How do you know when jerky is done?

[MuleyFever]

I always feel that I over dehydrate my jerky after the fact. What is your process for knowing when it's done? I keep seeing online that it should hit 160 but my dehydrator doesn't even go that high. Others say it should not feel sponge but once the softness is gone it feels a little too hard.

 

[Read1t48]

I bend it and if it cracks or starts to tear and is white, it’s done.
Also helps to cut the jerky onto 1/4” strips.

 

[Phidelt208]

I cut mine to an eighth of an inch, then dry seven hours at 160 in a food dehydrator.

 

[AdamLewis]

How hot can your dehydrator go?

160 isn't really needed because there are a lot of factors. Jerky is essentially made safe by reducing its moisture content below the point where bacteria can do you any harm, but unless you cure it with nitrates/nitrites bad stuff can happen during drying.

Smoke helps some, airflow helps a lot, cleanliness of the meat is probably the most important, etc etc.

If I were making jerky from ground meat from someone else I would for sure want 160F. From slices of whole muscle, from an animal I processed, not so much.

 

[SloppyJ]

I cut mine to 6mm or .23". Every year my first batch is way too dehydrated and then by the end, I have gotten it down. I have a 10 tray LEM dehydrator and I put it at 155° (highest setting) for 2hrs and then flip it and put it in for another hour. At that point, I will probably pull 25% or less. I stick it back in and check it every 45min to an hour after slowly removing pieces and swapping trays around since the middle of the rack works a little better. Some batches take probably 6 to 7hrs or so to finish just rotating the bigger pieces through the middle portion of the dehydrator.

When you can bend it and it starts to crack, that's the spot. It's hard because it's warm and soft when you check it straight out of the dehydrator. It seems to throw me off and I always error on the side of too far dehydrated than not enough.

I vac seal mine and then throw it in the deep freeze. What I've found is that over the year as I pull packs to thaw it out, it seems to soften up as it defrosts. So all is not lost if you leave some in too long.

 

[philson208]

I smoke 1/4" strips @ 185 for two hours, and usually get good results. after two hours I bend the strips, and look for the strips to kind of flake apart as it bends as opposed to just snapping in half. I have wrecked multiple batches thinking they need more dry time.

 

[KenLee]

When you can feel decent firmness when hot.
Then it'll be right stiffness when cool. Worst case scenario, you think it's a little underdone and stick it back in another hour.

 

[robcollins]

I've been making jerky for about 20 years and know it some, not all.

I've always used sea salt or pickling salt, have recently read about curing salt (probably Morton Tender Quick) and will delve into that after learning about what sodium nitrite does to inhibit bacteria. I generally use my 170F oven, occasionally my smoker with lump charcoal and fruit wood or hickory.

I don't dry quite as dry as many have described always, this pound of elk sirloin disappeared though...

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[NRA4LIFE]

I dehydrate mine at 110, no warmer. Usually takes 10-12 hours, 1/4" thickness. If you ever get into a situation where you think it is too dry, put it in a ziploc bag with a damp paper towel for a couple days.

 

[Harvey_NW]

I've always used sea salt or pickling salt, have recently read about curing salt (probably Morton Tender Quick) and will delve into that after learning about what sodium nitrite does to inhibit bacteria.

Been going down this rabbit hole myself, I like to smoke meats and can stuff in the winter. My basic understanding is that tender quick has both Sodium Nitrate and Sodium Nitrite, along with some sugars and anti caching agents. The nitrates are converted to nitrites by a biological reaction when exposed to bacteria, which creates nitric oxide that cures by killing bacteria and combines with myoglobin, and nitrites also are antioxidants to reduce oxidative rancidity, and bind water.

Also came across some more laymen info on a meat smoking forum about tender quick, definitely don't add any other salts if using tender quick. I made a batch of jerky last year using tender quick for the first time with my home recipe, vacuum sealed it and stored it in the pantry and had no issues with it 6 months later, but test stability at your own risk. That info varies WIDELY on the ol interwebs..

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I use Prague Powder # 1 (pink curing salt, Sodium Nitrite) in mine. 1 tsp per 5 lbs of meat. Finished jerky gets vacuum sealed and seemingly keeps forever.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Wanna get into the weeds with "knowing" when jerky is ready...ideal jerky has a water activity content of 70-75%.

https://www.amazon.com/AMTAST-Water-Activity-Meter-WA-60A/dp/B07L2PDDKS?th=1