Ground Beef Jerky Failure

[tdiowa]

Ok, I'm about to give up on this experiment.

I have a homemade ground beef jerky recipe that really has a great taste to it. My problem is that when after dehydrating the meat it falls apart. In the two batches I have made I have cooked it to long and not long enough. What I am left with are crumbs that would make a average sloppy joe.

I have watched all the You Tube videos and tried to pick up where I am going wrong. All that I have watched shows ground beef jerky that comes out consistent, firm and pliable. How do you get that consistency? One thing I have noticed on You Tube is they can pick up the pieces and flip them. No way with mine. It just falls apart

I use a 93% ground beef

Mix it longer? Maybe to a puree consistency?
Use a binder?
I use Tender Quick should I use Prague #1
Am I cooking at the wrong temperature? I have cooked at 150 degrees and at 135 degrees. No noticeable difference
Do I add more liquid or am I using to much?
I use the LEM Jerky gun. Should I just use a rolling pin?

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

 

[smokerjim]

maybe if you post your recipe we can figure your problem out

 

[bregent]

Do I add more liquid or am I using to much?

I don't recall adding any water. How much are you adding? You might want to try a mix from Nesco or LEM just to see it work out. Then you can try your own recipes based on similar quantities and flavors.

 

[tx smoker]

I had the same issue about 30 years ago when I first tried making jerky. Gave up on the ground meat and started using eye of round roast....and never looked back. I've made hundreds of pounds using it and not a single issue. If you don't have a slicer I'd imagine the butcher at the grocery store would slice it for you.

Robert

 

[JC in GB]

How much salt do you use in your recipe? If you don't mix sufficiently, you can get crumbly sausage. Adequate mixing and a bit of water would likely help.

Do you mix by hand or use a mixer? If you are mixing by hand, try it with a mixer if possible. You get much smoother texture if you use a mixer.

JC

 

[tallbm]

Ok, I'm about to give up on this experiment.

I have a homemade ground beef jerky recipe that really has a great taste to it. My problem is that when after dehydrating the meat it falls apart. In the two batches I have made I have cooked it to long and not long enough. What I am left with are crumbs that would make a average sloppy joe.

I have watched all the You Tube videos and tried to pick up where I am going wrong. All that I have watched shows ground beef jerky that comes out consistent, firm and pliable. How do you get that consistency? One thing I have noticed on You Tube is they can pick up the pieces and flip them. No way with mine. It just falls apart

I use a 93% ground beef

Mix it longer? Maybe to a puree consistency?
Use a binder?
I use Tender Quick should I use Prague #1
Am I cooking at the wrong temperature? I have cooked at 150 degrees and at 135 degrees. No noticeable difference
Do I add more liquid or am I using to much?
I use the LEM Jerky gun. Should I just use a rolling pin?

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Hi there and welcome!

I make ground jerky from basically fat free ground venison and have made it form 88/12 ground beef. The leaner the meat the better.

***I have a feeling you may need to mix more. Mix until it gets tacky and very mashed together.

Just for a test get a pack of LEM jerky seasoning for like 5 pounds of jerky and and mix according to the instructions. I personally dont care for their current "Original" flavor so you may wanna do a pepper or spicy or some other flavor.

I've smoked at temps from 170-200F smoker temp but I have settled on 200F these days.

If you mix more (cant really over mix) and you smoke at 170F then that's a good starting point.
Feel free to use your jerky gun, I have a Lem jerky cannon and the device is not the issue.

***Next key. Smoke to where the jerky bends and starts to break but does NOT break badly and definitely does not break apart.
You may have to rotate your jerky to different shelf levels depending on how fast one level is dehydrating vs another. ALSO, the jerky around the edges of the rack dries faster so you will likely have to remove it before you remove other jerky, no big deal.

Give that a shot with 5pounds and let us know if this helped :)

Here's a post on my 1st ground jerky attempt:

1st Ground Meat Jerky in MES Experiment, Lessons Were Learned

Well I did my ground meat venison jerky in the MES for the first time and learned some things. This was an experimental run so I wasn't too worried if the jerky came out sub par... which it did but that's ok I am 100% sure I can fix all the issues and make perfect jerky on my next/real run :)...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Here's pics of my last batch trying a new approach:

 

[Winterrider]

Need a binder, 93% is to dry to stick together. I also kind of prefer the whole meat to ground. Personal preference...

 

[Winterrider]

tallbm nice looking jerky. I have found that the leaner for me does tend to fall apart more. Maybe "I'm" not mixing long enough. Will try that for the next ground batch. Thanks!

 

[tallbm]

tallbm nice looking jerky. I have found that the leaner for me does tend to fall apart more. Maybe "I'm" not mixing long enough. Will try that for the next ground batch. Thanks!

You may be right on the money with a binder. I have only used Jerky mixes instead of trying my own. I still have like 4-5 different LEM's jerky mixes (5lbs each) from variety pack christmas gifts I've gotten over the years hahaha.
Even when I do my Italian Cacciatore jerky I use LEM's original snackstick mix as the base which has binders in it for sure.

This is why I suggested going with a jerky mix pack to try and ensure some success with mix ingredients. Once process is perfected then mix seasonings can be worked on knowing if any issues come up its due to something in the mix and not the process :)

 

[tdiowa]

This is my recipe

Ingredients:
5# 93% Hamburger
1 cup Brown Sugar
6 oz Frank's Hot Sauce
1/2 cup Soy Concentrate
6 oz Worchester
6 oz Teriyaki
1/4 cup Liquid Smoke
1 tbsp Chili Powder
2 tbsp Ground Pepper
1 tbsp Onion Powder
1 tbsp Celery Salt
1 tbsp Paparika
1 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tbsp Chopped Onion
7 tsp Morton Tender Quick
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Dry Mustard
1 tsp Dill Flakes
1 tsp Accent
1 tsp Sage
1 tsp Ginger

 

[tallbm]

This is my recipe

Ingredients:
5# 93% Hamburger
1 cup Brown Sugar
6 oz Frank's Hot Sauce
1/2 cup Soy Concentrate
6 oz Worchester
6 oz Teriyaki
1/4 cup Liquid Smoke
1 tbsp Chili Powder
2 tbsp Ground Pepper
1 tbsp Onion Powder
1 tbsp Celery Salt
1 tbsp Paparika
1 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tbsp Chopped Onion
7 tsp Morton Tender Quick
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Dry Mustard
1 tsp Dill Flakes
1 tsp Accent
1 tsp Sage
1 tsp Ginger

I would give a guess that the vinegar in Franks Hot Sauce could be having unintended consequences. Not positive but it seems the acid in vinegar causes bind and texture issues in sausage holding together.

 

[chopsaw]

That seems like a lot of dry ingredients too . I agree on the vinegar. Might need some moisture ?

 

[tdiowa]

Good idea about Frank's I'll replace it with Chili Powder

 

[noboundaries]

Use a fattier meat. I've used 93% lean, 85%, 80%, and now 73%. The leaner meats had a powdery texture that diminished as I increased the fat. I've also mixed in ground dark meat turkey or ground pork butt, both fattier.

All those dry ingredients suck up available liquids, too. Try adding some ice water.

Just an idea.

 

[tdiowa]

Checked Worchester ingredients. It also has vinegar. Will delete it.

 

[tdiowa]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Going to give it another try and let you know my results

 

[chopsaw]

If you get it mixed up , and it won't come together , add some water a little at a time .

 

[tallbm]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Going to give it another try and let you know my results

Also feel free to omit every seasoning AFTER the Tenderquick on your list.
That recipe is a few spices short of using ever seasoning the grocery store sells hahaha

 

[tdiowa]

So first of all thank you to all with your suggestions. Made another round and it came out great. I think the secret was to mix and mix and mix some more. When I was done it was the consistency of paste. In addition I left out Frank's Hot Sauce and Worchester which both had vinegar.

My batch is really what I had been wanting all along. It really looks like jerky without the tough chew. My batch was basic seasoning so there is room for experimenting to dial in my taste.

If I could pick your collective brains one more time I would be grateful for any suggestions. I used a dehydrator on high heat. When it got to the degree of doneness I shut the dehydrator off. My only problem was getting the jerky off the trays. It was stuck like glue to the trays. Would spraying it with Non Stick spray help with that problem?

Thanks again for the suggestions. I owe all who helped some jerky and a beer.

 

[noboundaries]

Would spraying it with Non Stick spray help with that problem?

Yep. I've forgotten one time. Not only the sticking but a pain to clean.