Lang Owners

[chipotleq]

Thanks for the reply. It lives again :). What temps are hard to get? I placed my order with Sarah and Ben a few weeks back for the hybrid 36 patio. I mostly see myself running temps for hot and fast 250-275 for ribs, brisket, and shoulder. i will be running Higher temps for steaks, chicken and everything else including veggies on the smoker side more like 325-350. I will also be building a bed of coals from oak and use hickory for adding a stick or two there after. I have read that the bed of coals needs to be broken down from lump coals to small embers before you throw in a peace or two of wood the diameter of a cola can. How big are your peaces?

The chargriller is what most interest me since I bought in to the hybrid concept, I am very curious to hear everyone else experience with it. Do you cook on both levels?

And what do you use, lump charcoal or the K brand briquette and how much for a cook. Does it maintain the burn longer since it is also 1/4" steel than the weber 22.5 kettle?

How easy is the ash clean up and what method of air regulation does it have, if any? So many questions, thanks!

 

[lgreenberg]

let's see...so many questions.

my fire, which is all wood, generaly wants to stay at 200-220 or 300-350.  Its all me :)  I don't use coal or lump in the firebox. My wood is about 2x as wide as a coke can and 3x as long.  I've had trouble breaking it down much smaller. my best pieces are coke can width, but longere

it takes a lot more coals to cook on the grill side than the weber did.  a lot of air to heat, but then it stays hot.  My chimney is a smaller one, I should probably get a larger one. I have only used the top of the grill as "warm" area, as it doesn't really get hot enough to cook with just one chimney (1/4 of the bed).  Its pretty easy to clean, you do need a bucked and a hand broom. I use Kingsford.

no real method of air flow regulation on the girll.

 

[chipotleq]

How do you cut your logs? When I want to cut some logs to a desired size, I just use a 7" heavy knife and baton the wood. A few hits on a 7"in diameter log splits easily. Then I use my sawzall to cut to desired length.

Is there any affect, positive or negative from firing the smoker and grill simultaneously? More interested in how the heat from the grill side will affect the temperatures in the smoker chamber.

 

[lgreenberg]

i use an axe, poorly.  

the wood is a bit too big for my cheap sawsall or circular saw. I'm not handy, just the basics for home repairs.

No real temp issues from the grill to thesmoker.  I tend to use the side closest to the smoke chamber as a cool zone.

the bigger issue is the  fire box creating a hot zone for the right side of the smoker chamber.

 

[blowfishbbq]

One of the best axes I have found is the fiskars brand splitters. As long as wood is dry this axe is smooth as butter.

 

[ribwizzard]

I bought the Fiskars splitting Axe (biggest they had) and it split red oak like butter, I could not believe how well it did. But when I tried it on Live oak, it just bounced off of it. Some wood you just have to have a splitter.

One option I've done in the past...electric chain saws are cheap these days, and easy to use. If you cut the logs into discs that are only 4" long, they are easier to bust in half. Sometimes they even split themselves when allowed to season long enough.

 

[radioguy]

A suggestion for reducing shipping costs.  Has anyone tried uship dot com?  It is a site where you post what is to be shipped, origination and destination addresses and haulers bid on your shipment.   I had a cub cadet 54" snow plow to sell, posted it on Craigs

figuring I might get rid of it locally.  I was contacted by a guy in Massachusetts (I'm in Ohio)  and he arranged (paid for too) all the arrangements.   All I had to do was pack it up on a pallet (charged him $20)  and arrange for pick up.  This was a 54" x 36" package, weighing about 300#.  Door to door for $79.  This might be worth looking into if shipping costs are an issue.  

RG

 

[pig-a-liscious]

Hi everyone, my name is Harv Whitney and I really enjoyed all the posts and comments that all of you have made concerning Lang Smokers. I currently have a Meadowcreek offset stick burner and I have enjoyed a lot of what I have smoked but there are a lot of hot spots to be careful of. That said, I am looking at wanting to take a step up and get a new better quality smoker that is also a little larger than my 36. I have been trying to do mu due diligence here in looking at different smokers and I watched this years Kingsford Pittmasters competition on TV and paid a lot of attention to who was cooking with what. Out of the three finalists for the $50K year end competition prize I noticed that Leanne Oxley from Sugars BBQ is an avid Land smoker user. She won the Baby Back Ribs portion of the contest and the winner won a Lang.

Now, having said all of that I have had a several people tell me about how good the Cadillac Rotisserie wood smoker is and I looked at and read all of the 82 testimonials on their website and they were outstanding. Several Cadillac owners have restaurants and one is in Blairsville, GA called Jim's Smokin Que. Several owners remarked about two things of importance to me........easy to keep the temperature right on the nose and secondly they don't have to use near the amount of wood that they used on other smokers and saved money. The quality of the product build was also raved about. The bottom line is that I was quite impressed to say the least.

Now my question to the group is, does anyone have any experience with or know someone that has a Cadillac smoker and either likes or dislikes it and why. The Cadillac Rotisserie Smoker is heavy in weight like a Lang but is also more expensive. Price certainly comes into play here but I am willing to spend a bit more for a smoker that is easy to use, keeps the temps without adding a lot of wood to cook low and slow and Kick's Butt.

I would greatly appreciate anybody's comments, thoughts, suggestions very much.

 

[buttburner]

 
Hi everyone, my name is Harv Whitney and I really enjoyed all the posts and comments that all of you have made concerning Lang Smokers. I currently have a Meadowcreek offset stick burner and I have enjoyed a lot of what I have smoked but there are a lot of hot spots to be careful of. That said, I am looking at wanting to take a step up and get a new better quality smoker that is also a little larger than my 36. I have been trying to do mu due diligence here in looking at different smokers and I watched this years Kingsford Pittmasters competition on TV and paid a lot of attention to who was cooking with what. Out of the three finalists for the $50K year end competition prize I noticed that Leanne Oxley from Sugars BBQ is an avid Land smoker user. She won the Baby Back Ribs portion of the contest and the winner won a Lang.

Now, having said all of that I have had a several people tell me about how good the Cadillac Rotisserie wood smoker is and I looked at and read all of the 82 testimonials on their website and they were outstanding. Several Cadillac owners have restaurants and one is in Blairsville, GA called Jim's Smokin Que. Several owners remarked about two things of importance to me........easy to keep the temperature right on the nose and secondly they don't have to use near the amount of wood that they used on other smokers and saved money. The quality of the product build was also raved about. The bottom line is that I was quite impressed to say the least.

Now my question to the group is, does anyone have any experience with or know someone that has a Cadillac smoker and either likes or dislikes it and why. The Cadillac Rotisserie Smoker is heavy in weight like a Lang but is also more expensive. Price certainly comes into play here but I am willing to spend a bit more for a smoker that is easy to use, keeps the temps without adding a lot of wood to cook low and slow and Kick's Butt.

I would greatly appreciate anybody's comments, thoughts, suggestions very much.

I dont know anything about them

But I think you would get more responses starting a new thread on this question since this thread is about Langs.

 

[lgreenberg]

SOLD!... can't get a fiskars locally, but I ordered one today. Thanks!

 

[glocksrock]

I got the big Fiskars axe on amazon a little while back and it works really well, plus with a lifetime warranty you can't go wrong.

 

[pig-a-liscious]

Thanks ButtBurner.

I had the opportunity this past weekend to help a Church BBQ team cook 86 butts on a Lang 108 and I was blown away with how easy it was to use.

We cooked the butts for 12 hours, low and slow at around 230 degrees. No problems keeping the temperature consistent throughout the cooking process.

We cooked with all oak wood and the butts were moist and the flavor was unbelievable. We served about 800 people +.

The net net of it is...... I have decided to purchase a Lang smoker and am looking at the 48" patio model.

 

[mfalto]

Icemanrrc    Im ordering a lang patio 36.  Sounds like you don't think its worth it to buy a guru?????   Did you have Lang drill the hole in your firebox when you ordered your smoker?

 

[chipotleq]

Just got my 36 hybrid patio today and finished seasoning the pit. My first impression when I saw was the size. It looked smaller than in the pics but then I got the feeling it will serve me well. Maybe later if I need more i will get a 60 on a trailer. It is awesome, cant wait to make a turkey test run this weekend. Any recipes anyone? have seen some recipes here with pics, but I dont like how the turkey is smoked that it develops a black crusty skin. I am looking for a golden brown crackling skin on my turkey.

Back on the seasoning experience, I noticed that it takes about 4 splits to get the thing smoking hot within an hour, I am talking about 350-400 degrees. Then I threw in an unseasoned peace of hickory and throttled back on the smoke stack and firebox to let the white smoke cure for as long as it did. Used canola oil. Once the firebox had nothing but a bed of hot coals, I scooped them up with a shovel and threw in the chargrill side to do same procedure. Also used an unseasoned peace of hickory on that side to cure with white smoke. It got really hot, the temp gauge was almost reading close to 500 degrees with little coals and one peace of hickory. It held the temp nicely and I see myself cooking many steaks and chicken on the chargriller.

I also figured out how to nicely maintain 200-225 temp on the smoker with out choking too much white smoke off the sticks; Once the pit was at 330 with a bed of coals from 5 splits of wood, i scooped almost all the coals and left only a few to start one peace of pecan. With that one peace of pecan and all throttles fully open i was able to maintain 225 nicely for about an hour with the peace of wood flaming nicely and nothing but clear heat from the stack. This will be my method of low n slow for the weekend ribs trials. hopefully i can maintain that temp on only one burning split. When I do hot n fast i do three or four splits. Will try to post some pics next week.

 

[blowfishbbq]

I love the fiskars lifetime warranty. I would say this axe out performs any when wood is properly seasoned. I don't recommend trying to split green wood. Especially the harder varieties like cherry and oak. Also check out you tube there are some pretty sweet videos of guys splitting a whole cord in minutes.

 

[lgreenberg]

welcome to the club ChipotleQ.  I love mine, but as city boy, I try not to shovel too many coals. :)

I haven't had a smoke since my new fiskar ax showed up, but I have it a whirl and damn, its good. The weighting really helps.

This weekend its pulled pork time. :

 

[chipotleq]

My review of the lang hybrid 36 http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/153338/my-lang-hybrid-36-patio-thanksgiving-review

 

[dba1954]

I just got a lang 36" patio about 1 1/2 months ago ... I also have a Cookshack. While the CS is easier (set and forget) the final product does not compare with the Lang. I also picked up an electric BOSS 5 ton log splitter and split my wood small, less then or equal to a beer can diameter. If I'm doing low and slow (225-250) I chop them in half on a miter saw and use a charcoal basket ( a Lang option), if not leave them at 16-17". The Lang holds temperature real good, even at 10-15f. I did a brisket the other day using Myron Mixon's hot and fat method (ie 350f) and it was the best brisket I've every cooked. To anyone reading this ... buy a Lang, you will not be disapointed. ... btw the method to clean is to run a garden hose on it while still hot... works great. In the winter with sub freezing temps I can't do that so I've been putting everything in a tin foil pan ... works great and the taste doesn't seem to suffer...... and no cleanup

 

[ribwizzard]

In the foil pan when doing pork butts, add a lil bit of maple syrup ,

 

[pig-a-liscious]

Have you received a response and had a conversation with Ben Lang as yet?