Got the Yoder out today

[tsonka]

Work 55 hour weeks and been awhile since Ive posted, lately I just read in my off times, enjoy my cooking, then think "I should have shared that" afterwards.

Its a 75deg day in Kansas and a great day to break the Yoder Wichita Loaded out ... This will not be a pictorial post, but its time I shared something :). I don't say that with jest, forums survive with posts, and although I love days when I can stare at the ThermaQ / Fireboard for 12 hours, anymore I have 15 other things to do when I have enough time to break out the Yoder.

But all that aside, here we go!

Yoder Wichita Loaded out the evening before, prepped and ready

Bought a Costco 14 pound 2 pack of Pork But -- access to Costco's meat dept alone is worth the membership fee

Standard mustard coat

Coat in a rub recipe I took from a friend of mine Mr. Jump (Twisted93)

wrap in Saran Warp, then sit for 4-6 hours to get "Happy"

Woke up early, smoker going and meat down

After 2ish hours, this is that point when everything is stable and you look "One more time" before closing for the duration

After 6 hours

 

[chilerelleno]

Looking good, I'll be awaiting the finish.

 

[gmc2003]

Looks like the plan is working. I'm all in.

Chris

 

[Scott Eisenbraun]

Good looking pork. Nice smoker too.

 

[SmokinAl]

Looks good so far!
So how did it turn out!
Al

 

[tsonka]

It came out good. 1 butt finished about 2 hours before the other.

In the "2 hour" pic my ambient temp probes can be seen. I usually cook in the middle 3rd of the cooker, my cooker has a tendency to have about a 30deg drop from the front probe to the back. Not from one end of the smoker to the other, but from the start of the 1st meat to the end of the 2nd. Im not expecting even cooking temps across but would like to tighten that up.

Next time I cook thinking of putting a few paint stirring sticks under the legs to reduce the slant away from the firebox. My thinking is heat rises and if there is less of a downward slope the heat may flow across easier? And with the slope, yes I am aware of its need to keep grease from going to the firebox

 

[texomakid]

Looks so good.

 

[busmania]

30 degrees difference left to right is the best I’ve been able to achieve on my Wichita. I tried putting 3/4” blocks under legs on my last cook and it didn’t seem to make a difference. The only thing that really seems to make a difference and get my temps within 30 degrees is closing the chimney damper about 1/3 to 1/2 closed. Wide open and I’ll see 50-75 degrees difference. Close it down a bit and it evens out some. I also keep my baffle plate thingy about 1/2 from the metal at the end (can’t think of the name right now) rather than butting it up all the way to that piece of metal.

Question. Do you burn full length splits? I’ve been cutting them in half so it’s about 6-8” long and maybe 2-4” thick. I burn several at a time adding one every 20 minutes or so. I was hoping to go at least 45 minutes between adding splits so maybe I need to not cut them in half?

I’ve tried a ton of mods on this thing (I have a thread somewhere on here I need to update including new door, larger chimney, propping up one end and several other small changes) but I keep going back to the stock set up.

 

[tsonka]

Thanks for the reply about your Yoder Wichita Loaded experience Bus

I use full size splits

I own a stick burner instead of a pellet / electric smoker because I like to be active in my smoking, I don't want a "Plug and Play" cooker and have a WSM for when I want something easy. But I do think it can be tightened up without any major modifications.

The next time I use it I am going to reduce the slope by elevating the end 1/4in (verifying I am still sloping away from the firebox.

I have also never cooked with anything other than full open exhaust. Im going to remember your suggestion of closing the exhaust a bit.

 

[busmania]

I’d love to hear your feedback on what works for you. Still learning this smoker. I too don’t want plug and play. Pork makes me hungry!