Desiccant

[Stick-man]

I make jerky starting out with 50+ lbs of meat. I was wondering about what size, in grams, desiccant packs I should use? I am packing ziplocks between 1-2 lbs, and vac sealing 1-2 lbs. The ziplocks I give to buddies for immediate consumption.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

My dad says one is fine <He used to work for a company that produced the packaging for commercial stuff>. It's really a matter of how long the dessicant keeps doing it's job. For 2 pounds you could do 2 to be safe. This is based off those small packages like you'd find in a package of gas station jerky.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Most important part of using those packets...DO NOT EAT!


I crack up every time I get a new pair of shoes and see the little pack. What freakin idiot got shoes, saw that pack of desiccant and thought, " I need to sprinkle this stuff on my burger tonight."...JJ

 

[GATOR240]

Most important part of using those packets...DO NOT EAT!


I crack up every time I get a new pair of shoes and see the little pack. What freakin idiot got shoes, saw that pack of desiccant and thought, " I need to sprinkle this stuff on my burger tonight."...JJ

Are you serious Clark???:D:D

 

[daveomak]

It's my understanding, most jerky has an oxygen adsorbant, in the packet, to prevent rancidity...

 

[Stick-man]

My dad says one is fine <He used to work for a company that produced the packaging for commercial stuff>. It's really a matter of how long the dessicant keeps doing it's job. For 2 pounds you could do 2 to be safe. This is based off those small packages like you'd find in a package of gas station jerky.

Thanks for the responses.
Just to be sure, when you mentioned "1" & "2", you were referring to "grams" size desiccant paks?

 

[TomKnollRFV]

I meant one packet like they'd use in a packet of commercial jerky....errr..man. Alright, stumped on this. My dad doesn't remember the size, but some googling sizes makes me think commercial packets are 1/2 gram. So for 2 pounds of jerky, you can put in a full gram?

I'm curious where you bought dessicant packets from except Amazon now..!

 

[daveomak]

After the jerky is dried to the proper moisture content to prevent spoilage, it is cooled, then packaged in (often resealable) plastic bags, either nitrogen gas flushed or vacuumed packed. To prevent the oxidation of the fat, the sealed packages often contain small pouches of oxygen absorber. These small packets are filled with iron particles which react with oxygen, removing the oxygen from the sealed jerky package, and from an opened and resealed unfinished packet.

Because of the necessary low fat and moisture content, jerky is high in protein. A 30 g (about 1 oz) portion of lean meat, for example, contains about 7 g of protein. By removing 15 g of water from the meat, the protein ratio is doubled to nearly 15 g of protein per 30 g portion. In some low moisture varieties, a 30 g serving will contain 21 g of protein, and only one g of fat. The price per unit weight of this type of jerky is higher than less-dried forms, as it takes 90 g of 99% lean meat to generate 30 g of jerky.

 

[crazymoon]

SM, I have jerky in the fridge that was vacsealed over a year ago,it is still good w/no dessicant added.So you can go without if you have a decent vac sealer IMHO.

 

[Stick-man]

I'm curious where you bought dessicant packets from except Amazon now..!

I haven't purchased them yet. But yes, I was looking on Amazon. I found a 100 pack of 3g packets. Any other place you would recommend purchasing from?

 

[Texas Jim]

Any decent oxygen/moisture absorber dealer/merchant should provide a chart to indicate the size of OA and/or MA needed according to the volume of the container. We do a lot of freeze drying and buy OAs and MAs by the K. We always choose the sizes indicated for twice the volume of the containers we intend to use for packaging.