Let's what comes out... First batch ever

[mochosla]

Hi guys, I'm making some beef jerky for the first time. I bought 2# of meat, trimmed as much fat as I could and marinated it overnight on soy sauce, onion and garlic powder, black pepper and brown sugar. Oh, I also put a bit of Tabasco sauce but not too much as my girls are not into very spicy food. I'm sure I made some mistakes but this is my first try :-). Here are some pics:

Oh yeah, I set the smoker at 150 degrees and I estimate it will take about 6 hours for what I've read. Any advice on the cooking time (and method of preparation) will be greatly appreciated.

[Richtee]

You are in the "danger zone" with that. I suggest cranking the temps and cooking it. Unless you forgot to mention you added cure.

[tadowdaddy]

What Rich said! Hopefully you added some cure!

[Jimh]

These boy will keep an eye on ya,listen to what they say

[mochosla]

Okay, now I'm concerned. I just raised the temp 200 degrees (meat has been in the smoker for 1.5 hours only). Any help will be appreciated.

[SixPack]

Looking good so far.
Remember you need to get the internal temp of meat to 140° in 4 hours or less.
If you use a cure you can ignore this rule. Hope everything turns out ok for you.

[Richtee]

I just put them in an hour ago. Where should it be?

You need to have then above 140 within 3 more hours...if they were at 40 an hour ago. And at 150, that's cutting it close. Bump to 200 and keep an eye on the dryness. Keep chilled after they are done

[mochosla]

Okay, here is the final product. VERY tasty but some pieces are a bit crunchy. I think I raised the temp too high (200) so it dried out too quickly. Not bad at all for my first try. Oh yeah, the final touch is the Disney plate :-).

[Richtee]

Okay, here is the final product. VERY tasty but some pieces are a bit crunchy. I think I raised the temp too high (200) so it dried out too quickly. Not bad at all for my first try.

Don't look so... my first was worse.
Take a look here...

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/sho...?p=60#poststop

And here:

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/sho...51733#poststop

Let's talk before the next batch, k?

[SixPack]

Looks good to me for a first time

[MrZip66]

Nothing ventured nothing gained. My first batch tasted like vulcanized rubber. Well, no. Vulcanized rubber you can put teeth marks into.

Way to go on making jerky. Crunchy or not, looks better than that stuff you can buy yah? Nice job dude.

[tadowdaddy]

Glad we got to PM a bit during this. I think it looks good! I've seen MUCH worse! for giving it a pretty good effort. Eat this batch up quickly and be sure to cure next time so you can go about it slowly and so that it'll have a pretty decent shelf life.

[mochosla]

Don't look so... my first was worse.
Take a look here...

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/sho...?p=60#poststop

And here:

http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/sho...51733#poststop

Let's talk before the next batch, k?

You are obviously an expert :-). That jerky looks great. I will definitely reach out to you next time before I make my next batch.

Thank you.

[Richtee]

You are obviously an expert :-). That jerky looks great. I will definitely reach out to you next time before I make my next batch.

Thank you.

No need to thank me. But i'll take it. Thank YOU for caring and wanting to improve.

Yes... there are stories about...

[MrZip66]

yah man, I got for that too!