Finally! First smoke of the year.

[larryfoster]

Second year smoker who has been champing at the bit to smoke something but work has kept interfering with the important things in life to an alleged retiree.
Yesterday the moon and stars aligned and I was able to fire up the Dyna-Glo and smoke a 3-4# chuck roast.


I tried a different charcoal than the usual Kingsford briquettes.
Wife picked it up.
"Western Hardwood charcoal".
Not sure where she got it but I liked it.
It held the temperature well and seemed to burn longer than an equal amount of Kingsford.

A while back I picked up an A-Maze-N pellet smoker and I had some pecan pellets I wanted to use with it.
This is the second time it failed me and didn't burn after lighting.
These are last year's pellets and were kept in the garage.
Guessing they may have gotten damp so, as recommended, I put them in the microwave to dry.
They lit and started to smoke but went out right away. I had them in the smoke chamber.

It seemed to take forever to get this meat done.
Total time in the smoker was about 8 hours.
I wrapped it between 3-4 hours with butcher paper at 150-155 and took it off to rest at 195.

I used Jeff's Texas Rub and it was quite tasty.
Not sure if I should have wrapped because the bark was soft.

I have a turkey breast to do in the next day or two.

 

[JC in GB]

Looks good. Maybe an hour or 2 in a 200 degree oven will dry those pellets more thoroughly?

 

[larryfoster]

Thanks, JC.
Sounds smarter than my way

 

[creek bottom]

Looks fantastic!!!

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Chuck looks great nice and juicy! LIKE!

 

[larryfoster]

It was pretty tasty.
Would have liked to have had a crisper bark.

How important is wrapping?

 

[creek bottom]

It was pretty tasty.
Would have liked to have had a crisper bark.

How important is wrapping?

I personally never wrap. I don't like mushy bark. The stall may take longer, but I think it's worth it... Just my 2 cents...

 

[larryfoster]

I do it because the gurus do it

 

[creek bottom]

I do it because the gurus do it

Yeah, I know. Tried it once. I just thought it was a pain in the but. I've had pretty good results just going nekkid...

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

I assume you were going for sliced and not pulled since you pulled it at 195? Wrapping is more of a personal preference. If you like harder bark I wouldn't wrap

 

[larryfoster]

That is correct.
I wanted to slice it and I got tired of waiting for it to go higher.
I had planned on about 6 hours based on what I read but it was starting to get late and the troops were hungry and restless

 

[gmc2003]

A couple of things...first your chuckie looks great. Second why are you using a maze or tube with pellets in a hot charcoal smoker? You should be using wood chunks. As for them not staying lit - you may not have enough O2 for them to stay lit. Save the pellets for when you cold smoke, use chunks of wood buried in the charcoal.

Point for sure
Chris

 

[GaryHibbert]

Morning Larry. That chuck looks good to me.
As said, foiling is just an individual choice. I like to foil sinc Miss Linda and I prefer soft bark on our meat. But like I said each person has their own preference.
If you dry those pellets out in the oven, that will make a big difference. After you lit the pellets, how long did you let them burn before blowing the flame out? I generally let mine burn for 8 or 10 minutes and then get the cherry glowing big and red. I've never used your smoker, but good air flow into the cook chamber is necessary to supply lots of oxygen to keep the pellets burning. I always had that problem with my MES until I added the mailbox mod. That solved the problem.
Gary

 

[larryfoster]

Thanks, gmc2003 and Gary.
I put the pellets in the smoke chamber because I have a real small firebox.
And, it just seemed like a thing to do.

Gary, maybe my pellet problem was operator error.
Probably didn't let them burn enough or get them started well enough

 

[JckDanls 07]

As GMC said.. just throw a chunk or 2 of wood in the charcoal... the charcoal is using all the oxygen as to why the pellets won't stay lit... we cut the air flow way down to hold temps steady at your desired temp.... what little air is going in is being used up by the charcoal... save your pellets and use wood chunks ...

 

[larryfoster]

Thanks for the explanation.
However, in my Dyna-Glo I need to keep things almost wide open to get and keep temps.

 

[SmokinLogs]

That’s a nice looking Chuckie. Wrapping is a good way to make sure your meat doesn’t dry out, and when it’s close to being done you can unwrap and put it back in the smoker naked. That should help the bark set back up. Keep up the good work.

 

[larryfoster]

Thanks.
That makes a lot of sense