My First Chuckies, not sure what went wrong.

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shtrdave

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
May 11, 2010
666
16
SW Pennsylvania
Went to the local store where I usually by my meats for some Butts to be done for one of my customers, they had chuck roast on sale at 3.59# I looked though them to find 2 that were close the same size and had some marbling to them.

Rubbed with some steak seasoning and put in the Cookshack with a few chunks of hickory at 225 was looking for 200 but I checked them once and they were at 187 about an hour later they were 177 my probes are good on the taylors, I took them out because I knew they were starting to dry with the temp dropping off. It could be that they were on the lean side, I am  not sure on the exact amount of time they were in, maybe 5 hours.

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While they were cooking I made up some Modified Jeff's Rub.

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Some modified MDM rub

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Finished product, hard to tell from this shot about the dryness, but still good with some sauce on them.

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The butts are in and I will have a happy customer come Monday.

ANy ideas on what would dry them out some other than not enough fat content?

Thanks

Dave
 
I take mine to around 200-205 for pulling. Pulls like a dream and very moist. Takes me around 9 hours for a 4 lb chuck. This may sound crazy but maybe they didn't stay on long enough.
 
As the pics show, chuckies can vary.  Some can be leaner than others.

I like low temps for them, but it looks like your temps were in there.

I have found that chuckies and briskies can be tricky.  You could foil, but when to and when not too?

Good luck and good smoking.
 
I have never foiled anything to finish with the little cookshack it has a lot of humidity in it so being dry was not something I had ever come across, a lot of times on thinks like turkey and chicken I would open the door to dump some of it.

If I were to leave it in longer it would not get any more moisture in it? Maybe it would, I will find a few more one day and try again.
 
I think brining the temps down slowly is just as important as brining them up.  I have only done one chuck roast and I don't remember it very well but I can tell you how I do my briskets which have always turned out well.  Dry rub over night of course, then mop every hour with something that contains some fat its self, foil in a pan with some of the mop liquid standing 1/2" or so in the bottom just before it would be considered "fully cooked" by food safety standards (also a great time to throw in some veggies), take to 195-205 range then remove from heat and place somewhere it can cool slowly like an ice chest or even your kitchen oven.  I've finished up briskets in the oven at a low temp when I didn't feel like tending to the smoker and just turned the thing off when my temps were right and let it sit in there until it was cool enough to handle by naked palm; seemed to work just as well.
 
From your picture of the raw product, it looks like they are cut at a slant; i.e. thick in one area going down to nothing on the other end; is this so?  When it's 187° in the center, it is possible it could be 220°, 230°, 250° or more in the thinner parts?  That would greatly contribute to the dryness.
 
As the pics show, chuckies can vary.  Some can be leaner than others.

I like low temps for them, but it looks like your temps were in there.

I have found that chuckies and briskies can be tricky.  You could foil, but when to and when not too?

Good luck and good smoking.
X2
 
You could place the chuckie in an aluminum pan to collect it's juices while it smokes. I usually foil mine at 170* and remove at 210*. Pulls great and is moist.
 
Dave, I have a SmokinTex so it is similar to your CookShack. I have had the same problem, for years. My theory is that the temp prob is located near the wall and wood container, so after time the actual temp of the smoker drops to a point where the meat temp stalls (or goes down). I always use a thermometer in the smoker to check this temp. I always end up turning the dial up later in the smoke. Then again and again. (I smoke sausage and bacon so too high of a temp will totally ruin the meat.) I added an electronic controller  with a 4 inch prob sticking straight into the smoker. Still seem to have the same effect. I then mounted the prob on a clip that I could move closer to the middle of the smoker. Next problem was that the electronic controller  works too good. The element is not on long enough to light the wood. The controller has a manual setting which seems to work great.

You could try a higher temp setting and/or foil your meat AFTER 3 hours of smoke.
 
Every once in a while you just get a tough piece of meat, but even then foiling at 170 & taking it to 205 turns the worst cut into a very tender piece of meat.
 
What Smokin Al said!  But I also get Teez point about not being on long enough.  I've had mine dry out, but the foiling has helped BIG TIME. Still they look great.
 
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