Wazza

We have the Hydraflow Ezidry. I have used it to make jerky, and the mrs uses it reguarly for drying fruit etc. I have found no issues with using it, and all seems to work out well.

Cheers

Sails

Cheers

Heya Wazza...weve had a really reliable Sunbeam dehydrator for  few years now (6 tray) its doing its job really well. Weve been making our own jerky/dried fruit for quite a while now we love it. I have looked at a brand called Xcaliber...pretty heavy duty machine with a price to match. But if youre a serious jerky eater its well worth the $$$.I just did a G%^gle search on it after a sister in law said she bought one.

Sunny

Wazz

Has been going strong .No dramas and a few mates bought one. They are about $80 at good guys (pay cash).

Get butcher to cut some topside(has little or no fat , any fat will not dry up so cut it out) into steaks thin like you would make crumbed steak and cut up into strips about 10 - 15mm wide and marinade for 2 days minimum (I use a baking tray from oven and mix it up a bit every so often so marinades evenly and keep in fridge). Then pat dry when ready to load (paper hand towels) and make sure that the meat doesnt overlap . You can have it touching as it shrinks and leave spaces between strips as it dries.  I get pepper grinder  and grind some pepper/salt and also sprinkle some chilli flakes on each ray as  load it up. 

Put it on the middle setting and leave for 8 hours (if its on high you will cook the meat rather than dry it). I do it outside  but put one of those mesh fly cloths on it to keep flys off it.Then I chuck it in my electric smoker , switch it on and once smoke starts to come out of lid turn it off (just for a bit of variance to flavour).

I bought 7 kg of topside just before Christmas, it made about 3kg of jerky. Doesnt sound much bit it is believe me.

Went away fishing over Christmas and New Years near Kalbarri and is all gone (everyone hoed into it and then went and bought dehydrators).

Did 4  batches with the 7kg in the Sunbeam but you can get extra trays to increase capacity. But found it easy enough to put a batch on before I go to bed, wake up , take it out, put another batch on etc. 

Did some sundried tomatoes in it too. Came out great. So for me it works good and if it craps itself or I cant be bothered doing it , its only $80 spent.   

I'm pretty sure i have the hydraflow ezidry as well, from NZ and i got mine with 5/6 trays for $50 some years ago, high setting for 12 hours does the trick, i do mine overnight too

I have the Sunbeam, has been going well, but I dont really have anything else to compare it with.

Seems to do the job and pretty easy to clean down afterwards

OK.  Thanks for the input everyone.  Looks like I might have to get myself one of those Sunbeam ones.  Cheap enough to get me started.  Thanks for the "how to" as well HHooker.

Well after a bit of hunting around, I got myself a Sunbeam DT5600 dehydrator from Rick Hart.  They are on special at the moment for $92.  The RRP is $109.  Originally they were going to do it for $100 but had sold out at the store I was at.  Then I rang Good Guys in Belmont and they said they had two in stock but when I got there the next day, none left.  Apparently they are pretty popular at the moment (probably cause of this site - lol).  Went to another Rick Hart store - sold out also so I got one transfered from another store.  Finally picked it up after getting heated off work today and just finished putting the first batch in.  I bought some topside which has been marinating since Tuesday.  I hope it is safe to eat still?  I will let you know how I go later on.

If it tastes any good, I will post up the recipe/s I used.  I made two different batches with a bit of this and a bit of that but kept track of what I put in.  Fingers crossed.

Update

OK.  After rotating the trays a few times over 9 hrs (started at 12pm), the meat still seemed a little bit moist so I stuck the dehydrator in the bathroom and shut the door for the night (it is quite a noisy machine).  I was going to let it run all night but I woke up at 2.30am so I turned it off and let the meat cool down until later in the the morning at 6.30am when I got up again (probably not ideal to leave it that long to cool?).

Had a taste this morning and I'm pretty happy with the results for my first go.  It's not perfect.  But it's still pretty tastey and I'm glad I bought the dehydrator.  I'd still rather eat Bullbar Jerky but I think with a bit of tweaking of the recipe, I'll eventually get it right.

I think it is probably worth getting a vacuum sealer though.  I might have to invest in one before my next batch.  Man Overboard, I would suggest you definately get a dehydrator and a vacuum sealer as well if you can afford it.

Does the Sumbeam dehydrator have a auto timer where it will shut off?

No.  Good question though.  It would be handy but I might just get myself a 240Volt 24hr timer from bunnings.  They're only 5 or 10 bucks? 

I've been munching on the first batch all weekend and my kids love it too.  If you like jerky, you definately need to get one.  I worked out that you will be way on top (compared to buying Bullbar/Roadkill etc)  after about 5kg of fresh meat which makes approximately 2kg of jerky. 

1.) Unit = $92

2.) 5kg Topside @ $17kg = $85

3.) Marinate/Spices = $10 (rough estimate because you just use bits and peices you have in your cupboard)

$187 = 2kg Jerky

Commercially packaged Jerky @ $5 for a 40g packet x 50 = 2kg for $250

After that, you calculate the meat and marinate only and it works out at roughly $95kg.  But that's being conservative because jerky usually costs more than $5 a packet and you can probably get the meat on special etc etc.

In other words - Get one for sure.

Recipie time Wazzman !!!!!

OK.  My first recipe.  T = Tablespoon, t = teaspoon.

1.) 3xT BBQ Sauce

2.) 3xT Vinegar

3.) 1xT Worcesterchire Sauce

4.) 1xT Salt

5.) 1xT Cracked Pepper

6.) 1xt Season All - Spicy

7.) 1xt Chilli Flakes

8.) 2xt Plum Jam

9.) Approx 1/2 cup of water to thin out

Mix it all together, cut the meat into strips about 5mm thick, put meat and marinate in freezer bag and try to empty as much air as possible (this is where a vac sealer would be handy) and place in container incase it leaks, leave in fridge to marinate for about 24hrs then take meat out of marinate, pat down on paper towels, lay out on trays, sprinkle with All Season, Chilli Flakes, Salt and Pepper etc etc then turn on to setting two.

I rotated the tray every 3 hrs I think?  My next batch, I will try on setting 3 although HappyHooker reckons that cooks the meat a bit?

My second recipe was same as the first except - No plum jam, no Worcesterchire Sauce, but add 2T sugar, 1T tomato sauce, 3T Sweet Chilli Sauce, 1t Steak Salt.

I'm not sure which recipe worked the best because I stuffed up when I rotated the trays.  My next batch though, I will try to cut down on the sugar products.  They taste a little bit too sweet.  It is a good idea to label the trays so you know which one is which.

I'm sure there are better recipes out there so it's just a matter of trial and error.

Good Luck

How much did you pay and where'd you get it from ManOverboard?

I store my jerky in the fridge, a nice cool and dry environment to keep it nice and hard. I'm going to try some dry rubs on my next batch and turn up the liquid smoke dosage too, i like the cajun style of jerky.

Ive never had good results with the fridge, too much moisture. Find it comes out damp.

Even if I put paper towels in the box that the jerky is in to absorb the moisture I notice that the towels really get quite damp.

Anyway as long as the marinade is sufficiently salty and the meat sufficiently dry, you can just seal it in a good tupperware container and leave it in the cupboard, this is what I normally do.

Never stored longer than 2 weeks though, doesnt last that long!

Dan

Weve always kept ours in those clip seal bags easy to open/close etc...push the air out seal em up for later.

As far as meat goes we use rump steak i just trim out all the sinew and the cap of fat...the last 5kg rump  I trimmed up only gave up 400 grams of fat/sinew...and made 2.8kgs of jerky (if some fat does get left on it goes all greasy n yellow BLEURGH).

Equal ammounts of BBQ sauce...Tommy sauce...Soya Sauce...Honey Soy Garlic sauce...2 teaspoons Keens curry powder...2 red chillis 2 green chillis seeds in chopped finely...3cm by 3 cm chunk of ginger...6 meduim cloves of garlic finely chopped. I let it sit in the fridge overnight stirring it regularly so all the meat strips are evenly covered with marinade :D

It takes about 8 hrs...turning the meat half way thru so it doesnt stick to the trays...rearraning the trays so all the meat gets evenly dried.. its got a bit of a kick to it just the way we like it :D

Sunny

Just another idea for jerky marinade.  I bought a bottle of Fountain Satay Sauce and added the same amount of water as well and it ended up making a really good satay jerky.  I will definately be doing that again. 

Also, the best meat to buy I reckon is topside roast (I get from coles).  It's only $10kg and you can cut it up yourself to whatever thickness/size you want because it's just a big chunk of meat.  There is bugger all marbling/fat through it and it makes really good jerky. 

So for $10 for 1kg of meat and $2.50 for the marinate, it works out really cheap and easy too.  I reccommend everyone give it a go.

I'm loving my dehydrator!

Better get one I think! My wife n I used to dry it under glass in the sun, always a bit hit n miss. Just following the way my folks would dry fruit back in the old hippie days in Manjimup. Gotta love a well marinated homemade jerky though. BTW, why is it called jerky, what is the relevance?