Water in tray for smoking Jerky.. Yes / No?

[UtahHunter]

Question for you Jerky Chefs - Are you supposed to have water in the tray when smoking a batch of Venison Jerky.. Yes / No?

 

[Steve In Pa]

Question for you Jerky Chefs - Are you supposed to have water in the tray when smoking a batch of Venison Jerky.. Yes / No?

The objective is to take moisture out the meat you’re turning into jerky. So its a no for me.
There’s some good YouTube videos on the process.

 

[UtahHunter]

Thanks for confirming. View attachment 2470

 

[Steve In Pa]

Thanks for confirming. View attachment 2470

Let's see.tte final product then. Also I'd like to hear your prep. Marinade? Run? Cut of meat?

 

[UtahHunter]

Used 7 pounds of sliced mule deer and did 3 different homemade recipes / marinades. Cuts were 1/4 thick. This was the first run on my new Pitboss pro series PBV4PS2 (I have a older PB that I pump out elk, deer, antelope summer sausage with)

 

[Steve In Pa]

View attachment 2472

View attachment 2473

View attachment 2474

Used 7 pounds of sliced mule deer and did 3 different homemade recipes / marinades. Cuts were 1/4 thick. This was the first run on my new Pitboss pro series PBV4PS2 (I have a older PB that I pump out elk, deer, antelope summer sausage with)

All that looks great. Quite a load of meat there. Are you franchising?

 

[Mr.coon]

Question for you Jerky Chefs - Are you supposed to have water in the tray when smoking a batch of Venison Jerky.. Yes / No?

I use a water pan simply to make the cook last longer to get more smoke into the meat. I take the pan out after the first few hours.

 

[nvhunter]

I leave mine in with water too help keep the temps down while i'm smoking the jerky. I try for a temp of 175 which shouldn't increase moister from the water pan. It allows the meat to smoke longer and still dry.

 

[Alx]

I leave mine in with water too help keep the temps down while i'm smoking the jerky. I try for a temp of 175 which shouldn't increase moister from the water pan. It allows the meat to smoke longer and still dry.

Are you suggesting that 175°F does not heat the water enough to cause evaporation?
A hot shower is about 110°F.
Stalls are caused by water evaporation.
175° is definitely heating the water enough to evaporate it, adding humidity to the chamber.

 

[nvhunter]

I'm suggesting that it doesn't increase it enough to prevent the meat from drying out.

The difference is that in a shower the moister is able to condensate ( steam that is visible ) as apposed to inside the smoker where temps prevent the condensation from happening in side the chamber and the moisture escapes out the vents along with moisture from the meat.