# Smoke with Lang and BBQ Guru



## oz (Feb 10, 2012)

Last year I bought a new Lang 48 smoker.  For several years I had been using a vertical smoker and added a BBQ Guru DigiQ II a couple of years ago.  Worked like a charm holding temps steady, like an oven.  I like using wood instead of lump and do in my Lang.

I thought it would be interesting to use my Guru on my Lang.  I hadn't used the Guru since I got the Lang as it does so well on it's own so I decided it was time.  Although it hurt to cut it, I drilled a hole in the firebox for the Pit Bull blower.

  Saturday I cooked a 14lb brisket, 14lb turkey, and some ABTs.  I fined up the Lang at about 7 am and let the temps level off.  Dropped the brisket and turkey in at about 9 am.  I wanted the temps to hover around 230 and I now know the Guru is good about keeping the temps where you want them on a Lang.  One of the things I wanted to see was how stable the temps would be using wood only, no lump.  Before the Guru I had to feed the fire every half hour, but with the Guru, I only had to load wood about every hour.  Again, the temps were very stable.  One nice feature of the Guru is that when the door is opened to tend to the meat, it doesn't trigger the blower to run and overcompensate of the drop in temps.  Very cool tool.

  The turkey hit 165 at about 2 so it came off and I monitored the brisket.  I let it come up to 200 before taking it off at about 6.  The brisket was very tender.  The only problem is the whole brisket is gone, oh well.

  I was very pleased with the performance of the Guru on my Lang.  Temps were kept stable throughout the entire cook  I kept one of the vents closed and the other only slightly open.  When adding wood, the temps never got much above 240 and only for a short time.  I did have to watch as the fire would die out if I didn't keep it fed, no surprise there.  I experimented with this though to see how long the temps would be stable before more wood was needed, which was about an hour, as I said.  I got a bit more smoke than I wanted when stoking the fire, but it did seem to throttle back to a nice blue smoke after a while and the smoke didn't seem to taint the meat at all.  I was very pleased with the result of this smoke.

  Hope this helps someone thinking about using the Guru with a stickburner.








Brisket and turkey ready to go







And away we go!







Location of the blower on the firebox.







No visible smoke- Perfect!







YUM







The best brisket yet!







My smokin buddy Cam.


----------



## roller (Feb 11, 2012)

Looks like your set for life with that Lang..The food sure looks great...Nice job..


----------



## SmokinAl (Feb 11, 2012)

Your BBQ looks delicious, but I'm wondering why you would leave an intake vent partially open when your running the Guru. It would seem to defeat the purpose of having the Guru hooked up.


----------



## alblancher (Feb 11, 2012)

I have the same question as the better looking Al.   But you have me thinking very seriously now about doing the same thing.  I love my little 36 but I am sure it can alway be improved.


----------



## oz (Feb 11, 2012)

Thanks guys.  I only had the vent open about 1/2 inch.  That seemed to let the Guru keep the temps stable.  Maybe I'll shut them completely on my next cook and see what happens.  The food was great but the game I was cooking for didn't turn out so great (for us at least).  Giants slammed us again!  Oz


----------



## hoity toit (Feb 11, 2012)

I really like your pit. Just the right size and easy to move.


----------



## mdboatbum (Feb 11, 2012)

Same question as the 2 Als. Did you happen to notice how often the blower kicked on? I'm wondering if your wood usage would go down even more if all the vents were closed, or if it would affect your quality of smoke. By the way, my wife loved the pic of the Lab.


----------



## oz (Feb 11, 2012)

The blower kicked on about every 15 sec for maybe 5 sec.  Question:  Would the fire tend to smoke more with more or less oxygen?  I thought the more air I could get to the wood, maintaining the correct temps of course, the less smoke.  Maybe I have that backward.  I always found that with my vertical smoker the Guru kept a spot on temp and I left one of the vents open a bit and no smoke.  What do you guys think?  Thanks, Oz


----------



## oz (Feb 11, 2012)

Oh, and thanks for the comment on the Lab.  He is a handful (at 4mo) but really a good buddy.


----------



## SmokinAl (Feb 12, 2012)

Oz said:


> The blower kicked on about every 15 sec for maybe 5 sec.  Question:  Would the fire tend to smoke more with more or less oxygen?  I thought the more air I could get to the wood, maintaining the correct temps of course, the less smoke.  Maybe I have that backward.  I always found that with my vertical smoker the Guru kept a spot on temp and I left one of the vents open a bit and no smoke.  What do you guys think?  Thanks, Oz




I would certainly try it with the vents shut. The Guru is made to supply all the oxygen needed to keep the fire going & keep the temps stable. I don't see how it can work properly with a second source of air on the intake side. I went so far as to tape all the vents shut on my WSM so there is no air getting in at all, unless it's through the Guru.


----------



## oz (Feb 12, 2012)

Thanks Al.  Next smoke I will seal it up and see what happens.  That's why I like this site.  So many experts with such good advice.  You never stop learning!  Oz


----------



## smoke-n-fire (Feb 21, 2012)

i'm wanting to run a guru with a 60, thanks for the info.


----------



## icemanrrc (May 7, 2012)

I would NEVER drill a hole in my Lang. I made a BBQ Guru adapter out of a stainless steel bowl that perfectly fits over one of the pinwheel dampers and used a long bolt, fender washer and wingnut to secure it to the firebox. It just costs less than $10 for everything.

But after getting used to the Lang, you really don't need a Guru. It holds temps pretty easily and steadily. For me, I just throw a stick on every 40 to 45 minutes and the temp never moves.


----------



## kevinjax (Apr 18, 2014)

This is what I have: Do I have enough cfm fan power?  I have a Lang prototype (250 gallon offset 100% Stick burner)

The DigiQ DX2
Pit Viper 10cfm Fan
Ceramic Style Adapter - Fits Big Green Egg (M, L and XL), Cypress Grill, DragonFire Grill, Kamado Joe, Primo Grills (all models).


----------



## oz (Apr 19, 2014)

Kevin,
  I use a 25 CFM pit viper that works really well.  You might try your 10 cfm and see how it works.  Also, you may need another adapter as the green egg is curved, I think.  Hope that helps. Oz


----------

