1st time making venison jerky - electric smoker at higher temp or cold smoker?

[jawjadawg]

First time making any jerky, for that matter. I picked up several packs of jerky seasoning from Cabelas. Backwoods jerky seasoning, which contains salt and 6.25% sodium nitrite.

I have an electric smoker and another that is setup as a cold smoker. Will I get better results in the oven, the electric smoker at higher temp, or the cold smoker? Will I be able to safely finish the product in the smoker or will it need to be brought inside to the oven? I am in Atlanta (where it is supposed to rain the next 4 days).

Thank you for the input. I just registered and this is my first post. For years it seems like everytime I do any kind of search on smoking meats that I wind up getting my information here.

 

[jawjadawg]

I agree that a dehydrator would be superior if I had that option. A fan is also not an option. Your answer doesn't really answer my question about which of the above methods I have available to me would be best.

 

[buzzy]

Looks like Holly got u heading the right direction. I just see u didn’t say if u were going to run smoke or not. If so don’t smoke long or that will be all u taste.

 

[Preacher Man]

I have an electric smoker and another that is setup as a cold smoker. Will I get better results in the oven, the electric smoker at higher temp, or the cold smoker?

I've lived in that humid atmosphere before. My 2 cents worth is stick it in the cold smoker for 4-6 hours depending on how much smoke you like (I like a lot!). After that, transfer it to your oven with the door cracked open to finish it.

I own an MES30 and it just stays too humid inside there for me to get jerky like I like it.

p.s. I just saw that Cabelas is having dehydrators on sale for Black Friday!

 

[indaswamp]

200*....8 hours....they will be perfect....

 

[Preacher Man]

200*....8 hours....they will be perfect....

I've always felt I would get more of a cooked product than a jerky'd product with temps that high. But then again, I can honestly say I've never tried it, so I don't really know.

I'll be dad-gummed if you didn't convince me to try this method out with my next jerky batch.

 

[indaswamp]

Of course it depends on how thick you like your jerky. If you like it thin well 200* might be too hot for you. If the jerky is thick cut, 200* is the way to go IMO.

 

[StClair72]

I'm about to put a batch of 1/4 inch thick slices of top round in my new char-broil 30" electric for jerky. It's 37 degrees here in Indiana today, so I was thinking 220* for 8 hours should do it.

 

[smokerjim]

I made some a while back in my mes30, I started at 110 for two hours, 120 for 2 hours 130 2 hours 140 1 hour then 160 until fished which was about 3 more hours to my liking, it all depends on how dry you want to get it. I used smoke the first 4 hours.

 

[StClair72]

What can I say...I'm a newbie, lesson learned..lol

 

[smokerjim]

I've been on here for a couple years and still learning lots from the pros, without mistakes I don't think we would learn.