Yoder Wichita or the good one Marshall???

Don't know much about either of them, but one is a stick burner, the other is charcoal. Which one would you rather work with?

Joshw said:

Don't know much about either of them, but one is a stick burner, the other is charcoal. Which one would you rather work with?

Click to expand...

Yep, once you answer that question, you'll have your answer

Personally, as much as I love stick burners, I have learned from experience that I simply do not have the time necessary to manage one.

Personally, I'd pick the GO Marshall. It's a beast, and will allow you to go for extended periods of time with little to no intervention (once dialed in).

Both will produce phenomenal food!

Lots of cooking real estate in the Marshall plus direct grilling area.

Look at the American Barbecue Systems smokers. Local KC company. I have the All Star and love it.

http://www.americanbarbecuesystems.com/ABS-products.html

Don't waste your time with the Wichita. Quite a few threads around here talking about the problems and with those smaller Yoder offsets... not to mention their arrogance with how they handled the situation.

Good One Marshall looks pretty good. I'd also recommend checking out the Old Country Brazos as a solid stick burner for a good price. As others have said stick burning is kind of a way of life compared to a charcoal cooker.

Horizon Smokers builds them over on Perry, Oklahoma. Bell Fab builds them in Tulsa.

....just to keep you from having an easy decision.......

I sold my Wichita and bought a Horizon. Total night and day airflow. However, I'm still a huge Yoder fan. I have a YS640 that I bought after upgrading from a YS480. Horizon all day if I had to choose between these two for an offset. The only downside is that I don't have a second shelf on the Horizon (no pun intended). I'm sure it's an option, though...

Are there any other choices, please.........like:
a stick burner from Craig Bell AND a Hunsaker Drum.......:heh:

Levergun said:

Been lurking here for a while, learned a lot from you all! Been cooking on XL green egg for 10 plus years but have had requests for cooks from friends, neighbors and referrals some need something that can produce more than just a few briskets or racks of ribs at a time. The egg has been great, so which would should I invest in!!??!! Inquiring minds want to know, have narrowed it down to these 2 because they close by as I am temporarily in the tulsa ok area for a while.
Thanks....

Click to expand...

I love your username! My personal favorite is the 1860 Henry. I have a Uberti replica but I'd love to own an original someday. And 1 each of all the (other) Winchesters from 1866-95. Anyhow....

I've never owned either, but came across both in my months of smoker research over the past year before I settled on my new LSG offset. I would hands down go with the Marshall over the Wichita. IMO stick burners are only fun when you buy the best available, and in my opinion, Yoder is in the "B" tier of offset makers.

I have a Wichita and as I learn it I am loving it more and more.

I do think they missed on the heat management plate, I have tentatively replaced it with some sheet steel I got at Loews. Runs really well now and the side to side temps run a couple of degrees difference.

Levergun said:

Thanks AKMIMNAK!! Mine are all Marlins, 32-20, 30-30, 35rem, 44mag,....etc up to 45-70 cowboy...my all time favorite!
Got Bell Fab building me a reverse flow offset!! Cant wait to get it!!

Click to expand...

Just as an aside, the Oklahoma City Gun Club holds Cowboy Action Shooting matches twice a month, and one need not be a member in order to participate.

My levergun is a Uberti 1873 full-octagon long-barrel, a real beauty.

patrickd26 said:

I sold my Wichita and bought a Horizon. Total night and day airflow. However, I'm still a huge Yoder fan. I have a YS640 that I bought after upgrading from a YS480. Horizon all day if I had to choose between these two for an offset. The only downside is that I don't have a second shelf on the Horizon (no pun intended). I'm sure it's an option, though...

Click to expand...

We have a Horizon RD Special that is almost too easy to operate: I have to work at making it look like I'm doing something. On our Yoder YS640 no one expects me to be working hard, so there is no charade required on my part.

Levergun said:

Thanks AKMIMNAK!! Mine are all Marlins, 32-20, 30-30, 35rem, 44mag,....etc up to 45-70 cowboy...my all time favorite!
Got Bell Fab building me a reverse flow offset!! Cant wait to get it!!

Click to expand...

I have a Henry 45-70 in "Wildlife Edition" and that thing is a beauty. Such a dream to own and shoot. Great caliber, great levergun.

I don't own a Wichita so I can't comment on that but I do own the Marshall and it's a great smoker. Very easy to dial in with the spinner vents and internal damper and it holds temps very well. It will also go for hours before you have to add more lump and it has a ton of room.

70monte said:

I don't own a Wichita so I can't comment on that but I do own the Marshall and it's a great smoker. Very easy to dial in with the spinner vents and internal damper and it holds temps very well. It will also go for hours before you have to add more lump and it has a ton of room.

Click to expand...

A few questions about the Marshall:

-How long does it take to get the cooker dialed in and stable when cooking low n slow?
-How long can it go unattended at 250°. In other words, once cruising at 250° how long can I walk away from the cooker for and not have to be concerned?
-Approx how much charcoal will it go through on a 10-12 hour 250°ish cook?

Really like the Marshall but know so little about it.

rwalters said:

A few questions about the Marshall:

-How long does it take to get the cooker dialed in and stable when cooking low n slow?
-How long can it go unattended at 250°. In other words, once cruising at 250° how long can I walk away from the cooker for and not have to be concerned?
-Approx how much charcoal will it go through on a 10-12 hour 250°ish cook?

Really like the Marshall but know so little about it.

Click to expand...

I can usually get it stable and ready to cook in about 30-40 minutes.

The firebox holds about 20 lbs of lump so if you fill it completely up you can pretty much walk away for the entire cook unless you are doing very long cooks to where you will have to reload the lump.

It is not the most fuel efficient smoker so you will probably go through almost the entire 20 lbs in a 10-12 hour cook but different variables will effect how long it will go such as outside temp, what kind of charcoal are you using, and if it's windy out. I have always used lump in it but you can also use regular briquettes. You might be able to go even longer on briquettes but I have never done a long cook using them. I have used briquettes in my Open Range with good success.

I usually use a windbreak on every cook because where I live it's windy probably 95% of the time and the wind can pop up at any time. I also do it for consistency.

The one feature that I really like is the spinner vents and the damper. You set the vents about 1 1/2 to 2 turns out and put the damper at the 11:00 position and it usually settles around 250 every time. Once you get it up to temp, you only control the temp by moving the damper and it doesn't take much movement to swing the temps which ever way you want. I may make some minute adjustments in the very beginning of the cook but that's it.

I like the repeat-ability of the vent and damper system so you don't have to figure it out on every cook like you have to do with some of the other smokers out there.