# First Jerky attempt in my converted fridge smoker



## unionguynw (Dec 3, 2012)

Got my smoker done and decided to try my first load of jerky. 

Purchased 6lbs of "espaldilla" from a local mexican market that was sliced to about 1/8".  I believe espaldilla is from the shoulder.  It ran me $2.99/lb.

I trimmed right under a lb of fat from my original 6lbs.

I used a recipe that Nepas had posted in an earlier thread with a few tweeks (my tweeks are in red):

3 TBS non-iodized salt

1 TSP cure #1

1 TBS garlic granules

1 TBS ginger powder

1 TBS ground mustard seed

1 TBS black pepper (I used 1/2 TBS fresh ground black pepper and 1/2 TBS white pepper)

1 TBS onion powder ( I added this based on past jerky experiments)

1/2 cup red wine (I subbed 1/2 cup Kikoman Teriyaki Sauce as I didn't have any red wine)

1 cup soy sauce

2 cups clear corn syrup (I subbed 2 cups Yoshida's sauce since I didn't have corn syrup)

1 1/2 cups water

Mixed dry ingredients well and then added wet in a large ceramic bowl.

Added trimmed meat, mixed well and into the fridge covered with plastic wrap.  Mixed a few times and let it soak overnight.

In the am I dumped the meat into a strainer and let it drain while I readied my racks and preheated the smoker.

I loaded the racks. With this marinade I feel like patting the meat dry before placing it on the racks was not necessary. I tried blotting on rack load with paper towels prior to putting it in the smoker and I could not tell any difference between the blotted/non-blotted.

Now time for the experiments!  I had several different grinds of peppers from my garden: Smoked then dehydrated jalapeno, plain dehydrated jalapeno, and dehydrated habanero. I left 2 racks plain and sprinkled some of the peppers on the other pieces.

I loaded the smoker with the racks and had my PID set to 115 for 1 hour.













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__ unionguynw
__ Dec 3, 2012


















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After 1hr at 115 I stuck my AMNPS in with one row loaded with a mix of Hickory and Apple pellets and my PID bumped the temp up to 135 for 2 hours.

After 2hrs of smoke I pulled out the AMNPS and the PID bumped the temp to 160 to finish.

I then mixed 1/2cup Yoshida with 1/2cup brown sugar, heated in the microwave, and brushed this on one rack to glaze it.

I pulled 2 racks at 5hrs and the other 2 at 7hrs (after the bend test).  Looks like I'll have to try running multiple temp probes and see what my temp differences are from top to bottom.

Finished product:

Glazed with Yoshida













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__ unionguynw
__ Dec 3, 2012






Unglazed













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__ Dec 3, 2012






After smoking, the meat weighed in at 2.8lbs.  So l lost about 44% moisture. 

I was pretty darn happy with the outcome!  I can't say that one was better than the other.  The glazed was a little sweeter and the different peppers all had their own heat/taste.  I won't change much about my process in the future.

I did have one concern that hopefully someone can chime in on- I had a lot of condensation dripping from the elbow in my stack.  Not sure if I should be concerned or not?  I feel like my airflow was good as the few times I opened the door while the AMNPS was running I wasn't choked by smoke and the stack seemed to be exhausting TBS, not white billowing clouds. Here's a couple pictures of my stack set-up for reference:













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__ Dec 3, 2012


















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__ unionguynw
__ Nov 21, 2012






It exits in the center of the rear at the top. 

Thanks to all that have given jerky advice on here.  I gleaned a little from each of the hundreds of posts I read prior to this attempt.  Special thanks to Nepas for the teriyaki recipe!


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## daveomak (Dec 4, 2012)

UG, morning..... Great job on the jerky.....Looks good....

About the drip from the exhaust stack....   I would totally remove it...  reason 1, it is not needed...  2, You have an insulated smoke chamber, keeps the air, smoke, moisture warm.....  Once it all hits the stack, it cools off and condenses..   The length of stack you have, the colder air mix is slowing the exhaust because of it's density as the temp drops....   Maybe stick a short chunk,2-3" in the back of the smoker so moisture does not drip down the outside and can be caught in some sort of container.... I would not use the elbow if this option is used.....  

The other option, totally insulate the stack...  That will increase the air flow through the smoker and "maybe" condensate will not form in the stack....


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## unionguynw (Dec 4, 2012)

Thanks for the tip Dave, I'll give that a shot on my next smoke. If I remove the stack should I damper the 4" hole at the back of the smoker?


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## daveomak (Dec 4, 2012)

Yes, That would keep the starlings out of it...  Or you could just plug it when not in use.....  But leave it totally open when smoking....  Good smoked grub needs air flow and thin blue smoke...  Too much smoke can be cured with lots more air to dilute it....


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## smokinhusker (Dec 4, 2012)

Looks fantastic! Nice job!


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## driedstick (Dec 4, 2012)

Looks great.


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## 1beezer (Dec 5, 2012)

A friend of mine uses old Philco refridgerators as smokers. He opened it up all the way to the ground and starts a fire in the bottom on the ground and uses fresh sassafras for the wood.

Remember that song from the 60's Hot Smoke and Sassafras by The Bubble Puppy? It may one of the only things I remember from the 60's :)


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## diggingdogfarm (Dec 5, 2012)

Very nice!


~Martin


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## roller (Dec 5, 2012)

Looks good and nice smoker...


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## tom walker (Dec 6, 2012)

I know a lot of jerky makers that don't do half as good looking a product as you do, Uni.

Hmmm, now I'm wondering about process. What flavor Mr. Yoshida do you use?

I always soak my prepped strips at least 24 hours in whatever flavor I'm using before they go on the dryer.

(No, I have not done smoked jerky yet. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






   Soon, I promise.)

Anywho, nice job. Keep it up!


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## unionguynw (Dec 6, 2012)

Tom Walker said:


> I know a lot of jerky makers that don't do half as good looking a product as you do, Uni.
> Hmmm, now I'm wondering about process. What flavor Mr. Yoshida do you use?
> 
> I always soak my prepped strips at least 24 hours in whatever flavor I'm using before they go on the dryer.
> ...


Thanks for the compliment! I use the Yoshida Original Gourmet Sauce from Costco. I soaked this batch for 12 hours and the flavor was excellent. Just stuck 10 more lbs in the smoker a few minutes ago. Damn this stuff gets eaten quick!


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## big game cook (Dec 8, 2012)

that fridge smoker looks pretty cool. pardon the pun lol. nice job. the jerky looks tasty too.


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## tom walker (Dec 8, 2012)

With the economy going to pot, I need to ask:

Is there a sustainable market for jerkey?

I've been looking at maybe starting a second business with a hot dog cart but jerkey sounds less time constarining.

Feedback please.














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__ tom walker
__ Nov 19, 2012


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## shannon127 (Dec 8, 2012)

I think you did a fabulous job with both the smoker and the jerky.


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## mneeley490 (Dec 8, 2012)

About the condensed drip from the smokestack: I know I get the same thing from my fridge conversion. According to Alton Brown, that is exactly what gets captured and put into little bottles, then sold as "liquid smoke". So we may actually have a usuable by-product there.


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## sirhuntsalot (Dec 8, 2012)

I use my fridge smoker for jerky as well. I'm thinking of making a small fan for the air intake to mover the air in the smoker out a little better. Jerky making produces lots of moisture and I think this would help to get it out. Something like a small computer fan should be big enough I think. I have put a floor fan next to the intake.


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## unionguynw (Dec 9, 2012)

Thanks for all the compliments!  It's pretty damn satisfying to build something something yourself and then turn out some damn good eats! 

As far as the condensation goes I followed the advice given by DaveOmak and it made a big difference in the amount of liquid dripping from my stack. But I don't think it affected my jerky much either way. I think as long as you can keep the smoke drafting so that you don't have stale smoke sitting in your smoker and keep the temps low enough to properly dry the meat you'll be golden. If the smoke drafts, the moisture must me drafting also. 

I am losing over 40% of my pre-marinaded weight. That's a lot of moisture! And that's smoking with a 40 degree outside temp with close to 100% humidity.

They sell a fan that will fit my 4" exhaust, but I don't think I have need it.


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## westby (Dec 10, 2012)

I've got one hint for you that would allow you to smoke a lot more jerky at one time.  We purchased 1/8" stainless steel rod that was cut to the width of our expanded metal trays.  We remove the trays when we do jerkey and hang the rods strung with jerky across the angle iron we use as tray holders.  This should allow you do do about triple the batch at one time with great results.


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## bsimm78 (Dec 10, 2012)

Good job!  I'm about done with my fridge smoker and can't wait to try your recipe!


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## imjesse1 (Dec 31, 2012)

I like the look of the glaze, how and when should this be done???


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## imjesse1 (Dec 31, 2012)

westby said:


> I've got one hint for you that would allow you to smoke a lot more jerky at one time.  We purchased 1/8" stainless steel rod that was cut to the width of our expanded metal trays.  We remove the trays when we do jerkey and hang the rods strung with jerky across the angle iron we use as tray holders.  This should allow you do do about triple the batch at one time with great results.


I tried that, it seemed when I hung it , the moisture flowed to the bottom end of the hanging meat ant the top was overdone...

Is there a way to prevent this from happening


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## westby (Jan 3, 2013)

I can't say that I have had that happen yet.  We tend to do a relatively quick smoke - temps in the 180 range with no added water and dampers almost wide open.  We typically have a batch done in about 4-5 hours depending on outside temps.


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## unionguynw (Jan 3, 2013)

imjesse1 said:


> I like the look of the glaze, how and when should this be done???


What worked best for me was mixing equal parts of Yoshida with brown sugar, heating that in the microwave to melt the sugar, and brushing on about 3 hours in.


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