slowr1der

Let me start of by saying I've never made deer jerky, or anything else using a dehydrator, but I don't want to have to rely on friends to make it for me any longer. I want to get my own dehydrator. I went on Amazon and noticed these two both with great reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/Nesco-FD-75PR-...0292763&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Nesco-American...0292763&sr=8-3

Do these look like good choices? Is the 700 watt one worth the extra $25 over the 450 watt one? What's the major difference? Obviously the $35 price tag of the 450 watt one is very appealing.

Any other similarly priced suggestions?

flyinlowe

I have 2 Nesco's that are about 10 years old and they work fine. I have added trays and use about 8 trays per unit when I make jerky. If you don't plan on making a lot of jerky then the lower wattage one would be fine. I just think if you started adding lots of trays then it would take forever. Just to give you an idea the last batch I made was 15 pounds of ground meat. I had two units going with about 8 trays each (I can't remember how many I have). Anyway with 16-20 trays filled completely I still had a pound or two of meat left over. So if you just buy one unit with the 4 trays that comes with it you are only going to be able to make a little bit at a time. By the time it dries down you will probably have less then a pound of jerky. I don't remember how many watts my units are but they both are "supposed" to be able to handle 12 trays each.

flyinlowe

I have 2 Nesco's that are about 10 years old and they work fine. I have added trays and use about 8 trays per unit when I make jerky. If you don't plan on making a lot of jerky then the lower wattage one would be fine. I just think if you started adding lots of trays then it would take forever. Just to give you an idea the last batch I made was 15 pounds of ground meat. I had two units going with about 8 trays each (I can't remember how many I have). Anyway with 16-20 trays filled completely I still had a pound or two of meat left over. So if you just buy one unit with the 4 trays that comes with it you are only going to be able to make a little bit at a time. By the time it dries down you will probably have less then a pound of jerky. I don't remember how many watts my units are but they both are "supposed" to be able to handle 12 trays each.

cabinkeeper101st

Mine is not as fancy as either of those but works very well for jerky.The wife soaks the deer meat for 4 days then we dehydrate it.Its great.

Zeak

I use the American Harvester, You can get them a Wally World for around $40. You then can add extra trays, they are around $15 for 2. It takes about 5-6 hrs to do a batch. Zeak

friscospices.com

Check out ours. The round stack dehydrators don dry evenly due to the fact your blowing moist air from one pan across the other pans. A cabinet dehydrator blows across the screens vertically so you have even drying. You dont need alot of power you do need a good amount of airflow. We have a LEM 10 pan we are making a special buy on regular price is 199.00 our special will be 139.00. Its a 10 tray unit and does even drying. I ordered 40 of these units and have about 8 or 9 that are not spoken for. give me a shout 800 762 6689 mike We dont have them on our web site yet but I am sur LEM has them on there site.

friscospices.com

For everyone that makes the jerky in the dehydrator a little trick we teach to our customers is to use our Smoke powder. We have hickory and mesquite powder you just mix in your seasoning pack before you season the meat. 1 oz to 25# of meat. gives a great smoked flavor without the bitterness of liquid smoke.

slowr1der

Thanks guys, I will check them out. Right now, I put this on a slight hold. I was talking to a buddy about them, and he talked me out of buying one for now as he told me I could just borrow his since he only used it once a year. It's an Excalibur cabinet dehydrator. I feel like this may have been a mistake, because I know that I'm probably going to want one of these after getting to borrow it, and unfortunately they cost quite a bit more than what I had been looking at.

friscospices.com

You will love it, the excalibur dry's very even.

Krypt Keeper

I got two dehydrators I have used over the yrs and finally this yr I decided to try something different.

My oven.

Put foil in the bottom, have 2 stainless mesh racks I use my jerky gun to make strips on. Put in oven turned on to its lowest setting. Mine is 170, crack the door about a 1/4"

Takes about 6 hrs or so, at the halfway point I swap top to bottom and front to back just to ensure even heat. Best jerky I have made.

As far as seasoning and spices, thats another topic.