Smoked Pulled Beef Chucky (Step by Step)

[Bearcarver]

It was good. I was surprised how much faster one cooked than the other of the same size!

I think I should have rested the second one longer. It was delicious but not as tender as the first. But I had more people to feed so I rushed it a bit.

That's Great, I'm sure All Loved it.
That difference between the 2 is why we don't like to tell people how "Long" it takes to smoke a Roast, and answer, "We go by Temp, not Time.

Bear

 

[jonrw70]

I have wanted to do a chuck roast for a while, going thru the forum I started seeing pictures so I pulled the trigger and bought the one. Here in Rochester, Wegmans has them for $5.29/lb. Butcher was closed. Thanks for the step by step to help me out !!

 

[petehalsted]

Continuing my 2nd day of Christmas smoking. When I saw Bear's chuckies, I definitely wanted to try one.

I was undecided if I wanted to do Chucky burnt ends or pulled beef. This chucky was tied by the butcher making it a denser/thicker roast, so I decided it would be better for pulled beef.

I prepped mine with a rub down of regular Whoosy sauce (love that word Bear!), since I didn't have any thick, and my Dirty Dalmatian Rub, which is my go to for Beef (Cracked Pepper, Kosher Salt, Lemon Pepper), and in to the fridge for about 12 hours.

Man did this thing stall!!! I always swore to myself, I would never be that guy posting a panicked stall post, but I came pretty darn close. Sorry I wasn't writing down times, so not sure how long or when the stall was, but it stalled at 157 and dropped all the way back to 152 before starting to climb again, I am sure the fact it was tied, contributed to the long stall. I crutch my brisket at 150, so I have never hit the stall. I will say that long stall gave this chucky a bark to die for!

I foiled at 165 with Whoosy sauce and apple cider, I didn't measure, just dumped in what I felt was close to Bears quantities. Unfortunately I did a really bad job of foiling, so I didn't much liquid gold as you can see in the photos.

One last nod to Bear, man starting to feel like his publicist with this post, since this was the last think in the MES 30, I did as Bear described and just shut if off, opened the door until temp fell to 150, closed it and let it rest about 1 1/2 hours. Sure was nice to not mess with cooler and her Momma complain about having to wash towels.

Momma, liked it, I do 90% of the cooking, but here roasted chucky is the one thing that the family ask her to do instead of me. But I think more chuckies will make it to the smoker now that she has tried this. She isn't a fan of my Dirty Dalmatian (Pepper is "spicy" for her) but once mixed into the pulled beef, she was okay with it, and I was able to steal some nice pieces of bark before I pulled it.


Heading into the fridge


Not sure which of these is technically the "money shot"?

As mentioned notice I have probably less than a cup and a half of liquid gold :-(
I will make damn sure I do a better foil job next time, or I might just foil in a pan and get lazy. What's everyone's thoughts on that? Wrap in foil, or in a pan foiled?

 

[Bearcarver]

Continuing my 2nd day of Christmas smoking. When I saw Bear's chuckies, I definitely wanted to try one.

I foiled at 165 with Whoosy sauce and apple cider, I didn't measure, just dumped in what I felt was close to Bears quantities. Unfortunately I did a really bad job of foiling, so I didn't much liquid gold as you can see in the photos.

One last nod to Bear, man starting to feel like his publicist with this post, since this was the last think in the MES 30, I did as Bear described and just shut if off, opened the door until temp fell to 150, closed it and let it rest about 1 1/2 hours. Sure was nice to not mess with cooler and her Momma complain about having to wash towels.

Momma, liked it, I do 90% of the cooking, but here roasted chucky is the one thing that the family ask her to do instead of me. But I think more chuckies will make it to the smoker now that she has tried this. She isn't a fan of my Dirty Dalmatian (Pepper is "spicy" for her) but once mixed into the pulled beef, she was okay with it, and I was able to steal some nice pieces of bark before I pulled it.

As mentioned notice I have probably less than a cup and a half of liquid gold :-(
I will make damn sure I do a better foil job next time, or I might just foil in a pan and get lazy. What's everyone's thoughts on that? Wrap in foil, or in a pan foiled?

Glad you liked it, Pete!!
I find the best way is to do like I showed in this Step by Step, and put the roast on a wire cooling rack, in a Foil Pan.
Then when 165° comes around, just cover the whole thing, leaving it in the pan just the way it is, and pour your Foiling juices right over it before wrapping.

Bear

 

[smoking in ft. collins]

I have 2 chuckies that I plan on smoking tomorrow. They are both about 3.25 lbs. I am using a Green Mountain Grill with 2 additional ANPS with Competition Blend and Hickory pellets. Wish me luck!

 

[Bearcarver]

I have 2 chuckies that I plan on smoking tomorrow. They are both about 3.25 lbs. I am using a Green Mountain Grill with 2 additional ANPS with Competition Blend and Hickory pellets. Wish me luck!

That's Great !!
Luck be with you!
All I can add is to be sure to get it to 205° IT, or at least over 200° for an hour or so.
There is an area within the Chucky, near the center, but toward one end that is very hard to pull if it isn't taken high enough & long enough.
Let me know how it works for you!!

Bear

 

[smoking in ft. collins]

That's Great !!
Luck be with you!
All I can add is to be sure to get it to 205° IT, or at least over 200° for an hour or so.
There is an area within the Chucky, near the center, but toward one end that is very hard to pull if it isn't taken high enough & long enough.
Let me know how it works for you!!

Bear

Well I started at 8 this morning. Put the chuckies on (3.25lbs each) at 240* and lit up the Smoke Tubes. Well it is now 2 PM and they are only in the 130's! I was planning on a 5:30 serve time!

 

[smoking in ft. collins]

Well I started at 8 this morning. Put the chuckies on (3.25lbs each) at 240* and lit up the Smoke Tubes. Well it is now 2 PM and they are only in the 130's! I was planning on a 5:30 serve time!

So it is now 3PM and both Chuck Roasts are sitting at 139*. They have been on for almost 7 hours. I am now putting contingency plans in place for dinner. Looks like pulled chuckies for tomorrow.

 

[Bearcarver]

So it is now 3PM and both Chuck Roasts are sitting at 139*. They have been on for almost 7 hours. I am now putting contingency plans in place for dinner. Looks like pulled chuckies for tomorrow.

I'm thinking maybe your Therms are wrong.
Below is another Chucky Smoke I did, and this one was 2 Chuckies at once, and you can see it didn't take near as long as yours are taking. I would just struggle through it & before next time, check your Therms for accuracy.

Here's that Twin Chuckies Smoke:
Twin Chuckies


Bear

 

[smoking in ft. collins]

I'm thinking maybe your Therms are wrong.
Below is another Chucky Smoke I did, and this one was 2 Chuckies at once, and you can see it didn't take near as long as yours are taking. I would just struggle through it & before next time, check your Therms for accuracy.

Here's that Twin Chuckies Smoke:
Twin Chuckies


Bear

Well I am not sure what the problem is.

I have a Maverick that is showing both around 145* and an instant on thermometer that says 145* =- 1 or 2*. I have a probe inside the cabinet of the grill and it reads 260*. The temp is set on the grill at 250* so it is not off too much. I am at 8 hours and the chuckies are not even to wrapping temp yet.

My backup plan is in motion. I have the offset smoker going to make a tri-tip in time for my guests. Just disappointing that this didn't work out.

 

[Bearcarver]

I don't know which smoker you have, but with my MES, I keep my Maverick probe about 3" from the meat.
That's close enough to measure the Temp the meat is in, but not so close that in the beginning the cold meat affects the Temp reading.

Also: You've been in the smoke long enough that you don't have to wait for a higher Internal Temp before you Pan it & wrap it.

I'm glad you have a good backup plan!!

Bear

 

[smoking in ft. collins]

My smoker is a Green Mountain Grill pellet smoker. At 8PM they each reached 205*. 11:45 hours total. Haven’t pulled them yet but will post some pics when I do.

 

[Bearcarver]

My smoker is a Green Mountain Grill pellet smoker. At 8PM they each reached 205*. 11:45 hours total. Haven’t pulled them yet but will post some pics when I do.

So you ended up about 6 hours longer than you thought.
I would check those Therm probes in some boiling water. I think maybe you aren't cooking as hot as it's telling you it is.
How did it pull?? How does it taste?? Is it moist enough?

Bear

 

[smoking in ft. collins]

So you ended up about 6 hours longer than you thought.
I would check those Therm probes in some boiling water. I think maybe you aren't cooking as hot as it's telling you it is.
How did it pull?? How does it taste?? Is it moist enough?

Bear

Actually it was 3 hours longer than I planned. Once 5PM rolled around, my guests showed up so I moved it into the oven and let it go at 240* until it hit 205*. Took about 3 more hours at that point (IT was about 150-160* each).

I pulled it last night and took a taste and it is delicious so I am not unhappy with the result, just the timing.

The tri-tip was delicious and lunch today is going to be awesome!

John

 

[Bearcarver]

OOOPS---Brain fart---I took it from 5:30 to 11:45, instead of to 8 PM. Duh......

Well, I would still think there's a Therm problem---Either bad probe, or your positioning of the probe wasn't near enough to the meat.

However if the Therms check out OK, next time plan on getting it done 3 or 4 hours earlier, because you can always hold it for a few hours in a cooler until time to eat.

At least the Results were good & Tastes good.

Bear

 

[jokensmoken]

Personally, I've had vast differences in time with my chuckies.
I do them quite often and as with most larger hunks-o- meat...its done when it's done.
I've had some finish in 6-7 hours and a couple take upwards of 12...
I've been smoking going on 10 years and trust my equipment and technique.
No real rhyme or reason...

Walt.

 

[Bearcarver]

Personally, I've had vast differences in time with my chuckies.
I do them quite often and as with most larger hunks-o- meat...its done when it's done.
I've had some finish in 6-7 hours and a couple take upwards of 12...
I've been smoking going on 10 years and trust my equipment and technique.
No real rhyme or reason...

Walt.

Yup, I know what you mean.
However in this case he put the Chuckies in at 8 AM, and at 3 PM (7 hours later) it was just coming out of the Danger Zone at 139°.
No Stall involved below 139°. I still believe you can't actually be at 240°, and only get to 139° in 7 hours.

Bear

 

[jokensmoken]

Yeah bear. I'd have to agree in that scenario.
7 hours at 240° should have had him well into "stall" temps.
I might guess his pit temp was considerably lower than 240°.

Walt.

 

[jetsknicks1]

Awesome, as usual Bear. Point!

 

[Bearcarver]

Awesome, as usual Bear. Point!

Thank You Jetsknicks!!
And Thanks for the Like.

Bear