Yoder Cheyenne

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michael larson

Newbie
Original poster
Apr 22, 2017
2
10
Bought a Yoder Cheyenne offset this past winter to replace an old New Braunfels offset that I plan to sandblast, modify, and resell.  The Yoder is a much heavier gauge, better built setup.  I broke it in with some spareribs last week (in gale-force winds)!  It held up against the winds pretty well.  Used alot of wood, but the wind caused that issue.  Question-  It has a heavy heat diffusion plate with graduated holes in the bottom of the smoke chamber, but the temp is still significantly higher near the firebox... any ideas on how to further balance the temp out out?
 
Just stuff I picked up on reading tons of threads. I have seen a bunch of times that the the temp will even out if plate is 1.5 to 2.5 inches from the firebox/firebox baffle. It doesn't make scenes having that big of a gap but people were amazed by the difference.


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Another choice is closing off even those small holes closest to the firebox. I had an old offset that was 200 degrees hotter on right compared to left. Bought graduated hole convection plate and difference dropped down to just 100 degrees but was still too big temp differential for me.

I then went went to bbqsmokermods.com and found a fitted water pan that killed two birds with one stone. First, temp gap shrank to just 50 degrees. Water pan placement is right over the tiny holes next to firebox. Second, it turned my offset into a water smoker that regulated humidity and prevented temp spikes. Great upgrade and it was about 25 bucks plus shipping.
 
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Re-check your temps when there is no wind blowing. Also, remove your therms and check them in boiling water. If everything works out to be the same, cover the first row or two of holes.

Good luck with this. Please let us know your results. I'm sure there are several besides myself who would appreciate knowing the outcome.

Thanks, Joe.
 
You'll laugh at me on this follow up message. I didn't like still having 50 degree differential so I added a patch to my old offset so differential got down to 10-15 degrees. This was the next level fix to even out the temps--I wasn't going to let this thing win!!

I bought a Lodge brand cast iron pound cake mold. I filled it with water and used it like a liquid containing tuning plate. The water pan from bbqsmokermods.com covered first 2 rows of holes. I then allowed 3rd row to stay open then covered 4th and 5th row with the Lodge.

Aha! The temp gradient went away and it gave me a lot of confidence on long cooks. I no longer had to fear ruining meat. Good luck and as Joe Black said please update, got me curious now
 
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