nucornhusker
Babbling Farker
Well, after over a year of research and saving, I got my new cooker. I wanted to get a pellet fired unit so I could smoke food while spending time with my family, and also grill on it if I wanted to. I’ve been eyeing the Yoders for over a year now, and after deciding on which of their three cookers I wanted and wouldn't break the bank (I would have loved the YS1320:wink
, I decided on the YS640 and ordered it in early February.
This thing is built like an absolute tank, and it is much more impressive in person than it is looking at pictures.
I had a few options added. A custom tool hanger and probe ports, as well as the door therms you see above. The therms aren’t needed at all, but I just liked the look.
I ordered expanded steel grates for the bottom grill surface as well, but I was mis-shipped the regular rolled bar grates. Yoder already sent me the expanded grates.
Any new grill I get, the first cook is steak. Any new smoker I get, the first cook is ribs. So for my first two cooks, I did steak one day, ribs the next.
Pretty good grill marks for a pellet grill. I cooked these at 525*. It was a completely different texture than cooking steaks over charcoal. The meat still felt loose like it was raw, but it was cooked just right. It was very juicy and very tender. You can see how tender it is by the way it's bending over my fork. It doesn’t get a great sear, but the flavor and texture was amazing! If I want a better sear, I can just buy Grill Grates and cook directly over the fire. A great option that the Yoder pellet grills offer.
----------------------------------
Ribs rubbed down. The back rack is my comp rub, next is my personal favorite, plain old salt and pepper, then the front two are SM Cherry. One of my assistants was overseeing operations in the background. He knows if Dad is working at that counter, good food is on it's way later. :becky:
I cooked in four different areas so I could get a sense of how even the heat distribution is. No cooker is perfect, but this did a pretty good job.
Great color, tender and juicy and pretty good smoke flavor using Lumberjack pellets. The rib looks a little dry in the picture, but is was not dry at all. This is my first cooker with a second shelf, so I need to learn how to deal with drippings falling and making dark spots on the food below.
Instead of the usually intermittent puff of smoke I’ve seen from a few other pellet grills, this puts out TBS over the whole cook, and it almost smells like I’m using my stickburner or KJ. I was very impressed with how it smokes food. And it puts out good smoke even at 400*. Having said that, I don't like the heavy smoke flavor you can get from some charcoal smokers, so this was just fine with us.
It’s only been a few days and I know I’m still in the “Honeymoon Phase”, but I’m really liking this cooker so far. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in a pellet grill.
Yoder’s and All Things Barbecue’s customer service has been top notch. They are great to work with and will answer all of your questions. And I asked a lot of questions. I will do business with them again in the future.
, I decided on the YS640 and ordered it in early February.
This thing is built like an absolute tank, and it is much more impressive in person than it is looking at pictures.
I had a few options added. A custom tool hanger and probe ports, as well as the door therms you see above. The therms aren’t needed at all, but I just liked the look.
I ordered expanded steel grates for the bottom grill surface as well, but I was mis-shipped the regular rolled bar grates. Yoder already sent me the expanded grates.
Any new grill I get, the first cook is steak. Any new smoker I get, the first cook is ribs. So for my first two cooks, I did steak one day, ribs the next.
Pretty good grill marks for a pellet grill. I cooked these at 525*. It was a completely different texture than cooking steaks over charcoal. The meat still felt loose like it was raw, but it was cooked just right. It was very juicy and very tender. You can see how tender it is by the way it's bending over my fork. It doesn’t get a great sear, but the flavor and texture was amazing! If I want a better sear, I can just buy Grill Grates and cook directly over the fire. A great option that the Yoder pellet grills offer.
----------------------------------
Ribs rubbed down. The back rack is my comp rub, next is my personal favorite, plain old salt and pepper, then the front two are SM Cherry. One of my assistants was overseeing operations in the background. He knows if Dad is working at that counter, good food is on it's way later. :becky:
I cooked in four different areas so I could get a sense of how even the heat distribution is. No cooker is perfect, but this did a pretty good job.
Great color, tender and juicy and pretty good smoke flavor using Lumberjack pellets. The rib looks a little dry in the picture, but is was not dry at all. This is my first cooker with a second shelf, so I need to learn how to deal with drippings falling and making dark spots on the food below.
Instead of the usually intermittent puff of smoke I’ve seen from a few other pellet grills, this puts out TBS over the whole cook, and it almost smells like I’m using my stickburner or KJ. I was very impressed with how it smokes food. And it puts out good smoke even at 400*. Having said that, I don't like the heavy smoke flavor you can get from some charcoal smokers, so this was just fine with us.
It’s only been a few days and I know I’m still in the “Honeymoon Phase”, but I’m really liking this cooker so far. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in a pellet grill.
Yoder’s and All Things Barbecue’s customer service has been top notch. They are great to work with and will answer all of your questions. And I asked a lot of questions. I will do business with them again in the future.
