# It has arrived ........New Yoder YS480



## veryolddog (May 8, 2013)

Hello all,

I ordered this smoker last Thursday, it shipped on Friday, and it was delivered today. That is not too bad considering it is 4 business days. Fed Ex put the whole pallet in my garage whereupon I set to disconnect the metal tie down straps, remove the protective wrappings, used a crow bar to remove the 2 x 4's that held the wheels and front casters in place. Since I am limited in physical ability at this point in life, I stopped, called my nephew and asked for him to come over and right now that is scheduled for tomorrow. He's a working man and I am retired, so that is appropriate. My wife wife and I may give this ago by ourselves. She is strong like bull!

The best thing about this purchase is that the Yoder comes fully assembled. All of the pieces, i. e. grills, 2nd grill, grill grates, pellets (40lbs.), front and side shelves, smoke stack, and heat diffuser were all wrapped in heavy paper and set inside the grill. In addition, the pass through port was installed as requested so that I could run an external probe into the unit. Given the fact that my mobility is restricted, it is nice having the legs already on the cart so I did not have to do any lifting or bending. That was a big feature for me, personally. All of the rest is just placing the internals in the correct position and this can be done by me standing up. 


Here are a few pictures of its arrival and as it sits on the pallet unpacked.













2013-05-08 13.18.09.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013


















2013-05-08 13.18.17.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013


















2013-05-08 13.40.52.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013


















2013-05-08 13.41.01.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013


















2013-05-08 13.41.08.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013


















2013-05-08 13.41.19.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013


















2013-05-08 13.56.28.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013


















2013-05-08 13.56.34.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013






If my wife and I get brave, we will attempt to move it out of the garage and lift it up and get it through the front door, roll it across the house the rear door, and onto the patio. If that works without trauma, then I will assemble the rest and see if I can fire it up. If not, I will wait for my nephew and his friend to do the grunt work.

I will follow up with new information later.

With kind regards,

Ed


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## kathrynn (May 8, 2013)

Congrats on the new toy!  Wanna see pics with it up and running!

Kat


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## seenred (May 8, 2013)

Congratulatons, Ed!!  That is a very sweet looking smoker!  I am looking forward to seeing you fire it up.

Red


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## pgsmoker64 (May 8, 2013)

Congratulations on the new smoker!

Can't wait to see what comes off that baby!

Bill


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## michief (May 8, 2013)

Nothin like a new toy that spews smoke and fire! Congratz!


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## savannahsmoker (May 8, 2013)

Congrats on a great looking looking and preforming cooker y'all got there.

I was able to cook ribs and butts on one for an event and I thought it was an excellent smoking machine.

Will be waiting for some of you cooks coming out of your Yoder.


----------



## wjordan52 (May 9, 2013)

Looks great! Congrats.


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## mossymo (May 9, 2013)

Your gonna love it Ed! Yoder builds them pretty solid huh?   ....   :yahoo:


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## smokinginargyle (May 9, 2013)

After I got my Yoder 640 I went from cooking occasionally on the weekends to cooking 4-5 days a week. Enjoy!


----------



## veryolddog (May 9, 2013)

Hello guys,

Talk about being built like a tank, holy cow, this unit and every component is heavy and that is an understatement. After I removed everything that was packed inside, and removed the 2 x 4's holding the bottom of the grill to the pallet, my wife and I unsuccessfully tried to lift the grill from the pallet. NOT! We could not even budge it. So, today, my nephew and his friend are coming to lift it off of the pallet and move it to the patio of the house. In the meantime, I washed all of the grills, direct grills, second shelf, etc., with dawn and a sponge and they are nicely cleaned. My wife yelled at me for getting the sponge dirty as she placed a new sponge in the sink that morning. It was all dirty grey. So make sure you all wash them grills. 

After the boys, my nephew is 50, and they are all boys to me, move the grill, I will fire it up for one hour and cook the grills which will be sprayed with Pam Canola oil. Then, I am going to cook bacon on the grills to further season like Red did when he got the Rec Tec. I am also going to try a biscuit test as well to see how that comes out. That's the plan and I am sticking to it.

Have a great day!

With kind regards,

Ed


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## chef willie (May 9, 2013)

Nice plan there Ed.....enjoy that new rig, looks beautiful. Looking forward to some Q-view from you....Willie


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## veryolddog (May 9, 2013)

Hello Everyone,

The boys came this afternoon and the Yoder is now in its place and home. I warmed it to 350 and seasoned the grill with canola oil for one hour. Shut it off, let it cool down and then fired it back up again to 225. I placed bacon on the grill and it has been there for a little over 2 hours now getting crisp. It will probably be coming off in 20 minutes. The temperature swing is plus or minus 6 degrees up or down from the set point according to the on board computer. I have a Maverick but I do not know how to use it yet, so I will set it up tomorrow and test it against the grill thermometer. I hope that it works as I had special port put in so that I could pass the probe through without opening the cover or down the chimney. 

Boy, that is good bacon! I just took it off of the grill and my wife and I just grabbed a taste. Wow!

I just shut off the grill and it is 8:35 PM. When it cools down, I will put the cover on. Tomorrow morning, I will go and use a pyrex measuring cup and put x amount of cups of pellets into the hopper to estimate how many cups or weight per cup that I used. If anyone has an accurate scale and measure one cup of pellets, please let me know. This will be a good benchmark for utilization which includes the following:

1. 0 to 350 degrees and one hour at 350 degrees.

2. 0 to 225 degrees and 2 1/2 hours at 225 degrees. 

This information will be helpful.

Thanks and have a great evening,

With kind regards,

Ed













2013-05-09 15.40.01.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 15.40.10.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 15.40.37.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 15.40.53.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 16.04.58.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 16.05.16.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 16.05.30.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 16.05.30.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 16.05.51.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 19.06.54.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 20.27.59.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 20.28.36.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


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## bbq pit vulture (May 10, 2013)

Congratulations on purchasing the Yoder 480 and getting it into the back yard.


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## seenred (May 10, 2013)

Looks very nice, Ed!  Now you're ready to get it dirty...What are you cooking in it today?

Red


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## veryolddog (May 10, 2013)

Today, I inspected the unit and cleaned it all up not that it was terribly dirty. We had bad storms last night and early this morning with high winds and hale. The winds were so strong that the wind blew over my Chargriller gas grill and my MES 30 electric Smoker. The 300 lb. Yoder stood fast. I checked the pellet hopper and the pellets were dry so I replenished the pellet hopper. On Sunday, well be making a pork butt for pulled pork and beef short ribs. 

Here are some interesting results of my bacon test and seasoning tests.

I refilled the pellet hopper. I added 6 cups of a Pyrex 4 cup measuring glass. If one cup holds 5 1/2 ounces of pellets then four cups equal 1.375 pounds as stated below. So I used 6 X 1.375 lbs. and that equals 8.25 lbs. of pellets, in my exercise. 

This benchmark for utilization includes the following:
  
1. 0 to 350 degrees and one hour at 350 degrees. Total time 1 hour 45 minutes.
2. 0 to 225 degrees and 2 1/2 hours at 225 degrees. Total time 3 hours. 

Total time of the burn is 4 hours and 45 minutes. This means that I used 1.73  lbs. per hour for this exercise. I would suspect that start up is consuming more pellets than hour of burn time in order to bring the unit to temperature. In this case, I started and then stopped. Then I started again. So, this isn't too bad. I would like to point out that this is a layman's attempt to view the workings of his grill. This is not as precise as what Bentley or Larry does in order to give you a more reliable analysis of the performance of the units that they test. I will be cooking a pork butt this weekend and will be cooking it at 225 degrees until done. So, I will get a more realistic cook test and pellet utilization level at that time. 

What i am going to do is keep an informal journal of my cooks, what is being cooked, how long, and pellets used. I will start every cook with a full hopper so that I can measure the refill of the hopper and hopefully I will be able to report for example that a pork butt was cooked for "N" hours and minutes at "X" temperature and "Y" pellets consumed. This might be interesting to some folks. I know it will be for me. 

So, I am learning and documenting my results. This will be helpful going down the road and and having additional cooking experiences.

With kind regards,

Ed


----------



## fwismoker (May 10, 2013)

You'll have alot of fun with the new cooker no doubt and will just as much fun learning it...congratulations and enjoy the Q!


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## veryolddog (May 12, 2013)

*First Happy Mothers Day to all the Moms in the USA!*

Yoder started at 7:00 AM this morning and set for 225 degrees. While the Yoder was heating up, the pork but was removed from the refrigerator and I applied the rub. At 7:30 AM, the Yoder achieved temperature. I set up my new Maverick for this cook with BBQ probe place in the front of the grill directly opposite the Yoder probe in the rear of the grill. There is a 7 degree difference between the two probes with the Maverick being 7 degrees lower than the Yoder. The next time that I cook, I will place the Maverick probe next to the Yoder probe to see if this difference is consistent or will they be the same temperature. This is all part of my learning experience. 

As you can see by the picture, I have the A-MAZ-N pellet burner 5 x 8 model in the right hand corner of the Yoder. It is smoking away. It needs air and when I open the lid it burns more aggressively. However, it is burning and slowly. I have ordered a 12 inch tube per Todd's recommendation and I will test that out against the tray. Today, the tray has 100 per cent hickory pellets. 

The probe port that I ordered from Yoder to be installed works just fine. As a matter of fact, you could easily run 3 or 4 more probes through there without any difficulty at all. I am glad that I got it. I am sitting in my recliner in front of the TV typing away and after almost three hours, the Food temperature is 104 degrees and the BBQ probe says that the Yoder is at 223 degrees which means that if I go outside right now the yoder odometer would tell me that it is running at 230 degrees. I like it. 

When I was operating the MES, I had to put chips in every 30 to 45 minutes. This is great! I think that I will turn on the TV and watch Turner Classic Movies. 

When I was reading information concerning the Maverick, I really expected the worse because so many people were unhappy with the performance of this device. Probe failures were reported, crushed probe wires by the lids of the grills, no service at all. I feel lucky. It is a handy feature to have and I very glad to have that port installed. From a personal point of view, when I buy something, I like to have it ready and set up to go. I want the onus on the vendor for the work that is performed. I do not have the strength or the motor development any more to do that kind of work. 

Well, that's it for now. At noon, I will put on the Beef Short Ribs for dinner. 

Enjoy you day!

With kind regards,

Ed













2013-05-12 09.45.52.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 12, 2013


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## show me smoke (May 14, 2013)

did you check out the wheel mod...I did not know that you were on this forum also..the link was here..Check out my photos I have some of my yoder and the wheel mod.


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## nymjk (Sep 30, 2014)

Veryolddog,

I just wanted to check in and see how you like the YS480 now 16 months after purchase.  I too am getting ready to pull the trigger, so to speak, and purchase a Yoder.

Truth be told, I'm having difficulty deciding between the 480 (as I'm basically a cook for 2 plus friends occasionally and weekly daughter, spouse and future grandkids -- fingers crossed) and the 640 (seems they are 90% of Yoder sales).  Question: have you found the 480 limiting at all?  If so, how many people did it take to max the 480 out?

As a complete aside, I want you to know how much I enjoy reading your posts both here an on other forums (or would that be fora?)  I see you are in New Braunfels and am happy to say that this Brooklyn couple loves, loves, loves to visit the Hill Country -- our fifth visit is going to be a nice weekend in Kerrville next month prior to a convention in Dallas.

All the best,

nymjk


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## jtrainor56 (Sep 30, 2014)

Nymjk,

Hope you don't mind me cutting in here, I too had gone back and forth between the 480 and 640. I ended up going with the 640 and am glad I did. For the most part I smoke for 3-5 people but have had as many as 20 over for a picnic, usually during the holidays. What I love about the 640 is that I have no problem doing chicken, turkey, butts or brisket on the bottom and ribs up top on the second shelf. What ever left overs we have I put into one pound servings that I vacuum seal, label and put in the freezer. The best thing is that my wife can pull out a package, toss it in a pot with water and the meat does not lose any of it's flavor or moisture.

Of course, the disadvantage is that on top of the cost of the 640, accessories and a half pallet of pellets plus shipping from ATBBQ, I had to get a higher end food sealer, a couple of Maverick's and the thermal jacket! My wife also suggested we look into getting a larger stand alone freeze to replace the one we now have, she wants more room! 

Good luck in whatever you decide. 

Joe.


----------



## veryolddog (May 8, 2013)

Hello all,

I ordered this smoker last Thursday, it shipped on Friday, and it was delivered today. That is not too bad considering it is 4 business days. Fed Ex put the whole pallet in my garage whereupon I set to disconnect the metal tie down straps, remove the protective wrappings, used a crow bar to remove the 2 x 4's that held the wheels and front casters in place. Since I am limited in physical ability at this point in life, I stopped, called my nephew and asked for him to come over and right now that is scheduled for tomorrow. He's a working man and I am retired, so that is appropriate. My wife wife and I may give this ago by ourselves. She is strong like bull!

The best thing about this purchase is that the Yoder comes fully assembled. All of the pieces, i. e. grills, 2nd grill, grill grates, pellets (40lbs.), front and side shelves, smoke stack, and heat diffuser were all wrapped in heavy paper and set inside the grill. In addition, the pass through port was installed as requested so that I could run an external probe into the unit. Given the fact that my mobility is restricted, it is nice having the legs already on the cart so I did not have to do any lifting or bending. That was a big feature for me, personally. All of the rest is just placing the internals in the correct position and this can be done by me standing up. 


Here are a few pictures of its arrival and as it sits on the pallet unpacked.













2013-05-08 13.18.09.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013


















2013-05-08 13.18.17.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013


















2013-05-08 13.40.52.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013


















2013-05-08 13.41.01.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013


















2013-05-08 13.41.08.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013


















2013-05-08 13.41.19.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013


















2013-05-08 13.56.28.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013


















2013-05-08 13.56.34.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 8, 2013






If my wife and I get brave, we will attempt to move it out of the garage and lift it up and get it through the front door, roll it across the house the rear door, and onto the patio. If that works without trauma, then I will assemble the rest and see if I can fire it up. If not, I will wait for my nephew and his friend to do the grunt work.

I will follow up with new information later.

With kind regards,

Ed


----------



## kathrynn (May 8, 2013)

Congrats on the new toy!  Wanna see pics with it up and running!

Kat


----------



## seenred (May 8, 2013)

Congratulatons, Ed!!  That is a very sweet looking smoker!  I am looking forward to seeing you fire it up.

Red


----------



## pgsmoker64 (May 8, 2013)

Congratulations on the new smoker!

Can't wait to see what comes off that baby!

Bill


----------



## michief (May 8, 2013)

Nothin like a new toy that spews smoke and fire! Congratz!


----------



## savannahsmoker (May 8, 2013)

Congrats on a great looking looking and preforming cooker y'all got there.

I was able to cook ribs and butts on one for an event and I thought it was an excellent smoking machine.

Will be waiting for some of you cooks coming out of your Yoder.


----------



## wjordan52 (May 9, 2013)

Looks great! Congrats.


----------



## mossymo (May 9, 2013)

Your gonna love it Ed! Yoder builds them pretty solid huh?   ....   :yahoo:


----------



## smokinginargyle (May 9, 2013)

After I got my Yoder 640 I went from cooking occasionally on the weekends to cooking 4-5 days a week. Enjoy!


----------



## veryolddog (May 9, 2013)

Hello guys,

Talk about being built like a tank, holy cow, this unit and every component is heavy and that is an understatement. After I removed everything that was packed inside, and removed the 2 x 4's holding the bottom of the grill to the pallet, my wife and I unsuccessfully tried to lift the grill from the pallet. NOT! We could not even budge it. So, today, my nephew and his friend are coming to lift it off of the pallet and move it to the patio of the house. In the meantime, I washed all of the grills, direct grills, second shelf, etc., with dawn and a sponge and they are nicely cleaned. My wife yelled at me for getting the sponge dirty as she placed a new sponge in the sink that morning. It was all dirty grey. So make sure you all wash them grills. 

After the boys, my nephew is 50, and they are all boys to me, move the grill, I will fire it up for one hour and cook the grills which will be sprayed with Pam Canola oil. Then, I am going to cook bacon on the grills to further season like Red did when he got the Rec Tec. I am also going to try a biscuit test as well to see how that comes out. That's the plan and I am sticking to it.

Have a great day!

With kind regards,

Ed


----------



## chef willie (May 9, 2013)

Nice plan there Ed.....enjoy that new rig, looks beautiful. Looking forward to some Q-view from you....Willie


----------



## veryolddog (May 9, 2013)

Hello Everyone,

The boys came this afternoon and the Yoder is now in its place and home. I warmed it to 350 and seasoned the grill with canola oil for one hour. Shut it off, let it cool down and then fired it back up again to 225. I placed bacon on the grill and it has been there for a little over 2 hours now getting crisp. It will probably be coming off in 20 minutes. The temperature swing is plus or minus 6 degrees up or down from the set point according to the on board computer. I have a Maverick but I do not know how to use it yet, so I will set it up tomorrow and test it against the grill thermometer. I hope that it works as I had special port put in so that I could pass the probe through without opening the cover or down the chimney. 

Boy, that is good bacon! I just took it off of the grill and my wife and I just grabbed a taste. Wow!

I just shut off the grill and it is 8:35 PM. When it cools down, I will put the cover on. Tomorrow morning, I will go and use a pyrex measuring cup and put x amount of cups of pellets into the hopper to estimate how many cups or weight per cup that I used. If anyone has an accurate scale and measure one cup of pellets, please let me know. This will be a good benchmark for utilization which includes the following:

1. 0 to 350 degrees and one hour at 350 degrees.

2. 0 to 225 degrees and 2 1/2 hours at 225 degrees. 

This information will be helpful.

Thanks and have a great evening,

With kind regards,

Ed













2013-05-09 15.40.01.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 15.40.10.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 15.40.37.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 15.40.53.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 16.04.58.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 16.05.16.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 16.05.30.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 16.05.30.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 16.05.51.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 19.06.54.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 20.27.59.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


















2013-05-09 20.28.36.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 9, 2013


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## bbq pit vulture (May 10, 2013)

Congratulations on purchasing the Yoder 480 and getting it into the back yard.


----------



## seenred (May 10, 2013)

Looks very nice, Ed!  Now you're ready to get it dirty...What are you cooking in it today?

Red


----------



## veryolddog (May 10, 2013)

Today, I inspected the unit and cleaned it all up not that it was terribly dirty. We had bad storms last night and early this morning with high winds and hale. The winds were so strong that the wind blew over my Chargriller gas grill and my MES 30 electric Smoker. The 300 lb. Yoder stood fast. I checked the pellet hopper and the pellets were dry so I replenished the pellet hopper. On Sunday, well be making a pork butt for pulled pork and beef short ribs. 

Here are some interesting results of my bacon test and seasoning tests.

I refilled the pellet hopper. I added 6 cups of a Pyrex 4 cup measuring glass. If one cup holds 5 1/2 ounces of pellets then four cups equal 1.375 pounds as stated below. So I used 6 X 1.375 lbs. and that equals 8.25 lbs. of pellets, in my exercise. 

This benchmark for utilization includes the following:
  
1. 0 to 350 degrees and one hour at 350 degrees. Total time 1 hour 45 minutes.
2. 0 to 225 degrees and 2 1/2 hours at 225 degrees. Total time 3 hours. 

Total time of the burn is 4 hours and 45 minutes. This means that I used 1.73  lbs. per hour for this exercise. I would suspect that start up is consuming more pellets than hour of burn time in order to bring the unit to temperature. In this case, I started and then stopped. Then I started again. So, this isn't too bad. I would like to point out that this is a layman's attempt to view the workings of his grill. This is not as precise as what Bentley or Larry does in order to give you a more reliable analysis of the performance of the units that they test. I will be cooking a pork butt this weekend and will be cooking it at 225 degrees until done. So, I will get a more realistic cook test and pellet utilization level at that time. 

What i am going to do is keep an informal journal of my cooks, what is being cooked, how long, and pellets used. I will start every cook with a full hopper so that I can measure the refill of the hopper and hopefully I will be able to report for example that a pork butt was cooked for "N" hours and minutes at "X" temperature and "Y" pellets consumed. This might be interesting to some folks. I know it will be for me. 

So, I am learning and documenting my results. This will be helpful going down the road and and having additional cooking experiences.

With kind regards,

Ed


----------



## fwismoker (May 10, 2013)

You'll have alot of fun with the new cooker no doubt and will just as much fun learning it...congratulations and enjoy the Q!


----------



## veryolddog (May 12, 2013)

*First Happy Mothers Day to all the Moms in the USA!*

Yoder started at 7:00 AM this morning and set for 225 degrees. While the Yoder was heating up, the pork but was removed from the refrigerator and I applied the rub. At 7:30 AM, the Yoder achieved temperature. I set up my new Maverick for this cook with BBQ probe place in the front of the grill directly opposite the Yoder probe in the rear of the grill. There is a 7 degree difference between the two probes with the Maverick being 7 degrees lower than the Yoder. The next time that I cook, I will place the Maverick probe next to the Yoder probe to see if this difference is consistent or will they be the same temperature. This is all part of my learning experience. 

As you can see by the picture, I have the A-MAZ-N pellet burner 5 x 8 model in the right hand corner of the Yoder. It is smoking away. It needs air and when I open the lid it burns more aggressively. However, it is burning and slowly. I have ordered a 12 inch tube per Todd's recommendation and I will test that out against the tray. Today, the tray has 100 per cent hickory pellets. 

The probe port that I ordered from Yoder to be installed works just fine. As a matter of fact, you could easily run 3 or 4 more probes through there without any difficulty at all. I am glad that I got it. I am sitting in my recliner in front of the TV typing away and after almost three hours, the Food temperature is 104 degrees and the BBQ probe says that the Yoder is at 223 degrees which means that if I go outside right now the yoder odometer would tell me that it is running at 230 degrees. I like it. 

When I was operating the MES, I had to put chips in every 30 to 45 minutes. This is great! I think that I will turn on the TV and watch Turner Classic Movies. 

When I was reading information concerning the Maverick, I really expected the worse because so many people were unhappy with the performance of this device. Probe failures were reported, crushed probe wires by the lids of the grills, no service at all. I feel lucky. It is a handy feature to have and I very glad to have that port installed. From a personal point of view, when I buy something, I like to have it ready and set up to go. I want the onus on the vendor for the work that is performed. I do not have the strength or the motor development any more to do that kind of work. 

Well, that's it for now. At noon, I will put on the Beef Short Ribs for dinner. 

Enjoy you day!

With kind regards,

Ed













2013-05-12 09.45.52.jpg



__ veryolddog
__ May 12, 2013


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## show me smoke (May 14, 2013)

did you check out the wheel mod...I did not know that you were on this forum also..the link was here..Check out my photos I have some of my yoder and the wheel mod.


----------



## nymjk (Sep 30, 2014)

Veryolddog,

I just wanted to check in and see how you like the YS480 now 16 months after purchase.  I too am getting ready to pull the trigger, so to speak, and purchase a Yoder.

Truth be told, I'm having difficulty deciding between the 480 (as I'm basically a cook for 2 plus friends occasionally and weekly daughter, spouse and future grandkids -- fingers crossed) and the 640 (seems they are 90% of Yoder sales).  Question: have you found the 480 limiting at all?  If so, how many people did it take to max the 480 out?

As a complete aside, I want you to know how much I enjoy reading your posts both here an on other forums (or would that be fora?)  I see you are in New Braunfels and am happy to say that this Brooklyn couple loves, loves, loves to visit the Hill Country -- our fifth visit is going to be a nice weekend in Kerrville next month prior to a convention in Dallas.

All the best,

nymjk


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## jtrainor56 (Sep 30, 2014)

Nymjk,

Hope you don't mind me cutting in here, I too had gone back and forth between the 480 and 640. I ended up going with the 640 and am glad I did. For the most part I smoke for 3-5 people but have had as many as 20 over for a picnic, usually during the holidays. What I love about the 640 is that I have no problem doing chicken, turkey, butts or brisket on the bottom and ribs up top on the second shelf. What ever left overs we have I put into one pound servings that I vacuum seal, label and put in the freezer. The best thing is that my wife can pull out a package, toss it in a pot with water and the meat does not lose any of it's flavor or moisture.

Of course, the disadvantage is that on top of the cost of the 640, accessories and a half pallet of pellets plus shipping from ATBBQ, I had to get a higher end food sealer, a couple of Maverick's and the thermal jacket! My wife also suggested we look into getting a larger stand alone freeze to replace the one we now have, she wants more room! 

Good luck in whatever you decide. 

Joe.


----------

