What the heck happened? First chuck roast turned out badly

[Stopsign32v]

Well I've done 2 Boston butt pulled porks and the last one came out outstanding! So I had a very high bravery that my chuck roast would come out equally as good.

I only smoked this chuck roast for 4 hours. There was a big stall at 145 degrees and I was running low on apple wood so I decided to wrap it and put it in the oven at 300 degrees.

What came out was WAY smokey beef! It was tender but I was not prepared for the amount of smoke this thing took in.

What happened? Is that just how beef reacts vs pork?

 

[JLinza]

What cooker are you using? 4 hours shouldn't have overpowered that thing that much. And apple wood is pretty mild. Makes me think something with the fuel was funky or something

 

[Stopsign32v]

What cooker are you using? 4 hours shouldn't have overpowered that thing that much. And apple wood is pretty mild. Makes me think something with the fuel was funky or something

It's a cheap Amazon offset smoker. Was some Applewood I got in a box at Academy Sports. I had to use 2 chimneys of charcoal.

 

[SmokinEdge]

The smoke was not “clean” meaning the fire was more smoldering than burning. A hot coal bed is what you want to maintain, not so much a fire.

 

[Stopsign32v]

The smoke was not “clean” meaning the fire was more smoldering than burning. A hot coal bed is what you want to maintain, not so much a fire.

I don't fully understand this. There was quite a bit of struggling to keep clean smoke. My wood kept going out.

I don't understand "not so much a fire". A coal bed wouldn't have kept my temps high enough

 

[DougE]

You get a good coal base going to start with (can be done with charcoal, wood, or a combo) and just toss a split in when the temp starts to drop to maintain your temp where you want it.

Keep the stack vent wide open and work the air intake on the firebox to help in this respect, but don't overdo it or you will be chasing temps the whole cook.

You will have some temp swings on an offset, it's normal and dirty smoke here and there ..... especially when adding splits is going to happen.

 

[SmokinEdge]

You get a good coal base going to start with (can be done with charcoal, wood, or a combo) and just toss a split in when the temp starts to drop to maintain your temp where you want it.

Keep the stack vent wide open and work the air intake on the firebox to help in this respect, but don't overdo it or you will be chasing temps the whole cook.

You will have some temp swings on an offset, it's normal and dirty smoke here and there ..... especially when adding splits is going to happen.

All sage advice. Nailed it.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I don't fully understand this. There was quite a bit of struggling to keep clean smoke. My wood kept going out.

I don't understand "not so much a fire". A coal bed wouldn't have kept my temps high enough

You cook off a red hot coal bed, not a burning fire. This isn’t camping, this is cooking.

 

[Stopsign32v]

You get a good coal base going to start with (can be done with charcoal, wood, or a combo) and just toss a split in when the temp starts to drop to maintain your temp where you want it.

Keep the stack vent wide open and work the air intake on the firebox to help in this respect, but don't overdo it or you will be chasing temps the whole cook.

You will have some temp swings on an offset, it's normal and dirty smoke here and there ..... especially when adding splits is going to happen.

This is basically how it went.

 

[Stopsign32v]

You cook off a red hot coal bed, not a burning fire. This isn’t camping, this is cooking.

Yes that is what I did

 

[SmokinEdge]

Yes that is what I did

With 4 hours of smoke and that smoke being off. I’m guessing green wood. Otherwise that should be fantastic. Only burn seasoned wood.

 

[Stopsign32v]

With 4 hours of smoke and that smoke being off. I’m guessing green wood. Otherwise that should be fantastic. Only burn seasoned wood.

Nope, wood was as dry as a nun on Christmas.

 

[Hijack73]

You honestly haven't cooked much on that smoker yet. It takes a bit to learn a smoker.

I like a small chunk burning on a coal bed. You do have to figure out what size coal bed you need for that. I had a cinder block smoker that I built that I could maintain 225-250 and the bed be no larger than a child sized baseball glove. 5 blocks high, 3 layers of grates. Small chunks added every 30ish minutes - and if my bed got small I'd supplement with a little charcoal I got going on my side burner on my propane grill.

It took me God knows how long to figure it out. Thanks heavens brisket was under a buck a lb back then.