A Food Dehydrator

I dug out my dehydrator today and gave it a good clean. Even though I didn't have much success with veggies and fruit, I thought I would give meat a go?

I dcided to try and use some beef mince to make jerky. The only mince I had was a high fat content which isn't ideal,nut beggars can't be choosers! I  only made one tray full as a trial and used 500g /1 lb of mince heavily salted.
I patted it into place on the tray and set it away.I had forgotten how noisy it was so set it up in a room I seldom use. I took it out of the tray after 3 hours and turned the 'slice over. Tried another half an hour but still wasn't happy. After a total of 4 hours I finally got the consistency I wanted which was foldable so I could eat it with butter.
It is ok, and to the chewiness I desire but will need to be used fairly quickly as I didn't dry it out completely preferring the softer texture.

In the future I am going to putchase stir fry strips of beef, pork and chicken and try those with various marinades? These I will fully dry as I have a hiing/camping/fishing holiday later in the year and being lightweight and nourishing these will be ideal for me to take with me as theshop bought beef jerky is far too expensive.
Photo's below of various stages.