky by bedtime, plus then you don't have to dirty the smoker AND the dehydrator.  

That is my personal preference, but as far as the dehydrators, you can still turn out some great jerky with them, and most of them you can just set and forget.  I would advise setting a timer though and checking it a few times towards the end of the dehydration time.  Learned that one the hard way.  :)  Good luck with the jerky regardless of the way you get there!!


----------



## twinfallsid (Nov 17, 2009)

This $96 Square Dehydrator works better for jerky than the round type:

http://www.beefjerky.com/catalog/dehydrator.html


Cheers!
Greg


----------

