How long does home made jerky stay edible vs buying store bought jerky?

It really depends on whether you use cure or not. Without cure, a week or so in the refrigerator is my rule of thumb. It will last longer, before spoiling, if you use cure but I am not familiar with using cure. Because I do not use cure I usually toss my jerky in the freezer a couple days after I make it. Mine usually has very little moisture in it so it does not taste frozen when I grab a piece from the freezer and eat it. It is always eaten within a month or so.

I put it in the fridge after cooking yesterday.  I then vac sealed it today and put back in the fridge.  Whatever I don't eat in a week, I put in the freezer.  I have a cure, but still kinda abide by it not being cured.  It can last in the freezer for 6-12 months vac sealed if not longer.

Looking forward to your rack update.

This is what I ended up with. The hooks I bought were pegboard hooks from McMaster-Carr, part number 18535A83. They are zinc coated but when I looked around I found you can soak them in regular white vinegar for 48 hours to remove the zinc coating and be left with bare metal. You could do the same with muriatic acid for a few hours but I had the white vinegar on hand and time to spare so I went in that direction. I also felt the vinegar was just safer to handle. So I tried it and it appears to have worked out great. The hole spacing of the extra peg on the back did not fit with the hole spacing in the Copperhead 5, and I knew that going in so I removed the lower peg with an angle grinder, after removing the zinc. As for the shelves, well I had, actually still have, the shelf system I had built for my Traeger Lil Tex and the shelves are exactly the same size as the ones the Copperhead 5 uses. So the shelves are just being re-appropriated from the Traeger shelf system, and are essentially free in my case. All said and done it cost me, $20, maybe 1.5 hours of time and some shelves I already had on hand to almost double the capacity for Jerky cooking. 9 Shelves in total spaced 2.25" to 2.75" and there is room to add another at the bottom but I think that will be too close to the drip pan. I am happy with the way it turned out.

Edit Below:
The last picture is of the shelf system I had in my Traeger. It was to long front to back to put in the Copperhead 5.

Thank you for the great tip for folks!

And folks wonder why I don't like an Eastern Carolina BBQ sauce...

They are zinc coated but when I looked around I found you can soak them in regular white vinegar for 48 hours to remove the zinc coating and be left with bare metal.

Thank you for the great tip for folks!

All of my best ideas, I "borrow" from others. I borrowed the remove zinc idea from this guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH2A7Alt-LU

Will have to see if I can find some racks now as those hooks look easy enough to deal with.  If Pit Boss is too expensive or takes to long to get their supplies for sale on line, I may go with this idea.  Do you remember where you bought the grates from?

Will have to see if I can find some racks now as those hooks look easy enough to deal with.  If Pit Boss is too expensive or takes to long to get their supplies for sale on line, I may go with this idea.  Do you remember where you bought the grates from?

Home Depot, back in 2011-ish. They were a replacement grate for a Charbroil grill if I recall correctly. If I recall they were actually a few inches longer, side to side, but the way they were built made it easy to use bolt cutters and shorten them without losing any of their integrity. Front to back they just happen to match the Copperhead 5 racks exactly. I can take a picture of a rack if you wish.

Will have to see if I can find some racks now as those hooks look easy enough to deal with.  If Pit Boss is too expensive or takes to long to get their supplies for sale on line, I may go with this idea.  Do you remember where you bought the grates from?

Home Depot, back in 2011-ish. They were a replacement grate for a Charbroil grill if I recall correctly. If I recall they were actually a few inches longer, side to side, but the way they were built made it easy to use bolt cutters and shorten them without losing any of their integrity. Front to back they just happen to match the Copperhead 5 racks exactly. I can take a picture of a rack if you wish.

Picture would be great.

Picture would be great.

They measure 13.75" X 21.75". I was just looking and they appear to be a replacement for the Charbroil 7000 series grill, which I used bolt cutters to cut to width.

Notice how the rungs (3rd from the top is the most visible) aren't even straight? That is not because of the angle of the camera. That is a high quality item right there... 

Nice job!!

Just a FYI -  Cure doesn't really make jerky shelf stable.    Cure is really only used for protection from nasty stuff growing while it's being smoked.   

If you want shelf stable jerky you have to reduce the ' water activity ' , to a level where stuff won't grow.   

I'm by no means an expert on this, in fact, I can't really wrap my head around 'water activity' yet...    but for me, I never consider my jerky to be shelf stable.    I've taken some with me on road trips before loose in ziplock bags, without refrigeration for a few days and haven't died yet from doing that. For the most part I keep mine refrigerated

I keep it frozen or refrigerated.  It is pretty obvious to tell when it is no good anymore...it gets a little fuzzy.  I have only had that happen when it was left unrefrigerated.

Just a FYI -  Cure doesn't really make jerky shelf stable.    Cure is really only used for protection from nasty stuff growing while it's being smoked.   

If you want shelf stable jerky you have to reduce the ' water activity ' , to a level where stuff won't grow.   

I'm by no means an expert on this, in fact, I can't really wrap my head around 'water activity' yet...    but for me, I never consider my jerky to be shelf stable.    I've taken some with me on road trips before loose in ziplock bags, without refrigeration for a few days and haven't died yet from doing that. For the most part I keep mine refrigerated

You made me look deeper into this and I really appreciate it.  The USDA actually has a detailed guide line for making jerky at home. They suggest bringing the meat up to 160 degrees before you start the drying process. I was not aware of this. My jerky cooks will now begin with a couple hours at 180 to start and then I will drop it down to a lower temperature for the duration. Thank you!

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/meat-preparation/jerky-and-food-safety/CT_Index

Just a FYI -  Cure doesn't really make jerky shelf stable.    Cure is really only used for protection from nasty stuff growing while it's being smoked.   

If you want shelf stable jerky you have to reduce the ' water activity ' , to a level where stuff won't grow.   

I'm by no means an expert on this, in fact, I can't really wrap my head around 'water activity' yet...    but for me, I never consider my jerky to be shelf stable.    I've taken some with me on road trips before loose in ziplock bags, without refrigeration for a few days and haven't died yet from doing that. For the most part I keep mine refrigerated

You made me look deeper into this and I really appreciate it.  The USDA actually has a detailed guide line for making jerky at home. They suggest bringing the meat up to 160 degrees before you start the drying process. I was not aware of this. My jerky cooks will now begin with a couple hours at 180 to start and then I will drop it down to a lower temperature for the duration. Thank you!

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/meat-preparation/jerky-and-food-safety/CT_Index

I tried that once in the oven and then going to the dehydrator.  Worst jerky I made.  Threw it out.

I guess I am taking risks then.  I pull the jerky right out of the wet marinade/cure it has been in for usually 12-24 hours, onto frog mats, sprinkle with dry rub, and into the smoker at 150°-180° depending on the smoker I am using.  Smoke for 2-3 hours and then into dehydrator for 2-3 hours at 160°.

I would think starting the process at 180, a temperature you use anyway, for a couple hours would get the meat to an internal temp of 160 soon enough, before it starts drying out. I am not going to use the oven at all. After a couple hours at 180, I will drop the temp to something in the 150 range to finish off the drying out process. I am also considering sous vide at 160 for 30 minutes before putting them on the frog mats. I might do a little of both and see which one turns out better results.