# Looking for Those who converted from WSM to Pellet smokers



## sandyut (May 1, 2017)

Hi all,

I have been a WSM user for few years now and can make that work.  I would like something easier and more hands off.  Researched the crap out of the options and i like the Mak 1.  On a separate forum it was mentioned that the smokiness would be much lesser off the Mak compared to the WSM.  That feedback came on a post where I asked if the smoke lessened with higher temps on a pellet grill.  Most of my smoking would be at about 225.

Any experience here would be great!  thanks


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## dirtsailor2003 (May 1, 2017)

It is true that pellet smokers produce less smoke than wood or charcoal smokers. For some it's not a bad thing. My cousin swears by his Traeger. His family likes my Q better. 

WSM's are as hands off as a pellet smoker.


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## sandyut (May 1, 2017)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> WSM's are as hands off as a pellet smoker.


hmmm I have a 14.5 and I wouldn't call it hands off.  On a nie hot calm day I can leave it for a few hours, but any other condition I need to monitor and mess with the vents or the temp goes too high or too low :(.

I have just recently heard of the DigiQ controller and that may be what I need.


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## pc farmer (May 1, 2017)

Maybe get a pellet tube to go with the pellet smoker.

I agree with Dirt.  I built a mini wsm.   Once the temp is set, I go to bed.


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## dirtsailor2003 (May 1, 2017)

sandyut said:


> hmmm I have a 14.5 and I wouldn't call it hands off.  On a nie hot calm day I can leave it for a few hours, but any other condition I need to monitor and mess with the vents or the temp goes too high or too low :(.
> 
> I have just recently heard of the DigiQ controller and that may be what I need.



I have 4 mini-WSM's, a 14.5, and a 18.5. The smaller guys can go 6-12 hours, the 18 up to 24 hours with minimal adjustments. Wind is a killer, but some properly placed wind stops solve that. 

Of course the digi Q or other blower apparatus would also solve you're problem. Guess it's cheaper than a pellet pooper. Both require power to run. I smoke where there's no power so I try and keep things simple.


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## jennsf (May 12, 2017)

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I've made the switch...   m













Yoder YS640-newly arrived.jpg



__ jennsf
__ May 12, 2017






y brand new Yoder YS640 just arrived yesterday - have not even assembled it yet!  

For the past eight years my trusty WSM has been a rock star - made great BBQ for myself and half the neighborhood. Rain, snow, whatever - it held 225 like clockwork. I made a lot of mistakes at first, but even those tasted good. So why switch?

 I moved out of the 'burbs this year and decided to treat myself to a new cooker, since I have more space. I do a lot of long cooks and that was probably the main reason I decided to switch to a pellet smoker. Camping by my WSM at night to make sure my brisket survived and the temp stayed stable just got old - the WSM can cook a great brisket, but supervision is needed. If I only did a long cook a few times a year - okay. But I figure the pellet smoker makes the decision to do a long cook easier.

I also like the flexibility of the pellet smoker, and the quick temp adjustments that it enables. I'm a hands-on cook and I like to experiment - seems like the pellet smoker will give me extra options.

I was serious about a Yoder Kingman stick burner for a long time, and saved up for one. But it seemed very big for me to manage easily, being only a 5ft tall female, and a lot of heavy-lifting to keep everything clean. After talking with Mike Roark, at Yoder, I took a hard look at the YS640 and decided it might be the perfect alternative for me. I did a lot of research on pellet smokers before I made the commitment. I very much wanted to buy a USA-made cooker if I could make that work for my budget. I decided I would not regret buying the Yoder.

I'll post about my cooks once I get this baby up to speed!


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## noboundaries (May 12, 2017)

I have no experience with a pellet smoker or the 14.5" WSM.  I can tell you the DigiQ on my 22.5" WSM makes it a set and forget.  You just need to know the point when you have to knock ash off your charcoals.  In my 22.5", using Kingsford Blue Bag, that's 12-14 hours, then I'm good for another 6-8 hours hands off, more if I throw in a half to full chimney of cold briquettes.  If I used less ash producing charcoal, I could easily go longer.

I'm not knocking the Yoder, but you could buy a 22.5" WSM ($399), a complete DigiQ Dx2 kit ($200), and an attachment kit ($25) for the 14.5" WSM (so you could use the DigiQ on either the 14.5" or the 22.5") for half of the cost of the Yoder.


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## bass (May 20, 2017)

JennSF said:


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> 
> I've made the switch...   m
> 
> ...


Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the Yoder.   I'm in the same situation as the OP on this thread.   I have a WSM that I can use fairly well but I need to tend to it at least once an hour or so and I simply dont have whole days on either Saturday or Sunday to be around the house for 12-14 hours at a stretch.  Consequently I don't smoke that much.   

I'm considering either the Yoder or a Blazin Grill Works, both seem well made from what I can tell.  

I saw where some guy had a pellet hopper fire in his Yoder a few years ago, but his post didnt seem to be very objective.  Overall seem to have good reviews.  

I see you bought the competition series framework.  Are you looking to move it about or just wanted more sturdy support?   Looks nice.   What's the build to delivery time like from placing an order? 

My other concern is the possilbe "less smoky" flavor that some have mentioned.   I like a nice "smoky" smoked flavor.  

thanks

Jeff


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## jennsf (May 21, 2017)

bass said:


> Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the Yoder.   I'm in the same situation as the OP on this thread.   I have a WSM that I can use fairly well but I need to tend to it at least once an hour or so and I simply dont have whole days on either Saturday or Sunday to be around the house for 12-14 hours at a stretch.  Consequently I don't smoke that much.
> 
> I'm considering either the Yoder or a Blazin Grill Works, both seem well made from what I can tell.
> 
> ...


Jeff,

I wrote up my first cook here - ribs. Friday night, I cooked two pork butts overnight - slept like a baby; got up at 6am and they were both sitting at 160 degrees with rich bark. Haven't had time to post about that cook yet, but the results were very good. To answer your questions, the build to delivery time varies a lot. I happened to place my order during the spring rush, so there was a 7-week wait for delivery. At the time Mike Roark at Yoder said build and delivery was running at 3-4 weeks prior to that rush - so I guess certain times are better than others to order.

Re the cart: if I want to move my Yoder to a different area of my outdoors - it will have to go down a ramp and across 30 feet of gravel. I doubt the standard cart could cope - for me, as a small woman, pushing that sucker around on the lighter cart, with the small wheels, could be tough. It's a heavy unit and we get some high winds, so the competition cart seemed like the way to go. My Yoder hasn't moved an inch since I positioned it and locked the wheels. Moving it around is dead easy.

The pellet hopper fire is a scary thought, and the Yoder Best Practices manual discusses this possibility. Just on first impressions, after a short and long cook, I would say the Yoder firebox area needs careful maintenance and 90% of the problems with this unit probably come down to that.  I also suspect the Yoder could be pretty sensitive to the type of pellet used. It's my first pellet cooker so I don't know enough about them to compare. I have tried two different pellets. I used BBQ Delight (comes with the unit) Hickory for my ribs. These left very little residue, flavor was good but a tad more smoke presence would have scored higher in my book. For my butts I used CookinPellets Perfect Mix. The flavor was better and more smoky, but the residue build-up was high. I think if my cook had gone longer than 12 hours that ash build-up could have become a problem. I'm sure there are more experienced Yoder cooks on the Forum who have enough experience to judge this better than me!

Weighing up pros and cons, I love that I can plan long cooks for days when I can't be there to babysit. I know I'm going to cook more often for that reason alone. The way I see it, I can always add a bit of extra smoke if I want (just ordered the SmokinCube off Amazon - $19.99) so I'm going to use the pellets the Yoder likes and avoid a possible issue with the firebox. The Yoder is very easy to use and clean-up is much quicker and easier than my WSM. The YS640 is built like a tank and I've had excellent customer support.

I looked at Blazin Grill Works, too. Looks like good bang for the buck and the lid insulator upgrade is pretty appealing. I ended up with the Yoder because the build seems a bit heavier and I want that extra sturdiness. Good luck making your decision!


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## bass (May 21, 2017)

Thanks much for your thoughts & enjoy your new cooker!  Long term I'm probably going to buy either the one you just bought or a Blazn' Grill Works Grid Iron.   

I got the same impression you did about the Yoder seeming like it was built more robustly, just based on the stated steel gauge used in construction etc.  

The Blazin unit has a bigger hopper (perhaps not an issue?) and seems like they have some nice features such as the slide out ash pot and the extra lid insulator.  

I also like that their temp controller has 2 inputs, one for the thermal control and one that monitors the meat temperature.  

Short term I think I'm going to buy one of the fan based temperature controller kits for my WSM to give me the ability to do some longer cooks without baby sitting the cooker as much.


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