*Note 1

Place peppers, onions, etc. on upper racks when possible. If you are doing meat and peppers, the meat drippings will drip on the peppers if placed below the meat. Peppers take longer to dry than meats, as much as 20 hours. Always allow peppers to cool and air dry for several days before bagging. Meat should be cool and should not be bagged until all of the oil has been blotted off or has been reabsorbed by the meat. Important: It is not necessary for good Jerky to be bone dry when it comes off the pit. A better measure is its chewability. The average time for jerky is 4-7 hrs. remember you can “twice smoke”, or smoke a second time after the first cooling to achieve the desired effect. Don’t over dry.

*Note 2

If your jerky was not subjected to a salt and sugar cure or brine, it will not keep for extended periods. It should be kept refrigerated, frozen or should be consumed soon after it was made to prevent mold or a musty taste.

• The Pit should be filled with enough charcoal and wood to last through the entire cooking cycle.
• Always light the charge from the top at one side or one end using a propane torch.
• Only light a small amount of charcoal, then set the bottom damper to ¼- ½.
• Install the grill grate and close the lid
• Place the Pitminder in position in the open stack, this will allow the Pitmimder to regulate the temp.

• In the best-case scenario, you will have marinated the meat in a cure at least 1day before if you are using sliced meat like skirt steak, brisket etc. If you are doing ground meat it should have been course ground or chopped with spices at least the day before.
• Never add liquid ingredients to ground meats to be dried, as this tends to make the meat particles not want stick to each other as they cook. A tiny amount of such things as liquid smoke or vinegar can be tolerated, if you must.
• You can use liquids such as a vinegar and salt rich hot sauce or paste rub about half way through the cooking cycle, once the meat has firmed up and is stiff (so you can pick it up with out it falling apart). You will need to pull your racks off the pit and return to the kitchen to dip or rub them. Don’t worry about the meat cooling off these thin extruded strips will heat up again quickly. You don’t need to wipe off liquid marinate as the liquid evaporates from the meat pieces. The solids from your marinate will coat the jerky with flavor.
• I often pull the meat off let it cool to do “whatever”. I call this Twice Smoked Jerky. When you go back on with your racks its always a good time to add fresh smoke wood, but be quick.
• A good way to get started at Ground Meat Jerky or “ Squirt Jerky” is to just buy some “store bought” pork sausage, Bob Evans, Jimmy Dean etc. Spike it up with some ground dried Chipotle or Habanero, mixed in well by hand, then squirt it directly on your racks with a caulk gun (Jerky Monster) with a flare tip. (They also make a round tip for beef stick etc.) It will make strips about an inch add a quarter wide by about 3/16 inch thick. Shake on some dry seasoning (topside only). I use my own, but Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning or equal will do just fine. *You can get one of these Jerky Monster guns from a sports store or Cabello’s on line. I made mine from a couple of pieces of PVC electrical and plumbing conduit, and an industrial strength-caulking gun.
• The strips can be placed close together but not touching, as they will shrink during smoke drying. Remember to allow space at the ends of your racks for your spacer blocks. Three quarter square spacer blocks are OK for these thin strips.
• During the smoking and drying cycle it is a good idea to pull your racks off and reshuffle them perodidocly. The great thing about Jerky is that you can sample a piece at any time, and make a decision about dryness, taste, smokiness or chewability. You can pull some off leave some on, or rearrange them as to doneness. You may even want to quickly raise the lid and rob a piece for a quick snack.
• As you gain experience you may want to mix in some venison, lamb, beef, veil, chicken, or turkey. Pork sausage is a great base for any squirt jerky. Of course you will want to grind your own sausage as the addiction takes hold.
• A great hint: If you “stump your toe” on the seasoning in a batch, and you can’t find any one who handle the heat, you can just grind it up in your meat grinder and add it back to your next batch, as seasoning.
• To prevent stumping your toe, and over seasoning your meat mix, simply make a small patty from your meat mix and fry it in a skillet. You can then make the necessary adjustments from your taste test.
• To determine the best meat ratio you can use a similar technique. Set a small batch aside and use it to ratio your meats. Fry a small patty and do the taste test, if it taste good to you it will likely taste good to every one who is lucky enough to be on your guest or gift list. I believe in “season to taste” mine. Don’t forget to document your recipes for future reference. There is an old quote,“the wine remembers you forget,” but I can’t remember who said it.