My wife wants me to get us one. I don't wanna break the bank....and I'd like to order from Cabela's (have a gift card and they're offering $20 off orders of $150 or more). Anyone have experience with a unit from there? Thanks.
No experience with them but I have been checking out different ones for over 3 years now. When I buy one I likely will get an Excalibur. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...sp?type=pod&cmCat=MainCatcat602147&id=0010484
I can only tell you that the cheapo round plastic dehydrators that most stores sell (target, walmart, etc..) do a crummy job with meat. Not warm enough. They're fine for fruits and such but I sometimes I wonder if the meat is going to get up and walk off before it actually dries out. The ones Cabela's sells look like they're all a better choice so if you're buying from there you should be okay.. but I thought I'd toss this out there anyhow. I now use the drying racks they sell and my oven. Get a lot more done in a single batch that way.
I have used the garden master and its junk for jerky. Ok for fruits. Takes over 18 hours to make jerky sometime and have to swap around the pieces to get even dryness. I have the excaliber now, and it beats it hands down. I make around 10lbs of jerky (10lbs dried) a year. You set it up overnight and by morning (5 hours) 80% is finished, sort out and finish off the rest in 2hours. I have had it for 3-4 years now. I myself bought it thru thier website and got a 10 year warranty with it. Haven't had a need to use it, but like having it. First excaliber I bought I got thru cabelas and it didn't heat at all. So I took it back. And got one thru thier website. I have also dried apples and few things. Lots of work, and the family pretty well eats thru it fast.
The little circular ones do take forever. I have gone the route christine has with the drying racks and my oven along with the circular one as well. Although I too am interested in some suggestions, it would be nice to load up a big dryer & get much more done at a time.
I'm currently using this one.... http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...70005&parentType=index&indexId=cat570005&rid= For the rare usage that mine sees it does just fine for me, I don't do jerky in big batches so it works fine for me. When I do big batches I use the smoker or the drying racks in the oven. If you plan on getting some heavy use out of it, definitely spend the money for the higher quality unit.
I use the Wal-Mart crummy one and my jerky comes out great. I've had the same dehydrator since college. I think people who don't cure their meat might have a problem with it but that's b/c they don't CURE their meat. I make my jerky by using a meat slicer, then season/cure and let rest for 24 hours. It takes less than 4 hours to dehydrate the entire trays full.
We've had the same results with ours. We use ground venison though. My dads recipe is much better than any other i've ever tried.
