Yoder Smokers Community Forum

Hi Guys

I just updated the firmware on my YS640 to U26 which I believe is the latest?
After doing so I decided to do a 2 hour temperature test.

I live in Norway so it's getting quite cold. The outside temperature was about 40 degrees last night when I did the test. I turned on the grill and let it stay at 350 degrees, then turned it down to 250 after 15 minutes. At that time the temp on the display was already 256, quite fast considering the outside temp. I just had it at H1.

I had one probe reading the left half of the main cooking shelf, one probe reading the right half of the main cooking shelf, and a third probe in the middle of the second shelf.

Every 15 minutes I went outside to check on the temperatures, and after 2 hours I got the following average temperatures.

Yoder Display: 250,67
Left half of main cooking shelf: 251,5
Right half of main cooking shelf: 241,7
Middle of second cooking shelf: 231

First of all I'm extremely satisfied with the results. There were no big swings at all, The Yoder Display was very consistent and the left half followed it like a shadow, never being more than 3 degrees off what the display said. The display had 5 of 8 readings showing 256.
Like all cookers with a firebox on one side it will have slighty lower temperatures on the side furthest away from the heat. But 9 degrees below is like a joke, that is absolutely nothing in my opinion.
The second shelf being about 20 degrees lower is also very logic and highly acceptable. I often cook my food on this shelf with drip pans underneath, then I usually set the temp 15 degrees higher.

This test just made it even more clear that not only are the pellet cookers from Yoder the best looking ones, they also kick ass. I'm hooked.

I'm glad you are happy with your pit. The YS640 and all Yoder pellet pits do a wonderful job as long as you allow them to do all of the work, temperature management wise. Those results look great.

Not going to find too many that disagree with your assessment here. I do have one question though. As someone that is considering a move myself I am wondering how the pellet situation is for you? What brands ,varieties and cost do you see in your area.

Just curious how much a jacket would help.

BBQ is just arriving into Norway and the northern Europe. And almost none has heard of pellet cookers, a lot of people have pellet ovens in their house and fire it up with pine and stuff.

The company I work for are the only one in Norway importing real BBQ stuff and we are importing pellets from BBQ'ers Delight. The cost to the retail market would be approx. 25-30 dollars per 20 lbs. We also import high quality charcoal from Argentina, and that is about 40-50 dollars per 20 lbs.

Ouch. A little pricey but make sense seeing as the market is small and the manufacturing or competition has little reason to catch up at this point. You are a little ahead of your time in Norway bet you can almost taste it.

pwrdave wrote:Just curious how much a jacket would help.

It would definitely help. Already I've had some cold weather cooks here in West Michigan and the pellet consumption for me went down considerably - I'd say about half or a little less. It was that noticeable...

Get a welders blanket and a thick movers blanket or other sturdy blanket. Place over the smoker, even remove the front grate to allow the blanket to cover more area, you'll save a lot of pellets. Maybe even 1/3. Don't cover the small vents in the front of the pellet box.

As I stated in another thread, if you do the above, make sure the movers blanket doesn't contact the cooker.

Ideally, for the best fit and easiest use, the Yoder thermal cover is best. I know it's not cheap, but it works very well and will be around as long as your cooker. Plus it's much easier to use without having to move a blanket around all of the time and worrying about the blanket being displaced by wind gusts.