Temperature Tanked

[Lumpy Waters]

So, weekend before last I attempted a long smoke of some beef clod, the first time I've done a long and slow smoke on a kettle. I've cooked many Tri Tips before using two charcoal baskets for indirect heating, but for this setup I used one charcoal basket filled up 90% with unlit coals, topped with wood chips and started with about 8 lit coals, two foil covered clay bricks along the long edge of the basket and the clod roast over a foil drip pan, Weber IGrill to monitor internal temp. Dome temp gauge read 250-300F most of the time and after a little over 3 hours, the meat temp got about to about 145F and and plateaued there for a couple of hours even with the kettle temp steady. I was aiming to treat the clod like pork butts that I've done on my gas and electric smokers and pull it at 190-200F internal temp. Adding additional lit coals with the vents wide open didn't help. I couldn't get the kettle temp up and the meat temp wouldn't budge.  What had happened around the time that the temperatures started to park in place was the wind shifted and picked up- a fairly cool wind. I figure I was working against and was unable to overcome convective heat loss due to the wind. Ultimately, I ran out of time, seared the meat on all sides and sliced it thin after resting, and everyone was satisfied but it wasn't quite the result I was aiming for. My apologies for a wordy first post but I'm wondering if anyone can offer some insight as to what I had done wrong or could have done better. Thanks

[michaelmilitello]

Hello and welcome.   I'd say your meat was at or near the stall where the meat temp stays basically steady.   Wrapping in foil and adding heat will help power through the stall.  I also think you probably should have started with more unlit coal.   By the time you caught the temp drop it may have been too late.  The wind certainly did not help either.  It can pull heat away from the grill. 


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[Darko]

IMO, I don't think you had enough fuel.

[HoosierKettle]

Yeah as the others said, not enough fuel. Ditch the bricks and just run a snake. The bricks were a heat sink adding to your temp loss.


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