Should I try this for pulled beef?

Clay Q

I have two chuck pot roasts for tomorrows cook.
Wondering if this is possible; Going for pulled beef, I'm thinking of bumping the temp up in the egg to 325 degrees for the first part of the cook. Then when I'm approaching 140 degrees internal meat, lower the egg temp and crawl through untill I hit 160 degrees internal, then bump the egg temp back up again to say, 300-325 to finish at 190 internal. Using mustard rub with Dizzy dust and bacon wrap, indirect with drip pan and rack.[p]Will this help the beef or will this make it dry and unpullable?
Clay Q

Wise One

Clay Q, I think it will be dry but enough sauce can cover that up. Dr BBQ posted a great note on cooking through the plateau and part of the secret is how long you spend in the plateau region (160-180). While what you are doing is an attempt to prolong that time, I'm suspect that it will result in a drier meat than you want.
However, that being said, I've never done it and you might just prove all of us wrong. Try it and see. Have some sauce on hand (just in case) and let us know how it turned out. We had an uproar a few years ago when a guy posted that he could do pulled pork in 4 hours that was as good as anything people were doing overnight. He was convinced it was as good but I'm not sure he convinced many others. It must have been decent becuase he said all of his friends thought it was wonderful.

Dr_Redwine

Clay Q,
I've done two of these with about the same results. I cook them indirect at about 275 dome temp straight through to finish. The outside does dry a bit, but not bad--say maybe 1/4 inch into the meat.[p]The inside comes out very moist and very good. You may could spritz the outside with apple juice or something else a few times to keep it moist, but I probably won't the next time I cook one. One note, these things take longer than you would think. I had a 4.5 pounder go 13 hours until I finally pulled it at around 190. Last weekend, a 3.5 pounder went 11 hours to 200. It was the better of the two. Both were dusted with DP Cow Lick prior to cooking. Oh yeah, they contain a good bit of fat, so make sure you use a drip pan with a little liquid it in to prevent scorching. Beer would be nice. HTH. What time do we eat?
DrR

Unknown

Clay Q,[p]I am sure there are many methods out there for this wonderful treat and your method may work fine but I feel it can be done without all the temp adjustments. It is also difficult to get this meat as moist as your pulled pork but it can be done very well and I do this meat often for parties and small catering jobs. [p]I always start with choice chuck roasts and I can usually get them on sale for under 1.39 a pound. The roasts you will see in the picture cost me .99 cents a pound and were very nice. I trim most of the fat off the outside edge of the meat and just apply a rub about 40 minutes before they go on the fire and load them into the smoker. [p][p]I use a grid temp of about 250 degrees and take them to about 160 degrees and then I wrap them in foil. I make a boat of two layers of foil, add about 1/3 cup of apple juice or beef broth along with a sweetner which might be Turbinado sugar or clover honey and place them back on the cooker. At this point, the grid temp MUST be at 250 degrees as you want the liquid in the foil to boil which will tenderize the meat enough to pull like a pork butt. I start checking the meat around 200 degrees internal as measured with a probe thru the foil on top of the meat and then with a fork but most of the roasts need to go to around 205-210 internal to pull like a pork butt. I find that if I take them off much sooner, some of the meat will pull but most will need to be chopped. When they come off the cooker, I take them out of the foil over a large bowl as I need the remaining juice for serving. This juice goes into the freezer for a few minutes so I can remove the fat off the top of the bowl. I add this liquid back into the meat before serving. This picture shows the pulled beef from a slightly over 19 pound cook before the juice out of the foil was added to the meat. [p][p]I would have showed the meat on the cooker but this cook wasn't done on the Egg. [p]Dave

thirdeye

Old Dave,[p]Good information. What is your average yield when starting with 10# of chuck? (My butt yields have been getting less and less in the last few years, I can't figure it out. I don't use pumped pork either.)[p]~thirdeye~

Clay Q

Wise One,
I was off the mark, so 160-180 plateau slowdown. The beef will have a sauce (my own) added after I pull. [p]Well, I'm not afraid to try something different but my wife doesn't want me to turn this into a rubber band sandwich. Thanks for your help!
Clay

Clay Q

Dr_Redwine,
We eat 6:30, I supply the merlot and beer too. )[p]Yea, your way is like how I would usually do this. I was thinking of trying something like accelerating the cook to keep the beef from drying. Your suggestion of a liquid in the drip pan is a good one. I'll do that. Maybe I'm fiddling too much with the temp thing- I'm now considering the standard method, low-n-slow.[p]Thanks much!
Clay[p]

Clay Q

Old Dave,
Brilliant! Now you got me droolin. This IS going to be a fun cook.[p]Ok, so if I understand this right, foiling is the way to get the beef roast tender enough to pull. [p]Hummmmmm....I've done something like this using my Dutch oven with brisket. Yea, the meat simmers in the juice. [p]Well, I can take the beef past 200 if that's what it takes cause the goal is to have tender, juicy BBQ beef sandwiches. I'll start out with hickory smoke and a rack with drip pan holding a little beer. Then move to the next stage of foiling. Man, you do good stuff.[p]Life is good. Happy Easter!
Clay [p]

Unknown

Clay Q,[p]I hope that my method might work for you as it does for me but I am not sure that your method wouldn't work as well. I really don't think that your finish temp of 190 degrees internal will give you anything that you can pull as you would do a pork butt, but I have not tried it so I am not sure. [p]I am an old timer and I really hate to foil anything but I just can't get this meat right without this crutch. Like yourself, I prefer hickory for this cook and my results are usually very good. [p]I hope your cook comes out as you expect as when you nail this cook, it is just one great treat!! [p]Dave

Unknown

thirdeye,[p]I look at pulled beef at about the same as pulled pork. Maybe at about 55% of the meat I started with. We also do pulled chicken which I figure at about 30% and pulled turkey at about 35% of the meat I started with. These figures have worked for me in this type of cooking. [p]Dave

Dr_Redwine

Old Dave,
That sounds really good. I'll try that on my next chuck.
Thanks for the pointers.
DrR