Dehydrator recommendations?

[Salmon Belly]

Need your suggestions please -- looking for a good quality dehydrator, mainly for jerky (elk/moose/deer). Have been using the oven on low, but got a new oven that doesn't stay on when the door is slightly ajar...

Tip I've received so far from TodBartell to get one with an off timer.

Thanks in advance,
SB


.

[Pemby_mess]

I've got a nesco gardenmaster, and an excalibur. Both work really well, but the excalibur has the edge by far. I plug mine into a timer. It's not strictly necessary to have one inboard.

[Iron Glove]

We have a 20 year old American Harvest dehydrater, stacked 5 trays.
Nothing special, no timers, no temperature adjustments but works well for us.
Mind you, with the size of the animals I get, we really don't need anything fancy. :mrgreen:
You might need something a little larger.

[Boner]

I have a nesco too. It does the job. The extra trays are crazy expensive, maybe because my model is a few years old.

[Beachcomber]

Picked up an 8 tray rig from Cabelas a few years ago. They seem to frequently be on sale. Took some getting used to and made a few batches of doggie treats before getting it right. Have since used for dehydrating chilli, ragu, fruit etc for a couple of canoe and hiking trips. My duck jerky still needs some work though.

[Edzzed]

We have a 20 year old American Harvest dehydrater, stacked 5 trays.
Nothing special, no timers, no temperature adjustments but works well for us.
Mind you, with the size of the animals I get, we really don't need anything fancy. :mrgreen:
You might need something a little larger.We have one too. Works great. Was in Costco Langley the other day and they have a square dehydrator there. Did not look closely at it so know nothing about it.

[hparrott]

I have always used the old school cylinder-shaped plug and go dehydrators but at Xmas I was given the” Cabela's 10-Tray Deluxe Dehydrator,” and it’s awesome. I really like that I can fit more food on the rectangular trays and that it has a fan to circulate the air and dehydrate food quicker. Being able to set the temp too is great since it doesn’t have a timer

[goatdancer]

Excalibur with a timer is the only way to go. Get yourself some non stick liners (Costco has them right now) and you'll be set. I got mine from Upaya Naturals back east. They had the best price.

[Alfonz]

I have been using a Nesco it works good but it is round and when trying to layout jerky it could be better. As far as the end product it is great. I have been using a nine tray stack and it seems to handle about 6-7 pounds of ground for jerky. I have been shuffling the trays and find about 7-8 hours at the 160 setting is the ticket.

[grantk]

I’ve got a digital Nesco snack master, which has the circular trays. It works great and the digital temperature and timer control is fantastic. I usually do 1/4” jerky and just set the timer for 7 hours, turns out good. The only thing I don’t like is the circle trays... square would be much easier to load, especially to make snack sticks. If I bought another I’d probably order an Excalibur from Costco.ca

[KBC]

The one at Costco right now is the Excalibur without timer. I bought the same one with timer from Costco.ca last year and so far so good.

[Arctic Lake]

We have Nesco GardenMaster . Sorry but have not used it for jerky yet .It works great for dehydrating canned chicken,shrimp,apples,fruit roll ups
Arctic Lake

[srthomas75]

We have Nesco GardenMaster . Sorry but have not used it for jerky yet .It works great for dehydrating canned chicken,shrimp,apples,fruit roll ups
Arctic Lake

I have to ask, What do you do with dehydrated shrimp or canned chicken?

[Salmon Belly]

This is great so far - keep them coming

SB

[srthomas75]

I have the cabelas 10 tray deluxe model. $150 I think I paid. Free shipping. I’m happy with it.

[.264winmag]

Have a couple of the round tray ones, pita if you ask me. I'm in the market for a square tray model with more capacity.

[Arctic Lake]

I have to ask, What do you do with dehydrated shrimp or canned chicken?

Went into dehydrated meals for back packing trip .
Arctic Lake

[corywilson13]

Got the Cabela’s 10 tray this week as it’s onsale. Trial run with fruit today went well. I have two different jerky batches marinating overnight and they are getting pumped through the jerky blaster onto the rectangular trays tomorrow. Anyone have recommendations on temperature and time for ground jerky?

[ajr5406]

https://www.amazon.ca/Excalibur-3900B-9-Tray-Deluxe-Dehydrator/dp/B004Z915M4/ref=asc_df_B004Z915M4/?tag=googleshopc0c-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=292899321329&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4539775351509732907&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001461&hvtargid=pla-577885692232&psc=1

We bought the Excalibur 9 tray (without timer) from Costco a couple of weeks ago for $200 (down from around $400). Its the same one as above from Amazon, in the link.

We really like it so far. I plan to make some venison jerky this weekend as well.

My wife did a bunch of research and this one had some great reviews and seems to be very good.