I received a new pellet grill today and one of the things it can do issue jerky. I can set the temp at 150 and smoke it for as long as required. The problem is I've never made jerky before and don't know where to start. Does any one have a recipe for jerky that I can use in a smoker?

I am just pulling a batch of jerky from the dehydrator this morning. I always use Mills Fleet Farm spice packets, and have never gone wrong.I also use a jerky gun from Mills which comes with attachments for jerky or sausage sticks.

I don't have a dehydrator. Could I still do this if I got the ingredients and jerky gun? I've heard that one can use the oven at a low temp and get similar results. We always bring jerky with us but it would be fun to try making a batch ourselves.

We just finished 3 batches.
We use beef stir fry meat, thin cut. Get it at walmart. Less fat the better.
Marinade for 1 - 2 hours I use world harbors teriyaki , walmart
2 - 21/2 hrs at @ 160 till done

Bendable not over done , it will cook a bit after taking out of dehydrator or grill or oven.
Try it!

Best Fishes Mike

Does the jerky need to be refrigerated or can it be bagged and brought on a trip?

The oven should work fine for making jerky. I always bag it and bring it to the BWCAW.

I use a temperature controlled smoker to make my Jerky. I buy a lean roast and slice it thin. then marinade is a teriyaki, garlic, kosher salt. Sometime I use dry seasoning, like HI Mountain Seasoning. I just mix and put it in a gallon Ziploc in refer overnight. Its good to remove the surface wetness prior to starting the smoking process (tamp dry with a paper towel). Once ready add pepper,or salt, or whatever to the surface. Not sure it matters, but I only load wood three times during the drying process, first two starting an hour in, the last near the end. I have found more than that to be too smoky for me(this is a personal taste thing). I find apple and hickory to mix the best with this seasoning. Lots of good recipes here and on net. I vacuum pack mine and store in the freezer with all my other dried meets, since I make a lot at a time. But it isn't necessary.

If you use cure in your recipes, your jerky will be fine during your trip

I dehydrate my own jerky all the time, I must have done 40+ lbs of venison before xmas. I have used commercially available cures and my own recipes found online. Try allrecipes.com, Nesco makes some good ones (garlic & cracked black pepper, andouille & pepperoni are our favs). Nesco added a few new flavors this year-you can order a sampler pack. Cabellas (hi-mtn) has a bunch too. I have never bought one of those guns to make extruded strips from ground meat. I always use whole steaks (marked for london broil) or roasts-no need to grind the meat to a pulp and then reform it-no matter how tough the cut. I slice my beef or venison thin and uniform so it all gets done at the same time-if the meat is still a bit frozen it is easier to slice. If you use a commercially available cure & flavoring it usually needs to marinate overnight. These cures make the meat stable, although if you then vacuum seal and freeze your jerky...it would last a really long time..a year or more. If you take a piece of cured jerky and bend it, it shouldnt snap, it should bend. I agree that jerky continues to dry after it is removed from the smoker or machine..so keep that in mind too. Enjoy!

I make beef jerkey in my oven by hanging thin strips of round or flank steak from toothpicks and cooking them at 160 degrees for 4 to 6 hours. Round steak is usually one or two cheaper per pound, and it works as well as flank. I first marinate the beef strips for 24 hours in a combination of soy sauce and worchestshire sauce, accent, seasoned salt, garlic powder, onion powder, barbeque salt, onion salt, black pepper, and liquid smoke. I suppose other jerkey marinades would work just as well. Hanging the strips from the top rack in the oven is tedious but I can normally get at least 25 lbs. of meat packed in there. You can hang two strips per toothpick, as long as you space them so they are not stuck to each other. You also need to cover the bottom of your oven very well to catch the drippings. The end product is very good, and the jerkey strips will keep well without refrigeration.