My Yoder Smokers YS1500 has arrived! (Very picture heavy)

Ron_L said:

Hmmm... So the set temp is not grate temp. That makes sense since the sensor isn't at grate level but I never thought of that. I'm also not used to pit temp changing with the weather since the FEC is insulated. Neither are a big deal, but just part of the learning curve with a new pit.

That about double the usage of my FEC. I go through about 8 lbs at a typical competition. The FEC is on for about 18 hours total.

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On my YS640 the set temp was consistent with grate temp, so maybe the software just needs a bug worked out in it.

The Pup said:

Please tell us about the clean-up.

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Since it was asked, here we go.


This is the HMS plate after two briskets, a pork butt, two fatties and lots of bacon drippings from the finger foods. I use an 8" Drywall Taping Knife to clean it and the bottom of the cooker. It works great. Cleaning this took about 2 mintues.




This is the bottom of the cooker with all of the scrapings below. Otherwise it would just be grease and pellet ash.




The question has been asked about grease fires due to the sunken firepot. I think you would have to deliberately try to cause one by parking it on a hill, hopper side down, and never cleaning your cooker. You can see in the above picture where the grease starts. Plus the next picture shows three areas circled. It isn't very clear in this picture, but each circle notes an elevation change. So you would have to have grease pool up really deep to get over all of these obstacles.




Finally, cleaned cooker and plate.




The other thing I noticed is that this cooker smells like a well seasoned pit already. The overall cleanup time took about 15 minutes, including scraping the grates. Yes it takes longer than removing foil, but I feel the quality of the food is worth the extra work.

cpw said:

So at 27 lbs of pellets, what does that cost you for a big cook like this?

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I buy pellets by the ton, and shipping rates vary so my price is different than yours. But this cook was well under $10 in fuel cost. It's more than stickburning, but I got a good nights sleep and was able to spend time with my family and getting stuff ready for the party. So well worth the extra $$ IMO.

cirk said:

Is it as short as it looks in the pictures?

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Well, shortness is relative, but no, it's just that big. The top of the exhaust is 68" tall. It's bigger than pictures covey it as.

I'm trying to arrange to have one of my buddies bring is Traeger Texas over to show size difference, but we will see if that works out.

Okay, most of you are probably getting post fatigue and want to see this thread slow down. I did a chicken tonight for dinner and cooked in a manner you can’t on most pellet pits, so I wanted to share. I will slow down after this, I promise.

I wanted to cook this chicken like I would have in the hot spot of a stickburner next to the firebox, so I opened the HMS damper and created my hot spot.




Chicken on, with dark meat closest to the heat. It’s a 5lb bird rubbed with Oakridge Venison Rub. It was great on the chicken.




Turned so white meat could finish




Ready to pull






I added this just because it’s cool to see how well the counterweight works. This is at perfect balance.

MeatCandy said:

About the cleaning process again...Can you hose out the cooking chamber to get the grease and gunk out? Like with the stick burners you heat up your pit to 350+ and scrape, spray out the grease and steam clean the grates...Is that an option or not?

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I don't think that would work for a pellet pit. You can easily gain access to the electronics from the cook chamber due to the required airflow from the fans, plus the igniter is in the cook chamber. So I would say no.

Some of you want to see more pictures of cooks on here, so here are the cooks I did Sunday.

First, wings for lunch. The left row is Red Robin seasoning with Thyme (for the kids). The second to the left is BPS Little Louie’s w/Black Pepper plus Thyme (for me). The next row, second from the right, is Buffalo Wild Wings “Buffalo” seasoning (it is great for a traditional wing taste without sauce, but with smoke) (for my wife). And the last row on the right is my favorite for wings, Habanero Death Dust (for me as well). This picture is them cooked.




And here is my plate, BPS and HDD wings with sliced potatoes with cheese, bacon and sour cream.





I also cooked a Tri-tip today. I have always thought that the YS1320/YS1500 would make perfect tri-tip cookers, and it does.

Here is the tri tip seasoned with Ted and Barney’s on the right side to soak up smoke. I will pull it at 115* IT.




After I pulled the tri-tip, I cranked the controller up to 475* and opened the HMS damper so I could get direct heat from the fire to get my reverse sear and finish cooking the tri-tip.




Tri tip back on




Seared for 2 minutes per side. This is after the first side was seared.




What I was surprised to see was when I checked temp after the sear on both sides, I was already up to 135* IT, so I cooked it 10* too far! :doh: It was thinner than most tri-tips I have done, so I should have known better.

On the cutting board then sliced on my plate.






It was wonderful, except for it being overcooked. Even as it was, it was great and I see a lot of tri-tips in the Yoder’s future.