Yoder, horizon or other?

[busmania]

looking to upgrade from my homemade smoker. Looking for 20” (or wider) barrel. Leaning Yoder because I have seen it and like it but I have been reading on here about some potential negatives about airflow. Is airflow an issue? Isn’t the horizon basically the exact same smoker? What would you buy and why? Probably going to spend about $1500-2000. Thank you.

 

[Hank R]

Myself never having used one, is the Yoder YS 640, seen one and fell in love with . I know it does not help you....

 

[busmania]

Those 640’s look amazing but I’m not looking for a pellet smoker. Looking for a traditional offset where I can sit around and tend the fire. I should also note I have a big green egg, Weber gasser and a home made reverse flow. Looking to round out the fleet.

 

[Hank R]

One that caught my eye when surfing the web. www.meadowcreekbbq.com/catalog/barbecue-smokers/ts70p-reverse-flow-barbecue-smoker/#.W0AbNNJKiUk a guy in town has a larger one .

 

[Rings Я Us]

Old country makes a smoker priced at about $1,000.00 . It's 1/4" . Called Brazos I believe.
It has or that brand has a smoke stack at grate level for good flow across the food.
Custom add on stuff like tunning plates available. Worth a look. I believe they sell them through Academy Sports outlets.

 

[Smokin Okie]

My Brazos is 19" barrel. Not only is the stack at grate level, but it has a 6" stack. I believe Horizon has a 4" stack. Not sure bout Yoder.

From what I hear, Horizon will steer you away from their 16" smoker, to the 20" or 24" . They say the airflow is much better on the larger barrels.

 

[busmania]

I’m starting to lean towards the horizon. I have no desire to use charcoal along with burning wood and from reading about the airflow issues in the Yoder, I think if I buy a Yoder I’ll be as frustrated as I am currently with my homemade rig. Sounds like the Yoder has flow issues requiring use of charcoal and tricks with the fire box and fire placement. Not interested in spending $2k to be frustrated. Are the Yoder flow issues really that bad?

 

[Hank R]

Let us know which one you end up with and how well you like it.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Here's an entire YouTube vid on managing fire on a Yoder Wichita, but if the Yoder has issues, I doubt you would get T-Roy to say anything about that in this vid. Me, I've not read anything about issues with Yoder, but then, I've not shopped for a Yoder. I'm more familiar with Horizon because they are made in Perry, OK, just up the road from me here in OKC. Horizon was the original Oklahoma Joe's , till they sold out to CharBroil about 1998, or so. And then OK Joe quality was greatly reduced, not the same smoker it once was.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I just did a search at the BBQ Brethren, and it appears that the smaller Yoder's may have some airflow issues, just as the smaller 16" Horizon may have also.

Here's a link, it took me forever to find the " search " feature of this forum, its sort've buried near the bottom of the page, but I got a lot of results from searching " Yoder airflow " .

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=5

 

[billiam]

Probably too late for the OP but here area couple of links to a guy who has reviewed both Yoder and Horizon:

 

[Smokin Okie]

I've entered into the Twilight Zone .............. I have both of those vids ready to be viewed, when I got a notification of a new post to this thread. I come here to look and there are the the vids ................... whooooaaaaaa

Paranoia runs deep, into your soul it will creep

 

[busmania]

I ended up going Yoder. The most vocal poster (slamkeys) who had issues was not enough to sway me and I wanted to support my new local bbq shop. So far I love it. My first cook of brisket, ribs and beans was the best bbq I’ve made to date (7 years about). My guests loved it.

I like to tinker so I’ll probably modify the vents in the door and possibly build a chimney that fits over the chimney port instead of inside of it. Should give me about 1/2” more girth to provide more flow. I may Potentially build a smoke stack that is at grate level Just for fun. Since the Yoder chimney is removable, I can always go back. I think I’m going to modify the vent and expand the lower half of the vent the same amount (about 25 square inches) as the top and close off the top with a new baffle. But these mods are more cause I like to tinker, not that I think the yoder has issues (although I do think slamkeys has good and valid points to some of his concerns). Mostly the vent. I wish they’d design the entire vent so it was under the fire rather than half under the fire and half at fire level. I do think that top part expels heat.

Anyway, my homemade smoker has been retired for now. I may get bored and tinker with it sometime in the future but so far the Yoder is great. My big green egg feels neglected too. Ok, enough rambling!

 

[Hank R]

Some day I want one but in Canada it cost a 30% more and wife would have me sleeping inside my YS640

 

[Smokin Okie]

I think Slamkeys has gone overboard on his criticism of Yoder. I occasionally get some back flow of smoke from my OC Brazos, especially if I have the door open any at all.

Yeah, maybe the FB should be a bit lower, but is it gonna prevent the smoking of some fine meat ? I doubt it.