Need help new smoker

First off, welcome to SMF. 

Just need a little more information.  What was the weight was the roast?  What was the final internal temperature of the meat?  Were you wanting to slice (I hope) or pull it (not recommended)? 

With a nice attitude like that, you're a natural for this place.  We just LOVE to smoke meat and help folks with theirs.

That 2 lb pork sirloin can easily be hot smoked like you did.  It is best served at 145F internal temperature, which is the relatively new safe temperature for pork.  At 145F, it could still be a little pink inside, but juicy and tender.  145F is perfectly safe for commercially raised oinkers.  If it was farm raised, you'd want to go to 165F, just to be safe. The old adage about "no pink pork" no longer applies.    

A 2 lb pork sirloin should finish up between 1-2 hours given the range you were using.  I suspect yours had good flavor, but maybe a little dry.   

You can pick up an inexpensive meat thermometer at any grocery store.  I highly recommend it.  We smokers tend to cook to internal meat temp to determine doneness for most cuts of meat.  It really helps put that perfect meat on the table.

Hope that helped.

Ray 

Not knowing the IT tells me that it was a lil disappointing (your words) because it was not done. Four hours at a varied temp is not long enough to finish it properly. I suggest a good internal thermometer, even an instant read as long as it's accurate will help you get a satisfying final product. Not to mention a good way to replicate your results. As many have said here, the meat is done on its own schedule, so you can't just go by time. This one may not have been a complete success, but it's one that's something to strive for improvement.

Oh, by the way, Welcome to the Forums. Glad to have ya. Good luck, and keep us updated. We all like to see everyone succeed.

Mark

Welcome to the forum.

The main point I would be looking at is the variation in pit temperature.

Was this your first cook and on this equipment?

If yes, I would suggest playing with your smoker with no meat on it. Try and maintain a stable temperature say 225'F for a few hours.

Once you have an idea where to set the inlet and outlet vents for 225'F, this is the starting point for all cooks. Open vents for higher temperatures, close for lower temperatures.

It's worth investing some time to start off "Playing" rather than being disappointed with cooks then giving up.

I would go with a leave in thermometer.  One with dual probes to monitor meat temp, and grill temp.  Stock grill thermometers are notoriously inaccurate.

http://amazingribs.com/bbq_equipment_reviews_ratings/thermometer-reviews-and-ratings

I believe from above you have a spot check meat thermometer, the kind you insert after the meat has been cooking a while.  I'll start with that assumption. 

With a beef sirloin roast, simple is better.  Coat the outside with olive oil, then apply a rub of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.  We call that SPOG.  Fire the smoker up to 225-250°F with any of the following woods: hickory, oak, or pecan. 

Put the roast on the smoker and forget about it for an hour.  When the hour is up, press on the roast with a finger.  If it still feels raw inside (mushes easily), let it go for another 30 minutes.  You want to feel a little firmness when you push on the roast.  When you feel a little firmness, that's when you can check the internal temp with your meat thermometer.  Insert it into the middle of the thickest part from the top of the roast.  If you want a rare roast, 125-130°F.  Medium rare 135-140°F.  Depending on the reading, you'll have to judge how much longer you'll need to smoke the roast.

When you remove it from the smoker, it won't look very pretty.  It is time for a reverse sear.  You can do it on a gas grill on high, or in a hot pan on the stove with a little oil.  Just sear it enough to caramelize (brown) the meat and pretty it up. 

Set it on a plate and cover it for 10-15 minutes before you cut it for the first time.  The rest allows the juices to redistribute in the meat.

Let us know how it turns out!

Ray       

First off, I'm a Weber guy, so I'm incapable of remaining neutral in the Weber/Masterbuilt Pro match.  Also, I've used a propane grill as a smoker in the past.  Mine didn't really smoke meat no matter what method I used (tray, pouch, etc).  It just kind of added a little smoke flavor.

With Weber you have two choices: Buy a 22.5" Weber Kettle for $150 and use it as a grill, smoker, pizza oven, smoky fryer, etc.  As a grill it will last you for decades.  You only have to replace the grates every 5 to 10 years, depending how you treat it and cover it in the winter.  The grill works great on smokes of 6 hours or less.  Yes, you can go longer, and I have but it just takes attention every 90 minutes or so. 

Since I have a Weber Smokey Mountain smoker, I use my 22.5" Weber Kettle for what I call grill smoking.  I'll throw down cold briquettes, small wood chunks or large wood chips, then the hot charcoal.  I use a 15" paella pan on the grill with a 13.25" round cooling rack inside the pan.  I'll put my chicken, sausages, etc on the cooling rack, put the lid on the Weber, and come back when they are done.  No flipping, burning, or moving around the grill.  That's my method, but you can also set the grill up for indirect smoking too, which is how I learned to smoke on the Kettle. 

Second choice: The $400 Weber Smokey Mountain is as close as you can get to a perfect smoker right out of the box.  With care it should last a lifetime too.  It creates smoked meat that will rival the best you've ever had.  You can wet smoke (water in the water pan) or dry smoke (no water, or use sand in the water pan) with the smoker.  It likes to run hot, about 275F when new, but should settle down with smoke buildup and experience.  You can easily go 8-10 hours, hands off, with the WSM.  With time, you can add a temp controller for $200 which doubles that time and basically turns the smoker into an appliance no setting the oven.  The only mod, which really isn't necessary, is a $25 gasket kit.  New, mine was out of round, damaged in shipping, so I needed to add a gasket kit.  Still, I smoked with it for 6 months before adding the gasket kit.  I was too excited to send the smoker back when I received it. 

You'll never regret getting either Weber. 

I know there are Masterbuilt Pro Dual smokers here, so they'll have to give you their side. 

Keep us posted what you get!

Ray

I'll second No Boundaries on this one. I used my 18.5" Webber Smokey Mountain year round for years. Smoked on it, grilled on it you name it. Now my neighbor is smoking on it. $299 well spent if you ask me.

northern accent said:

Thanks so much for your advice I will take it all under consideration. I having a hard time making this choice. Do I want to go cheap or quality. Hoping I could get both with this masterbuilt.

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I'll share one piece of advice my dear old dad taught me when I became old enough to start buying things for myself.  He said, "Always buy first, what you'd buy last.  You'll save a lot of money in the long run." 

He was not a proponent of starting small, and buying up.  Consequently, I learned to research the heck out of my purchases.  When you consider the costs of smokers today and how long they'll last, you won't find a less frustrating, better low end/high quality smoker than the Weber.  

Use the search feature on the forum.  Do a search for "Masterbuilt Pro Duo" and look at the nature of the threads.  Then do a search for "WSM" or "Weber Smokey Mountain" and look at the nature of those threads. 

Whatever you choose, you'll learn to love it.  That's the nature of this smoking addiction.    

I have a 5 yr old Master Built single burner 40" propane and I love it it has done everything fine for me although I know some more expensive stuff is of better quality and maybe last longer I can't complain about mine. If you go with one then read some of the post on them the problem is their chip pan is not very good so most of us just use a cast iron fry pan.

Warren