New Yoder arrived, But......

[rwilli]

My new Yoder 640 arrived on Thursday; but since I was out of town, my wife had to take possession of it. Now, as many of you know, this was supposed to be delivered by Fed Ex Freight on a truck with a lift gate and delivered to your driveway or garage. So on my way home I am expecting to pull up to the drive way and see a large palletized box in the driveway or if I am lucky, in the garage. What I saw was anything but. It seems the truck didn't have a lift gate so the driver unboxed everything and with the help of my wife and son, got It all in the garage. When I pulled up in the drive way and opened the Garage, All I saw was cardboard, and BBQ pieces and parts all over my garage floor. Luckily, I had read the assembly instructions online before receiving the grill and it actually went together pretty easily and with no damage.

I did the first burn-in yesterday and will be cooking 4 racks of ribs today. After the burn-in, I played with the damper a bit to balance out the heat , and it seems to be near equal on the left and right side of the grill @ about 6 inches in. There is 20-25 degrees difference between the controller temperature reading and center lower grill, so a setting of 250 should give me 225 center rack---which makes sense, since most of the Yoder videos set the controller to 250----Time will tell?

Bob

 

[chilerelleno]

Congrats on the new toy.

 

[Ishi]

Nice looking machine!!
Keep us updated on it.

 

[retfr8flyr]

Congrats on the new grill, I wish I could afford the Yoder but it's out of my price range. I'll just have to settle for something else next spring, when I plan on getting my pellet grill. Keep us updated with your cooks, looking forward to them.

 

[rwilli]

Wow---Love this smoker----1st cook came out great. I smoked 2 racks of baby backs and two racks of spare ribs. I cooked one of each with the 321 method (which was actually a 322) and the other two I cooked without wrapping at all.
All came out absolutely wonderful---Pull off the bone tenderness yet maintained the juiciness. I will admit that the two I cooked without wrapping had a much tougher bark, which tasted good but was a thicker and tougher--especially on the rib side. I was trying to maintain moistness by spraying with apple juice about once an hour, but I only sprayed the tops, not the ribside, so that may have contributed to the tougher bark----If you have any suggestions on how to avoid a tough bark when cooking dry rub ribs, Please do share your wisdom. I do have to give a shout out to the guys at Squeal Like a Pig BBQ who uploaded a great recipe for pork rub on you tube here: ----This stuff is really good. Probably the best I have ever tasted---which is good because this recipe yields a huge batch. The image below was after I had already removed one of the racks. Anyway---Very Very happy with the first cook and so was the family. The Yoder was dream to cook on.

 

[SmokinAl]

Nice looking rig!
Al

 

[texomakid]

Congrats Bob on the new Yoder. Had mine since April and I've got no complaints at all so far. I hope you enjoy yours as much as we enjoy ours. They are cooking machines! Mine has turned into a science project with Temp gauges everywhere. Nice touch with the stainless shelves.

 

[navigator]

You will love the Yoder, I have had mine for a year and a half now, the first 6 months I messed with the damper and checked temps (left right top bottom) and finally decided it really didn't matter that much in the end product.

It wasn't long after I quit messing with it Yoder put out a statement on damper adjustment basically saying its not that effective. Mine had been all the way out for close to a year now and it makes great Q.

 

[gmc2003]

Congratulations on the new smoker - it looks great, and sounds like it puts out some good food. Enjoy it.

Chris

 

[rwilli]

Thanks all, and yes, I have spent the first week or so playing with the damper, only to realize that the 5 inches stated in the owners manual works about as well as anything. Although I really like the stainless shelves, Had I known how heavy duty the included shelves were, I would have spent money on meat, wood pellets or temp gauges. But all that said, I am very happy with the Yoder---- My first ribs came out absolutely perfect and I cooked a pork roast the other day that came out very nice as well-----Going to Costco tonight; This weekend, Brisket and burnt ends, Next week-- brisket/pastrami.