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[Brushpopper]

I ordered a jerky gun and it should be here tomorrow.  I was at HEB (THE grocery store of Texas) today and saw some 96/4 ground beef on sale for 25% off because today was the sell by date.  It's a little over three pounds and I put it in the freezer until I'm ready to give it a try.  I'm using the Hi Mountain Original seasoning I always use on top or eye of round because the girls and I like it.

I want to try ground turkey, too.  HEB has 99/1 and I think the wife would like that.  She's not real big on beef usually.

Any suggestions from the experts?

Thanks in advance!!!

[yorkdude]

By no means am I an expert but I will chime in, We have used Hi Mountain many times for jerky and snack sticks. We prefer the original when we use it and while we have not used ground that lean, my guess is that you will be quite pleased. Let us know how it turns out.

[Th3Batman86]

Don't know which one you have, I have the Cabela's one. I can tell you that the meat likes to be wet. Make up your meat and then add 1/2-1 cup water to it as needed. It should be super wet but wetter than normal. It will seem runny but it is so it comes out the nozzle nice and easy. It will all evaporate during the smoking and doesn't mess with the flavor. I just pipe it out onto fog mats and through it in the smoker for 8 hours or so. I flip on the mats hourly so it colors nice and even.

[Bobitis]

I have a LEM jerky cannon and it works well. The mix that came with it is tasty but a bit salty for me.
I always added some ground pork to my mix. Will give this a try next time.

I'll agree that a more watery mix is better for the wear and tear on the gun. The flat nozzle on mine has to werk much harder than the round one.
I want to think I can fill my smoker with about 3 lbs of mix (with some overlap). I have a small smoker.

To me, it's hard to taste anything but spices and salt, so some other meat would likely be the same?

[Darwin]

Has anyone tried the double barrel nozzle?  I am thinking this gun would be a fun new toy and the extra opening would speed things up a bit.   

[GrillinGlen]

I have  The Cabela’s double barrel it’s been a while but I’ve used it several times, it works great

[Darwin]

Cheers Glen.  I didn't know they sold one. 

[Th3Batman86]

I have it as an option. I have not used it. I just got a bunch of ground beef. Sounds like some jerky experiments are in my future.

[Brushpopper]

Thanks for the advice!!  The one I ordered is The Judge by jerkyspot.  It has a round and a flat wide nozzle.  I hope it works well.

https://jerkyspot.com/products/the-judge-jerky-gun       (Admins if the link isn't allowed please remove it)

I can tell you that the meat likes to be wet. Make up your meat and then add 1/2-1 cup water to it as needed. It should be super wet but wetter than normal. It will seem runny but it is so it comes out the nozzle nice and easy. It will all evaporate during the smoking and doesn't mess with the flavor. I just pipe it out onto fog mats and through it in the smoker for 8 hours or so. I flip on the mats hourly so it colors nice and even.

The Hi Mountain directions say to add water and I was skeptical about it, but now I'm not.  What temp do you smoke it at?  The directions say 200 for an hour and 20 minutes flipping once.  Seems too hot and fast to me.  I do whole muscle at that temp and it's good, but I've always thought it was too hot.

[Th3Batman86]

I put the RecTec on low (180) and super smoke (cycles the fan off and on to really get some smoke) and I will leave it on there for a few hours. Flipping once an hour and just going by feel. I have done it for  most of a day before and still had it turn out well. Ground been jerky is much more forgiving than regular.

[GrillinGlen]

Cheers Glen.  I didn't know they sold one. 

I think my wife got it for me as a present back when I got my first Traeger, so it’s been probably 10 years.  All this talk makes me want to crank out some snack sticks, Not sure why I don’t make them more often too many projects going I guess

[Brushpopper]

Ground been jerky is much more forgiving than regular.

That's good to here.  Of course the box was damaged and the handle on the back of the plunger was broken.  I'm waiting now to hear from the outfit I got it from and see.  It's still usable and I can fix it, but I'll see what they say before I decide.