Practicing brisket with a chuckie.

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

joshgrillinlawn

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Aug 4, 2015
89
15
North Carolina USA
Hey y'all. Hope everybody had a great Christmas! I sure did.

I picked up a 4.9# chuckie, I decided I'd do it brisket style, to practice for the day I actually smoke a brisket.
So I set up the snake, I found a better way to set it up, which allows for the kettle to hold a lot more fuel.
The last couple of smokes I've done, (burgers, 2# chuckie, and a bacon wrapped meatloaf) I didn't use a water pan. And the q has been coming out great.
With this chuckie, I decided to use a water pan. I also used a home made rub I found online (paprika, sugar, salt, pepper, and chili pepper), and made a mop.
I started the smoker like normal, let it get up to temp, an let her cruise for a few once she got up to temp.
I placed the chuckie on the smoker at 11am. I placed Bacon on top, because I read that a layer of bacon can act like a fat cap on a brisket.
After two hours, I let applied the mop. It was at 140° at that point. And then after that I mopped if every two hours.
I figured the chuckie should be done in about 5 hours, but it actually took almost 10 hours all together.
At the 5 hour mark, the chuckie had gotten to 160, only to fall back down to 140. I assumed that was the stall, so I pulled it and wrapped it in foil.
I placed it back on the smoker and, proceeded to check it every hour.

The rub on the chuckie ended up burning some, which I wonder if that was because of the mop. The meat was so tender, I almost had trouble putting it on a plate.
When I scliced it up, there was almost no smoke ring. The meat itself was super tender, but the rub was burnt, and I thought it took a little too long to get to 200°. I smoked using hickory and mesquite, buy I could barely taste any smoke.

I was glad to see that I can get 10+ out of the snake.

If y'all can see where I went wrong, please let me know.
Thanks guys, and happy new year.
 
Oh, and the mop, consisted of, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, beer (I don't even look at alcohol, let alone touch it or cook with it) I substituted apple juice, paprika, pepper, and salt.
 
Great idea on using a chuckie as a sacrificial brisket. I think your lack of smoke ring was caused by wrapping it in bacon. The bacon shielded the roast.

I'll definitely try this tho. Just payed $38.00 for a 6.5lb flat. I could have gotten 3x that in chuckies..:head-wall:
 
The sugar in your rub is what burned. I very rarely use sugar in my runbs because of that.

As for the lack of smoke, the foil you did would not allow any smoke in to the meat. I don't foil anything when I smoke. Looking at your set up you should've had smoke flavor. You had plenty of wood. Did the wood smolder, or did it catch fire?

Chuckles have plenty of fat so you probably didn't need the bacon. Not sure though that it effected the lack of smoke flavor. Usually it will enhance the smokiness.
 
I can't help but wonder if it was the mopping that really messed with it. All the extra sugar in the apple juice, combined with the extended cooking time, I think led to the rub being burnt.
I didn't wrap the near till way after the meat reached 140°. I only wreaked it because the meat went from 160 to 140 in an hour.
So I think I'm going to lay off mopping.
When something like a brisket, butt, or even a 4# or more chuckie reaches stall. How long does it typically take to over come the stall?
 
I can't help but wonder if it was the mopping that really messed with it. All the extra sugar in the apple juice, combined with the extended cooking time, I think led to the rub being burnt.
I didn't wrap the near till way after the meat reached 140°. I only wreaked it because the meat went from 160 to 140 in an hour.
So I think I'm going to lay off mopping.
When something like a brisket, butt, or even a 4# or more chuckie reaches stall. How long does it typically take to over come the stall?

All depends upon that particular piece of meat, pit temp, weather conditions. It may take 10 minutes, 2 hours, or there may be no stall or there may be more than one stall at different temps. Personally I smoke at a bit higher temp 265-285 and there usually isn't a stall.

One more negative to all the mopping is every time you remove the lid you're loosing the heat and slowing the cooking process. You are also adding cool or cold liquid into the mix (unless your mop was hot).

Once again the sugar, in your rub and mop is what burned.
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky