JERKY HELP!!!!

[HuntFish714]

I am currently attempting to make my first batch of deer jerky from a deer a fellow member gave us. Im trying it on my new charcoal grill/ smoker. It is the one that does not have the wood hopper smoker attatchment. I got everything set with a small amount of coals and hickory chips and chunks. I did not soak the chunks cause another forumn was against soakinh them sayung it was pointless. My problem is that my temp keeps fluxuating from 200-250 and cant get it to drop, ive been spraying them with water to in attempt to lower temp. Ive been playing with the air ways but cant seem to keep it steady or under 200. I have wood chunks soaking for the second batch to try it. My goal is to smoke half the time then switch to oven to finish also recomended by other forumn. I was wondering if there were any trade secrets or something I forgot to try. Thanks

 

[thetoolman]

Try taking a few coals out with some metal tongs. I always soak my wood chips to make them last a little longer. I had the opposite problem the other night I was having trouble getting my smoker up to 225.

 

[HuntFish714]

Lol I guess I over thought it. Ill give that a try for this round

 

[HuntFish714]

Took all t he brickets out but keepn steady at 220 now. I did notice some of the smaller pieces are drying nicely tho

 

[thetoolman]

220 is a little high for jerky, you could also close up some of your vents to restrict air flow and it will help bring your temp down. I would say if you cant get it below 220 just keep an eye on your jerky as it will cook significantly faster.

 

[HuntFish714]

Ok thanks, ys got side vents closed and top cracked a lil still runnin same temp... hmmmm sure looks and smells good though, another 20min and it willbe 2 hours so I may move it to the oven at that timr to finish it off and start the nrxt batch with soaked chunks

 

[HuntFish714]

Yummm switching from smoker to oven, a couple small pieces were done. They taste great! When cooking I like to come up with my own seasoning concoctions and seems like the brown sugar, pepper, garlic salt, and meat seasoning salt is a winner in my book.

 

[redblood]

a dehydrator is a greta investment- hard to screw it up with using a dehydrator

 

[HuntFish714]

Lol ya may need to get one. Although just found the right combo, the soacked wood chunks was the key, holding steady at 150

 

[TAFKAP]

Yeah, I learned a long time ago that using the smoker to completely dry jerky isn't a feasible process. Start it out in the smoker for a couple hours on as low a temp as you can get. Finish in the oven. You'll get the great smoke flavor, but the properly cooked texture from the oven.