Did my first brisket on the Yoder YS640 last night.
Cooked a 19.8lb Prime brisket from Costco. Came to 13.3lbs after trimming. Injected 24 hours earlier using Butcher BBQ Prime Brisket Injection and beef broth (as recommended by @DWCowles). With the WSM 18, I always separated the point and flat due to space. With the Yoder capacity, I decided to keep this one whole.
Started smoking at 9:30pm. Temp last night was in the mid 50s. Used mix of CookinPellets Hickory and Perfect Mix. Also used one 12" Amaze-N-Tube. Monitored with 2 732s. Two probes in brisket and one grate level on each side of the brisket.
Temp of Yoder was set at 210. Rub was just salt and pepper. Brisket was 45 when put on top grate. Grate read 190s on left side and 215 on right (near the chimney). Did not go outside again until about 4am when I woke up. Went out and bumped the controller up to 235. Went back to bed.
When I woke up at 7:15am, the brisket was reading 171 in the point and 159 in the flat. Wrapped in pink butcher paper and returned to the smoker. Bumped the temp to 275.
Removed the brisket at 9:15 (just shy of 12 hours). Point was about 208 and flat about 194. Wrapped in towels and put in cooler. Removed at 12:30 and sliced.
Impressions:
Brisket was best I have made. Great flavor and very moist. Good smoke rings and very chewy, flavorful burnt ends. Only used about 7lbs of pellets for a 12 hour smoke. So far have done chicken, ribs, pork shoulder, brisket, meatloaf, fatties and biscuits on the Yoder. Is truly a hands off smoker. Set and forget. There is a learning curve to it, but after about 5 cooks you get the hand of it.
Sold on the Butcher's Injection. Will use on all my briskets in the future. May try the pork injection.
Sold on the Dexter slicer that is recommended. Cuts clean without any tearing. Perfect length.
Impressions of Yoder compared to WSM:
Yoder is much easier to set up, use and cleanup. Very little time tending. You stay clean and don't smell smokey.
Bark on both is about the same in terms of texture and depth. Yoder is just not the black color you get with charcoal and wood chunks. Smoke ring is similar on both.
Smoke flavor on Yoder is meat then smoke. Smoke flavor on WSM in more smoke then meat. If using a rub other than salt and pepper, or saucing, you notice very little difference.
Other than color of bark, ribs, brisket and pork shoulder are very similar on Yoder and WSM. Moisture of end product about the same.
Chicken on the Yoder is easy to get crisp skin. On the WSM, never really successful - usually removed skin.
Capacity of the Yoder blows away the WSM. Of course, the price does also.
Overall, very happy with my decision to go with Yoder. Been error free so far and given me just what I was looking for: a smoker that was hands free and easy to use. produced great tasting BBQ, and required minimal cleanup.
Cooked a 19.8lb Prime brisket from Costco. Came to 13.3lbs after trimming. Injected 24 hours earlier using Butcher BBQ Prime Brisket Injection and beef broth (as recommended by @DWCowles). With the WSM 18, I always separated the point and flat due to space. With the Yoder capacity, I decided to keep this one whole.
Started smoking at 9:30pm. Temp last night was in the mid 50s. Used mix of CookinPellets Hickory and Perfect Mix. Also used one 12" Amaze-N-Tube. Monitored with 2 732s. Two probes in brisket and one grate level on each side of the brisket.
Temp of Yoder was set at 210. Rub was just salt and pepper. Brisket was 45 when put on top grate. Grate read 190s on left side and 215 on right (near the chimney). Did not go outside again until about 4am when I woke up. Went out and bumped the controller up to 235. Went back to bed.
When I woke up at 7:15am, the brisket was reading 171 in the point and 159 in the flat. Wrapped in pink butcher paper and returned to the smoker. Bumped the temp to 275.
Removed the brisket at 9:15 (just shy of 12 hours). Point was about 208 and flat about 194. Wrapped in towels and put in cooler. Removed at 12:30 and sliced.
Impressions:
Brisket was best I have made. Great flavor and very moist. Good smoke rings and very chewy, flavorful burnt ends. Only used about 7lbs of pellets for a 12 hour smoke. So far have done chicken, ribs, pork shoulder, brisket, meatloaf, fatties and biscuits on the Yoder. Is truly a hands off smoker. Set and forget. There is a learning curve to it, but after about 5 cooks you get the hand of it.
Sold on the Butcher's Injection. Will use on all my briskets in the future. May try the pork injection.
Sold on the Dexter slicer that is recommended. Cuts clean without any tearing. Perfect length.
Impressions of Yoder compared to WSM:
Yoder is much easier to set up, use and cleanup. Very little time tending. You stay clean and don't smell smokey.
Bark on both is about the same in terms of texture and depth. Yoder is just not the black color you get with charcoal and wood chunks. Smoke ring is similar on both.
Smoke flavor on Yoder is meat then smoke. Smoke flavor on WSM in more smoke then meat. If using a rub other than salt and pepper, or saucing, you notice very little difference.
Other than color of bark, ribs, brisket and pork shoulder are very similar on Yoder and WSM. Moisture of end product about the same.
Chicken on the Yoder is easy to get crisp skin. On the WSM, never really successful - usually removed skin.
Capacity of the Yoder blows away the WSM. Of course, the price does also.
Overall, very happy with my decision to go with Yoder. Been error free so far and given me just what I was looking for: a smoker that was hands free and easy to use. produced great tasting BBQ, and required minimal cleanup.
Comment