Epic jerky fail

[hooked on smoke]

Greetings,
Tried another batch of jerky and totally bombed out.
I had followed the same prep as my last two runs, which turned out pretty good.
The main difference is that I,
1) forgot to fill the water pan.
Does jerky really need the moisture????

2) forgot to spray my SS trays.

This run turned out like crispy beef chips.
MB Gravity 800 temp was set at 195. It was in for just over 2 hours. The last two runs took over 4+ hours each.
Would an empty water pan cause this?

After a bit of thought, ouch, I was able to salvage the teriyaki flavored pieces by wetting them down a bit. Ha, rehydrated them. I'm not too worried about mold etc as there isn't much to last more than a day or so. ??
The lighter colored pieces were habenero honey mustard. Those, not so much on the saving.
Any ideas what not to do next time would be appreciated.

 

[normanaj]

The top pic and the bottom three look cooked more than anything else and overcooked at that. $h!t happens,go with what you did on previous runs and even get the temp lower if you can.

 

[chopsaw]

Yup . I would say cut to thin to start with , and the heat was to high plus cooked to long .
Might try cutting with the grain on some of the next batch , and see how that works .

 

[hooked on smoke]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will give it a go this coming weekend.

 

[voyager 663rd]

Water acts like a heat sink (same as those who use the water bowl WITH water--WSM). Water prevents (a lot of) runaway temps especially if you are unable to control the temps via the vents.

 

[sandyut]

I do mine on a pellet grill, 180 for an hour then 200-225 till done. its a balance between time and thickness. And it dries while cooling.

 

[hooked on smoke]

Water acts like a heat sink (same as those who use the water bowl WITH water--WSM). Water prevents (a lot of) runaway temps especially if you are unable to control the temps via the vents.

That makes sense. Thank you for your input.

 

[hooked on smoke]

I do mine on a pellet grill, 180 for an hour then 200-225 till done. its a balance between time and thickness. And it dries while cooling.

This is some good information. Thanks.

 

[sandyut]

This is some good information. Thanks.

first couple times I made jerky, I cooked it to where I wanted it, then it dried...to very crispy jerky chips. Im out of practice now, next batch could go any direction bahaha. Good luck! You will get it.

 

[jcam222]

My buddy sliced too thin once and they came out like crunchy beef chips. I honestly loved them lol

 

[hooked on smoke]

first couple times I made jerky, I cooked it to where I wanted it, then it dried...to very crispy jerky chips. Im out of practice now, next batch could go any direction bahaha. Good luck! You will get it.

Yeah, my first couple of batches turned out pretty good. I guess I am still getting used to the new slicer. Definitely will be cutting thicker and paying more attention to the next round.

 

[Astralogics]

My buddy sliced too thin once and they came out like crunchy beef chips. I honestly loved them lol

They're a nice change up for sure! My brother does ask that I make some like this for him because he can't really chew thicker cut jerky due to TMJ.