With all of the discussions about great chuck roasts going on, I decided to give it a shot. This was my first attempt at a smoked chuck roast so I don't know if I failed. Roast was a well-marbeled 4.5 pounds USDA Choice. Dry-brined the day before. The next day, I applied BBBR and put it into the Rec Tec set for 250°. The Maverick said that we hit 165° in about 5 hours. (Actually hit 160° in about 4 hours and stalled.) Wrapped in pink butcher paper and back in the Rec Tec. Hit 205° in another 2 hours then wrapped the whole thing in a towel and into a cooler. After 3 hours of FC I opened the cooler to a cloud of steam and the inside of the cooler was wet with moisture. To the dinner table. Great smoke ring, great smoke taste, greak bark, and the roast was DRY!. The chuck was too dry to pull so I had to slice it. Where did I go wrong? Initial thoughts were that I should have wrapped it tighter in the paper (at 160°) and that I should have started checking for probe tender in the 190's. Are chuckies normally drier than a pork butt or juicy brisket?
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Last edited by swong13; March 2, 2017, 05:52 PM. -
Lucky for you I can speak to this in many different failures. I see that, like me, you treated this a lot like brisket.....stop. A lot of the guys will tell you 200-208F and they are happy campers and this chuck is amazing. I will however tell you that you need to check your meat at 190 and keep checking it from there until you hit probe tender.
I just did two chucks yesterday with almost your exact weight and the two were identical-ish in weight. Both dry brined 24 hrs and both shared the same seasoning. One was probe tender and ready @ 206 the other 192. I cant explain it, other than the meat has an eye of its own.
I would highly recommend doing the exact same thing you did this time and just start checking for probe tender earlier and don't let a 200F or above temp be your guideline. You will be much more successful and happier more often with your results.
Hope that helps ya. I could give you more, but your heading the correct direction...just adjust "done-ness" temp approach-
Once you hit that 190 and start checking for probe tender....how often?? I find that opening mu cooker disturbs the process and start getting temp spikes. The more I do it, the more it climbs. Do you just check every 15 minutes or so?? Maybe every so many degrees?? -
During one of Tuffy Stones videos here in the archives he states that he checks every 30 min. I do the same, or every degree. I also introduce moisture from my srpaybottle (h20) overtime i open.
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Did the butcher paper get wet? Was there any juice inside the paper when you unwrapped it? Did any juice wet the towels? As you can tell, I'm wondering if the juices disappeared through the paper. If I wrap I use foil to save the juices, and I put a pan under the chuckie to catch drippings. After pulling, I add the dripping to the pulled meat to insure good moisture.Comment
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The only thing that strikes me is when you opened the FC. The steam and wetness you found. Huh. I have only wrapped my chuckies in foil and have never experienced that. I would try foil and as Jeff_Carley said start checking for probe tender at 190*. Otherwise it sounds like you did everything right. Could have also been that particular piece of meat.Comment
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swong13 I don't do anything a whole lot different than what you have described, except that I wrap in foil instead of butcher paper. I also like to keep it going for at least an hour after it first hits about 210o IT. I just reduce the heat enough to maintain that ~210o IT at that point. Only then does mine get wrapped in towels and put into the cooler for another couple of hours. I've never had one come out even remotely dry when doing it this way.Comment
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Sometimes chuckies need another hour or two, wrapped (in foil, never tried paper with chucks to know) at that 203-209 temp, THEN the cambro treatment. Often what we find with 'dry' roasts is they just didn't have enough time to soften the fats. But, in your case it surely is puzzling, it sounds like you gave it enough time with 3hrs in the FC. My only suggestion is going higher in IT next time, hold there an hour, then FC.Comment
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Wow, I've never held a chuckie at probe tender temp in the smoker for an hour or more after reaching that perfect temp. Those who use this method, does it work for every cook? If not, how do you know which chuckies should be held at that "done" temp for an hour or so after reaching it?
My chuckies so far have been super tender, moist and falling apart except for my very first one which I only took to 203. It pulled, but not without Bear Claws. Now that I take them to 208-ish, they fall apart in my glove-protected fingers.
Kathryn
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I am puzzled by the steam coming out of the cambro even though the roast was wrapped with a towel. I might be understanding it wrong - did you say that the roast was wrapped in butcher paper and then wrapped again with a towel and you had moisture that actually saturated the towel to the point that you had moisture in the cooler? I've wrapped really big briskets the exact same way and never experienced anything like that. I have taken the meat out, unwrapped it and had steam come up then. Was the cooler cold before you put the meat in? I'm really curious because it does not sound like you did anything really that out of the ordinary but came up with a really unique result. It will be interesting to find out why that happened.Comment
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In answer to Ron: Yes. The butcher paper was soaked through and there was visible moisture on the lid and sides of the cooler. The towel was also wet. There was no juice INSIDE of the paper. It was all absorbed by the paper. I guess that answers the question about where the moisture in my chuckie went. To tbob: Yes. The roast was wrapped in butcher paper and that was wrapped in a towel and then placed in the room temperature cooler.
Thanks to ALL for the helpful replies. I'll try again in a couple of weeks. On the next try, I will use foil instead of butcher paper and place the foiled roast in a pan to catch and retain juices. I will also start testing for probe tender in the 190's and keep cooking past 205 if needed (Thanks, Jeff) until I get to probe tender. Which brings up another small issue: I know how probe tender is supposed to feel but I had a hard time getting the feel of the roast when driving my probe through several layers of butcher paper. Maybe it will feel better going through foil.
Thanks, again!Comment
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I will be sure to update y'all after my next attempt at smoking a chuckie. I believe that I will try to change only one element at a time so the next one will be wrapped in foil (thanks to everyone that mentioned using foil instead of butcher paper) and I will start checking at 190° for probe tender. If that doesn't yield a better result I will try another one and hold at the probe tender temperature for an extra hour (Thanks Steve R. and Huskee.)Comment
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With my chucks that I just done, my lil trick that you might consider which I do on all my wrap meats is that instead of wrapping all in foil I place in a foil pan then add some beef consomme (found in the soup isle) then tightly seal the top with al foil. The beef consomme to me, is much richer than ole beef stock. I pour it around the sides so that I don't wash off the rub on top. When it hits my temps, I check for probe then re seal it then wrap in blankets then to the cooler. It's easier for me since it usually take it to neighbors house.
I don't know but to me, paper won't retain moisture near as much as al foil and a tray.
Here is my recent pic of a Chuckie right after pulling and adding some love juice just before I put the al foil on top and sealed for the crutch.
This is what I use only bout half a can
if you can't find it then beef stock works just as well.
One of my chucks was done when it hit 203, the other hit 208.
Let us know how your next ones turns out
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I had a somewhat similar experience last week. I did the same approach as you (except used foil all the way instead of paper) and found that when it came pulling time that portions of the chuck were dryer than I would have expected. I just chalked it up to "beef is dryer than pork" that I was used to. It wasn't bad, and I definitely wouldn't call it "dry meat", but rather "dryer that I was expecting or would have preferred". I also found out that after a day in the fridge and reheating it in a saucepan with a little water, that the leftovers were actually better than the fresh-out-of-the-cambro version. Odd I know, but I will admit that it was true!
That was also my first and only attempt with chuck roast, so I also will also take this advice for the next go 'round. If you haven't tried the leftovers yet, lemme know how they go.
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swong13, I won't claim to be an Expert on The Subject of the Proper Way to Smoke a Chuck Roast! In MHOP, I think You Should Raise the Temp ofYour Rec Tec from the Get Go to 275* - 325*! This is the temp range I Try to Maintain?
Eat Well and Prosper! From a Backyard Cremator in Fargo ND, DanComment
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Not sure, but how many times do you poke holes in the foil? Could that be the cause of the steamed cambro and loss of heat going into it. Just a thought. In my pic I never take out the probe of the meat. I just seal the wire to the pan.
When I do it wrapped, I've been real lucky cause I've never had dried meat (briskets, pulled pork or chucks)
PBCDad I don't know why They say To wrap tightly. To me I guess it makes the juice surround the whole piece of meat instead of my pan method. Now I'm curious and gonna have to try it and find out. I always thought wrapping tightly would wash the extra rub off.Comment
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