Smoked Chuck roast

[aaron thomas]

A few weekends ago, I smoked a 4lb chuck roast. I set out with a plan for 6 hours at 250 degrees. For the first 30 minutes, it wouldn’t go past 200. Then it crept up at stuck right at 250. So I threw the roast on. Nice and smokey. About 2 hours in, the temp started to fall off a bit, so I added a few more wood chunks.

The temperature shot up to 450! I couldnt get it back down either. After about 45 minutes, it dropped off to 250 and hung out there. During the 4th hour, I wrapped it in foil (I’d read online that this was the thing to do). Checked about 45 minutes later and the thing was over cooked! Went from about 145 to 190 in those 45 minutes.

The roast turned out pretty nasty (my roommate liked it). I’m smoking a 4.5 lb tri-tip roast tomorrow. I need this thing to turn out perfect! Anyone got tips to help me maintain better control over the smoke?

I’m using a Char-Griller Duo with side firebox attachment. The wood chunks were Cowboy Brand mesquite.

Also, how to I get that nice layer of char on the outside?

Thanks!

Aaron

 

[jirodriguez]

Couple of questions:

• What thermometer are you using to tell what temp. your cook chamber is at? The stock therm on the Char-grillers is usually off by 50-100 degrees!
• Have you modified your Char-griller? There are several threads with lots of good pictures, showing several easy (and cheap), mods to make to Char-grillers to get a longer lasting and more stable smoke out of them.
• Are you thinking you are taking the chuck roast to 165° internal meat temp? Are you wanting fork tender shreaded style beef?
• Remember - always cook by internal meat temp, not time. Each piece of meat can be different and vary on time.

In general most of us smoke a chucky to an internal temp of 190°, this produces a tender shredded beef (like a pot roast). This can be done with or without foil, but foil is usually your friend with chuck roast. I usually get my smoker running around 250° in the cook chamber and smoke the chucky till the internal temp hits 165'ish. Then pull it out and wrap it in double layered heavy foil (or a foil pan) with about 1/4 C. of beef broth (or beer). Put it back on the smoker and let it go till the internal meat temp gets up to 190°. Pull it out of the smoker, drain most of the juices into a pot (gravy!), re-wrap the meat and place it in a towel lined cooler for 1 hr. to rest.

Now your tri-tip is going to be different - you don't want to cook it to 190° IT, with tri-tip you usually want a medium rare chunk of meat, so you would be smoking it unwrapped untill the internal temp hits 155-160°, then pulling it and resting it.

 

[aaron thomas]

I was using the thermometer it came with. 50-100 deg is a lot of error!

With the tri I'm aiming for a nice medium rare. I have a meat thermometer for checking internal temp. I will check out the forums looking at cheap mods I can do to my grill.

As far as the tri tip tomorrow goes. After smoking it to about 150, do I need to throw it on the grill over fire for a few minutes to get that nice crust on the outside? Or should I smoke it at a higher temp (350ish)?

Aaron

 

[jirodriguez]

Keep the smoker running low and finish on the grill. Just make sure you get even on oven thermometer to find out what your chamber temps are really at, otherwise you will be cooking a lot hotter than you think you are.