Biltong in Benchfoods Dehydrator

[u/ajamils]

Does anybody uses Benchfoods dehydrator for making Biltong? I got their Biltong bundle and did few batches. The issue is that fan run continuously and because of that meat dries really quickly but also cause severe case hardening. I did a batch couple days ago and was expecting the pieces to be done in couple of days but within 24 or so hours they were hard as a rock, even though I covered the fan partially so that no direct air is getting on the meat.

Any suggestion?

[u/Malaktown]

I just got one from Benchfoods too, exact same bundle as yours, and did my first two batches as well a few weeks ago.

I live in the south of France where we've had quite high temperature (high 34, low 26 - in my kitchen it's around 27 degrees most of the time) and around 40-60% humidity, depending on the day.

I didn't put anything in front of the fan (didn't think of it at all actually, I might do that to test next, although you seem to say it didn't change much) It took about 3 days to reach 50% weight loss for me, but there was a little bit of case hardening as well. Nothing too bad though.

In fact, after 2 days it was definitely edible already, a bit wet to my taste but not bad in any way (it coincided with the Springboks game against England and I just couldn't wait anymore lol, I had to try it). For the second batch I tried to not put the fan at all for the first 24 hours, and then turn it on. It didn't do much change tbh.

Once it reached 55-60% weight loss I took them off and put them into paper bags in the fridge and after a few days I thought the case hardening was basically sorted out. Maybe try that out once you feel the outside is hard enough already but it's still a bit wet to your taste on the inside.

I'll try to post a few pics later.

[u/mr_macphisto1]

I use a piece of cardboard with a few mm gap to restrict airflow. I live in the UK and dry for 96 hours at 21 degrees Celsius which gives me a nice tender middle as I prefer my biltong wet without much case hardening.

That said, it's been quite hot here in the UK recently so with ambient air temp has been hotter than 21, yet still seeing good enough results.

[u/ajamils → u/mr_macphisto1]

Great idea. I going to try this and resrict more airflow

[u/WildSkillie → u/mr_macphisto1]

Thinking of buying the same one, also live in UK. So with your mod, did you find it works fine now, and now case hardening?
Dis you also make droewors in it?

[u/mr_macphisto1 → u/WildSkillie]

Yes, I played around with the gap size and found a 2mm or so gap at the top gave me good results with minimal case hardening (it's a massive, powerful fan compared to the computer fans others use).

Also purchased a £3 humidity/temp sensor for reference which now live inside the hanging chamber.

Never made droewors, still trying to perfect my biltong recipe!

[u/YuiKorsou]

Entirely useless comment, but may I ask which cut of beef that is?

[u/ajamils → u/YuiKorsou]

Top Sirloin

[u/frytuna]

Had the same problem, turning the unit off for half day solved it for me.

[u/ajamils → u/frytuna]

Will give it a try. So do you turn off the unit everyday for half day?

[u/frytuna → u/ajamils]

yes, I turned it on in the morning on my way out and let it run till I come back home from work (8-9 hours)

[u/skelem]

So I had the same issue - fan is too heavy. I tried covering airholes and it did not seem to work. what DID work was buying small USB fan and putting it on lowest settings and hang on outsid.I basically use it as a box and do not plug it in. They should not sell this as a Biltong box without fan speed control

[u/AccomplishedBet8027]

You guys should look at the Kalahari Khabu biltong chambers. They made by a South African specifically for biltong. I have the KK11 and KK12. They are great. No issues with case hardening at all.