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  • Yoder ash removal mod

    Going on 1 year with my YS 640, I can say I really love it. Easy to cook with, convenient, fast and the results have surpassed what I thought they would be. I Love it, except for one BIG pain it the A$$ - ash clean out. Problem is that the plate is big, fits fairly tight and it gets grubby over time and you get slimed with grease, smoke residue, etc. whenever you have to remove the plate, even with it foiled. So I thought there has to be a better way. Being the tweaker that I am, heres what I cam up with;

    A hinged heat plate.

    This allows me to open the business half of the smoker & vacuum out the ashes much easier and not have to remove the heat plate each time. I have access to a glass beader, which is why all the parts look silver (no paint). And I had a buddy shear the plate in the metal fab shop at work to make a clean cut. Then I welded on some small hinges and a washer to open it easier.




    I made a plate support post that bolts onto the center of the baffle slide assembly. This fits right behind the split and I welded a small tab on the bottom of the plate to line it up when its in place.


    Here it is bolted onto the baffle assembly. While i was at it, I welded a fender washer onto the fire pot grate to make removing it a one handed operation.


    Heres the plate in place opened up for access to the fire pot. With the plate opened up, it comes out real easy too, an added bonus. The plate is at the same incline angle as it was b4, so grease draining shouldn't be an issue.


    I had to do a little grinding that I wasnt expecting. I had to take about 1/4" off the tab that holds the thermo couple and grind off the corner to clear the taper in the cabinet in the back. In hind sight, if I had made the cut at 10 inches, it may have cleared the taper in the rear of the cabinet and still had plenty of room to get in and vacuum out the ashes. I made it 11" long, which was the distance from the baffle assy to the side of the cabinet.


    THis pic shows the opening in relation to one gril on the smoker


    All foiled up and ready to go. I have to tape the edge to open it w/o removing the foil or the edge sticks up.


    Im hoping my idea will make it easier to clean out and I'll use it much more often during the week after work. I can open it with the foil on it and not have to put new foil in it each time I clean it out.
    This smoker is great, and I think I found a workable way to address the only draw back I've found with it.
    Thanks for looking
    Mike
    Proud to be I.B.E.W.

    PCa Sucks - But I WILL, No DID beat this!!

    Yoder YS640
    POS ChinaMasterbuilt XL (demoted to cold smoking duty)
    Bull Big Bahanga gas grill


    Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

  • #2
    That's pretty neat. I have been thinking of getting a Yoder and like finding these tips.

    Sent from my SGH-T769 using Tapatalk 2

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    • #3
      How cool...Way to find a solve for every problem...

      Me stick burner is so much less complicated
      Craig
      sigpic

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      • #4
        Nice mod, good thinking and fine craftsmanship!
        I'm gonna be watching this thread and your cooks to hear more thoughts on this mod after a few months of cooks... love the thinking outside of the box!
        --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
        www.OwensBBQ.com

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        • #5
          Originally posted by MossyMO View Post
          Nice mod, good thinking and fine craftsmanship!
          I'm gonna be watching this thread and your cooks to hear more thoughts on this mod after a few months of cooks... love the thinking outside of the box!
          Thanks for the compliments. I thought about how to address this for a while now, and this was the easiest way I could think of. Plus, its easy to go back to "stock" with a new heat plate if needed. I thought about making a chute off the bottom of the fire box to dump out the ashes, but too many ashes stay on top of the grate, so that wouldnt be as effective as it needs to be. I have an infra red heat gun so Im thinking that I'll use it to see if the split, hinge area or the cut out corner have any differential on the heat generated through the plate. BUt the split is very tight when its closed, so I think the difference will be minimal if any at all.

          I'll follow up soon. No plans to smoke this weekend, the Robby Gordon Super Trucks are in town, so Sat nite will find my A$$ plopped down in Cardinals Stadium for some serious off road mayhem.
          Mike
          Proud to be I.B.E.W.

          PCa Sucks - But I WILL, No DID beat this!!

          Yoder YS640
          POS ChinaMasterbuilt XL (demoted to cold smoking duty)
          Bull Big Bahanga gas grill


          Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

          Comment


          • #6
            It also looks like you could flip open for direct searing of meat. Nicely done.

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            • #7
              that looks great..... so when are you going to come out and do mine???
              Brian

              Certified Sausage & Pepper Head
              Yoder YS640
              Weber Genesis
              Weber 18.5" Kettle
              Weber Performer
              Misfit # 1899

              sigpic

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              • #8
                Very nice design/mod to an awesome pellet muncher. Love my Yoder and your mod is a great idea... definitely something to keep in mind. The only mod that I have done (and not sure if you would call it an actual mod) is to take some high temp silcone and run a bead around the lid to ensure proper airflow and prevent smoke from billowing out the side of the lid. I used the permatex copper silicone which is rated to 700 degrees and it works very well (you can get it at your auto parts store). One thing to note about the YS640 is the airflow is critical to generating proper thin blue smoke and this helped mine achieve it. I got tired of cleaning the thermal blanket where the smoked leaked out... a simple solution to a problem.
                Smokem if you got em

                Yoder YS640
                Weber EP-310 Gasser Grill
                A-Maz-N-Pellet-Smoker (AMZNPS)
                A-Maz-N-Tube-Smoker (AMZNTS)
                Frogmats
                Maverick ET 732
                Super Fast Purple Thermopen


                Deano

                "May the thin blue smoke be with you"

                sigpic

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                • #9
                  Thanks Y'all. I'll fire it up this weekend and do a heat gun test for shits & giggles, but I dont anticipate any significant temp differential around the seam on the heat plate.

                  Originally posted by dsgarner06 View Post
                  The only mod that I have done (and not sure if you would call it an actual mod) is to take some high temp silcone and run a bead around the lid to ensure proper airflow and prevent smoke from billowing out the side of the lid. I used the permatex copper silicone which is rated to 700 degrees and it works very well (you can get it at your auto parts store). One thing to note about the YS640 is the airflow is critical to generating proper thin blue smoke and this helped mine achieve it. I got tired of cleaning the thermal blanket where the smoked leaked out... a simple solution to a problem.
                  I used some adhesive backed felt strip that I had left over from modifying my old ChinaMasterbuilt to seal the lid. It worked great too. Not much need for a thermal blanket here , but it did keep smoke from leaking out around the lid.
                  Mike
                  Proud to be I.B.E.W.

                  PCa Sucks - But I WILL, No DID beat this!!

                  Yoder YS640
                  POS ChinaMasterbuilt XL (demoted to cold smoking duty)
                  Bull Big Bahanga gas grill


                  Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Yeah not much need for thermal blankets in the land of Sheriff Joe and tent city
                    Smokem if you got em

                    Yoder YS640
                    Weber EP-310 Gasser Grill
                    A-Maz-N-Pellet-Smoker (AMZNPS)
                    A-Maz-N-Tube-Smoker (AMZNTS)
                    Frogmats
                    Maverick ET 732
                    Super Fast Purple Thermopen


                    Deano

                    "May the thin blue smoke be with you"

                    sigpic

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Neat Mod

                      Newb here and a ys640 owner in waiting, Thats a great mod, send it to yoder

                      without even having touched or seen in person, I wonder if a "slider" would work in that same area for when you want to direct fire cook..
                      John
                      Yoder YS 640 (USA)
                      Traeger Texas(USA)
                      Lumber Jack & Cookin Pellets
                      ET732
                      www.smokinwoodpellets.com
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                      • #12
                        Maybe its just me, but I spritz my ribs and pork shoulders. When i goto clean out my yoder, there isnt really much dust, but more of the a wet sawdusty like material. Im guessing from the ash and my spritzing coming together. Does anyone else have this problem too? I found the easiest way to clean it is to use a plastic puddy scrapper and then go back and clean up with some paper towels.

                        -Chris

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Pellet Burner View Post
                          Newb here and a ys640 owner in waiting, Thats a great mod, send it to yoder

                          without even having touched or seen in person, I wonder if a "slider" would work in that same area for when you want to direct fire cook..
                          Thanks P.B. The T bracket I made bolts onto the end plate of the slider mount, so it doesnt interfere with the slide baffle. I should probably send the link to this post to Yoder, so they might consider making the clean up process a little easier from the get go. Thats the only issue I have with this great smoker.

                          Originally posted by cwaters425 View Post
                          Maybe its just me, but I spritz my ribs and pork shoulders. When i goto clean out my yoder, there isnt really much dust, but more of the a wet sawdusty like material. Im guessing from the ash and my spritzing coming together. Does anyone else have this problem too? I found the easiest way to clean it is to use a plastic puddy scrapper and then go back and clean up with some paper towels.

                          -Chris
                          I havent seem very much gunk on the bottom of mine, just ash. The foil on the heat plate gets pretty skanky though. The mods are working good, with no noticeable temp differential that wasn't there already. I cleaned it up today from a 15 hr smoke a few weeks ago - Brisket & a pork butt along with some yard bird. THe fire pot was filled over the top with ash and the foil on the heat plate was one big, caked up mess. It took me about 5 minutes or less to get it cleaned out, new foil on the plate and ready for today's Tri Tip smoke.

                          So far, Im quite happy with the mods. Its made a PITA job much quicker & EASIER.
                          Mike
                          Proud to be I.B.E.W.

                          PCa Sucks - But I WILL, No DID beat this!!

                          Yoder YS640
                          POS ChinaMasterbuilt XL (demoted to cold smoking duty)
                          Bull Big Bahanga gas grill


                          Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Nice mod but I'd be worried that I just created 2 hot spots. You've now broken the linear flow of heat thru the plate, creating a really hot plate, with a discontinuous bond to the larger plate. Basically the goal of the long plate is to convert/transfer the heat over the fire box along the plate to even the heat overall in the chamber. I'd need to see some heat readings at the grate level along the length of the plate before I did this mod to my YS640, but to each his own. It is a good idea, if the heat transfers along the plate evenly
                            Hook

                            "Sticks and stones may break my bones....but hollow points expand on impact"
                            Yoder 640 Comp Pellet
                            Yoder 1500 Comp Pellet
                            Yoder Kingman Comp Stickburner
                            (1) 85 lbs. German Shorthair Pointer

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Hookecho View Post
                              Nice mod but I'd be worried that I just created 2 hot spots. You've now broken the linear flow of heat thru the plate, creating a really hot plate, with a discontinuous bond to the larger plate. Basically the goal of the long plate is to convert/transfer the heat over the fire box along the plate to even the heat overall in the chamber. I'd need to see some heat readings at the grate level along the length of the plate before I did this mod to my YS640, but to each his own. It is a good idea, if the heat transfers along the plate evenly
                              I thought about that when I was designing the mod. I've got an infra red heat gun and have been meaning to test that issue, but havent got around to it yet. I did take care to keep the joint tight and not leave any gap when closed. I slotted the center rod to adjust the height to ensure the joint is tight when its closed too. And between the fan creating air circulation and foil on top of the plate, I cant imagine a significant difference in grill temp in the joint area.

                              But this theory is worth confirming with a more scientific method than only smoking meat. And while it has made clean up day & night easier, I dont want to jeopardize the uniformity of the cooking temp with a big hot or cold spot in the middle of the grill.
                              Mike
                              Proud to be I.B.E.W.

                              PCa Sucks - But I WILL, No DID beat this!!

                              Yoder YS640
                              POS ChinaMasterbuilt XL (demoted to cold smoking duty)
                              Bull Big Bahanga gas grill


                              Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

                              Comment

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