The Jerky Cabinet

[DDave]

As talked about in this thread, I have been trying to figure out a way to increase my capacity for smoking jerky. With my Smoke N Pit and an extra rack I can only do 5 pounds at a time. I was having a difficult time finding a vertical with the size I liked for the amount of money I wanted to spend. I had started to design a vertical that would use a hot plate then got the idea to build something that can sit on a horizontal smoker with the lid off. The SnP's clamshell design was perfect for that.

So now I present . . . the Jerky Cabinet.



Weight was an issue that concerned me a bit since the SnP does not have the strongest legs on the market. So it's made out of 3/8" plywood and has a variable speed computer fan on top for extra evacuation of humidity when doing jerky.



It has slots for 5 racks but I only have 4 in now as I can do some on the SnP rack.



It has rails above and below the rack so they can slide out with out falling.



It was designed to fit on top of this guy.



with the lid removed.







I'm just warming it up now and as it came up to temp, the top and bottom temps were pretty even.





It seems to draft pretty well without the fan so I'm just letting it go at 165ish° for awhile. That was the magic temp back in my dry kiln operator days for setting pitch, killing blue stain, etc. I'll let it go like this for awhile then I'll put on some hickory chips to "season" it so to speak.

Hopefully next weekend I can do some jerky in it.

[Fishawn]

Great idea and execution Dave!

[Abelman]

That's using the melon.....

Impressive!

[DDave]

In playing with the fan when I first got it I noticed that it did not want to run real slow without stalling. So I was concerned that it would suck too much heat out of the cabinet if I gave it enough juice to run. Doesn't seem to be the case though.

Temps had stabilized at 165° and I put the fan on and turned it on full blast. Went back 10 minutes later to check . . .



I bumped the burner up a bit and it came right back up to 172° in just a few minutes.

I'm pretty pleased with the test run. And the best thing is it didn't catch fire and end up as a pile of ashes in the belly of the SnP.

I'll have to give it a go next Saturday with some meat.

[crusty ol salt]

Freaking awesome invention there

[HawgHeaven]

You da' man.

[SMOKE FREAK]

That's a hell of a jerky machine right there...

[Richtee]

Think some alum angle along the bottom to space the wood off the grill might be a good idea? Keep the wood off the hot metal? I dunno. wood cabs just scare me. At min..they slowly turn to charcoal

[Bearcarver]

Looks Great, Dave!!---
There's a lot more effect actually seeing the unit, instead of looking at the drawings.
I love it !!

I agree with Rich though about the wood against hot grill metal for time & time again.
It'll keep drying out & getting more risky, I would think.

Bear

[DDave]

Thanks for the nice comments and points, folks.

I dunno. wood cabs just scare me. At min..they slowly turn to charcoal

I agree with Rich though about the wood against hot grill metal for time & time again.
It'll keep drying out & getting more risky, I would think.

Yeah, the thought did cross my mind. Which is why it is at the far end of the smoker and it is not placed under anything flammable.

Interestingly enough I did not need much more flame on the burner than when I normally smoke jerky. Granted this was empty.

But sadly, I don't think I'll get to use it enough times for it to dry out too much. As a condition of building the reverse flow, I agreed to get rid of one Weber, one UDS and the SnP. But the idea was already in motion before the RF build got approved.

The SnP will be spruced up and put on craigslist within the next couple of months. But the RF will have about 70% of the rack space as the Jerky Cabinet so I'm thinking I can do quite a bit on it.

Great idea and execution Dave!

In the spirit of full disclosure, I can't take credit for the execution. It was a shop teacher. Woodshop this time. Awhile back I was asking hsi advice on materials to keep it light and the best way to put it together. Next thing I know he was sketching it out on paper. My co-workers are really awesome.

[Slanted88]

I like it!

[TKOBBQ]

Cool idea, looks like it will work well.

[DDave]

Think some alum angle along the bottom to space the wood off the grill might be a good idea? Keep the wood off the hot metal? I dunno. wood cabs just scare me. At min..they slowly turn to charcoal

Added some wood stove gasket to the bottom to help hinder any attempts on its part to catch fire.



Will probably help it seal better also although I'm really not too worried about that.

[Fishawn]

I like it Dave

When does it get the real test run? Like the concept, seems perfect for jerky, and smoked fish

[DDave]

When does it get the real test run?

Hopefully Sunday.