Yoder Smokers Community Forum

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.

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.

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

You may want to watch this video:




edited by moderator to remove link and embed video

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.