Tender Jerky - vent/damper settings during smoke stages

[Fractured Fitness]

I will be making tender jerky this weekend in my PK100. I’ve read the tutorial and watched the videos. I was not able to find how I should set the dampers during the “smoke with humidity” stages. Jonathon specifically mentions that the initial drying and final drying stages should have vents wide open, which leads me to believe that the other stages are not “wide open”. Do any of you have advise for me?

Thanks in advance for your time.

[lkrfletcher]

Fractured Fitness
Yup - Wide open for drying, then once the smoke starts I usually close mine about 3/4 of the way on top and bottom. seems to do very well.

[Jonathon]

Fractured Fitness Just as lkrfletcher says, 3/4 is good, if you are having issues then try closing them a little more than that.

[Fractured Fitness]

Terrific! Thank you for your support. I’ll post some pictures when I finish them.

Have a blessed week.

[Fractured Fitness]

I’m in the first stage, which is drying @140 for 20 minutes. For clarification. When following the smoke schedules. Does a first stage like this mean that we put the meat into the smoker and set it at 140, and leave it for 20 minutes then go to the next stage. OR do you put the meat in and once the smoker reaches 140 you start the 20 minutes? Thanks.

[cdavis]

Fractured Fitness I always start my timer when the smoker is up to temperature. I also do this for each stage of the smoke.

[Jonathon]

Fractured Fitness It can be different depending on a lot of factors, if your smoker wont start as low as you want then you will want to add the meat right away to get the benefit of some thermal conditioning as the smoker gets up to temp, and with a smoker full of cold meat it will take a little longer. If your smoker will start as low as you want them you should add meat when your smoker is up to temp.

[Jamieson22]

Fractured Fitness said in Tender Jerky - vent/damper settings during smoke stages:

Terrific! Thank you for your support. I’ll post some pictures when I finish them.

Have a blessed week.

Was about to post a similar thread then saw this. I have 10lb of 1/4" thick eye of round curing in black pepper/garlic seasoning and plan to smoke it in my new PK 100 tomorrow. Have made jerky a lot on my pellet smokers but that usually just means 180F till dry.

Curious best way to do on my PK100. How did your cook go? Any advice?

[Fractured Fitness]

Jamieson22 it went very well. I did leave about a six inch opening in the center of each rack to allow a chimney for heat and smoke. However, I did not leave enough space at the edges and this trapped some heat and those pieces were a bit darker then the rest. Not bad, my friends called them “burnt ends” jerky and loved them. I was too worried about loosing heat and extending the cook time so I chose not to rearrange the level of racks and the bottom rack clearly was darker then the upper. Next time I will rearrange them, maybe a few times. I smoked them as “rounds” the way they were sliced and then cut each round into thirds for packaging and eating.

[bocephus]

Fractured Fitness Sounds like you are well on your way to perfecting your system, if there is such a thing for jerky and sausage making. I think I have something figured out and then I read something new on this sight or get a suggestion from a friend and it’s back to the drawing board to try something new, but that is the fun of homemade product, you can always improve or modify to suit your desires!