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December 4th, 2014, 1:25 pm
#1
* Abilene ** Abilene *
  • Joined: November 3rd, 2014, 9:41 am
  • Posts: 24
  • Location: Pell City, AL

I'm still trying to master my new Yoder Cheyenne smoker. I'm trying to maintain a temperature of 250 degrees. I dumped a chimney full of lump coal into the firebox and placed two splits of hickory on top of that. Once the logs started burning nice and good, I reached 250 degrees. I had a nice blue thin smoke coming out of the chimney...then I closed the firebox door and adjusted the damper half way. It seemed to put out the fire and the logs smoldered, the temp went up to 300 and I had billowing while smoke. I opened the firebox door, the logs seemed to reignite, I had, once again, a nice blue, thin smoke. What am I doing wrong? Thanx for your help.

December 5th, 2014, 9:56 pm
#2
* Wichita ** Wichita *
User avatar
  • Joined: August 16th, 2014, 10:02 pm
  • Posts: 246
  • Location: Iowa

Hey beachbum44,
I had similar issues. When I close the fire box door I do it very slow and leave the damper 100% open. After a few minutes I start to close the damper a little (just right before the fire looses air and the white smoke starts) maybe a 1/2 inch adjustment, I do this until I get the damper to about 25% open (it does take me about 5 to 10 minutes to get it where I want). If the temperature in the cooking chamber gets too high, I will prop open the main cooking chamber door with a small piece wood until the temp gets closer the desired cooking temp. I typically cook around 230 to 250 range. The white smoke I am told causes a bitter taste to the meats and the thought of ruining a brisket or ribs bothers me, so I watch it like a hawk until I get things where I want them. Good luck, I hope this helps.

I do preheat the wood also, I'll put a couple of splits in the fire box on the opposite side of the fire until they are needed, Then I also put a few pieces on top of the fire box to keep head of the game.

December 6th, 2014, 6:34 am
#3
* Abilene ** Abilene *
  • Joined: November 3rd, 2014, 9:41 am
  • Posts: 24
  • Location: Pell City, AL

Thanx, MikesYS. I'll give it a shot. I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.

January 12th, 2015, 1:34 pm
#4
* Abilene ** Abilene *
  • Joined: January 6th, 2015, 3:02 pm
  • Posts: 6

You may want to watch this video:




edited by moderator to remove link and embed video

January 14th, 2015, 11:04 pm
#5
* Abilene ** Abilene *
  • Joined: August 26th, 2014, 3:15 pm
  • Posts: 38
  • Location: Eastlake, Ohio

I had similar issues when I first started with my new Wichita. It turned out my hickory splits weren't seasoned enough. No problems since my wood stash had completely dried out.

Yoder Loaded Wichita, pile of wood, matches.

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