Can anyone with more experience give me a quick tutorial on where you place your meats in the smoker and what temps you usually run at? I recently took receipt of a YS1500 and am trying to figure it out. I know it runs different than a stick burner in that the higher grates run at a lower temperature but has anyone thats cooked on this thing a bunch gotten it figured out?.
Also, should I leave the damper closed if i'm not grilling or should this be opened up some when cooking things like chicken? Thanks for the help!

I don't have a Yoder.  However, I would recommend you invest in a Thermoworks, Maverick, or some other type of remote thermometer devices where you can place probes in your grill at different spots and recognize what the temp is at that great and location comparative to what your controller is set at and is reading for its actual temp.  That would help during any or all cooks.

If you just want a quick way to get a sense for hot zones on your grill.  Buy a few cans of biscuits and bake them at the recommended temp on your grill.  You can flip them over after recommended cook time and see the char on the bottom to determine where your grill may be hotter than at other spots.

Welcome to the group.
 
I hate to give you this answer but you really need to test your pit by cooking to determine. Every pit is different as I'm sure you know. You can do a biscuit or toast test to see where the hot spots are.

I used to own a YS640 and have cooked on a YS1500 before. From my memory the temps where pretty even throughout the pits.

Sorry I can't give you a better answer.

Can anyone with more experience give me a quick tutorial on where you place your meats in the smoker and what temps you usually run at? I recently took receipt of a YS1500 and am trying to figure it out. I know it runs different than a stick burner in that the higher grates run at a lower temperature but has anyone thats cooked on this thing a bunch gotten it figured out?.
Also, should I leave the damper closed if i'm not grilling or should this be opened up some when cooking things like chicken? Thanks for the help!

I have a YS640s but I’m guessing it cooks similarly.

As I understand it the dampener really doesn’t do much anymore. It used to serve more of a purpose when the pellet grills were first released, but with the more advanced airflow as the fan systems developed over the years it’s become more of ornament than anything else. I do push it all the way in when direct grilling over open flame on grillgrates, but other than that I leave it wide open. I’ve played around with it a little but haven’t found it makes any difference.

I think the top rack may be a tad warmer, but just a little. I’ve had ribs up there and they tend to get done quicker. But it’s nothing drastic. It’s for sure not “cooler” though. Yoder designed their pellet grills to mimic offsets to the extent possible. I’ve cooked full packers up high and down low. Haven’t noticed much difference. I will say my best one did come off the top rack. Not sure if it was coincidence? I also had 13 pounds of pork butts on the bottom.

Yoder runs a forum specific to Yoder smokers. It’s not the best, but there is some good info on their if you want to take the time to dig through it. The attached doc if from that website.

community.yodersmokers.com/




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I don't have a Yoder.  However, I would recommend you invest in a Thermoworks, Maverick, or some other type of remote thermometer devices where you can place probes in your grill at different spots and recognize what the temp is at that great and location comparative to what your controller is set at and is reading for its actual temp.  That would help during any or all cooks.

If you just want a quick way to get a sense for hot zones on your grill.  Buy a few cans of biscuits and bake them at the recommended temp on your grill.  You can flip them over after recommended cook time and see the char on the bottom to determine where your grill may be hotter than at other spots.

Howdy from Texas!  I would heed Lew's and Triplebbq's advice and do the biscuit or toast test and get a grate thermometer too.  Better to overcook bread than an expensive chunk of meat.  I got a Maverick thermometer off eBay with the probes that can be used in meat and liquid or on the grate for about $35.  I use one in the meat and one on the grate.  Although I'm starting to trust the built in P&S meat probe more and more because it's always the same as the Maverick.