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

UtahHunter

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

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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 

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