help for a newbie

[michaman]

hello, I recently bought a weber jumbo joe and was excited about smoking meat with it. I bought a chimney starter, a hinged grate, charcoal baskets, and the inkbird Bluetooth thermometer. the other day I attempted to smoke a 3 lb chuck roast. I started charcoal with my chimney, dumped it into a basket, set the meat on opposite end of grill and closed lid. I was able to keep temp at about 250-275 for about 2 hours. When the grill temp started to drop, I added charcoal. I had a difficult time from then on with keeping the grill temp above 200. After many hours of monitoring grill and meat temps and adding charcoal when necessary, the internal temp of the meat never exceeded about 160. I finally gave up and removed meat after about 9 hours, but it was awful. Very tough and chewy. What did I do wrong. Why could I not keep grill temp up? I adjusted the vent many times but to no avail. Any advice will be appreciated, I will not give up. I am determined to get this right. Thanks in advance.

 

[fivetricks]

Don't add cold charcoal to "warm" coals. Preheat your next batch of coals in the chimney just like you did the first.

That's the first bit of advice. :-) other than that, practice makes perfect.

 

[smokerjim]

Don't add cold charcoal to "warm" coals. Preheat your next batch of coals in the chimney just like you did the first.

That's the first bit of advice. :) other than that, practice makes perfect.

x2 maybe up the amount of charcoal, if you have problems with Temps you could always finish it in the oven

 

[TomKnollRFV]

As said above, get your coals going first. You might also want to look into The Minion Method or Snake Method for charcoals.

Other then that, it's practicing a method till you get it down and then practicing on cuts of meat. I'd suggest if you have no dietary or religious reasons, to practice on pork butts for pulled pork. Far more forgiving, and even if you mess up, you can repurpose a pork butt into numerous dishes like chili etc.

 

[fivetricks]

Fire management is 98% of the skill and chore of smoking...

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Fire management is 98% of the skill and chore of smoking...

This is so true. It's why I ditched charcoal and got an electric. <That and major back surgery. But I'll claim it's for being lazy purposes!>

 

[fivetricks]

Yeah, I also run an electric for those times I just want to set and forget. But the challenge is (SO g✓^'!*?& frustrating) part of the fun!

 

[michaman]

Sounds good, thanks. I'll try a pork butt this weekend.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Sounds good, thanks. I'll try a pork butt this weekend.

I suggest a bone in, that case even with a thermometer or not, you got the bone wiggle test. When it hits about 205f Internal Temperature, or the point of the bone basically wants to slip on out, she's done!

 

[michaman]

Ok, now I'm really frustrated. This weekend, I bought a Boston butt to smoke. It was a small one, about 2.5 lbs., only cost $4.74. I added hot coals to grill when needed and was able to keep grill temp up much better. However, I cooked this meat for about 8 hrs and still only got internal meat temp up to about 170. Meat again was not at all tender.

 

[michaman]

Would wrapping it in foil after the first couple hours help?

 

[fivetricks]

170 is still kind of at the end of the stall. Next time, wrap in foil @ 160. This will help you get through the stall faster.

Also, you may want to look into testing your thermos in both ice and boiling water. You may find that your thermo is reading way high, giving you wrong grate temps.

 

[KrisUpInSmoke]

Was your grate temp between 225℉ and 250℉ according to the inkbird?

 

[michaman]

it varied from 225 to 300 throughout the cook

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Ok, now I'm really frustrated. This weekend, I bought a Boston butt to smoke. It was a small one, about 2.5 lbs., only cost $4.74. I added hot coals to grill when needed and was able to keep grill temp up much better. However, I cooked this meat for about 8 hrs and still only got internal meat temp up to about 170. Meat again was not at all tender.

The Stall. It'll last hours. It kicks in and generally 4 hours is a safe bet it can last. I'm also wary to ever cook cuts that small because I simply worry I'll dry em out.