New member from Kansas

7

7sanders

New member
Been lurking for a little while... Bit the bullet and bought a Yoder 640 last week :) Looking forward to adding a whole lot of BBQ to our family diet!

Day 1 - threw some bacon on while we were finishing up the burn in... threw on a peach cobbler as well!

Day 2 - smoked some beef ribs (nothing fancy, just a little bit of Worcestershire sauce and some Montreal steak seasoning)
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Day 3 - added the grill grates and grilled up some mighty fine hamburgers for dinner (found a big jar of Emeril's Bam Burger seasoning for 91cents at Sam's so we sprinkled it on some TNT frozen patties-yum!)
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Day 4/5 - 17 hour smoke, 4 8 lb pork butts
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The pulled pork was amazing (no pics - had 20 guests over for a birthday celebration)

Days 6 & 7 gave the 640 a couple of days off :)

So far the only complaint with the 640 is the pellet consumption... didn't think we'd be using almost 2.5 lbs of pellets per hour :(

Not sure which is next... waiting on a turkey to thaw, and have some chicken breasts and pork tenderloins thawed. Going to be scouring the threads for some good recipes!
 
MossyMO

MossyMO

New member
Glad you joined us 7sanders, welcome!
Great looking first cooks, your a natural!
I have the same model and the pellet consumption sound high. Use it a little more closely monitoring consumption and give the manufacture a call letting them know.
 
7

7sanders

New member
Thanks MossyMo! We went through 40 lbs of pellets on the 17 hour smoke (at 225 - 250), and 20 lbs on all the cooking prior to that. Planning to keep a log and take it in to show the Yoder folks if the consumption stays this high. The BBQ has all tasted FABULOUS though!
 
muebe

muebe

New member
7sanders welcome to the forum!

Congrats on your new Yoder!

It sounds to me like your using too much pellets IMHO. I would give Yoder a call. They have great customer service. You might need a software and fan upgrade on your unit. They will let you know what you need ;)
 
Chili Head

Chili Head

New member
Welcome to the group!
Looks like you know how to use a camera too! Check out our weekly contest and earn some coin to use at Bigpoppasmokers .
 
Kite

Kite

New member
Great work! I've been itching to try some beef ribs - maybe this weekend. They look good!
 
Moomtaz

Moomtaz

New member
Welcome from a fellow YS640 owner. Let me know what they say about the pellet consumption, I have the same experience. Other than that, best smoker I have ever used, consistent, easy, great results every time. I know you will enjoy it. Also, please tell me you added the grill grates, a must have. Pm me if you have to.
 
7

7sanders

New member
Indeed Moomtaz, we did purchase the grill grates and the upper rack! The grill grates are WONDERFUL! Planning to toss them onto the gasser a time or two as well (chipped porcelain coating on the gasser's grates makes for some cruddy tasting burgers and dogs - not to mention the two full propane tanks that I'd like to use up rather than the pellet consumption when I just want to toss a round of hot dogs on for the kids & myself for a quick lunch.)

I did email All Things BBQ and the response was that in their testing at the factory they see 1.25 - 1.5 lbs per hour. So I emailed again asking what we might do differently to try and lower our consumption to try and be more like the factory (at nearly 2.5 lbs an hour it's really going to curb our budget for smoking) ... still waiting on a reply. I'll keep you posted.

Tossing on a turkey today!
 
Kite

Kite

New member
7sanders said:
Indeed Moomtaz, we did purchase the grill grates and the upper rack! The grill grates are WONDERFUL! Planning to toss them onto the gasser a time or two as well (chipped porcelain coating on the gasser's grates makes for some cruddy tasting burgers and dogs - not to mention the two full propane tanks that I'd like to use up rather than the pellet consumption when I just want to toss a round of hot dogs on for the kids & myself for a quick lunch.)

I did email All Things BBQ and the response was that in their testing at the factory they see 1.25 - 1.5 lbs per hour. So I emailed again asking what we might do differently to try and lower our consumption to try and be more like the factory (at nearly 2.5 lbs an hour it's really going to curb our budget for smoking) ... still waiting on a reply. I'll keep you posted.

Tossing on a turkey today!
Click to expand...

Ambient temp and wind play a huge roll in pellet consumption.. I'm just sayin'.
 
7

7sanders

New member
Kite said:
Ambient temp and wind play a huge roll in pellet consumption.. I'm just sayin'.
Click to expand...

That is precisely why we are concerned :) We have been smoking with the outside temps in the 70s-80s and have the grill tucked between the deck and the house so it's fairly sheltered from the wind. We're concerned how many pellets we'll be using when we want to be out there in the freezing temps this winter!
 
H

HoDeDo

New member
7sanders said:
So far the only complaint with the 640 is the pellet consumption... didn't think we'd be using almost 2.5 lbs of pellets per hour :(
Click to expand...

Hmmmm, pellet consumption issues generally revolve around 2-3 areas.

1. type of pellet: The various brands of pellets all have different BTUs. Even amongst the BBQ'r delight pellets, that 1/3 flavor wood makes a difference between the different flavors. If you are using a pellet that is 100% flavor wood... and it is apple for example... your BTUs will be much lower than BBQ'r Delight Apple pellets which use a blend with Oak for BTUs. So burning Pellet A vs. Pellet B, with everything else being equal, will show a different volume of pellets used.

2. Airflow - if you are having poor airflow; either poor convection in the cooker, or poor airflow around the pellets, either will change your consumption to get temps right. If pellets are not burning at optimal conditions, it will take more to maintain temp "x". (also, are the pellets compact and hard or loose/soft)

3. Amount of food in cooker: this has a couple effects. #1. Too much food in cooker restricts airflow, restricted airflow can product irradic cooking results (in any kind of cooker, not just pellet) #2. A lot of cold food, will require more pellets to bring the temp back into range. that recovery is much different if I have 5 kabobs on the bottom rack... or 4 butts and a brisket loaded in. Think back to the high school science class experiments with Entropy. Same thing going on here in the cooker. #3. Volume of food can put it in touch with a probe, or reduce airflow around a probe, causing readings to be lower... and thereby increasing fuel consumption to get to the set point.

Not sure which elements are playing into your issue, but I have cooked on Traegers, Country Smokers, FE Grills, MAK Grills, and (IPT, Blazin, and GMG at least for testing purposes also) currently cook on Yoders (and am sponsored by them for my comp cookers). And in general, all the things above apply... the same basic tenants apply for all the cookers. On a stick burner, if you cook with all apple, you will use alot more fuel than if you cook with oak.... exponentially more food than if you cook with something like Hedge. Cleaner the burn, the less fuel you use.

Pellet type or a Fan issue is where I would check first. From there, faulty thermocouple? Having cooked over 1000hrs in the Yoders, It's a pretty safe bet you should even out to around 1.5 lbs/ hr. If you cook hotter, you will use more. I do a lot of cooking in the 300-350 range, and burn closer to 2/lbs an hour when I do that. At full bore, wide open (crank it on up so you are runnin' 600) your consumption will go up another 1/2lb. or more, depending on how much you are leaving your lid open. I grill on it all the time, and H1 to 350, is about 18 minutes, I grill off dinner, then shut it down, and in that fashion, consumption is just under 2/lbs an hour. It is rarely on longer than an hour when grilling, however, I would expect it to use less to maintain that temp once we have gotten there. That is using Pecan or Sugar Maple BBQr's Delight pellets, on my covered patio, with moderate temps. (think 70's).
 
muebe

muebe

New member
Just let Yoder help you out on the pellet consumption issue.

Others that have had high pellet consumption on their YS640 got it fixed with a firmware update and fan change. Not saying that is your problem but Yoder will get it taken care of for you. They are good folks ;)

Best not to try and diagnose a problem here. Keep us updated though. It is helpful for others looking for advice.
 
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