Help with 1st Sous Vide

Personally I always sear after cooking

Good questions. My two cents to follow. First, for extended cooks greater than four hours, you are right on the border of a safe cooking temperature. I follow the 'Modernist Cooking Sous Vide: The Authoritative Guide to Low Temperature Precision Cooking" recommendation of 131 F minimum cooking temperature for any protein to be cooked for longer than 4 hours. Don't use the original bag. With regard to seasoning, I generally do not add salt because I have found that this results in too much moisture loss. To be honest, I generally season afterward in general, but this is just a personal preference. If you are going to add garlic, use powder, not a clove, as you can get an unpleasant taste. I actually have a top sirloin roast that I put in yesterday in a water bath set at 131 F that I will pull after 31 hours (nothing special about 31 hours, just the way it worked out). Sear afterward for better crust. I don't notice too much difference in putting in a pat of butter--but it can't hurt and some say it helps. Good luck and enjoy!

+1 for searing after the bath
I had a rack of lamb in for 4 hrs this morn at 128 with a pat of butter and spog then on the fire at 700+ for 60 seconds per side and it came out perfect.

Did a ribeye for the wife and myself last night. 135 degrees at three hours, steak was about 1 3/4" thick. Took it out of the bag, dried it off, seasoned with S&P, seared on the Weber Performer for about 3 minutes per side. Turned out perfect! Sous vide is definitely the way to go for steak. :grin:

Cold smoke first, sear last...

I am very familiar with sous vide and have a few recommendations. First and foremost, doing a little cold smoke on your protein before vacuum sealing is fantastic. You will most likely only need 15 minutes or so as the smoke flavor seems it increase in the bag. Second, I very minimally season my protein before the process, and just worry about that after. Finally, I would recommend a cast iron pan and an induction burner for the final sear step. I only need 30 to 45 seconds a side when searing on a 650°F cast iron pan, and it is much more fuel efficient in the long run. A hot grill works too, but the cast iron with avocado oil (very high smoke point) is ideal.

^^^^^^
You should be able to get the Avocado oil at COSTCO. I love cooking steaks and roasts this way, even if it isn't Q!

I get all kinds of stuff at Costco...foil pans are priced pretty well there too.

I almost always throw a pat or two of butter in anything I sous vide whether it is cooked first (reheating) or reverse seared. I do a light seasoning in the bag as well. I have not done a long roast cook yet but knowing what I know, I could see where a low temp smoking first, lightly season, then sous vide with a follow up reverse sear would work well. I would probably throw some butter in as well.
FWIW