Yoder Smokers Community Forum

Hey all - just took delivery of my new loaded Wichita yesterday. I read the info on this forum regarding 'seasoning' the smoker
so I washed everything real good, rinsed, dried and fired it up last night to try to season it. The goal is to be able to cook on it this long 4th of July weekend.

I was only able to get the smoker up to about 250F. I have the two thermometers that came with the smoker...the one closest to the firebox was 250, the one near the stack was only 210F. I started with a chimney of charcoal, then started adding splits of hickory. I had the damper on the stack wide open and the firebox door wide open throughout. Reached my highest temps after almost exactly one hour. I'm guessing I just need a healthier pile of coals built up in the firebox to get this thing up to 275 or so, correct? Seems like common sense now that I'm typing it! LOL Any words of wisdom? I thought about maybe starting a larger fire right off the get go and even leaving the firebox lid open until it burns down into coals a bit. Any info would be appreciated.

Second follow up question (of much less importance).... what is the little welded loop under the cooking chamber for?? I noticed it when I was putting some stuff on the rack under the smoker last night.

THANKS!

-spauld

For your grease drain bucket?

Have you seen this: viewtopic.php?f=49&t=132

Manual: download/Manuals/Wood%20Manual/General%20Backyard%20Manual_v2_10.27.15.pdf

The loop is a tie down point for transporting the cooker.

OK, the video is helpful. I guess I'm doing pretty much what the author is doing except not using lump (regular bricket only so far), and I'm starting with half as much charcoal. I'll try the lump and may grab a second chimney at Lowes today. Thanks for the info, sure is fun to mess around with. In fact, it occurred to me last night that the smoker now provides me an opportunity to play around with a wood fire in the summer

Hey Yoder Herb, the pic in your avatar does't need a tie down, that thing needs a 30++ HP engine. Looks fast!

It is heavy, but rolls very easily. There are huge tie down rings under the cart.