Cooking Time

It is always great to get a new toy and see visions of smoking everything, but in all reality, somethings don't do as well at smoking. They don't have internal fat that needs breaking down by a long low smoke. I could be wrong, but I believe your sirloin roast will fall into this category.

If smoked to lower finish temps, it would have been juicier and maybe a little more tender. I would guess it needed pulled out of the smoker at 140*, with a small resting period. That may have put you closer to the recipe time?

Some of us would advise to getting a 7# pork butt and cooking it at 225* until the internal temp got to 193-95*, let rest in heavy duty foil for a period of time and have some pulled pork sandwiches. Should take about 2hrs/lb.

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new smoker.

In all things BBQ, recipes are guidelines.

In your case, I'd agree that a 2 lb pork roast should have come up to temp faster than it did.

Using a digital probe thermomter, verify the internal temp on thermometer vs the set smoker temp.

One other possible cause, we're you peeking? Every time the door is opened extends the lenght of your cook time.

Welcome to the forum. Let us know how it goes.

Thank you so much the information. Very helpful!
Will try it.

MaxQ
Did not peek, but really wanted to. Had smoker digital thermometer in place.
Will try different cut of meat. Thanks.

Smokin' has made some tutorials for the newer cooks just starting out with the Smokettes, it might come in handy as reading material.... Smokin's 101s

Make sure your temp probe is accurate. You can put it in ice water/ boiling water (don't immerse it)and or check against a second probe. Just because it worked last time doesn't mean it will on your next cook. I've had some off by 50 degrees! There is more info in the thermo thread. Good luck!

Forgot to say...as new smokers aquire more seasoning, the temps tend to even out and maintain better. Pork butts will quicken the seasoning process.

Find a 7-8 lb pork butt with plenty of fat cap. Smoke with 4 oz wood (of choice) It should finish in 10 - 12 hrs @ 240o. Test for tender in the 187-192o range.

Joe M - Thanks for the heads-up. Will double check it.

MaxQ- Pork butt seems to be the way to go. Anxious to try it. Thanks.

I have the SM045 which is basically a taller version than the 25. There were 2 things with this smoker that I didn't have to deal with in my old SM009. The first one is if you look at the inside back wall of your smoker, you will see a probe sticking into the cooking chamber. This is the temp sensor for the thermostate. Make sure you don't get anything up against this probe. It plays havoc with the temps in your smoker. The other thing is that there is a pre-progamed 20 start up override. This takes the smoker temp to close to 300 degrees when you first start it up, and if you loose power, or turn the smoker off and back on, the pre- programing takes over again. For the most part the Pre-programing is not a problem, just something to be aware of. Welcome to the Cookshack forum. Once you get the hang of using your new smoker, you will love it. I have a rolled pork roast in my smoker right now. Dry rubbed it last night, and put it in the cold smoker with some pecan wood. I didn't weigh the roast, but it is around 3 or 4 pounds. Started it at 2:15 pm, set the smoker temp at 250 degrees. Just over an hour, and it is at 70 degrees. I will take it to 150 degrees. I will let you know how it turns out.

Idaho Mike- Good info for this new guy. Appreciate it.
Hope you enjoyed your roast!

Snafuman:

Your welcome. These were a couple of the things I had to get used to with the new smoker, and they both caused me problems until I learned about them. I messed the roast up. i was doing it for dinner, and was told we were eating at 6:00 pm. About 5:00 pm I learned that things had been set back to 7:30 ish. I should have just let it finish at 6:00, and then held it, but I started opening the door, to dump heat, turned the temp down, and sprayed it with apple cider. It ended up a little underdone for us, but it tasted great.