Top down Pellet smokers

[FritzHlzr]

How does your pellet grill cook. After moving to a 640 Yoder, my first pellet grill and coming from a WH offset, I really don't like the bottom up cooking for brisket, pork butt of even ribs. Is there any pellet smokers that cook from top down? It appears that the LSG pellet smokers are as close as it gets. Those of you running the LSG do you feel that is true? And are there any other pellet poopers out there that cook similar to an offset. I really don't understand the yoder philosophy, seem they put all the effort into building a pellet smoker to look like an offset but then came up short on the design in regards to how it cooks. Thanks in advance and have a safe Memorial Day holiday.

 

[SmokinEdge]

How does your pellet grill cook. After moving to a 640 Yoder, my first pellet grill and coming from a WH offset, I really don't like the bottom up cooking for brisket, pork butt of even ribs. Is there any pellet smokers that cook from top down? It appears that the LSG pellet smokers are as close as it gets. Those of you running the LSG do you feel that is true? And are there any other pellet poopers out there that cook similar to an offset. I really don't understand the yoder philosophy, seem they put all the effort into building a pellet smoker to look like an offset but then came up short on the design in regards to how it cooks. Thanks in advance and have a safe Memorial Day holiday.

I run a 640. One of the big advantages of the 640 is the fire pot on the far left side coupled with the adjustable slide baffle. So I suggest you play with that a bit.

If you push the baffle up close to the fire pot and have your meat to the right side of the grate then you kinda have the same heat effect as an offset. Spending time with that cooker and using that baffle in different areas you will dial in a sweet spot for every style of cooking.

 

[chopsaw]

How does your pellet grill cook. After moving to a 640 Yoder, my first pellet grill and coming from a WH offset, I really don't like the bottom up cooking for brisket, pork butt of even ribs.

I went from an offset to an MES 30 ,,, talk about WTF .

Give yourself sometime to get used to it , and I bet you love it .

I have a smokefire . I do all the things you mentioned on the top rack , and a drip pan underneath the main rack . Lets the air , heat and smoke circulate around the meat .
The first brisket I did on the main rack .
You can see how that affected the bottom . Dry and crumbly .

Moving to the upper rack fixed that problem for me .

 

[sandyut]

Give yourself sometime to get used to it , and I bet you love it .

This. the Yoder 640 is a highly regarded unit. There is an adjustment period when switching smoker types. I went from charcoal to pellet. They are not the same animal.

 

[Randy1]

No matter what type of smoker you use, the flow heat is directly related to the stack exit point, and height as well as firebox air flow out. Each model has it's own quarks.
The next point on a pellet smoker is radiant heat from thee firebox. A pan of water can alter that.

Another point is after the bark sets try flipping over your meat.

I can tell you I do not miss the firebox tending on my wood burner.

Another point the brand of pellets makes a big difference.

 

[FritzHlzr]

I'll be honest I'm not complaining about the YS640, I've been running it for a while and feel that I've gotten the full potential from it. I think the basic issue is the Workhorse ruined me for brisket and ribs. I'd consider changing pellet cookers to replicate a % of the top down cooking and air flow characteristics of a quality offset. I really envy those of you that have the ability to have multiple quality cookers of different designs.