The Official Biltong Enthusiasts Thread

My fan burned out like so many other owners, but I had a PC fan so it was a quick and easy fix. The nice thing about it is that it folds away very compact... I only make biltong occasionally and having a dryer that can slide into a small space in the kitchen is useful... That being said, I would not doubt that a DIY dryer could easily be waaaaaaay better quality... The Mellerware is a bit flimsy and can easily be broken if not handled properly.
 
Round two has started!
I just picked up 1.5kg of Silverside from my butcher, The last batch was a frozen dry aged Siloin roast, Yeah I know its not ideal So this batch should be Much better than my 1st.

Ive also scoured my house and found all the parts I need for a DIY box, I only need a few Dowels now :laugh:
 
Deetz said:
Round two has started!
I just picked up 1.5kg of Silverside from my butcher, The last batch was a frozen dry aged Siloin roast, Yeah I know its not ideal So this batch should be Much better than my 1st.

Ive also scoured my house and found all the parts I need for a DIY box, I only need a few Dowels now :laugh:
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How did it end up going?

I assembled myself a biltong box using a Roughtote over the past couple of days, and hung up my first batch last night. Now we wait...
 
PhireSide said:
How did it end up going?

I assembled myself a biltong box using a Roughtote over the past couple of days, and hung up my first batch last night. Now we wait...
Click to expand...

Lekka Man!!! Best biltong is is homemade biltong!!

Been going great! I just took off a batch yesterday that I put in on Sunday and also hanged some droe wors yesterday.
The Mellerware Biltong king was way too small (could only load about 1.5KG max and then it dried too slow with too little space in the box) so I ended up making a new one with a 80l tote, Dowels, PC fan and a light fitting. The new box should take 3-4KG comfortably. Will advise once tested this weekend

I should be hanging the next batch over the weekend

My plan is to use the Mellerware BK for my Chilli Bites and the DIY box for my normal Biltong and Dry wors
 
Deetz said:
Lekka Man!!! Best biltong is is homemade biltong!!

Been going great! I just took off a batch yesterday that I put in on Sunday and also hanged some droe wors yesterday.
The Mellerware Biltong king was way too small (could only load about 1.5KG max and then it dried too slow with too little space in the box) so I ended up making a new one with a 80l tote, Dowels, PC fan and a light fitting. The new box should take 3-4KG comfortably. Will advise once tested this weekend

I should be hanging the next batch over the weekend

My plan is to use the Mellerware BK for my Chilli Bites and the DIY box for my normal Biltong and Dry wors
Click to expand...
Great to hear.

I also used a 'Tote around that size (76l), drilled 10mm holes along the perimeter at the bottom and made a 120mm hole in the lid where I have a 12v fan running at 3.7v to draw air out. I initially used an inline resistor to make the fan draw even less airflow, but I think it was too slow to make a difference.

The only difference is that I don't have a light inside mine, so I am hoping the air is dry enough for it to cure properly. I have mine sitting in my garage, and it's around 15 degrees give or take right now. The garage is the coolest part of the house, and the temperature is pretty stable.

I got some Chilli Bite spices from Freddy Hirsch as well, which I will try with the next batch. I went a little overboard and bought 5kg of rump to use, of which I have used around a third so far. I am reluctant to use the rest until I know my recipe is good - which, in hindsight, means I should have bought maybe 1 or 2 kg to start off with.

Will it be fine if I freeze the leftover meat to use at a later stage, or will this affect the quality of the final product?
 
PhireSide said:
Great to hear.

I also used a 'Tote around that size (76l), drilled 10mm holes along the perimeter at the bottom and made a 120mm hole in the lid where I have a 12v fan running at 3.7v to draw air out. I initially used an inline resistor to make the fan draw even less airflow, but I think it was too slow to make a difference.

The only difference is that I don't have a light inside mine, so I am hoping the air is dry enough for it to cure properly. I have mine sitting in my garage, and it's around 15 degrees give or take right now. The garage is the coolest part of the house, and the temperature is pretty stable.

I got some Chilli Bite spices from Freddy Hirsch as well, which I will try with the next batch. I went a little overboard and bought 5kg of rump to use, of which I have used around a third so far. I am reluctant to use the rest until I know my recipe is good - which, in hindsight, means I should have bought maybe 1 or 2 kg to start off with.

Will it be fine if I freeze the leftover meat to use at a later stage, or will this affect the quality of the final product?
Click to expand...

Wow thats a Big batch for a "Test" batch :laugh: :laugh:
The light is really only optional and will not stop the process if you leave it out.

With what you said on your setup, it sounds like perfect conditions to me, so keep it as it is.

With regards to the freezing meat thing, In my opinion the end product is noticeably better if you use 'fresh' or unfrozen meats.
My one batch was with a frozen Roast, and I could definitely taste the slightest differences in the end product compared to that of a batch made from fresh meat, the meat simply tastes a bit older to me? difficult to explain.

With that said, It does not in any way mean that it was crap end product at all, in fact it was still tasty. Its just not 100% as good as fresh, In my opinion.
 
Pegasus said:
I've had one for 5 years plus now, only issue is that light bulbs don't last forever, had to replace it a few times.

I've just made some biltong in it. Rump and Ostrich steak was R99 a kilo at Foodlovers.
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Where do you get the globes from?
Seems most places just have energy savers / LEDs for sale.
 
Thanks.
It's been working fine without the globe in the cold weather, but think I'll need one soon.
Will try builder's, hopefully they have.
 
Deetz said:
Yeah thats a great size. Doubt this one will do more than 1.5-2 Kgs
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My daughter got just under 4kgs in the Mellerware.

That's without the globe though which looks like it will affect some of the hanging space.
 
Swing said:
Where do you get the globes from?
Seems most places just have energy savers / LEDs for sale.
Click to expand...
Only place Ive been able to find the right ones was at builders at R105 for 2 globes. They have 28W and 45W, I took the 28.
 
Swing said:
My daughter got just under 4kgs in the Mellerware.

That's without the globe though which looks like it will affect some of the hanging space.
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Defnately possible, but for me it takes waaay too long to dry and Ive found that the drying process does not go too well and Ive had mold with one of the bigger batches I tried. might have been because its too much meat or the fact that there was rain around for a couple of days at the same time.

The globe definately takes space where you could hang meat, but during rainy weather Id rather hang less than get a "off" batch.
 
Deetz said:
Defnately possible, but for me it takes waaay too long to dry and Ive found that the drying process does not go too well and Ive had mold with one of the bigger batches I tried. might have been because its too much meat or the fact that there was rain around for a couple of days at the same time.

The globe definately takes space where you could hang meat, but during rainy weather Id rather hang less than get a "off" batch.
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The drying has been fine for us with the weather, but once it's gets a bit warmer and not so dry out, I don't think we'll chance that amount.
Around 3kg or under should work - we don't mind the biltong a bit wet.
 
While the first batch of biltong was hanging, we decided to try make some chilli bites, which we put in the drier on Saturday morning. Most of the pieces are dry today, with one or two more still drying out but should be dry enough by tonight.

IMG_20200812_080550 (Medium).jpg

IMG_20200810_104656 (Medium).jpg

IMG_20200812_080736 (Medium).jpg
 
Deetz said:
Thats looking so Tasty!!!
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I would have added more salt to the actual biltong, as it is a little on the bland side, but the chilli bites are damn near spot on. This was the spice I used:

1597221298269.png

The 200g pack is good for 4kg of meat. I quartered the ingredients (50g spice, 25g Worcestershire Sauce, 25g vinegar) and it was more than enough for the +-1kg batch I made. I would slice the meat even thinner next time, as they are a little tough to bite into when they are thick. They didn't shrink nearly as much as I thought they would, but the pack says to dry to 40-60% moisture content.
 
PhireSide said:
I would have added more salt to the actual biltong, as it is a little on the bland side, but the chilli bites are damn near spot on. This was the spice I used:

View attachment 891470

The 200g pack is good for 4kg of meat. I quartered the ingredients (50g spice, 25g Worcestershire Sauce, 25g vinegar) and it was more than enough for the +-1kg batch I made. I would slice the meat even thinner next time, as they are a little tough to bite into when they are thick. They didn't shrink nearly as much as I thought they would, but the pack says to dry to 40-60% moisture content.
Click to expand...
What shop is this from?
 
Deetz said:
What shop is this from?
Click to expand...
Freddy Hirsch, they have really good prices on their bulk supplies. I picked up 100 nylon meat hooks for R35 as well when I was there and stocked up on my usual spice supplies
 
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