The traditional way to make biltong is by air-drying it. Originally biltong or dry wors was hung from a shady tree in the breeze, protected from insects – or from the open rafters of an airy room (like those found in thatch roof homes).
This can be replicated by using a “biltong box” as described below (built at home or purchased), a dehydrating machine (best for thinner pieces, or “biltong sticks” see below) – or even in a low-temperature oven with the door open a crack.
Making a Biltong Box
How to make a basic wood biltong box at home:
If you want to make your own biltong box from scratch (as I suspect many South Africans will), the instructions below provide a basic framework to work off. Alternatively, you can purchase a wood cabinet – e.g. from Ikea or your local used or wholesale furniture outlet – then install the pieces such as the light, fan, ventilation, netting.
- Size – the box pictured here is made from plain 1 foot wide planks purchased at Home Depot. I recommend plain hardwood such as oak. Don’t use particle board or any other wood treated with chemicals, resins or glues as these can diffuse odors and toxins.
- Each side is 1 foot wide and the box is about 2-3 feet high. The box shown below is large enough to dry approx. 5 lbs of biltong (thick pieces of biltong up to approx. 1-1.5 feet in length). The box could be made larger if you are going to be making more than this at a time – e.g. 2 feet wide by 3 feet high. The box needs to be large enough that biltong strips or dry wors (droëwors) do not touch each other. This ensures good airflow and therefore proper drying. Meat that touches other pieces is also more likely to develop mold.
- Attach a wire or synthetic insect mesh that covers the top of the box when making biltong or droëwors. The mesh should be secured to keep insects out of the box while at the same time allowing proper airflow. A cheap staple gun is easy to use to secure the insect mesh.
- Join each side of the box with corner braces, screws, or nails. If you plan on having a permanent top attached to the box then you will want to hinge a door to open up for hanging your biltong or droëwors and also drills a few holes in the sides or top for airflow (cover all holes with insect mesh).
- Insert a lamp bulb (needs to be incandescent to provide a small amount of heat, not LED) or fan (or both, especially in humid climates) in the bottom of the box to circulate air. A small computer cooling fan works well. If you have one, use a jigsaw tool to cut the hole.
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- For the light bulb you can use a standard bulb socket with wire AKA light cord
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- For the fan, a USB (PC type fan) is cheap (they sell for $10-$15), easy to install and plugs into any standard USB charger
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- An alternative – easy option – for the fan is a small USB desk fan or even rechargeable / battery operated fan that you simply place into the bottom of the biltong box.
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- Cut holes to place wire or wood rods from which to hang the biltong strips or dry wors. A cheap effective way to hang the meat is by using plain metal paper clips bent open (large ones tend to work better with heavier pieces of biltong) or you can use small butcher hooks.
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- The picture below is a quality built home machine. This is great a project especially if you are handy with woodworking or would like to learn some woodworking skills and have the time! This box has a glass door to see the progress of the drying, a light bulb for heat and a small PC fan for airflow.
Nice homemade biltong box
- The picture below is a quality built home machine. This is great a project especially if you are handy with woodworking or would like to learn some woodworking skills and have the time! This box has a glass door to see the progress of the drying, a light bulb for heat and a small PC fan for airflow.
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Easy Starter Option for a DIY biltong box:
Alternatively, an easy option to start with (no woodworking skills required) is to use an empty cardboard box with a fan in it. It won’t last as long but works fine. This is a great way to start out and experiment.
Biltong box example found in the Karoo, Western Cape, South Africa
On a recent trip to South Africa, I stopped the small town of Heidelberg in the Karoo and had lunch on the patio of a great little local restaurant called Delish. Like many places in South Africa, they make their own biltong on site. I snapped the picture below as this is a great idea if you want to make a larger biltong box – essentially a converted media cabinet with a glass front to see the biltong or dry wors, with bulbs for heat and airflow. If you are ever traveling through Heidelberg, this is a nice place with a shady patio to take a break.
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Large biltong cabinet
A good option is using a smoker cabinet and just putting a fan in it instead of using the heating element. We have used the Smokehouse Little Chief Smoker with great success. We adapted it by putting on a plexiglass sheet as a door so we could see the biltong.
You can also buy a biltong maker/drying cabinet on Amazon. This is obviously a more expensive option.
You can also use a regular food dehydrator to make biltong sticks although we do not recommend them for larger biltong pieces as food dehydrators use heat as well as air circulation for drying which does not result in as good a product as just air drying. Read this article for how to use a food dehydrator for making biltong and jerky and also the best rated dehydrator for making biltong and jerky.
25 responses to “How to Make a Biltong Box, Buying a Biltong Dehydrator”
Hello Iam in Australia looking to build a biltong maker. Any ideas or help with how much ventilation or air flow required? Light at bottom fan to blow the heat? Please could you advise best set up and recommended materials. Many thanks
Kristian
Hi Kristian, my recommendation would be a basic wooden box (buy a pre-made one if you can but not painted or treated – just natural wood), at least 2 feet high so you can make 1 foot long pieces. You don’t necessarily need a light – just a fan will also do the trick, you could even just cut a small hole and feed the fan wire through the bottom then seal around it to keep insects out. I have used a cheap portable fan ($10) and it works fine. You can even do the same with a cardboard box for a start. Make sure punch holes in top to let the air circulate up around the biltong and escape the top. Cover the holes with insect mesh.
Another really easy way to make biltong sticks (thinner, dry pieces) is to put oven on lowest temp (170 F in USA) and leave the door open a crack to let warm air escape. Then just lay the cured and spiced thin pieces out on a wire rack in the oven. Pieces shouldn’t be too thick… Drying this way only takes a few hours depending on thickness so check for when dry through, probably about 4 hours.
Good luck and enjoy!
What type of light bulb is used? I live in South Florida and I love biltong and would like to make this box.
I suggest a regular 40 or 60 watt bulb. Don’t use LED as they don’t have a filament that gets hot. The slight heat from the bulb helps create airflow. A slight heat is good for South Florida conditions that are on the humid side.
Good luck and enjoy!
What type of fan would you recommend? Do you feel that a computer fan would be sufficient? I’m just wondering due to sizing constraints. Also – would you recommend the light stays on the entire time it’s dehydrating/curing? What would you recommend? I’ve had Biltong many times before and it’s fabulous! I’m super inspired to make this at home and get things right. Thanks! 🙂
Hi Stefanie, yes – a computer fan or small usb plug-in fan is perfect as you just want to get some airflow around the meat. I recommend also using a light and it should stay on the whole time. Make sure to use a regular (old school) bulb and not an LED and you are using the light to generate a little heat and dry the air.
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
Thank you, Max! I`ll keep you posted once we’ve made the Biltong machine and try the first batch. I appreciate your help! 🙂
interesting for sure can i place this wood box in the house or outside the house for ventilation help
I have always only seen inside. Primarily as it is easier to protect against insects and animals. Airflow in the biltong box is provided by a small fan or light bulb that creates a small amount of heat resulting in thermal airflow.
I enjoyed your article. This may be a silly question but does the fan blow air out or in? I’m thinking it’s probably to draw air out but I want to make sure.
Thanks!
Hi, thanks for the question. If you are using a PC type fan (permanently installed into the side of the box) then it’s best set up to draw air out. You can also just buy a cheap fan small fan that goes inside the box – it will push air out. The key is to create air circulation. Enjoy your home made biltong!
Awesome Site. Really enjoyed reading.
HI,, USING SANDWICH PANELS LIKE THE FRIDGE,,FOR EASY CLEANING,,THE BOX IS 80 HEIGHT AND 50 WIDTH AND DEPTH,,WITH A FAN OF 13 WATTS ON TOP AND BULB 60 WATTS,,WHERE DO YOU SUGGEST THE HOLES FOR VENTALATION ???AND WHAT DO YOU OF THE SANDWICH PANELS ?? ANY THING ESLE TO HELP ???
AND A BIG THANKYOU…
Hi Fernando, I would recommend a few holes near the bottom of the box to generate airflow around the biltong – so a couple on each side. You can cover them with metal or plastic mesh to prevent insects from getting in. Most important thing is to have the airflow from bottom to top. Let us know how it goes!
Hello, just wondering how you wire in the fan and light bulb?
Hi Gerhardus, I have added some links in the post to bulb sockets with attached cables and also USB PC type fans. Once you cut the hole in the box to fit the fan and also a round hole to fit the light socket (I use a jigsaw but if you don’t have one then you can use a drill to start the hole then a basic saw blade will work fine) – then secure them into place. Thanks for the question.
Could a food dehydrator with a fan set on it’s lowest tempurature setting be used?
Hi Mike – absolutely it can work. Just remember that it will dry out significantly faster so you need to check after a few hours. I have a post comparing biltong made in a biltong box (no heat) vs in a dehydrator on the lowest heat setting (usually around 65 or 70 degree F). I find that thinner pieces tend to work better in a dehydrator than the thicker pieces of biltong. If you have a large enough dehydrator you can take out the trays and hang the biltong – otherwise lay them on the racks. Stainless steel mesh type racks that allow air to pass through and easy to clean properly (a must if you are drying meat) are the best. Also, make sure to check the biltong to see if the pieces need to be flipped or rotated after a few hours. Thin strips took me about 4-5 hours to make in my excalibur dehydrator.
I am curious to know just what the inside temps are in these homemade biltong’s. I know it
will vary. Will the 160*F be reached that will kill most bacteria? Are 500 watt heat lamps used? My new hobby is making jerky really and hopefully one of these boxes will suffice.
Hi Ed, the biltong boxes do not generate enough heat to make jerky.. Jerky is a very different product to biltong in terms of how it is made. Jerky relies on heat to “cook” the meat whereas biltong relies on the vinegar soaking followed by salt/other spices to “cure” the meat and then is dried over a long period at very low or even no heat. Refer to this post (https://www.biltongblog.com/what-is-the-difference-between-biltong-and-jerky) for more information on the difference. The only thing a light bulb will do is add a little heat to dry out the air. I do NOT recommend using a high heat bulb in a home made box due to fire risk.
– For making jerky you should consider the dehydrators reviewed in this post: https://www.biltongblog.com/best-dehydrator-for-making-jerky-and-biltong
If you scroll down in the post we have examples and links to dehydrators that we like across all price ranges.
Let us know how it goes!
Hi, I’m an ex Saffer living in the UK. Many years back the South African edition of Popular Mechanic had plans for a biltong maker using a plastic roughtote plastic storage box, a computer fan for air circulation, a loudspeaker cover to act as a grill and a light bulb.Meat was hung from (in my case nine pieces of wooden dowel sticks. It has served me well for many years. Here I have it in the man cave shed so in winter I clad it with wall insulation ! A while back I came across recommended box temperatures for making biltong and this has really refined it for me. For the first 24 hours of hanging 22 – 24 deg C and thereafter 30 -33 deg C until it reaches your desired dryness but normally 2 days. To achieve this in my case (your will vary due to size and climatic conditions) I change light bulbs. For the first 24 hours I use a 40w globe and then change over to a 70w. In the UK it is difficult to get filament bulbs and the latter one is a halogen which works well. Good luck and happy munching !
Thanks for the good info Jim!
Hi, I’m a semi-retired Guernseyman from a fishing family, drifting back to my cultural roots after a lifetime of travel including South Africa. I’ve got the whole family addicted to biltong. I recently bought a stainless electric smoking cabinet for fish (mostly mackerel at the moment) and have become a bit creative with it (look at OutdoorCook UK website but there are lots out there). It’s easy to remove the heat element and pop in a 40W light bulb and USB fan for making biltong; the cabinet has various vent holes to experiment with, a glass door to check progress and a thermostat. So far, so delicious. My wife wants me to try making bacon next.
Great idea! Send us a picture and I will include it here!