I did my first pork shoulder on the new Yoder YS640 last week. It was a 14.5lb from Costco that had been precut into two pieces and no bone. It required almost no trimming. I wrapped each in butcher string and dry brined for 12 hours. A half hour before putting on the smoker, I dusted liberally with Memphis Dust.
I started up the Yoder filled with BBQ Delight Hickory at 11pm and let it run at 350 until midnight. At midnight I lowered the temp to 200, put the pork on and added a 12" Amaze-n-Tube filled with lumberjack mesquite. Internal temps on the pork read 37 degrees. I went to bed and woke up about 4am. Looked at the Maverick and both were reading 85 so I went back to sleep. Got up at 7 and both were reading 135. The Yoder was holding steading showing 204 and had burned only about 3-4lb of pellets. I bumped the temp to 225 at this point and did not refill the Amaze-n-tube. I hit a stall between 160 and 175 that lasted several hours. But I did not wrap for this smoke. Total smoke time was between 15-16 hours. Pulled them at 201 and put into cambro for 3 hours.
Observations:
Pork. First time not wrapped. More bark than I ever had in the WSM. Color of bark was dark but not black like 15 hours in the WSM would be. Pork was very good, had a smoke flavor, and only a little less moist than when wrapped. Bark was thick and flavorful. Memphis Dust is fantastic and may become my new go-to rub for pork. Plan to try it on baby backs this week instead of the usual John Henry Pecan Rub.
Yoder. Is truly a set and forget. Much more so than 18 WSM with the BBQ Guru Digiq. Temps appeared to hold very steady based on where I set the Yoder. Was surprised that both pieces of pork did not vary from each other by more than 2 degrees throughout the cook until temps reached the 190s. As expected, the smaller piece finished about 20-30 minutes earlier than the other. I estimate I used about 10-12lbs of pellets for the cook. Much less than what I was expecting from comments on this and other forums. Having done poultry, it does burn faster at 325-350 and the smoke at that level is almost invisible. Cleanup (vacuuming of firebox) and washing of grates takes half the time compared to WSM. A big difference - I always smelled heavily of smoke using the WSM. With the Yoder, your access is easy and from the front so you don't spend any time in the smoke. Really great for folks like me who wear contact lens.
I started up the Yoder filled with BBQ Delight Hickory at 11pm and let it run at 350 until midnight. At midnight I lowered the temp to 200, put the pork on and added a 12" Amaze-n-Tube filled with lumberjack mesquite. Internal temps on the pork read 37 degrees. I went to bed and woke up about 4am. Looked at the Maverick and both were reading 85 so I went back to sleep. Got up at 7 and both were reading 135. The Yoder was holding steading showing 204 and had burned only about 3-4lb of pellets. I bumped the temp to 225 at this point and did not refill the Amaze-n-tube. I hit a stall between 160 and 175 that lasted several hours. But I did not wrap for this smoke. Total smoke time was between 15-16 hours. Pulled them at 201 and put into cambro for 3 hours.
Observations:
Pork. First time not wrapped. More bark than I ever had in the WSM. Color of bark was dark but not black like 15 hours in the WSM would be. Pork was very good, had a smoke flavor, and only a little less moist than when wrapped. Bark was thick and flavorful. Memphis Dust is fantastic and may become my new go-to rub for pork. Plan to try it on baby backs this week instead of the usual John Henry Pecan Rub.
Yoder. Is truly a set and forget. Much more so than 18 WSM with the BBQ Guru Digiq. Temps appeared to hold very steady based on where I set the Yoder. Was surprised that both pieces of pork did not vary from each other by more than 2 degrees throughout the cook until temps reached the 190s. As expected, the smaller piece finished about 20-30 minutes earlier than the other. I estimate I used about 10-12lbs of pellets for the cook. Much less than what I was expecting from comments on this and other forums. Having done poultry, it does burn faster at 325-350 and the smoke at that level is almost invisible. Cleanup (vacuuming of firebox) and washing of grates takes half the time compared to WSM. A big difference - I always smelled heavily of smoke using the WSM. With the Yoder, your access is easy and from the front so you don't spend any time in the smoke. Really great for folks like me who wear contact lens.
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