Considering pellet grill purchase, YS640 versus ...

[Donw]

Mine also jumps high at first, but then it stabilizes. I worried too at first when doing my seasoning burns, but don’t notice it now when I have food in it. I know it is seeking an average, and once it finds it, mine at least stays very close to my setting.

I would recommend doing some temperature testing with probes, or white bread, to learn what is happening at the grates. The high/low temps showing at the controller might not be what is happening by the grates.

I would also recommend that you look into purchasing one of the Home Depot bucket top vacuums, and a few Homer buckets. Makes clean up of the firebox easy. Also, makes changing out and saving pellets easy by vacuuming the unused ones out of the hopper. I have a bucket for the firebox ash, and others for the different pellets I use.

[Walt Dockery]

Yes, I will definitely do more extensive temp tests. This was just a quick initial impression.

The expanded metal top grate came w/ some surface rust, is there an easy way to get that off? Do you season that grate to keep it from rusting?

[bten]

I would spray the top rack with Pam or something similar, and run it up to about 300 to season the top grate.

[Sweaty Paul]

On my initial burn in I really didn’t pay attention. It heats up fast and sometimes overshoots initially, however, it holds temps well with food and keeps everything very close to my set temps.

[adamjs83]

Walt Dockery Any update on your experience? I am having the same dilemma.

[Walt Dockery]

Walt Dockery Any update on your experience? I am having the same dilemma.

Sorry for the slow response, I've been planning to post a review and will try to do that in the next week or so, I want to do another low n slow cook first hopefully this weekend.

Overall I like it and it cooks well, although I do have a few gripes.

[Jwater412]

Walt Dockery how is the paint holding up after a couple years. Are you dealing with rust?

Im also considering this grill but my biggest hesitation is dealing with the rust and repainting, seems like something I won’t do very often and the grill will suffer.

can you provide your opinion to all the questions you originally asked now that you’re a vet?

thanks
happy smoking!

[lostclusters]

Yoder isn't a pellet hog! And the rust issues are prior to the new paint room at the plant. I'm taking my Cimarron back to the factory in August for a "refresh" paint on the black parts.

I too love the looks of the Pitts and Spitts -- if the 850 refers to the cooking space, it's some bigger than the Yoder 640. Both of these are made in USA.

If made in China isn't a concern, look at the Grilla Silverbac. While I am a big Grilla fan, I've been looking at the measurements of a Silverbac for another MCS purpose! Looks like the cooking grate is about 26" x 16" and the price is definitely right.

My opinion is there really are no bad pellet grills, just some that are starter models, some Fords and for the Cadillac, buy a MAK!

Does the yoder still get the nod for most smoke flavor profile?

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

everything I've read is conflicting but it points to the Yoder and MAKs as being #1 or #2 flip flopped for smoke profile. I know the latest firmware and design has done nothing but improve the MAK since I bought it in late '18 and I would suspect Yoder has been constantly tinkering with their firmware as well.

[Walt Dockery]

Walt Dockery how is the paint holding up after a couple years. Are you dealing with rust?

Im also considering this grill but my biggest hesitation is dealing with the rust and repainting, seems like something I won’t do very often and the grill will suffer.

can you provide your opinion to all the questions you originally asked now that you’re a vet?

thanks
happy smoking!

I sold the Yoder, and replaced with an M grills M1 stainless. Rust was a peeve of mine with the Yoder. It wasn't terrible, but it does rust, especially the lower gauge steel on the (standard, non comp) cart and the hopper/controller assembly, and especially the standard shelves. If you go with the Yoder and are concerned about rust, I would consider the comp cart and definitely get the stainless shelves.

Overall I was not a huge fan of the Yoder, although it was my first pellet grill so I think part of it is that pellet grills just aren't for me (aside from the rust, which is yoder specific). I started to write a long-ish review to post here then decided against posting, as it seems virtually everyone who has this grill loves it so I didn't see the point of posting a negative leaning review. I will say all the food on it was great as long as I did my part. What I didn't like, aside from the rust, is I just didn't find it was all that convenient as it took forever to come up to a stable temp and cleaning it out is a pain (lift the grates, open the diffuser door, get out the shop vac and vacuum ash and you need to do this fairly often), I found myself using my weber kettle much more often except for longer cooks or for larger groups - the kettle comes up to temps faster and has significantly easier ash cleanout system w/ the one touch. I also decided that the one thing the Yoder makes "convenient", fire management, is the fun part of BBQ. I also downsized to a place with a smaller patio so it made sense to me to sell both the weber kettle and YS and consolidate to the M1 which has a smaller footprint than the Yoder, replaces both, and has plenty of capacity for pretty much all the cooks I ever do.

Overall I wouldn't recommend it and wouldn't buy again, but would add the caveat that I seem to be the notable outlier, I live in a humid climate, and I don't like rust. If I was recommending a pellet grill to a friend or family member I'd tell them to take a look at the Rec Tec or Mak, but I don't see myself owning a pellet grill again, I prefer charcoal or wood and for the times I want "convenience" for longer cooks I combine w/ sous vide Q.