Thanks for all your advice!
I smoked the tri-tip, but it was not a complete success. First of all, I got too rushed to do any Qview. Pass the spittoon and I'll polish it up.
I let the meat sit in a marinade for 48 hours. That was a bit too long. I'll know better next time. In fact, I knew better this time; I just couldn't smoke the roast when I had planned to do it.
The mini-WSM got a bit hot on me. I haven't used it in a while and lost my touch with temp control. It spiked up to about 275° and I had a devil of a time getting it lower. I think I might need to calibrate the Maverick too. There was a bit of disparity between its reading and the through-the-top thermo I installed.
I also suspect the Mav because it was showing an internal temp of 135° when I intended only to take it to 125° because I like my beef rare. It took only about an hour to reach that temp on a 2 lb. roast. Turns out it was very rare - but damned tasty!!!!
I got the same reading with a quick read temp; but I'm certain it was not that high. Hmmm? Something else to work on.
I read the meat grain and all the advice on slicing the tri-tip. I followed the advice and what the grain told me and sliced it as you suggested. It came out tender and very well flavored. The long marinade caused it to be a bit salty (I used some Kikkoman soy sauce in the marinade and it sat too long).
Again, thank you for the advice. I'm going to try to find a tri-tip a bit larger soon and get back up on this horse.
