The Official Biltong Enthusiasts Thread

Well as everybody warned me about, and I was expecting it, the fan failed.

I had an old PC power supply and stripped out the fan of that. It was rattling a bit, I opened the little sticker and jammed it full of Vaseline.

Next, I removed the old 220v fan, and mounted the 12v fan. I had an old 12v DC power supply, drilled 2 holes and mounted it through there with double sided tape.

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Did a temporary connect of the wires to ensure the fan was drawing the air out. Used large chocolate blocks, that way the power wire and the plug connections mashed together, was a perfect fit, did not even need to cut the chocolate block.

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Final wiring, I must still glue it down neatly.
I used a 10k Rheostat (variable resistor), it was the only one I had available, but will be replacing it with either a 1k or 500 ohm one as only the last 5% or 10% of the resistor does the job. I will then dab it with a coat of varnish, or the SO's nail-polish, to protect it from the moisture.

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Tomorrow, 2.5Kg to 3Kg's topside will be placed in there. :)
 
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Just a heads up: Makro is selling the Mellerware Biltong King for R299 at the moment. :D
 
So I am having trouble keeping the bulbs in my mellerware king working. Those old type 100W bulbs seem inordinately sensitive and break at the slightest bump. Does anyone have any more robust options for creating a bit more heat in the biltong maker (without cooking it or melting the plastic? Even if a bit of wiring is needed I am keen to move away from the light bulb method (or at least try find more robust light bulbs).
 
Cius said:
So I am having trouble keeping the bulbs in my mellerware king working. Those old type 100W bulbs seem inordinately sensitive and break at the slightest bump. Does anyone have any more robust options for creating a bit more heat in the biltong maker (without cooking it or melting the plastic? Even if a bit of wiring is needed I am keen to move away from the light bulb method (or at least try find more robust light bulbs).
Click to expand...
Maybe a oven light. Not sure of the heat it gives off though.
 
Cius said:
So I am having trouble keeping the bulbs in my mellerware king working. Those old type 100W bulbs seem inordinately sensitive and break at the slightest bump. Does anyone have any more robust options for creating a bit more heat in the biltong maker (without cooking it or melting the plastic? Even if a bit of wiring is needed I am keen to move away from the light bulb method (or at least try find more robust light bulbs).
Click to expand...

Maybe it's the Biltong-Gods trying to protect you from using 60w more than the box is designed for? The bulb is for drying the surrounding air.
 
So far I know the max bulb size is 40W for the Mellerware unit???
The other day I found a nice halogen golf ball light that is working very well for me.
I put a small switch on my light to switch it off whenever I take the lid off. This helps the bulb last longer.

Regarding Game biltong, yum yum!!!
I use the Freddy Hirsch "Hunters Biltong" spice.
40g of spice mix to 1kg of meat. A 200g packet works great for 5kg of meat.
All I add extra is 10ml of Worcestershire sauce and 20ml of brown vinegar per 1kg of meat.
If you like your biltong a bit sweeter, add 1 teaspoon of brown sugar per 1kg also.
I marinate my meat in the fridge for at least 2 days in the mix, stirring every morning and evening. Do not drain the brine!
You need to give the marinade time to do it's thing.
Enjoy :)
 
wetkit said:
I put a small switch on my light to switch it off whenever I take the lid off. This helps the bulb last longer.
Click to expand...
I you might be right - thinking back the lifespan of my bulbs did seem to increase after I moved the bulb to the bottom of the dryer.
 
wetkit said:
So far I know the max bulb size is 40W for the Mellerware unit???
The other day I found a nice halogen golf ball light that is working very well for me.
I put a small switch on my light to switch it off whenever I take the lid off. This helps the bulb last longer.

Regarding Game biltong, yum yum!!!
I use the Freddy Hirsch "Hunters Biltong" spice.
40g of spice mix to 1kg of meat. A 200g packet works great for 5kg of meat.
All I add extra is 10ml of Worcestershire sauce and 20ml of brown vinegar per 1kg of meat.
If you like your biltong a bit sweeter, add 1 teaspoon of brown sugar per 1kg also.
I marinate my meat in the fridge for at least 2 days in the mix, stirring every morning and evening. Do not drain the brine!
You need to give the marinade time to do it's thing.
Enjoy :)
Click to expand...

thanks I am going to go with your suggestion.
 
I asked a couple guys the other day and no one had a real answer. Why don't you get Lamb biltong? Is it cause the meat goes off too quickly or does it just taste k@k?
 
Voodoo said:
Just a heads up: Makro is selling the Mellerware Biltong King for R299 at the moment. :D
Click to expand...

Thanks to your post Voodoo I started making some biltong. :D

Got a huge huge piece of 4 week matured vacuum packed silverside from the butcher made for biltong.
Cleaned it up and got it into 2 pieces with some strips to make it all the correct size.

1/4 of it crown chilli bite spice and the 2 offcut strips.
3/4 of it crown safari spice.

I "washed" the pieces in some brown spirit vinegar for about 5 minutes.
Squeezed out all of the vinegar from the meat.
Then spiced them liberally and gave them a good rub.
Put the pieces in a dish and covered them and placed into the fridge.
Let them rest for 1:30 first then each hour for 3 hours I drained and turned the pieces. I got quite a lot of moisture out from the meat.
Set them up to dry in the biltong king last night with a 42w halogen bulb.

The one skinny strip that was just really an off cut was ready after 13 hours. Its been eaten and it was very good with the dark brown/black colouring on the inside with a small center of dark red.

Another thing I found out that the normal cheap brown spirit vinegar is just white spirit vinegar with caramel food colouring added! The next batch after this is done I will try some proper brown grape vinegar.
 
I saw PnP Hyper had it for R299 too last weekend.

My biltong still need to be dark pinkish and be able to be squeezed at bit. I hate dried out hard biltong.
 
Biltong is nice, but it's not something I'll yearn for should I relocate to another country.

But that fokken brood looks nice :love:
 
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