How to make jerky in an electric smoker?

[Ebiz]

I was thinking about trying some goose and beef jerky in my electric smoker for the first time. For those of you that have had success doing this, do you have any tips?

Also, questions I've been coming up with in my head...

1. Do you put water in the pan?

2. After marinading/brining, do you let it airdry first before putting it in the smoker like you do with fish?

3. How much smoke is ideal, seems like really smoky jerky wouldn't be that great?

4. Do you put the meat right on the racks or try to hang it on some type of skewer rig?

5. Is an electic smoker too hot? I always thought you wanted to dry jerky rather than cook it?

Any input or recipes would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[yendor]

after meat is cured & brined I lay mine on racks first spray with pam heat to 130 to 140 let meat dry in smoker for awhile like an hour( no water in pan) depending on how thick it is touch meat if it starting to dry then start to smoke it untill dry (to your texture) when smoking it I raise the temp to around 150 (while smoking it you can if you awnt you can put water in pan)

[Bushwacker]

I have a barrel type electric smoker and it makes awesome jerky. I have made duck, goose, pheasant, and venison jerky in it and they all have turned out much better than anything I have make in my dehydrator.

1- I put water in my pan mixed with woodchips. I mix them together about 12 hours before smoking so the woodchips soak up most of the moisture. I also use dry chips in a seperate tray.

2- I use a dry powder to cure it so it is somewhat dry when I put it on.

3- I only put heavy smoke on it the last 20 minutes of smoking out of the entire 1 hour 20 minutes that it is smoked.

4- I place the meat directly on the smoker racks.

5- I set my smoker to 180 degrees for 1hr 20mins and it comes out perfect.

My favorite mix I have found is the Babe Winkelman pepper mix. My wife loves the Winkelman teryaki mix so I usually make a tray of each when smoking. I have tried about 10 different brands and I like the Winkelman stuff hands down.