Alton Brown did an entire Good Eats episode on making jerky. He says, and I agree with him, that using a dehydrator or oven method involves using heat, so the meat is not "real jerky". Rather, it is just super duper overcooked meat. His method of making jerky is to use several inexpensive (new, clean) accordion style furnace filters stacked up and strapped to a classic box fan. Cut your strips of meat and marinate them however you'd like, then lay them in the slats of the filters. Stack several filters up, bungee them to the box fan and let the ambient temperature air flowing through dry the meat naturally. You end up with much more flavorful jerky that requires very little investment or equipment. Give it a shot!

I make jerky in my oven and don't have to leave it open. Line the bottom rack with foil, thread meat on kabob skewers and place on the top rack hanging the meat down. "Bake" on the lowest setting your oven has, usually 170 F, and let it go for 8-9 hours. It doesn't come out over dry and chewy. A little soft is how good jerky should be! If your meat is a little fatty you should store it in the fridge just in case, so it doesn't go rancid. Just put it in tupperware with a paper towel on the top to absorb any water.

What's nice about doing it in your oven is that all you need to do to clean up is wipe up your rack and throw away the tin foil on the bottom rack. Buying furnace filters gets expensive if you make jerky often.

My mother makes biltong (South African style beef jerky) by hanging the meat from hooks (from the hardware store). She then hangs the hooks from either a clothes drying rack or a string near the ceiling and allows them to dry over a few days. They will drip so she puts paper towels or regular towels beneath the hanging meat. If possible she'll have a fan running in the room as well.

My fiancee and I have been hankering for some homemade jerky of late, since the bagged stuff more often than not has MSG (which I am allergic to) and it's getting more expensive for smaller amounts.

Unfortunately, our electric oven doesn't have the ability to be set to a temperature lower than 300F so we will be purchasing a not-too-expensive dehydrator model in the next few weeks.

Plus it'll give us a chance to try different flavors and spices.

We make ours in a smoker (without the woodchips).

My husband's co-workers once made jerky with two box fans and air filters (I think). Perhaps you could look that up. It would sure beat using the oven in this heat. If I remember correctly, it was pretty tasty although you wouldn't get any smoky flavor, I suppose.

Ok, I just read that first comment...oops, try that one!

I make delicious jerky by cutting low fat beef into thin strips (if you freeze the beef first for 2 hours it'll be easier to cut in thin pieces), the less fat the better, I marinate for at least 24 hours, then I hang them on my oven rack (or if I have patience on kebab skewers) and dry on the lowest heat my oven can handle (approx 100 degrees F) while the door is slightly open for 8-9 hours
Perfect every time.