Planning a chuck roast for tomorrow

[slingerland]

Okay, maybe this is being overly ambitious... I'm planning on smoking the first time using my Weber 22" kettle.  So far all my smoking has been done on a Brinkman 4 burnger propane grill, and I see the need for a dedicated smoker.  I'm looking at many options including a Weber Smokey Mountain, but I have only emough money to buy one smoker.  So I'm doing a lot of experiments.

I've only cooked on charcoal twice... but I've been reading this site a LOT lately.  So... I've marked my Weber's lower vent positions as full open, full closed and (approximate) half and one quarter.

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• slingerland
• Sep 7, 2012

I've built my Minion ring using Kingsford Blue and cherry wood chunks. Ring is roughly four brickettes wide and three tall. Pan is a very deep 9x12 and will be filled with over a gallon of water. I'll light from the left..

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• slingerland
• Sep 7, 2012

Chuck roast is 3 pounds, very thick, and will ride in a 9x9 shallow aluminum pan above the water pan. I'm using a variation of the 5 spice rub and I'll be injecting it with straight beef buillion tomorrow morning. My plans are to smoke for three hours, then wrap until internal temp hits 195, then rest for two hours in a blanket.

Anybody see something I've missed? Thanks!

 

[supercenterchef]

looking forward to the update!

 

[slingerland]

Last night, I put the rub on the chuck roast. 

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• slingerland
• Sep 8, 2012

My plan was to let the roast sit in the fridge for 12 hours, then put it on the grill this morning.  However that was not to be... During the night, we experienced severe thunderstorms with 60+ MPH winds.  At one of my rental houses, the neighbor's tree lost a BIG branch.  The branch fell and tore down the electrical service.  So I spent the entire morning working on this:

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• slingerland
• Sep 8, 2012

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• slingerland
• Sep 8, 2012

So at noon, I got back to the house and lit the grill...

 

[supercenterchef]

Hey man...I didn't even notice your locaton until you mentioned the storms!

I'm down here in Magnolia, flesh out your profile sometime!

 

[slingerland]

I'm up in Little Rock, SC.  I'll update my profile when I can catch my breath.

To the grill... I lit up the Minion ring at 12:15 or so, then while the grill warmed up I injected the chuck roast with basic beef stock.  By 12:45 I had the chuckie on the grill.

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• slingerland
• Sep 8, 2012

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• slingerland
• Sep 8, 2012

So far I'm pleased with the temp stability of the Weber grill.  It stayed right at 250 for 45 minutes, only varying once to 255.  I'm sitting in my den, surfing the web and reading a book, and watching the display on my Maverick ET-732.  Every now and then I'll glance outside the window to make sure the house isn't on fire :) .  Temp adjustments are pretty crude on the Weber grill of course... I imagine the WSM is much easier to dial in!.

 

[slingerland]

Halfway done...

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• slingerland
• Sep 8, 2012

 

[scarbelly]

Looking great so far - man that should be good 

 

[gotarace]

Great start...looking forward to the finished Views!!!

 

[kyta66]

Looks good. I'm trying a rump today. I looked around for my first smoker. I got the Masterforge double door propane at Lowes. You can also use charcoal in it. Just use the pan from the Brinkmann el cheapo. I use the pan from there to hold the wood when I use it as a propane smoker. 

 

[slingerland]

At 3 hours, I checked the internal temp: 150.  So I moved it into a 9x9 pan, added a "finger's" depth of beef stock to the bottom, foiled it, returned to the smoker.  I let the IT run up to 200 (2 more hours) and pulled, then let it rest for an hour before opening.

And the finished product:

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• slingerland
• Sep 9, 2012

To be honest, I was shocked myself.  It was VERY tender, the smoke was pretty much right on (for me, my wife said it was too much, but she doesn't like smoke) and adding some K.C> Masterpiece Honey BBQ sauce balanced it perfectly!

The rub recipe I used was:

• 1 tbsp regular sugar
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tbsp onion powder
• 1/8 tsp cayenne (beleive it or not, we could feel the bite)

So I'm a charcoal convert!  Since I already have the Weber, I'm looking at the Cajun Bandit products until my skills get up enough to justify the WSM.

Next time... pork ribs.

 

[jrod62]

looks great !!