Cutting up my new Yoder Wichita (minor mods)

[busmania]

I like to tinker so why not cut up my new $2000 smoker? Just kidding. I will be doing minimal cutting but I’m going to try a few things. This thread will document it.

Mod #1
I’m swapping out the convection plate (or whatever they call it) for 3” wide by 17” 1/4” thick steal plates. This will allow me to adjust the size of gaps between each plate to hopefully get more consistent temps side to side.

Mod #2
I will be building a new door out of 1/4” plate. I’m going to eliminate the top opening of the butterfly wing and make the lower hole twice as big to compensate for removing the top part. Too often the smoker blows smoke out of this top hole and I can feel it losing heat here. I want it to draw air in the bottom, pass through the fire and into cool chamber. The way it currently is designed it seems to mess up the flow pressure (does that make sense) causing smoke/heat to leave that top hole.

Mod #3
I might make a new stack that has an inside diameter of 4.5”. This would be about 1/2” larger diameter. Not much difference than the current stack but 1/2” goes a long way when calculating all the way up the stack. This mod will not reauire any cutting so why not try it? I may make the stack a little longer too. I don’t want too much flow though. This will be my last mod if #1 and #2 don’t work as planned.

The only cutting I will have to do is cutting one hinge to remove the current door. I’ll keep that door in case I ever want to go back to it’s currwnt design.

I pick up metal tomorrow and will keep this updated.

 

[busmania]

Got the parts today. Had a local metal shop cut the general shape of the new door. I’ll finish the rest. The round circle is for the new vent to be able to close it off. Round bar for hinges. I’ll get going on it tonight.

 

[busmania]

Got the door mostly done. Been a while since I played with the welder so the welds aren’t great but it’s ok. If this works, I’ll probably redo the door and have the local metal shop cut everything with a water jet so it looks cleaner and looks factory. The new door is removable so I can go back to the original if I want. I’m going to do one mod at a time and test before moving onto the next one.

My only issue is the weight and balance of the baffle. I have to tighten the nut to keep it from rolling closed. If anyone has an idea as to how to balance the baffle, I’m all ears. Thanks!

 

[wimpy69]

You could try using a spring on the inside sandwiched between body and washer/nut to give it tension. There's acouple postings with pics somewhere. Try a search.

 

[daveomak]

Upper air inlets, to the FB go a long way toward an awesome smoker...

 

[busmania]

I tried using a cool handle thing as a spring but it didn’t work well enough.

Thanks Dave. I know about the upper vent and might add one after I test this out. The problem I was having was back flow through the upper butterfly but I wonder if I put an upper vent towards the top of this issue would go away. I’ll test a few things out.

 

[daveomak]

If you have back-flow, there is a restriction... natural draft is dependent of free flow of air... Maybe the exhaust stack is undersized...

 

[busmania]

I do suspect restriction may be part of the issue. It only happens when windy. It also may be Yoder’s convection plate. Both issues will be addressed one at a time.

What is the benefit of the upper vent?

 

[daveomak]

Moves the heat from the FB to the CC... Saves fuel... Makes for even heating across the cooking surface... One member has cold smoked in his off-set at 80F to do cheese...
The lower inlet controls the fire, the upper moves the heat..
Like a forced air furnace.... heat source..... A fan to move the heat.... Same principle....

 

[Fig_n_Pig]

Being in CO and a newbie to fire management on an offset, I'll be very interested in hearing how your mods work since I'm worried that altitude is going to be a battle in terms of white smoke and fuel consumption.

 

[daveomak]

Elevation[5] 5,351 ft (1,631 m)

You will have trouble with the AMNPS burning at that elevation....
A fan forced draft could help...
The AMNTS, tube smoke generator will burn at that altitude but gives off more smoke... It depends on the size of your smoker whether the smoke will be too much...

 

[busmania]

I have had no issues with white smoke on the few cooks I have done with this offset. It burns nice and clean. It just seems the “draw” of the smoker is off and I was annoyed by losing heat out of the top of the vent. I burn about one split cut in half every hour to maintain 250ish.

 

[daveomak]

Adding the upper air inlet will allow you to have better and lower temp control in the CC... Also it adds secondary air for better combustion of volatiles... and will reduce fuel usage by lowering the FB temperature...

 

[Fig_n_Pig]

I have had no issues with white smoke on the few cooks I have done with this offset. It burns nice and clean. It just seems the “draw” of the smoker is off and I was annoyed by losing heat out of the top of the vent. I burn about one split cut in half every hour to maintain 250ish.

I think my issue has been trying to run closer to 225 in 90 degree no humidity weather and have choked too much air to the fire. To your point, 250 seems to run just fine.

 

[busmania]

Yep. It runs real smooth and easy at 250-275. 225 is white smoke or constant babysitting feeding it smaller pieces of wood which makes it hard to get a nice coal base.

Ran the first test run with the new door. It didn’t seem to have any backdraft issues but did seem harder to get up to andmaintain the 275 temp I was shooting for. I think adding an upper vent like Dave said will help move the heat through the chamber. I think the air flow into the firebox was plenty to maintain the fire I wanted but I think without an upper vent, a lot of that heat energy is lost to heating the metal of the firebox rather than moving the heat into the cooking chamber. Upper vent comes in the mail Wednesday and Then I’ll install it and keep on testing.

The ribs and chicken wings I made were a hit and since going to an offset smoker I’ve had nothing but great feedback on the food I’ve been making. Stepped up my bbq big time. Love this smoker!

 

[ollygee]

Great Mods! it's a shame Yoder don't let users know of the way these smokers are intended to run, ie using the top fire door for heat control.
We have a brand in Europe called Cactus Jack, which are too based on the original Oklahoma Joe smokers, the heavy duty ones, we train people to run them with back door closed with pin wheel open, using a spacer to regulate the temperature, do you know if any one has tried this on a yoder?
The door's rarely ever closed, the huge amount of air it gets creates the perfect draft.

We like bigger fires also :)

 

[busmania]

Interesting Ollygee. Ive been meaning to update this thread. None of my mods have worked as planned and I almost always am smoking now with the stock set up. Sometimes I put my new door on if it is windy. I'm still tinkering. One of these days I'll update this thread with all of the mods I have tried (some listed here, others not).

Not sure how I feel about leaving the firebox door open. When I open it to add logs, the temps drop quite a bit.

To be completely honest, the stock set up seems to be working pretty well for me.

Mod 1 - tuning plates - seemed to have no real difference.

Mod 2 - new door. Seems to work pretty well. I made it so I can remove and use either door depending on conditions. If no wind, I use stock door. If windy, the new door seems to work.




Mod 3 - oversized chimney. I built a 5" chimney that is the same height as the stock one. The fire runs amazing when using this chimney but the temp difference from side to side can be as wild as 100 degrees. It almost pulls too much and the heat just gets pulled out (traveling along top of smoker) rather than heating hte cooking chamber evenly.

Mod 4 - Tilting left side of smoker up by adding 3/4" blocks under the legs. This seemed to have almost no difference.

Mod 5 - trying to figure out a way to bring the smoke stack to grate level. Im open to ideas.

 

[daveomak]

Add an upper air inlet to the FB... That will relieve some of the suck on the lower air inlet.. It will even out the temps in the Cook Chamber... It will lower the FB temps conserving fuel....

....

 

[ollygee]

What's the main objective with the doing the mods?
I think set it back to stock and try the method I mentioned above, but have the top fire door open just a couple of inches with the back closed, pin wheel open, you maybe surprised how well it works.

 

[daveomak]

What's the main objective with the doing the mods?

Add an upper air inlet to the FB... That will relieve some of the suck on the lower air inlet.. It will even out the temps in the Cook Chamber... It will lower the FB temps conserving fuel....