I hope this is in the right section because I need help!
Before I get started let me say this: This may get a little long winded; and I have smoked some briskets (only meat I have smoked, I am an amateur at best) they have always come out good in the stock analog masterbuilt smoker.
so after reading this site about my smoker and talking to Todd at amazing products llc; I decided to go ahead and drill one hole on the side that my analog dial plugs into and one hole on the opposite side both 1/2 inch in size using a step bit, and then I drilled another hole on the opposite side of the stock vent hole in the back of the smoker, and then drilled six holes in the wood chip pan. and put in some hickory chips with no water and gave it a test run and was very happy with the way it smoked. But did not have any food in it on the test run.
MY PROBLEM
I have made jerky a lot mostly deer and beef, but I will make jerky out of just about anything (all in a dehydrator). I love the smoked flavor and have a friend whose dad makes awesome smoked goose jerky (out of a cookshack) so I did a little searching on here and thought heck I will give it a try; ordered me an AMNPS package and got it the other day (super fast!) so I pulled out some venison and got it marinated overnight and this morning I loaded up the smoker. I did put foil on the bottom of my smoker (never have done this) and did NOT poke a hole for the drip pan, just left it solid foil on the bottom.
and as you can see from the picture I have the AMNPS going good and no foil tent on it, i figured I didnt need one because im drying the meat and figured it would not drip much. Boy was I wrong...
So it is smoking good about a half hour into it and I am happy as a clam and thinking this is going to be great, well about an hour later I was watching it pretty close) I noticed it was just billowing out white smoke, so I thought well thats not normal and opened the smoker and found this:
So I took the AMNPS out of the smoker and cleaned it out and put new pellets in there in two rows and then started it back up and took some tin foil and covered it this time and stuck it back in the smoker.
well I still had a couple hours smoke time and I had been using a laser thermometer to check the temps by opening the door and shooting the laser in there and I kept getting fluctuations and figured this is probably the worst way possible to check temps, so my dad told me he had gotten an email from cabelas saying his internet order was in and asked if I wanted to go up there and so I did to get me a thermometer and I picked up a maverick ET-73 (which by the way I think is awesome, it has a remote!!!) so I opened the door to place the thermometer in there and noticed the AMNPS had jumped rows and both rows where burning but I figured I only had about an hour max left so I just let it go.
I pulled my jerky out and let it sit for about 30 minutes and tried a piece and it was the absolute worst jerky I have ever had..
Could this be because I did not cover the AMNPS and the white smoke was creosote and was going on for longer than I thought it had been which once I saw the white smoke billowing out I opened the door?
or did I just have too many new things going on lack of experience on a smoker to begin with and that was the end result?
I wish I could better describe what it taste like but it is bad and I mean really bad.....
once I got my maverick I figured out I was smoking at around 190-200 degrees F which is way too hot for jerky in a dehydrator so I would assume this would hold true for a smoker too. In my dehydrator I dry it at 165 for an hour and then nock it down to 155 or 160 depending how thick it is and how i want it or around that temp.
any suggestions or tips on what you guys think I did wrong or what to do or not to do next time for better results?
any help, advice or comments would be appreciated and I thank you ahead of time.
Before I get started let me say this: This may get a little long winded; and I have smoked some briskets (only meat I have smoked, I am an amateur at best) they have always come out good in the stock analog masterbuilt smoker.
so after reading this site about my smoker and talking to Todd at amazing products llc; I decided to go ahead and drill one hole on the side that my analog dial plugs into and one hole on the opposite side both 1/2 inch in size using a step bit, and then I drilled another hole on the opposite side of the stock vent hole in the back of the smoker, and then drilled six holes in the wood chip pan. and put in some hickory chips with no water and gave it a test run and was very happy with the way it smoked. But did not have any food in it on the test run.
MY PROBLEM
I have made jerky a lot mostly deer and beef, but I will make jerky out of just about anything (all in a dehydrator). I love the smoked flavor and have a friend whose dad makes awesome smoked goose jerky (out of a cookshack) so I did a little searching on here and thought heck I will give it a try; ordered me an AMNPS package and got it the other day (super fast!) so I pulled out some venison and got it marinated overnight and this morning I loaded up the smoker. I did put foil on the bottom of my smoker (never have done this) and did NOT poke a hole for the drip pan, just left it solid foil on the bottom.
and as you can see from the picture I have the AMNPS going good and no foil tent on it, i figured I didnt need one because im drying the meat and figured it would not drip much. Boy was I wrong...
So it is smoking good about a half hour into it and I am happy as a clam and thinking this is going to be great, well about an hour later I was watching it pretty close) I noticed it was just billowing out white smoke, so I thought well thats not normal and opened the smoker and found this:
So I took the AMNPS out of the smoker and cleaned it out and put new pellets in there in two rows and then started it back up and took some tin foil and covered it this time and stuck it back in the smoker.
well I still had a couple hours smoke time and I had been using a laser thermometer to check the temps by opening the door and shooting the laser in there and I kept getting fluctuations and figured this is probably the worst way possible to check temps, so my dad told me he had gotten an email from cabelas saying his internet order was in and asked if I wanted to go up there and so I did to get me a thermometer and I picked up a maverick ET-73 (which by the way I think is awesome, it has a remote!!!) so I opened the door to place the thermometer in there and noticed the AMNPS had jumped rows and both rows where burning but I figured I only had about an hour max left so I just let it go.
I pulled my jerky out and let it sit for about 30 minutes and tried a piece and it was the absolute worst jerky I have ever had..
Could this be because I did not cover the AMNPS and the white smoke was creosote and was going on for longer than I thought it had been which once I saw the white smoke billowing out I opened the door?
or did I just have too many new things going on lack of experience on a smoker to begin with and that was the end result?
I wish I could better describe what it taste like but it is bad and I mean really bad.....
once I got my maverick I figured out I was smoking at around 190-200 degrees F which is way too hot for jerky in a dehydrator so I would assume this would hold true for a smoker too. In my dehydrator I dry it at 165 for an hour and then nock it down to 155 or 160 depending how thick it is and how i want it or around that temp.
any suggestions or tips on what you guys think I did wrong or what to do or not to do next time for better results?
any help, advice or comments would be appreciated and I thank you ahead of time.
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