Smoking Jerky

190° is to hot. try 155°-160° also you need to check and make sure that your set temp is correct. A lot of them are off right out of the box. No you don't want to use water in the pan when you are trying to dry. A lot of us use sand or gravel in the pan wrapped in foil for all temps. You didn't say what you were using for ingredients. Try cooking a piece in a pan and see if you like the flavor. If not then try something else.

Happy smoken.

David

PS 

I agree with TM69 190 is to hot . I start at about 135 -140 so it has time to get some smoke through it and increase to maybe 160 max.

Also I stopped using a dry ingredient mix. I slice the meat about 1/4" thick and soak it in a brine mixture for at least 24 hrs. sometimes up to 3 days depending on when I get a chance to fire up the smoker. I don't worry about internal temp. ( hard to probe a 1/4" thick meat ) instead I

do the pull test - when it pulls apart and is stringy so to speak its ready. You have to watch closely -I have had batches go from to moist to it breaking like hard candy being hit with a hammer in a heart beat !! Practice makes perfect .

Heres my brine

2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

2/3 cup soy sauce

2 tsp. ground black pepper

2 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. liquid smoke

1 tsp. red pepper flake

1 TBS honey

hope this helps - have fun

You definitely need to use another probe to monitor the CC temp. I always use a cure when making jerky,cooking at them low temps I would rather be safe. As stated when it bends a little it should be done.