The Official Biltong Enthusiasts Thread

fanie.dry said:
If the outside is much harder than the inside, the temperature might not be right. Meat is drying to fast. What is your setup like? Do you have the mellarware Biltong Maker? Fans? Bulb wattage?
Click to expand...


Yes, Mellarware BM.

Its running in my study where the air is quite dry.

I am running it without the bulb.

Based in jhb and understand from previous posts that the bulb is not necessary up here.

Only have the stock fan at the top.
 
I.am.Sam said:
you cant slow the fan down ..or can you ?

but yeah i normally use the bulb for the 1st day
Click to expand...

Try using the light bulb from day two, once all the surface moisture on the meat has been removed during day one. turn on the light bulb to raise the temperature in the dryer and draw out the moisture in the meat. Continue to use the fan at all times. In current climate conditions, (winter) the air is quite dry so the light bulb is not required at all. In humid conditions you might need to rely on the light bulb a little more. your dryer needs to run at 28 degrees, any higher and you will cook the meat. I would be inclined to only use the light bulb if the meat was going rancid.
 
Shellyb1 said:
Yes, Mellarware BM.

Its running in my study where the air is quite dry.

I am running it without the bulb.

Based in jhb and understand from previous posts that the bulb is not necessary up here.

Only have the stock fan at the top.
Click to expand...

try it with the bulb. seems like the fan is drying the meat on the outside, but the temprature might not be high enough inside the dryer to pull the moisture to the surface of the meat.
 
Converted an old PC case to a biltong box. Put some mesh on the holes, used an ellies transformer for the pc fan, and recently added a light bulb.

Last time it struggled to get the inside dry so had to cut it into strips. Hoping the 40w bulb will fix this.
 
HeftyCrab said:
Converted an old PC case to a biltong box. Put some mesh on the holes, used an ellies transformer for the pc fan, and recently added a light bulb.

Last time it struggled to get the inside dry so had to cut it into strips. Hoping the 40w bulb will fix this.
Click to expand...

whats the price of that ?
 
I got it for R50 from the ellies factory shop in pinelands. Think the cheapest I saw it elsewhere was game for like R70 IIRC. Pick n Pay also sells them but I think they could be more expensive.

It worked quite nicely. Usually they come with a multiplug thing on the end so that you can use it with many different appliances. You can just pull this off (its got an adaptor), and there is a 2 hole plug. I took my PC fan, took the plug off the end so that you have those little copper ends. You can then just plug those copper ends straight into the Ellies transformers' 2 hole plug and tape it up with insulation tape. Very easy. No cutting of wires needed.
 
HeftyCrab said:
I got it for R50 from the ellies factory shop in pinelands. Think the cheapest I saw it elsewhere was game for like R70 IIRC. Pick n Pay also sells them but I think they could be more expensive.

It worked quite nicely. Usually they come with a multiplug thing on the end so that you can use it with many different appliances. You can just pull this off (its got an adaptor), and there is a 2 hole plug. I took my PC fan, took the plug off the end so that you have those little copper ends. You can then just plug those copper ends straight into the Ellies transformers' 2 hole plug and tape it up with insulation tape. Very easy. No cutting of wires needed.
Click to expand...

you got a pic ?

so you take a normal pc fan ..strip the wires and connect the converter

and boom ..fanie is your uncle ?
 
[video=youtube;sIttaw1E2Hc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIttaw1E2Hc[/video]

is it this plug

31bzs3YRwiL.jpg
 
I.am.Sam said:
[video=youtube;sIttaw1E2Hc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIttaw1E2Hc[/video]

is it this plug

31bzs3YRwiL.jpg
Click to expand...

Almost something similar. Ill see if I can post a pic later tonight. Theres a little voltage switch on the back so you adjust between different voltages.

Yes its thay easy. Connect the wires and there you go. It only works one way. if you connect it wrong it wont work. Just swop it around.

I chose this way because it was a mission getting a 220v fan, and worked out cheaper for me.

Edit: Heres the transformer I was talking about:

Ellies_500mA.jpg

There is a 500mA version and a 1000mA version. Ive got the latter. In the photo you can clearly see the 2 hole plug on the right that I was talking about. You just put the fans wires in there.
 
Last edited:
you could probably get away with using a pc fan connected to a old cell phone charger.

the pc fan typically runs at 12v.
the fan runs at a high speed to continually keep components that heat up under load, cool.

now, with the biltong box, you are not needing to keep things very cool, you are looking for air circulation.
using an old cell phone charger (4.6v), the fan will run at about 38% of the speed it would normally do with a 12v power supply - enough to move air in a small "sealed" space.

you dont need a hurricane in your box !

try it & see
 
Got a new spice mixture from Crown National called Ranch Biltong seasoning and its amazing! Its like a mixture of hunter/plaas biltong.
 
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