Critique my cook-Pepper Stout Beef (long post)


 
J

Jo Torez

TVWBB Super Fan
Hi all,

I tried (I think I succeeded) to make pepper stout beef. I'll try to keep my post short with pics included, but I do have questions mostly on charcoal and temp fluctuations. Please take a look and see if I have this right. Ordinarily I would make this on the wsm 22" but I thought it was too big for a 4lb chuck roast so I thought the kettle was a better vessel. I also wanted to use the kettle for the entire cook. Here are the facts:

3.7lb chuck roast seasoned with Montreal steak seasoning
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9:45 started a full charcoal chimney of KB set it indirect to one side. It took 1/2 hour for the kettle to settle in at 260* I put the meat on with no water in an aluminum pan below the grate.

1:00 saw that the temp was decreasing so I added 15 unlit briquettes. Question: when I have to add briquettes should they always be lit? Or am I supposed to add more wood? The temp on the meat was 145*
And the two pieces of wood were still whole.

873E3C60-DAD7-4234-951E-D0EB39A4407D_zpsjzfl2tjc.jpg


1:47 meat temp 159* smoker temp 257*
3:15 meat temp 164* smoker temp 259*

(Between 159 and 164, I think I hit a stall)

I pulled the meat off and put in an aluminum pan with the onion, peppers, garlic, jalapeño, Worcestershire sauce and a bottle of Sam Adams Oktoberfest-I can't buy single bottles of Guinness here and I won't drink it normally. Of course I drank one as well lol.-This made the temp of the meat go down to 141* bc the beer was cold.

177BDF5D-6581-4EBD-B2B3-9DF1CC90333E_zpsnl3v7d7k.jpg


At this point the charcoal looked like it was almost ash so I added a half of a chimney of unlit KB (refer to the previous question, should this be lit) I know that if I add wood when the pan is covered it doesn't do anything to enhance the flavor.

I opened the bottom vent to raise the temp to 350* Question: should I have done this?

4:33 temp on meat probe said 201* but the meat was still tough. So I thought it should go a few degrees more. I waited until it said 211* and it was still tough

5:51 parts were ok but the middle was still tough.

6:41 finally it was soft enough to pull. Big piece of cartilage in the middle.

Overall it tasted really good. I thought it would have had more smoke flavor. I think next time I'll add more wood.

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I know this post may look like I am overthinking this but I just wanted to establish a baseline for next time. Thank you for looking at my pics!
 
Looks awesome Jo. To answer your questions, I either start my WSM with a snake of unlit coals around the outer edge of the ring, then lit(12-14 coals) set right next to the unlit. Or minion method with unlit coals all the way around the outside of the ring with a hole left in the center. Then 12-14 lit coals in the center. Then top vent full open and all 3 bottom vents open. When you start getting close to you operating temp. I close 2 bottom vents and just adjust the 1 opened vent until I get the desired temp. Which for me usually ends up being about 3/4 open for 275-285*. Either of these methods gives 12-15 hours of running time in light to no wind.
 
....Awwwww, you Ruined it! (you asked for a critique) --- Just kidding, it looks perfect!

Jo Torez said:
Overall it tasted really good. I thought it would have had more smoke flavor. I think next time I'll add more wood.
Click to expand...

I go really heavy on the smoke (type & quantity) when doing HH butts and chucks.

That really looks good.
 
end product looks perfect.
I wouldn't change a thing.

I use my 22"WSM without problems... I use plenty of wood for smoke...
once it hits 165ºF, I foil cover it in the pan of onions and peppers and usually finish it in the oven until 190 - 195ºF
 
Using the kettle was NOT a bad idea. It will work well for this type of cook. However, I do indirect on the Kettle a bit differently. First, I place a couple of thin fire bricks across the kettle (about 1/3-1/2 of the kettle volume). Then I dump a full Weber chimney of unlit behind the bricks. I place about ten lit briquettes scattered over the top of the unlit coals. I normally put my wood (two or three tennis sized chunks along the top of the briquettes). This amounts to a "modified Minion" start. This starts the coals gradually, greatly increasing the effective time of the cook. Normally, I don't have to add any coals. I will allow my kettle to get up to 300 degrees grate temperature during the time of the cook. I control the temperature by use of the bottom vents.

Otherwise, your cook looks great. Not having to add coals during the cook is a great convenience and the temps are much easier to stabilize.

I hope that this has been helpful to you.

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
Thanks for posting that link Dave! I see a run on chuck roasts at grocers near all viewers! I was especially interested in seeing him light the coals in about 3 seconds w/ that MAP gas (~50 seconds in)
 
Try 3 chunks of mesquite. That will give you a good smoke flavour in 2 hrs of cooking. Like Jim I finish in the oven after putting it in the pan and covering.
 
Jim Lampe said:
end product looks perfect.
I wouldn't change a thing.

I use my 22"WSM without problems... I use plenty of wood for smoke...
once it hits 165ºF, I foil cover it in the pan of onions and peppers and usually finish it in the oven until 190 - 195ºF
Click to expand...

Looks perfect to me too, it does seem to take a bit more wood to get a smoky taste on chuck for some reason. I use hickory and cherry for mine. I do the same as Jim but I finish mine on my gasser instead of the oven.
 
By my calculation this was cooked for 9 hours or so at around 260 degrees. I've not done a chuck roast yet but doesn't this seem to be an awful long time for a chuck roast? :confused:
 
Dean V said:
By my calculation this was cooked for 9 hours or so at around 260 degrees. I've not done a chuck roast yet but doesn't this seem to be an awful long time for a chuck roast? :confused:
Click to expand...

Yes it took that long. For some reason the meat was still tough when the thermometer hit 205* it took a really long time.
 
Robert McGee said:
Using the kettle was NOT a bad idea. It will work well for this type of cook. However, I do indirect on the Kettle a bit differently. First, I place a couple of thin fire bricks across the kettle (about 1/3-1/2 of the kettle volume). Then I dump a full Weber chimney of unlit behind the bricks. I place about ten lit briquettes scattered over the top of the unlit coals. I normally put my wood (two or three tennis sized chunks along the top of the briquettes). This amounts to a "modified Minion" start. This starts the coals gradually, greatly increasing the effective time of the cook. Normally, I don't have to add any coals. I will allow my kettle to get up to 300 degrees grate temperature during the time of the cook. I control the temperature by use of the bottom vents.

Otherwise, your cook looks great. Not having to add coals during the cook is a great convenience and the temps are much easier to stabilize.

I hope that this has been helpful to you.

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
Click to expand...
I think I'm going to try this next time for sure! Thank you
 
Yeah I think it definitely would have cooked a lot faster in the smoker. The smoker is easier too. The reason I tried and will have to try again in the kettle was just in case I wanted to do this on our camping trips. The smoker is just too big to fit in the truck so I thought I would try this. Thank you for your help.
 
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