Please help! I need quick advice for venison jerkey!

[regulat0r]

calling all jerky experts...please help. I just put my first batch of venison jerky in the dehydrator that my wife got for my birthday. I made 1/4 inch strips and had it marinate overnight in a bag of marinade. my questions is,,,do i need to "pat", or dry the oil off the meat as its dehydrating? I have read online that some people do this periodically. do i need to shut off the machine, take the meat off each tray, and do this??? i have 5 trays of meat in there now. any estimates for a general time for it to be done? any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!

[Steve D]

_{I would definitely pat them down if they are dripping wet.  The wetter it is the longer it will take to dry. Not sure what kind of dehydrator you have but you shouldn't have to turn it off to remove the trays. One thing you will want to do is rotate the trays every couple of hrs. especially if it is one of the round tray type.}

 _{Rotate them by moving the top tray to the bottom, the bottom to the middle, and the middle to the top, etc. This will give you a more consistent drying throughout  the batch.}

_{Hope this helps!!}

[A Sportsman]

Regulat0r,

The other day I made jerky for the first time. I too read about patting down the venison periodically while its drying in the dehydrator. So I went about doing it and quickly discovered that there was basically little to no moisture sitting atop the venison after the first hour or so of dehydrating. Patting it was useless.

I cut my peices a little thinner, probably close to an eighth inch thick. Not sure if the thickness had anything to do with it. My guess is that because venison is so lean there is no fat to liquify during the process. I did pat them with paper towel before I put them into dehydrator to get excess marinade off.

And for the record, my jerky came out amazing. I am really kicking myself for not making it all these years. I think I will shoot an extra deer next year just to turn it in to jerky!