WSM Maiden Voyage w/ Chuckie - Q-VIEW

[slingerland]

Last November, my family gave me a new Weber Smokey Mountain smoker for my birthday.  I've previously used a propane gasser and a Weber OTG with a Cajun Bandit extender, but I've always wanted a WSM.

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• slingerland
• Mar 30, 2014

The weather has not cooperated over the winter, so today is the first chance I've had to use the smoker.  After polling the family, I decided to completely ignore them and smoke a chuck roast.

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• slingerland
• Mar 30, 2014

Last night I trimmed the chuckie, applied a light coat of safflower oil and then my homemade rub: black pepper, paprika, salt, sugar, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and a dash of cayenne.

This morning, I assembled the Minion pile (two chunks of applewood) and light a Weber mini-chimney.

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• slingerland
• Mar 30, 2014

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• slingerland
• Mar 30, 2014

(BTW, the ring above is an old charcoal grate from another Weber OTG.)

Assembled, loaded and we're off!  (My Weber OTG with CB ring is proudly watching in the background... it's also holding up the Maverick ET-732 base unit.)

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• slingerland
• Mar 30, 2014

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• slingerland
• Mar 30, 2014

 

[joopster]

I'm in!

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Lookin good !! Thumbs Up

 

[slingerland]

I've got to admit, I am VERY pleased with the temperature control of the WSM.  My OTG/CB worked decently well using a Minion snake, but the temp would vary by 20 degrees and I'd have to tinker with it a lot.  And using a Minion snake limited my cook times to 6 hours or so.

The WSM on the other hand has been dialed into 260 for the last hour with no adjustments needed.

 

[slingerland]

Hmmm... I may be looking at a lemons/lemonade moment.  The chuck roast is for tonight's dinner, but it's cooking MUCH faster than I expected.  I've used a Thermopen to verify what my ET-732 is telling me and the temps are on target.  Here's the rundown:

At 9:00, I added the chimney to the Minion pile.  All vents were 100% open.  As the temp came up I closed two of the lower vents.

Time	Pit Temp	Meat temp	Notes
9:20	257	45	Added meat to pit.  Upper vent 100%, two lower vents closed, remaining vent 50%
9:50	271	91	Upper vent 50%, lower vent 25%
10:00	264	105
10:45	259	144	Upper vent to 35%
11:00	255	151
11:15	255	154	Upper vent to 25%, lower vent to "cracked open"
12:00	230	162	Pit cooling down, temp climb stopped, moving towards stall

What normally happens:

• The chuck roast doesn't get to 165 until about 4 hours of smoke.  At that point, anticipating the stall I wrap it.
• It takes about 2 hours to get through the stall and go to 200.
• At 205 I pull it from the pit and put it in a cooler wrapped in beach towels for a 2 hour rest.
• Slice and serve.

But right now, I'm concerned the chuckie will finish way before time for the meal.  So I'm working up a backup plan.  If it is going to finish way early, I think I'll pull at 190 instead of 205, let it rest an hour, cube it into faux burnt ends, store in the fridge and at dinner time, use a diluted sauce, and sear the burnt ends back up to serving temp.

Any thoughts or ideas?

 

[slingerland]

Update... I absolutely LOVE the temperature control of the WSM!  I was able to drop the smoker temp to 215 which stalled the chuck roast at 162 degrees.  I held it there for an hour to let my times come back to normal. 

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• slingerland
• Mar 30, 2014

Once the times were back to normal, I moved the chuckie into a pan and wrapped it.  I've brought the smoker back up to 250, and we're back in business!

 

[worktogthr]

Congrats on the new smoker and that chuckie is looking good!

 

[slingerland]

Update... the chuckie was pulled at 205, double wrapped in beach towels and put in an insulated cooler to rest.  Now it's time for smoked veggies: zucchini, yellow squash and vidalia onion; tossed in olive oil, fresh ground black pepper and Italian seasoning.

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• slingerland
• Mar 30, 2014

 

[smoking b]

Just saw this - I'll hang around to see the ending 

 

[slingerland]

And voila... dinner is served!

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• slingerland
• Mar 30, 2014

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• slingerland
• Mar 30, 2014

 

[smoking b]

Yumm! 

  So how was it?