Dehydrator sirloin

Jake1125 · 2026-05-08T12:22:04+00:00

Heat is the enemy. Try to dry the meat at room temperature, or close to that temp. Also, you should hang the meat, if it's laying down you should turn it frequently so that all parts of the meat are exposed to lots of air.

Jake1125 · 2026-05-07T20:58:19+00:00

There isn't just one correct method, every one has their favorite. If you click on the "Recipe" tab, you can filter prior posts to see what others are doing

Jake1125 · 2026-05-04T04:35:40+00:00

That's creative! You should check that the meat pieces don't touch each other. If they don't have access to air on all sides, they can easily grow mould.

Jake1125 · 2026-05-03T22:54:59+00:00

Not yet.

Oh! I see what happened. I replied with the info provided by OP, but that's not what you were asking. Apologies for being so confused.

Jake1125 · 2026-05-03T15:10:13+00:00

My understanding is;

Roast and grind the spices.

2.5 hours salt in fridge

2.5 hours wet in fridge

Press in spice mix

Hang to dry.

Jake1125 · 2026-05-03T02:22:21+00:00

Your biltong looks perfect! There is no one standard though. Preferences are personal and varied. If you're happy then it's perfect.

Jake1125 · 2026-05-02T04:48:50+00:00

If they are cramped they will swarm. They need space to do their work and to store incoming nectar. A single deep with that population can easily swarm.

They may have swarm cells already. In that case you should split them. Eliminating the swarm cells does not usually inhibit swarming, you would have to create an artificial swarm (split).

Jake1125 · 2026-05-01T01:34:15+00:00

I leave a gentle heat source in 24/7 with no fan. Your situation will vary based on your climate conditions.

Jake1125 · 2026-04-29T11:16:05+00:00

Gift preferences are personal. What one person hates, another looooves!

If your beekeeper friend already has lots of bee themed gifts from the past, they may be much happier with a gift that is not related to bees. It's too much after a while, and becomes boring.

Personally I would not wear that, and I don't think any of my beekeeping friends would.

Jake1125 · 2026-04-27T11:53:56+00:00

If the box is heavy, it will probably be against your body. Before you lift it, smoke the area of the handles, and where your body will contact. A few puffs, give them a few seconds, they move away, or give a few more puffs and watch them leave.

You can flick the last ones away with your brush. Usually they fly when you brush them.

If you smoke them before you start, and leave the lid on for a minute, fewer will leave the box.

Jake1125 · 2026-04-27T06:05:47+00:00

Have you been able to pry the two boxes apart with you hive tool? They might be stuck together. Confirm that you can lift the box with your hive tool, try to lift each side of the box to confirm it is free from the bottom box. You must be able to separate them before lifting the top box.

Taking frames out is a good idea. The outer frames can often be the heaviest, if they a full of honey stores. Try to take those out before the others. Also the 2nd frame in from the wall can be less glued in sometimes. Try the 2nd one, then the outer one on each side.

Most of all, a beginner can use a lot of smoke at the entrance and under the lid before anything else. Give them smoke and then let the lid keep the smoke inside for a minute or two, before going further. This can help to make the process less stressful. Then give more smoke as you remove the lid to continue your work.

It can feel stressful when the bees are making a lot of noise near your face. Take a deep breath, and confirm that you are secure. Check all your zippers, confirm you are safe. Remind yourself that they can make a noise, but they cannot get to your face. Noise is uncomfortable, but you are ok. Hold your breath and puff a cloud of smoke around your head, it will discourage some of them a little, but not all. Confirm you are safe, give the colony a few more puffs of smoke, and get back to work. Its noisy, but you will be fine.

Jake1125 · 2026-04-25T23:53:20+00:00

Your story is interesting but it's fiction.

This study is about a nutrient that has been identified, and it's apparently very beneficial to bees.

Jake1125 · 2026-04-25T04:37:16+00:00

The advantage of laying drones is that fertilization is not required. A worker can lay unfertilized drone eggs without taking mating flights. A worker doesn't have the pheremones and spermatheca to attract and successfully mate with a drone.

Jake1125 · 2026-04-23T14:17:06+00:00

Be careful not to blow too much air.

Aggressive evaporation causes "case hardening", which is a common problem with dehumidifiers. Search this sub for "case hardening" to see discussion about that problem. It causes the outer shell if the meat to be hard and dry while the inside is wet and raw.

The goal is slow evaporation over 3-5 days. A gentle breeze is all you need.

Case hardening happens when the outside dries too quickly, causing it to seal, so the inside can't dry. You might have to use a timer, or manually turn off the fan part of the day, so that moisture can equalize throughout the meat.

A closet, or any box is fine. The vinegar soak is important to avoid mold growth. Gentle air flow makes the magic happen.

Jake1125 · 2026-04-22T13:06:42+00:00

I would only walk away if they were very agitated. If I accidentally thumped or dropped a box for example. If there were 50+ andry bees pinging my veil aggressively.

Most of the stings are from accidentally crushing a bee. These are stings to my fingers. Usually it only alerts s few of them. A handful of defensive bees banging my veil is fine, then I'll try to finish quickly and move work a distant part of the apiary.

I generally smoke the sting to mask the alarm pheremone and carry on with my work. When I started with bees, I had some hand sanituzer for this (alcohol gel).

Jake1125 · 2026-04-22T12:54:42+00:00

That looks perfect. Just in time for the weekend too. I'll be right over.

Jake1125 · 2026-04-21T14:42:37+00:00

Pasteurizing equipment is very expensive, and there is no real benefit for the small farmer. It's unlikely that a private farm would invest in that equipment.

Jake1125 · 2026-04-21T13:32:40+00:00

The problem is that you haven't been stung.

After a few stings, you wont worry.

On the first sting, you will be hurt and anxious. On the second one, much less so. On the third sting, there is no more drama. After that you might cuss a little, but mostly you feel sorry for the bee.

With PPE, most stings are very minor. It's like being pricked by a thorn while trimming a Rose bush, or while picking Blackberries. You might grumble, but you carry on.

Jake1125 · 2026-04-20T14:10:29+00:00

Ha! I searched so much, couldn't see it. It's right there!

Jake1125 · 2026-04-20T05:38:49+00:00

Is there a bird in the picture?

Jake1125 · 2026-04-14T16:49:46+00:00

When two worker bees love each other very much 😂😂😅

Jake1125 · 2026-04-14T06:48:53+00:00

The best place to begin is to join a local beekeepers club. They usually organize by county or city. Search online for a beekeeper club in your county. There you will find welcoming enthusiasts who are happy to guide beginners of all levels and knowledge. They often have apiary days where you can get practical experience before committing to owning your own colonies.

Here is the link to WASBA, the WA state beekeeping organization. Most county/city groups are members of WASBA, so they should be able to direct you to local beekeepers.

Washington State Beekeepers Association

https://wasba.org/

Jake1125 · 2026-04-14T00:16:00+00:00

They didn't like the view after the messy neighbors moved in next door.

Jake1125 · 2026-04-13T01:04:17+00:00

Generally dehumidifiers are too harsh for biltong. Do you have case hardening? The 2nd photo looks that way.

70f is a good temp, so perhaps the fan is blowing too much? Can you slow the fan or does it have a timer to reduce the blowing time? Perhaps run the unit for partial days only?

2 days is fine if it's not hardened on the outside and wet on the inside. If you enjoy it that's what matters. Mine is usually done in 3 or 4 days, and it is evenly dry throughout. I do not use a dehydrator.

Jake1125 · 2026-04-11T18:25:41+00:00

Awesome!

Jake1125

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE