What's a good dehydrator?


Guest Andrea

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Have heard good things about the excaliber. Think Chris(Tominator) may have bought one, or maybe it was AJ. Cabelas has them, but they are not cheap. Here is a link http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0010484514186a&type=product&cmCat=Search_Results_NYR&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&QueryText=excaliber&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=excaliber&noImage=0

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Have heard good things about the excaliber. Think Chris(Tominator) may have bought one, or maybe it was AJ. Cabelas has them, but they are not cheap. Here is a link http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0010484514186a&type=product&cmCat=Search_Results_NYR&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&QueryText=excaliber&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=excaliber&noImage=0

Yep. I love my Excalibur. Does 4 lbs of ground jerky (could easily handle about 6 lbs though) in about 4 hours depending on how dry you like it.

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We have the Gardenmaster from Cabela's with 14 trays! That was not enough to make 9 pounds of meat the other day, so we had to use 2 trays in the oven. Make sure if you go this route to get the Jerky Screens for the trays!

We have 5 trays that go in the oven in conjunction with the dehydrator. I also use these for making the pepperoni sticks!

With everything, we can start with about 12 pounds of meat.

I also have the Jerky Blaster with 2 extra tubes!

The other day when we made 9 pounds, it took about 4 hours and that included shooting it on the trays!

Now we can sit back and pig out with the jerky! LOL!

All of this I got from Cabela's!

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We have the Gardenmaster from Cabela's with 14 trays! That was not enough to make 9 pounds of meat the other day, so we had to use 2 trays in the oven. Make sure if you go this route to get the Jerky Screens for the trays!

We have 5 trays that go in the oven in conjunction with the dehydrator. I also use these for making the pepperoni sticks!

With everything, we can start with about 12 pounds of meat.

I also have the Jerky Blaster with 2 extra tubes!

The other day when we made 9 pounds, it took about 4 hours and that included shooting it on the trays!

Now we can sit back and pig out with the jerky! LOL!

All of this I got from Cabela's!

I also have the Gardenmaster too! The jerky blaster is awesome! But you need extra tubes when making more than 5 pounds! Makes it load faster on the trays! I make ten pounds of jerky on 14 trays! If your using ground meat like I do. You need to shoot the jerky in circles to cover the tray full. You can add a total of 30 trays on this thing. The temp goes up too 155 dgrees. I love mine! Plus its on sale now!

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=Search_Results_NYR-cat602147&id=0013250510825a&navCount=2&podId=0013250&parentId=cat602147&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=UH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat602147&hasJS=true

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Some wal marts carry the garden master type dehydrators Andrea. We have pretty well the same model, only difference in that one and the one we have is that ours has the control and the fan heat element at the top. We do have 12 trays for ours and with them all loaded it will make a good bit of jerky. It takes a good while when it is loaded heavy to dry a batch of jerky, but personally I dont mind really.

We have the jerky blaster, but do not have any extra tubes, really not all that important in my opinion to have the extra tubes, they are not hard to load, and you still have to swap them out and load them anyways. Just more to cleanup when you are done.

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What about this type?

98389.jpg

There's one like this at Bass Pro that's $70.

I have one like this...Its on sale for $29.88 at BP now.. It have been flawless... I purchased extra trays direct from the manufacture...

I guess if it were me purchasing one ...How often will I use it..How much jerky will I make at one time.. And do I have the room to store a large dehydrator...

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Oven Temperature!

the oven set at the lowest temp possible and the door cracked up an inch is the best for me.:) works well and it's already been paid for.:cool:

I have found that taking the temperature in the oven is necessary because it really varies from side to side, front to back!:(

I use an oven thermometer all the time when I am doing jerky or pepperoni sticks, just for that reason!:)

When you do this, you can set your oven to a different temperature and won't have to leave the door open!:)

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We have the jerky blaster, but do not have any extra tubes, really not all that important in my opinion to have the extra tubes, they are not hard to load, and you still have to swap them out and load them anyways. Just more to cleanup when you are done.

Well I am no expert, but shooting ten pounds of meat onto trays takes some time. With the extra tubes, while I am shooting, the wife is stuffing. Makes it go much faster. Also that means the dryer gets turned on faster!

;)

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YEP!

Well I am no expert, but shooting ten pounds of meat onto trays takes some time. With the extra tubes, while I am shooting, the wife is stuffing. Makes it go much faster. Also that means the dryer gets turned on faster!

;)

You are exactly right on that one!:)

We have 2 extra tubes and the other day, we shot 9 pounds of meat in less than an hour! If we would have just had the one tube, I don't know how long it would have taken!

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Well I am no expert, but shooting ten pounds of meat onto trays takes some time.

LOL, usually a one person operation here John, and it does not take me much time at all to shoot 8 to 12 trays worth of meat, have to refill 3-4 times, which is really not a big deal to me. Less than 20-30 minutes all total, just dont think for one person doing the work it would make any difference in time, but that is my opinion. I usually start the dehydrator and have it running and add the trays as I go too.

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just dont think for one person doing the work it would make any difference in time, but that is my opinion.

Well I guess I must be the slowest person in the jerky making world! LMBO!!!:D:D:D Maybe its the get the family involve type of thing! The wife stuffs them, I shoot them, my daughter turns the trays for her daddy! The stuffing part got easier too. Now that I got a LEM tube stuffer. Again, its only my opinion that three tubes work better for us. As far as cleaning goes. Its not a problem either! We have a brush that fits down into the tubes along with picks to get the pieces of meat that get stuck on the end.

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As far as cleaning goes. Its not a problem either! We have a brush that fits down into the tubes along with picks to get the pieces of meat that get stuck on the end.

The brushes are a must have. Got a set when I bought my grinder from cabelas. Think the shooter also came with one if I am not mistaken. I always use the flat double nozzle when shooting jerky, and it goes pretty quick that way.

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LOL, usually a one person operation here John, and it does not take me much time at all to shoot 8 to 12 trays worth of meat, have to refill 3-4 times, which is really not a big deal to me. Less than 20-30 minutes all total, just dont think for one person doing the work it would make any difference in time, but that is my opinion. I usually start the dehydrator and have it running and add the trays as I go too.

Ditto.

As far as cleaning, you guys are working too hard. Think of the tube like a gun barrel. Take a soapy dish towel, or wet paper towel, put it in the tube, then pretend it's meat. Stick the trigger part back on and push it through, or just use a long spoon or spatula. Usually only takes one or two swipes and the tube is clean.

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