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

Ron_L said:

I'd still gladly eat that tri-tip! It is thin, so that would explain the quick temp rise.

The wings look great! I love the color! What temp did you use for them and how long? Did you do anything with the HMS to create a hot spot?

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I smoked them at 200* for an hour, then cranked up to 475* for 15-20 minutes to finish. My original plan was to open the HMS to finish them, but I wanted to try without doing that first. I'm sure next time I will open the damper to try that out and see how I like it.

The first biscuit test was terrific at telling me the evenness of the pit. I have used that information a lot already. Now I wanted to perform the test again, but to see how the heat is distributed in the configuration of the hot spot. So for this test (biscuit test part 2) I opened up the sliding damper in the HMS plate, and closed the stack damper a bit to create the slight hot spot on the top rack, stack side.

Now, obviously, these are going to be uneven, that is what I want to see. That is the feature I am testing, to have hot spots when needed. If you want to see how even this pit can be with the sliding plate closed and the stack wide open, follow this link.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2607602&postcount=55


Now, for this test. Biscuits loaded same as last time. Same brand of biscuits, same outdoor conditions, same controller set point, same pellets, same bat time, same bat channel.




Top sides of the biscuits when they were done.






Undersides






The two in the hottest spot




A comparison of the undersides across the pit





I was surprised by a number of things by this test. First of all, with the exception of the hot spot on the left side and the top rack above the hot spot, the rest of the pit was amazingly even! Secondly, I figured the biscuits above the hot spot would be charcoal by the time the rest of them were done, not even close. Yes they were more done, but still edible. I was expecting black biscuits on the left and was proven delightfully wrong. Finally, the IT from the least done biscuit to the most done biscuit was only about 15* different. Hottest was 191* and coolest was 177*.

So you get exactly as advertised, hot spot to set sauce or skin, even pit everywhere else. I was surprised that the top right rack hot spot near the damper wasn’t that hot at all. Actually it behaved in a way that evened out the top shelf.

MAN...the people at Yoder know what they are doing.

unixadm said:

Alright. I'm buying one! I'm just going to need to customize the color and see if they can do a sleeved stack so that I can remove it to fit in my smaller enclosed trailer. Thanks for the awesome post. I'll be replacing my Woodmaster D1400 whole hog and my Fast Eddy PG1000 with this cooker. I think it will give me a good balance of performance and my previous YS640 produced the best tasting BBQ of anything I've made on any of my cookers.

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Yoder will do whatever color on the cart you want! It just so happens their stock orange is one of my favorite colors and my favorite contrast to black.

As far as the stack mod, you need to talk to them about that. I don't know if that would compromise it's performance, and it would be a lot harder to install each time due to it's overall size and weight.

If you enjoyed your YS640, you are in for a treat. I loved my YS640, but this pit has been cooking better for me. I'm very happy I upgraded, and I was still happy with my YS640. This beast just flat out cooks, and will do whatever you ask of it without even thinking.

Good luck, and let me know if you get it. I'll be curious to see what color you chose.

landarc said:

Man, that tri-tip looks completely edible. I would dare say, delicious

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It was seasoned with Ted & Barney's, so as you know (since you have some) it was delicious. I've almost gone through my 2.5lb jug of that stuff in about 6 months. :shocked:

unixadm said:

If they can do ANY color, then I have a few based on cars that I've owned. However if they are non-metallic colors then I'm going to need to do some thinking. I think the orange looks really sharp, but this bad boy would be hanging out on my patio and that color is a bit too bright in that setting for me.

I'm not sure about the stack either. It's not something I would remove very often, but as it sits this thing won't fit in my trailer. Either they can modify it or I will since I do welding and fabricating as a hobby. Worst case I can use my CNC plasma table to cut two flanges and then I can bolt it together as needed without sleeving it. I need to take around 12" off the stack for transporting it which will be maybe once a year.

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I don't want to post his picture without permission, but Rub Bagby's YS640 and Kingman CompCart are a very dark metallic blue. The paint they use on the Comp Carts is automotive paint, so anything is possible. My second favorite besides the orange is a YS640 with a Camaro Green cart. It's bad @**.

I'm sure Yoder could come up with a solution for the stack for you. Those guys are pretty creative and can do a lot.

They are made to be cooked outside in the elements, but water"proof", I don't think that it is. My YS640 had been used in some heavy rain (think gully washer) and heavy snow (think blizzard) and I didn't have any problems with the controller. And for the record, those conditions were NOT predicted when I started the cook. Farkin' weather men.

WMI said:

nucornhusker
Thanks for taking the time for a very thorough and well read review of the 1500.
I have yet to cook on one but have sold one and this thread is a great tool before one shells out $3.5K

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Ron, I'm more than happy to. There is an abundance of info about the YS640, but not the YS1320/1500. Back when I was making my initial decision before I bought my YS640 the beginning of this year, I was spending hours deciding if I wanted the YS640 or YS1320. I could find all the info I wanted about the YS640, but I had to really work hard and piece together little bits of information about the YS1320. Don was great and answered every question I had (and if you ask him, there were a lot). The owners were out there, but they weren't posting the way YS640 owners were. If there had been info like this thread out there at that time, I may very well be a YS1320 owner as well as many of the past cookers in my signature still.

Due to the low amount pictures out there and owners talking about it, I went with what was safe for me, the YS640. Now don't get me wrong, I loved my YS640. What triggered all of this was I was stuckburning one day this summer (because I hadn't used it since I got my YS640) and I was growing more and more frustrated with a cheap offset everytime I used it. I had just come back from a tour of the Yoder factory and understood exactly what the flawed points in my stickburner were after seeing them made right. I came to the realization that I only use two of my cookers 95% of the time, the YS640, and the Kamado Joe. So if I was able to sell my cookers, I was able to cover most of the cost of the YS1500. So I purged them and ordered the YS1500.

As I look at my cooker situation now, I'm so glad I did what I did. It's nice have a deck and patio again instead of a cooker museum (most here may disagree with me on that point). I have the step-up versions of the cookers I used the most and added space at our home where space is limited. I'm thrilled with the YS1500, I really can't say how happy I am, and that is not in anyway a slight to the YS640, it's a compliment to the YS1500. It really suits me well. Clearly I was happy with my YS640 if I was willing to sell all of my cookers and pay more money for something very similar. If money wasn't an issue, the YS640 would still be on my deck and getting regular use.

The point of this thread is not to gloat, or show off, I want to pay it forward. I want info out there about this cooker that I wish had been out about the YS1320 at the time I was looking to buy this past winter. I feel a little like a braggart or a show-off by posting what I do sometimes, but that is not my style or motive. I just want to post info and pictures I wish I would have had at my disposal back when I was struggling with my YS640 vs. YS1320 decision.

I'm honored that you find this as a tool to help prospective owners. That is EXACTLY the intent of this thread and what I want it to be. I hope I can help many others who are struggling with a decision like I was.

cpw said:

This thread definitely makes me want to buy one! Every thing you say about the pit makes it seem like an absolute dream cooker.

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Well, I can't promise that it is or would be for everyone, because everyone's expectations are different, but it is for me. But as far as evenness and heat control are concerned, the biscuits don't lie.

No hijack at all! I'll look at a Kingman CC all day long and yours is awesome!. It's either a Kingman CC or a Chisholm II when I am able and ready to get back to burning sticks.

I think the results would be identical if you were to perform the biscuit tests on your Kingman since the heat distribution method and controls are the same. Everything I've said here would apply to your pit I would imagine (with the exception of pellet consumption and related topics of course).