Hi all. I'm looking for tips/advice on making beef jerky in my Broil King Keg. I used to make beautiful jerky on my Traeger (which I sold) but no luck with the keg. It seems my problem is with air circulation. To keep the temp between 165 and 175 I have to restrict the air flow to the point that the thing is darn near hermetically sealed. This results in a very humid environment within the keg that kind of defeats the process of dehydrating the meat - it winds up steaming it and the texture is just... off. I'd love to hear what others are doing with their kamados if they're having any success. Thanks!!
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Yes your problem is the lack of air flow. Jerky making requires air flow to remove the moisture from the meat. Is there a way you can reduce your heat by reducing the coals and the starting coals and opening the upper vent some. When I do my bacon I only start with 4 lit coals and come up to 180 degrees. Your going to have to think outside the box to get a low temp and some air flow.-
I started with 6 coals so maybe I just need to dial that back. I suppose that's the simplest fix. I tried cracking the lid a bit, hoping to disperse some heat and next thing I knew my temp was up to 200. I guess trial and error to see what the minimum number of coals I can use to get to temp is. Maybe it's only one or two if I keep the vents open! Thanks for your help!
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I have a Boil King Keg. To be honest I only smoke in the 275-300 range as that seems to be my units sweet spot.
Once and a while it will co-operate and hang at 250 if we're doing ribs otherwise tying to damp it down for cooking at temps lower usually kills the coals.
I've toyed with the idea of a perforated metal 'cone/stack' in the center of the fire box on the grate to left air up thru the center of the charcoal to help with air flow to the charcoal.
This could help with mountainsmoker's idea of low temp and air flow.
One day at a hardware store I'm going to trip over a perforated metal somethingorother that's going to do the trick....
Got to thinking last night something about the size of a toilet paper tube, made out of exhaust pipe tubing perforated with 1/4" holes would be perfect. My car needs a new mid muffler so see what if I can get an off cut when I get that done, drill some holes, see what happens....Comment
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