Bob Correll
R.I.P. 3/31/2022
Note to Chris, feel free to move this if you think it should be posted under a different topic.
Smoked Beef Jerky Made at Home—Safely
Smoked Beef Jerky Made at Home—Safely
Excellent jerky making tips from ThermoWorks
- Thread starter Bob Correll
- Start date
Rich Dahl
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Thanks for sharing Bob, that's what I've been looking for. We just picked up a 3lb bottom round yesterday at the store for $2.97 a pound. Wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but now I got a plan. It's getting warmer here ( in the mid 70s for the next ten days) time to get back at it.
Here's an oldie but still a goodie, I think:
Kevi's Jerky - The BBQ Guru
And an old but still useful thread on the subject:
Jerky on the WSM....
Kevi's Jerky - The BBQ Guru
And an old but still useful thread on the subject:
Jerky on the WSM....
I have some questions about using the WSM to make mass quantities of jerky. I like the pizza screen idea mentioned at the Kevi's Jerky link. I found a place online that sells restaurant style pizza screens for very reasonable prices. At least they seemed reasonable to me when I thought about how much I'd be saving on jerky if I bought a bunch of them.
I'm a bit concerned, though, about what I see as conflicting issues with maintaining very low temperatures for a long time and simultaneously wanting good air flow to carry away the moisture. Good air flow would seem to mean leaving the vents open as much as possible. The last time I did brisket I maintained about 180F for the first four hours with a full ring of charcoal, but only by having just one bottom vent open just a crack. Not what I'd consider a high air flow situation. I'm thinking the only way to maintain 150F and keep the air flowing is to do a snake. But I have no idea how to keep a snake going for 12 hours. I would love to hear how any of you have tackled this problem.
Creative ideas on getting as much jerky in the WSM as possible would also be welcome. Rather than using both top and bottom grates, I was thinking it might be better to use just the bottom one and keep stacking the pizza screens on top of each other. You'd need to use substantial spacers (like the wood blocks in the Kevi's Jerky article) and be sure they're centered over each other so the load goes through the blocks and not through the pizza screens. The only other thought that comes to mind is to use all-thread and spend forever spinning down nuts to support the screens. The benefit of that is the whole thing could be moved as one structure and wouldn't fall like a tower of wooden blocks if it got bumped, though I have fears it could take hours to assemble it.
I'm a bit concerned, though, about what I see as conflicting issues with maintaining very low temperatures for a long time and simultaneously wanting good air flow to carry away the moisture. Good air flow would seem to mean leaving the vents open as much as possible. The last time I did brisket I maintained about 180F for the first four hours with a full ring of charcoal, but only by having just one bottom vent open just a crack. Not what I'd consider a high air flow situation. I'm thinking the only way to maintain 150F and keep the air flowing is to do a snake. But I have no idea how to keep a snake going for 12 hours. I would love to hear how any of you have tackled this problem.
Creative ideas on getting as much jerky in the WSM as possible would also be welcome. Rather than using both top and bottom grates, I was thinking it might be better to use just the bottom one and keep stacking the pizza screens on top of each other. You'd need to use substantial spacers (like the wood blocks in the Kevi's Jerky article) and be sure they're centered over each other so the load goes through the blocks and not through the pizza screens. The only other thought that comes to mind is to use all-thread and spend forever spinning down nuts to support the screens. The benefit of that is the whole thing could be moved as one structure and wouldn't fall like a tower of wooden blocks if it got bumped, though I have fears it could take hours to assemble it.