Hey, just got a excaliber dehydrator. Hopefully ask a few questions.

1. Should I rinse the meat off with water before dehydrating or wipe down with paper towels to get the marinade off?
2. Whats a real good recipie for jerky? Right now, I am marinating the following.
3. Should I wait and see how it tastes before putting crushed peppers on. I am not a huge fan of flaming hot things. But like a nice kick.
4. Also, I do not understand the cure stuff? Do I put this on before hydrating? Is it nessessary or just dry it the way it is?
5. Is the cure just to preserve it longer, or flavor or is my marinade the cure?
6. Lastly, anybody else have this excaliber 9 rack model? It says just takes 4-6 hours. But everything i have seen takes like 15 hours. What do you think of it? Not sure if i need that much room for dehydrating. Maybe the 4 rack would be better. Will it dry just as quick as the 9 rack?
7. A friend recommends not doing the strips of meat cause too time consuming, but only using deer burger and the jerky shooter. What do you guys think? Would it be chewy?


1/4cup soy
1/4 cup worchester
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon course pepper
1/2 cup ketchup

I grind mine, then you mix the marinade into the meat and dry it. When I used to make strip jerky I would just leave the marinade on the meat.

I have always did the strips and love then,this year my wife got me a jerky shooter. I put the dry mix on the meat ,marinate and mix again then shoot it and dry it. it has all turned out ok so far.I have tryed several different mixes and are all pretty good.

if you search on jerky you will find some good reciepts and how to do them.

I have been doing mine in the oven lately,the dehydrater I have like yours takes about 12 hrs.my old ove took about 8 hrs.it burned out and the newer modles take longer ; sometimes newer is not better.

No you do not want to take it off. I do not wipe it down.
Well I dont know about the ketchup in it, but its a start. Did you find this some where or just come up with it? Do a search on jerky then look at what others use. Start with some of the liquid and add your own fav. spices. Do not go hog wild with salt or salty things.
If you want to use crushed pepper place it in your marinade. Your first batch should be a small one. Make notes of what and how much you put in. I tryed the dry spice on the wet meat, did not work and dumped the whole thing. I found a spice and I dont have it at hand now, but I will post it later, that gives a nice kick
What are you talking about? Where did you get this? If it came with the excaliber dehydrator? If so post what it is telling you to do here
5. Is the cure just to preserve it longer, or flavor or is my marinade the cure?
Is this a round plastic or a larger dehydrator? Me I use a little round plastic thing, ? on brand or name. I started with just one rack as I did not want to waste the meat. After I found what I liked, I added 2 more but then the kids found out about it and I added 3 more for a total of 6. Its hard to tell you how I do mine becouse I do not know what you have. On top and bottom of mine there is a place that you can open and close. I start with mine full open to allow steam to excape. I rotate the racks every hr for 6 hrs. then I close the close the slides half way and let the meat cook about 2 hrs before rotate. Then 3/4 closed and 4 hrs. By this time most of the mosture is out and I close it all the way. I look for liquid on the top and if I see it I crack the top open for a little while then close it again. I keep rotating and start taking racks off. I add that meat to other racks as you have lots of room to add to each rack now. My kerky is usually ready in 24 hrs. KEY ITEM TAKE ALL FAT OFF MEAT! ALL MEANS ALL AND THATS WHAT ALL MEANS.
I have never used a shooter. I have a slicer and it is well worth the time. Do not rush these things. If you dont have a slicer use a knife and slightly freeze the meat. Dont cut it too thin becouse you will loose about 1/2 the size of the meat.
I do not use chewy jerky. Mine is dry. If you want look at the "Just for fun" post. You are welcome to ask questions and even enter. Good luck, Rick

1/4cup soy
1/4 cup worchester
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon course pepper
1/2 cup ketchup [/quote]

The cure is generally used for a dry base not wet, the soy/worchester you have will provide enough salt to perserve/cure the meat.

You may consider adding a dash of liquid smoke to your merinade, I prefer it when using a dyhadrator for a bit more traditional jerky flavouring. As far as hot you could also add a few drops of tabasco or hot sauce vs the chilli's this will accomplish some bite but not over power. If you want a sweet flavour the addition of brown sugar or honey can be done. The basics for jerky merinades are soy, worchester, garlic and pepper...than add whatever you like to it from that point. Many will use lemon juice as well for more liquid to the base. Literally tons of receipes can be found on the net, try a search. I am not a good receipe teller as I cook more by feel than by the book..sorry! The key is enough juice to cover the meat and then mix every 4-6 hours, the meat should look brown not red when it has fully absorbed the merinade.

I have used the American Harvest Dehydrator it worked pretty well. Typically with all 5 racks loaded it would take around 6 hours - I found it produced better jerky by placing the meat tightly on the racks vs loose. I also didn't mind the dry jerky mix from Hi Mountain, the Hickory was our favorite and we used more than reccomended of the spice and the suggested amount of the cure. Much less mess but the wet also produces a bit softer product IME.

As to ground - I grind and merinade in SS mixing bowl covered in the fridge for 48 hours and mix every 6 hours or so(wet is the best). I then sandwiched it with wax paper, rolled it out with a rolling pin to 1/4" thick and cut it into strips using a pizza cutter. Never used the jerky gun personally but have heard it works pretty good. I do prefer whole muscle meat jerky so never saw the point of investing in a jerky gun for the odd ground jerky batch.

the only way i make jerky is in the oven....

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it doesn't have to gas or electric....you can use both....
after i make my sercret juice i use tooth picks like the picture and hang them all on the rack with foil to catch any drippings....then turn on the oven till it just comes on....it should be bout 130 degress and put a wooden spoon in the door to keep it open to keep the oven fireing....8 to 10 hours later it's done and i enjoy........................bob

Bob,
Whats so secret about it? Tell me what you use and I will tell you if its close to what I use.[8D] I wont tell a soul

Big Country, I have been making jerky for years with a cheap dehydrator I got from K-Mart. Take my word for it, the ground meat is not as good as the sliced. Here is how I do it.
(1)Start out with good meat sliced from a ham or backstrap.
(2)Slice it thin and tenderize it with a meat hammer.
(3)Dry it good with paper towels.
(4)Buy some jerky seasoning from Hi Mountain.I use the Hickory Blend. Theirs is just right-a little bite but not too hot. Never marinade in any kind of liquid. thats the purpose of putting it in a dehydrater-GET THE WATER OUT!
(5)Follow the directions on the package which includes mixing the seasoning and the cure and put it in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
(6)Mine takes 12 hours on the small motered dehydrator I have.
(7)Take it out and lay it on paper towels and let cool.
(8)I don't know how long it will keep in a ziploc bag, but I found a piece in a bag in my old hunting coat that had been there for 2 years and it was still good.
I have tried all kinds of meat done in the oven, in the sun etc.. this is the ONLY way I will ever do any jerky for the rest of my life. Trust me.

Thanks guys for all the replys. I made some the other night. The 9 rack model is a little big for my use. 2lbs sliced meat took up only 3 racks. You could do a whole hind I think in this one. Anyway, the above recipie tasted pretty good. But I plan to play around a bit. You could taste the faint taste of ketscup and I didn't like that.

It did only take 4 hours for the thin pieces and 6 or so for the thicker. One thing, my heater in the excalber didn't work at first. I took the whole thing apart and couldn't find a problem with my multimeter and put back together and it worked. So I am not sure why that happened. Overall I was happy with my first batch. It went pretty quick at my family's Christmas party, so I guess it wasn't bad.

Has anyone tried the Cabelas season pack? Its 19 dollars and says it seasons 70lbs. And comes with 7 or so flavors. Thanks for all replys. It helped alot.

Who, the excaliber says you should have some sort of cure. If you go to the hi mountain webpage, all the packages they have are Seasoning and Cures?

It says the cure is salt, sugar, brown sugar, sodiaum nitrite, maple syrup, caramel color, and less than 2% glycerine added to prevent caking.

The seasoning is like salt, spices, garlic powder, and soy sause, etc.

Thats all I know.