I have two gallon vac seal bags in the freezer of cubes I cut and froze from what I believe were chuck roasts that I intended to run through the grinder for hamburger.  I have a party coming up next weekend so I have decided to make burnt ends.  I think I may smoke the cubes this weekend and then vac seal and sous vide next week.  Lastly, plan to coat in BBQ sauce and put in fridge over night and put on smoker to finish up next Saturday morning before the party.  I was thinking 145° for somewhere between 8-24 hours in the sous vide machine.  Anyone ever sous vide burnt ends before and have a better recommendation?

Man, that beats meatballs in the crockpot! (but I love those too). 

At what temperature do plan to SV? I find that SV'ing meats with high connective tissue content at low temperature (below (140°) yields medium rare product that is tender and taste very good but the but the connective/fat tissue is not completely rendered. A chuck roast smoked and SV'ed at 132° when sliced is tender and looks/taste like a fatty piece of prime rib. You might consider doing your final smoke at a higher temperature in order to better render the connective tissue. When I am going to consume frozen SV ribs, I thaw and sear them in a hot (450-500°) oven for about 30 minutes to complete the rendering, they turn out great.

I was planning to SV at 145°.  What would you recommend?

Sorry, I miss read the process, I think 145° should be fine for SV, I'd just raise the temperature to 400-500° for the last phase to render out more of the melted connective tissue.

Started the process today.  I am guessing about 5# of chuck roasts or top rounds that I had semi trimmed and cubed in the freezer.  Thawed in fridge a few days.  Put a rub on them this morning and smoked at 250° for about 2 hours while in the pan.  Have them in the fridge cooling now.  Ideally, I put them in the sous vide late this afternoon at 145° for 24 hours.  If I make that happen, I will cool in fridge after that process and sauce and cook Saturday morning.

This looks like a great experiment. You might think about cooking hot before you sauce so that the tissue/fat can render without having the sauce burn. An IT of around 170-175°, that should be hot enough to sear and render most of the fat, then sauce for about 10-15  minutes to set the sauce. 

This looks like a great experiment. You might think about cooking hot before you sauce so that the tissue/fat can render without having the sauce burn. An IT of around 170-175°, that should be hot enough to sear and render most of the fat, then sauce for about 10-15  minutes to set the sauce. 

I like your idea, but I don't want to do anything other than set my grill at 250° and let them cook in the sauce for 4-5 hours in a pan.  I  have some other things I want to take care of while that is happening.  Will see how the experiment turns out.  More pics to follow as I move into other steps in the process and then final pics before heading to the party.

That should work fine. In that period of time and at that temperature, the fat should render, just like stew meat except with BBQ sauce.

Well, we are underway.  Its taken about 30 minutes to get from 104° to 145°.  Should be ready in about 24 hours to put in fridge to cool and get ready for sauce portion of the cook on Saturday morning.  I really like this cooler setup for small jobs.

When I pulled them out of the water bath tonight, I could pinch the meat while still in the bag and it felt like a really tender burnt end already.  Hopefully, that carries over when they get sauced and back on the grill Saturday.  Seems promising so far.

I think you will be very please with the tenderness,. You will have to see if the finished product is the same as the pit.

Gonna get up tomorrow and sauce and throw on the Elite in a pan at 250° and see how they come out.  Depending on when I wake up, I should have 3-5 hours for them to cook.  Will probably have some pics tomorrow and a report on the final product late tomorrow night or sometime on Sunday.

Put some rub and sauce on the meat and put on the grill at 250° about 2 hours ago.  I pulled a small piece out to sample.  It was incredibly tender.  Will need to work on the sauce getting setup and hardening a bit on the outside yet.  I think these are going to be great as long as I don't burn them.

Burn 'em
Aren't they supposed to be Burnt Ends?