Food Dehydrator suggestions

[Wyo7200]

What dehydrators are people using for making jerky? Any recommendations? I plan on doing small batches (3-5 pounds) of elk meat at a time. Local meat processor is closing their doors.

Jerky recipes are welcome too!

Thank you in advance!

 

[6mm Remington]

I have a Nesco electric dehydrator and really like it. You can buy more trays if you want. I think I can use a total of about 12 trays at once which lets me put over 10 pounds of sliced up meat on it at once. I want to say it came with 4 or 5 trays. It really works great.

For jerky mixes, Hi-Country out of Lincoln Montana makes some awesome mixes. You can internet search them. I would just order from them if I was you. Lots of folks have home-made recipes that work very well, but man these are awfully hard to beat.

I really enjoy making my own jerky. You will find that 3-5 pounds is pretty small. Most of the mixes call for more meat, but you can just use less of the mix and figure it out. You will find that you cannot stop eating the stuff and pretty soon you will give a little to a couple folks at work, and next thing you know you have none left. Trust me I know this to be true!! They also make wonderful sausage mixes. I highly recommend these products for your jerky and sausage.

http://www.hicountry.com/products/products/

Some of my favorite jerky mixes:
Original
Smoky BBQ
Smoky Blend
Spicy Blend
Three Pepper

 

[Wyo7200]

Thanks 6mm. Do you rotate the trays while it's working or is there enough air flow to set it and forget it?

I think I have seen those seasonings at our walmart or at sportsmans- or it may have been a similar looking box. I'll have to look again. Certainly will give them a try... that three pepper sounds good!

 

[Ridgerunner665]

A1 marinade makes some good, simple jerky...

Soak it for at least 12 hours though... 24 is better.

 

[Richracer1]

I've been using the Excalibur dehydrator for years. Only thing, I bought the small version (either 4 or 5 tray model) and now wish I had got the larger version. Works great, no rotating/flipping of trays/meat needed as it moves air around inside the unit with a fan. Also, most of the mixes you can buy are for 10lbs of meat. Do yourself a favor, regardless of brand, get at least an 8 or more tray unit and make sure it has a fan to move air around inside the unit.

http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/

FYI, Cabela's has the Excalibur dehydrators on sale right now.

http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/browse/_/N-1101295

 

[DrMike]

I have a Salton.

http://www.salton.com/specialty/dehydration/food-dehydrator-136.html

However, I only use it for drying brass after cleaning in my Thumler's Tumbler.

 

[Wyo7200]

Thanks everyone!

I did see those one sale at cabela's and may just use a chunk of my cabela's points towards one. They even had a "buy a vacuum sealer, get a dehydrator free" but the sealer was 600 clams I think. :shock: I do like the idea of being able to remove the trays to have more space for larger items that may be too tall for the stacking trays. I need to look into it some more.

.... I will admit that the thought of drying my brass out with the dehydrator crossed my mind as a justified reason for my argument to get one if my wife first objects... I'll no longer have to use the oven

Also found a few sites with some recipe ideas-

http://www.mensjournal.com/expert-advice/10-great-beef-jerky-recipes-20140407/kachina-bison-jerky

and since I like cooking with alcohol, this one caught my interest-
http://www.broadsheet.com.au/melbou...icle/whiskey-infused-beef-jerky-griffin-jerky

Thanks again!

 

[6mm Remington]

Thanks 6mm. Do you rotate the trays while it's working or is there enough air flow to set it and forget it?
There's enough air that with 6 trays I don't have to rotate, but if I have 12 of them going at once, I usually rotate half way through the process. It takes about 8 hours to do a batch of 12.
I think I have seen those seasonings at our walmart or at sportsmans- or it may have been a similar looking box. I'll have to look again. Certainly will give them a try... that three pepper sounds good!
All of the mixes I listed are very good. It's quite hard for me to pick just one that is at the top. The smoky blend just might be it too! Then again the three pepper is really awesome. It might sound really hot, but it isn't and has great flavor. The spicy is just that, quite spicy. Man I need to get something to make some more jerky! There is Hi Mountain mixes out of Wyoming that are very good too. Maybe that is some of the mix you saw. They all have a different flavor and my favorite though is Hi-Country.

 

[Wyo7200]

I finally got a dehydrator. I liked the excalibur and when Cabela's recently had a sale on them- $50 off, $5 dollar shipping, and $40 in cabela's bucks I thought it was time. Well... no. The dehydrator came and it was the economy model- which was still $70 cheaper if I had bought it through Amazon. The $40 Cabela's bucks had a two week (from the time of shipping so the 4 days it took to get to me were wasted) use or loose window. I was disappointed so I boxed it up, included a letter explaining everything and sent it back. I ordered the Excalibur 3900B 9 Tray Deluxe Dehydrator "deluxe" or something, which was still $40 cheaper or so from the lesser model sold at Cabela's. There is a video comparison of the two- can't remember where I saw it, but the deluxe is hands down built to last way longer than the economy. I did 6lbs of jerky and still had two empty trays.

Bottom line, amazon can be great!

 

[Guybo]

I like Ronco and have 2 of them. They came with 5 trays but I ordered extra trays and now have 7 on both. They don't have a fan only convection heat but they work great for jerky and also drying fruits.