Black Pepper Jerky

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
wow PineB! Great story and good for you.  Thank you for your Service!  PM me or do you advertise on this site?  Love to try some! Also,Ryan, great job on your Jerky.  More fantastic ideas and use of smoke!

Ken
I'll shoot you a PM. And thank you for the support. We all wish we could have done more though. Currently no, I don't advertise here.
 
Last edited:
Good job man. I sell my jerky online and locally along with other BBQ and do some catering. A one man show but it's taken off like wildfire. I'm in NJ and have orders coming in from North Pole and Kodiak Alaska. I use eye of round personally and I sell anywhere from 25-35 dollars a lb depending on the flavor, items needed for the brine and custom orders. I've seen people on here who say it's impossible to smoke jerky. That's not true. I've had nothing but 5 star reviews and people say it's the best they've ever had. I cut with the grain to give it a nice chew. My most recent brine recipe is a honey bourbon and had someone order 5 lbs. I'm a one man operation with 3 smokers and I stay busy. It's almost 3 am and I'm babysitting 2 smokers at once. From a combat injury I can't work, but I can be self employed. I truly love everything about it. It's very satisfying to butcher a 15 lb slab of beef and turn it into something that people love and repeatedly order. Great job and keep it up!
Thank you for your service! Honey bourbon sounds tasty, I plan on doing some with the grain, just gota figure out a way to rig the smoker to get some decent length pieces. I don't know if I would make any profit in your position. I'd eat all the product lol.

wow PineB! Great story and good for you.  Thank you for your Service!  PM me or do you advertise on this site?  Love to try some! Also,Ryan, great job on your Jerky.  More fantastic ideas and use of smoke!

Ken
Thanks! I enjoyed my second batch more but I like everything spicy. Working on some ideas for a sweet and spicy recipe now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pinebarrensbbq
I use long skewers and hang all the jerky. It really does make a difference since it's hanging and all sides get the same amount of heat and smoke as well as allowing for more open space. I can fit about 10 lbs of jerky in my MS40 no problem. The honey bourbon came out good but it was tricky. I always try to balance flavor wit the natural taste of the beef. With the honey bourbon, it takes a bit more involvement. The actual taste of the brine is easily overpowered by the smoke so to overcome this, I smoke it about 75% of the way through, remove it from the smoker, toss it back in some brine that I set aside during the prep in a plastic cambro container and just shake it up. Then, it's back on the smoker to finish. It tastes good but it's pretty involved. From a business standpoint it's all about time and material. I have my 3 main flavors and then about once a month or so I run a special batch to get a few lbs. this was one of those flavors. I also do custom orders but my policy is that it's a 3 lb minimum at 30 a lb.
 
Thank you for your service! Honey bourbon sounds tasty, I plan on doing some with the grain, just gota figure out a way to rig the smoker to get some decent length pieces. I don't know if I would make any profit in your position. I'd eat all the product lol.
Thanks! I enjoyed my second batch more but I like everything spicy. Working on some ideas for a sweet and spicy recipe now.

Ryan. Feel free to PM me and I'll gladly share my recipe for the Bee Sting. It is by far my most popular jerky. It's just what the name indicates. A nice sweet taste of honey with some heat on the back end that takes a moment to catch up. They two flavors are clearly distinct.
 
Looks great jerky gents.
Id be interested in temp and times for these if possible. I have a pro q smoker.
Cheers
Dave
For my jerky inset the temp at 135 and depending on the weather, can take anywhere from 4-6 hours. The beef is cut to 1/8 " and the consistency allows it to bend and allows the grain to separate and turn white and doesn't snap in half.
 
Ryan. Feel free to PM me and I'll gladly share my recipe for the Bee Sting. It is by far my most popular jerky. It's just what the name indicates. A nice sweet taste of honey with some heat on the back end that takes a moment to catch up. They two flavors are clearly distinct.
Thanks! That name is unique, i like it. I may take you up on that offer depending on how my experiment turns out.

Looks great jerky gents.
Id be interested in temp and times for these if possible. I have a pro q smoker.
Cheers
Dave
This batch was in the Little Chief (constant temp at 165 according to manufacturer) for about 5 hrs and then finished in the oven for 2.5 hrs at 170. Really depends on humidity and temps, my last batch was smoked with two feet of snow on the ground and it took longer than when temps were in the mid teens.
 
Last edited:
Thanks! That name is unique, i like it. I may take you up on that offer depending on how my experiment turns out.
This batch was in the Little Chief (constant temp at 165 according to manufacturer) for about 5 hrs and then finished in the oven for 2.5 hrs at 170. Really depends on humidity and temps, my last batch was smoked with two feet of snow on the ground and it took longer than when temps were in the mid teens.
Out of curiosity, why do people not smoke jerky the whole way through? That's the only way I do it and I crank out about 20 lbs a week.
 
Ryan, I set my smoker at 130-135, but I forgot to mention that the thermometers I have set inside the smoker read from 140-150. My smokers are insulated and the LCD screen reads the 130-135 but I assume the manufacturer thermostat is off. So, the range inside is about 140-150. Mine holds a solid temp even below zero, just takes more time to heat up. I'm also in the process of building a smoke house to keep the smokers and BBQ in so I'm not freezing my baguettes off while working.
 
For my jerky inset the temp at 135 and depending on the weather, can take anywhere from 4-6 hours. The beef is cut to 1/8 " and the consistency allows it to bend and allows the grain to separate and turn white and doesn't snap in half.
Thanks! That name is unique, i like it. I may take you up on that offer depending on how my experiment turns out.
This batch was in the Little Chief (constant temp at 165 according to manufacturer) for about 5 hrs and then finished in the oven for 2.5 hrs at 170. Really depends on humidity and temps, my last batch was smoked with two feet of snow on the ground and it took longer than when temps were in the mid teens.
Thank you gentlemen, will have a look at doing some when the rain stops, remains of your snow storm.
 
Out of curiosity, why do people not smoke jerky the whole way through? That's the only way I do it and I crank out about 20 lbs a week.

I do it mainly because at this time of year the temps fluctuate so much with the time of the day it's way too hard to predict how long it will take, and opening the topload every time to check lets 90% of the heat out. Once I upgrade smokers outside temp won't matter near as much.

I also find that the higher finishing temp in the oven gives me a better end result. The texture is more chewy with no crunch, and I can get by with shoulder roasts instead of rounds because alot of the fat renders in the oven. Dab with paper towels before bagging up and it'll keep indefinitely in the fridge. Should have no problem outside of fridge once I get my hands on some cure #1.
 
I do it mainly because at this time of year the temps fluctuate so much with the time of the day it's way too hard to predict how long it will take, and opening the topload every time to check lets 90% of the heat out. Once I upgrade smokers outside temp won't matter near as much.

I also find that the higher finishing temp in the oven gives me a better end result. The texture is more chewy with no crunch, and I can get by with shoulder roasts instead of rounds because alot of the fat renders in the oven. Dab with paper towels before bagging up and it'll keep indefinitely in the fridge. Should have no problem outside of fridge once I get my hands on some cure #1.
If you get your temps and times down to perfection you'll have no problem with the end result. Mine is nice and moist. I'm not knocking you I was just curious.
 
I have tried this in the past with our jerky as well.  Honestly, the best solution we found was to use less smoke chips.  Much less.  Let me know if you give that a try.  Would love to hear the results
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky