New to the forum, purchasing a pellet smoker soon.

M

Mojak

New member
Howdy,

I've got my mind set on a pellet smoker and am considering the Yoder 640, Maks and a couple of others. Feedback please! I initially ordered a Traeger but cancelled it due to the great many negative reviews on their products and I feel like I dodged a $1000 dollar bullet, nuff said. I'm new to Pellets so all your suggestions/ input will be greatly appreciated.

Mike
 
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M

Mojak

New member
Yes, I've been looking at Maks website. They look very nice. Much lighter than the Yoders. 113lbs difference between the Mak 2 and the Yoder 640. Big price difference as well.

Question, I live in Lake Tahoe (6200') very cold in winter. Can someone contrast the two brands for me? What would work best considering altitude and cold winter temperatures. BTW, Tahoe has a very dry climate year round.

Yes! I saw your build, impressive!
 
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S

So Cal Smoker

New member
Welcome to the forum Mike. You have some tuff decisions to make but do your home work, ask a lot of questions, think about how YOU will be using your cooker and with your 30 years experience with smokers you should be able to make a wise decision. Good luck and good smoking.
 
MossyMO

MossyMO

New member
Have a Yoder YS640 for over 2 years and have been very pleased with it, I really don't think you can go wrong with a Yoder or a MAK!
 
M

Mojak

New member
That's pretty much the consensus on Mak and Yoder. But which one?

I plan to go Low and Slow (I like a fair amount of smoke infused into my meat), I'll pick up a big stainless covered pan, for steaming@ 225-325 and finish up on the grill(Ribs). using which ever unit I buy as a backup grill. I have a DCS 36" for grilling and a 3 burner range for the rest.
So that's my plan and the additional equipment that I will have available in my outdoor kitchen.
 
TentHunter

TentHunter

Moderator
Mojak said:
Much lighter than the Yoders. 113lbs difference between the Mak 2 and the Yoder 640...

Can someone contrast the two brands for me? What would work best considering altitude and cold winter temperatures.
Click to expand...

I'll do my best...

First, don't let the seemingly lighter weight of the MAK fool you. They are built plenty tough. The difference in weight is in the thickness of the steel, and the grill size.



Cooking Space:

Yoder YS-640: 640 square inches bottom level. 430 square inches second level grate.

MAK 2 Star: 429 square inches. Doubles to 858 square inches with upper racks.

MAK 1 Star: 380 square inches. Doubles to 760 square inches with upper racks.



Metal/finish:

Yoder: Grill body is 10 gauge mild steel. Hopper assembly: 14 gauge steel. Finish: High temp paint.

MAK 2 Star: Grill Body 304 grade stainless steel. Hopper assembly aluminzed steel with a 1200° powder coat finish. Grates, Drip pan, Fire Pot & other critical parts are all 304 grade Stainless Steel.

MAK 1 Star: Grill body & Hopper assembly aluminzed steel with a 1200° powder coat finish. Grates, Drip pan, Fire Pot & other critical parts are all 304 grade Stainless Steel. My almost three year old MAK 1 Star had not a single rust spot on it anywhere.


Summation of cooking space & metal thickness - Pros & Cons:

Pros: With the upper grate, Yoder has 212 additional square inches, and has thicker metal.

cons: more space and thicker metal means it will take longer to warm up (especially in colder weather), and burn more fuel.

You have to decide which is important to you.

Yoder does offer a thermal cover, but there's one thing you have to remember: BOTH units will be pulling in cold air to feed the fire pot, meaning it uses more BTU's to heat the colder air, meaning they will BOTH use more fuel in Winter, even with a thermal cover!

Personal experience: Our Winters don't get as harsh as yours, but we get some pretty cold temps in NE Ohio. I have no problems running my MAK in colder weather and maintaining temps. I worry more about keeping it out of the wind than I do about keeping a cover on it.

Marty (MossyMo) can better share how their Yoder performs in the cold North Dakota Winters
HORZRULE.GIF





Controllers:

Yoder - digitally controlled in 5 degree increments. Temp Range 150° - 600° (direct flame area, depending upon setup & conditions, can reach about 700° according to Yoder).

MAK - Digitally controlled in 5 degree increments. Temp Range 170° - 500° (for direct cooking - with the FlameZone covers removed - the grate level temp does get hotter). The Pellet Boss controller is considered the best controller on the market. Programmable (times/temps) & includes three connections for food probes.

Direct grilling: offered on both grills. The MAK FlameZone covers a larger area.


Other Features/options:

Yoder:
- Variable Displacement Damper (allows fine tuning of how heat flows making the left side of the grill hotter for grilling or adjust for a more even temp across the grate level).
- Second tier grate available
- Thermal cover (for cold weather).

MAK (both models):
- M3 standard food probe (included)
- M3 Armored Food Probe available (there is no other food probe built like these - they are heavy duty!)
- Upper Rack(s) available.
- MAK Griddle - extremely versatile.
- WiFi Capable



Shipping:

Yoder - Not included (cost will vary).

MAK - Included


I can also tell you that MAK's service is second to NONE!


Hopefully I covered the most pertinent info and hope this helps!

Cliff


P.S. Big poppa Smoker, our forum sponsor, is the number 1 MAK dealer for a reason. Give them a call and they can answer any questions you might have about the MAK's.
 
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M

Mojak

New member
Thanks very much TentHunter. Great job of explaining the two smoker/ grills. I'm leaning toward the MAK 2 Star primarily for the electronics, since temperature control is everything in smoking meat. The durability of stainless steel is a big plus as well. Sounds like it will be a more functional grill when needed. But not much beats a DCS grill at that task @ 75000BTU's. The Griddle sounds great as well. I probably can use a modified welding blanket for cold snaps up here if it doesn't void any warranties. Money isn't a factor, just a little surprised the Mak 2 Star was about 40% more taking into account shipping costs. If BigPappa is in Costa Mesa, Ca. he's closer to me as well. So MAKs looking pretty good right now.
 
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Big Poppa

Big Poppa

Administrator
mojack we are in coachella california but all of our grills come straight from the mak factory....nice a squeaky clean!
 
TentHunter

TentHunter

Moderator
OH, there is one more feature on the MAK 2 Star I totally forgot to mention above: The cold-smoke chamber!

That is a feature unique to that grill!
 
M

Mojak

New member
Big Poppa,

How many racks of ribs can I smoke at once in the MAK 2 with the upper rack. I guess rib racks would be a part of that equation as well.
 
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Quadman750

Quadman750

New member
I am a firm believer in "you get what you pay for" and everything I hear is you get great service with a smile from Big Poppa so my second pellet grill when I order will be a MAK II Star from Big Poppa
 
M

Mojak

New member
Good morning Quadman 750! Yes, I believe you are correct about MAKs and Big Poppas service and support.

I'll pull the trigger today or tomorrow.
 
M

Mojak

New member
Just watched a YouTube video on the MAK 2 smoking ribs! Can it really be this easy! Dang! I used to spend 6-8 hours in order to get results like that! 30 years of toil and technique development smoking in an offset charcoal unit with chips and chunk. It really appears these pellet units have rewritten the book on Qing. Very impressive! I'm blown away, just set it and forget it. Wow!
 
M

Mojak

New member
I pulled the trigger on the MAK 2 Star + accessories. Thanks to Jessie for the phone support and assisting me in fulfilling my smoking needs.

I'm excited! Can't wait!
 
M

Mojak

New member
Thanks MossyMo,

I'm sure I'll be loving it! Can't believe how much of a time saver this unit is. Smoking 6 racks of ribs used to take me 6-8 hours and I had to be on it all the time watching temps, adding charcoal, chips and chunks. Then steaming and grilling. Kind of looking like I can eliminate steaming altogether on a rib cook. I'm excited! Can't wait to fire this smoker up!
 
TentHunter

TentHunter

Moderator
Mojak said:
I pulled the trigger on the MAK 2 Star + accessories. Thanks to Jessie for the phone support and assisting me in fulfilling my smoking needs.

I'm excited! Can't wait!
Click to expand...

As you just learned, service at Big Poppa Smokers is top notch!

We're all excited for you too! Be sure to get an account setup on PhotoBucket, Picasa Web Albums or some kind of photo hosting website, so you can upload & post pics to share with us!
 
M

Mojak

New member
Okay, I'll get setup for photo sharing. Yes, Jessie was very helpful. She suggested upper half racks for greater versatility and the WiFi kit. I was going to get the remote originally and a upper full rack along with a half rack. Anyway, while my pocket book is a bit lighter, I'm all set up to start smoking it up in Tahoe!

Thanks for all the help!
 
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