Maintaining temp!!

Your temperature is falling because your steel is not heated up. When you raised the temperature of the air in your cookbox to 285, the steel wants to be the same temperature so it is stealing heat from the air and dropping the temperature reading you are seeing. Start your Lang with a chimney or two of coals with all the dampers open, the chimney wide open, and the cookbox and firebox doors wide open. Add about 8 logs all at once in a lincoln log arrangement, or whatever turns you on, as long as it burns well. When you get a good fire going in your fire box, close the firebox door and cookbox door to "open latch" position, (i.e. the latches closed but with the door resting against the outside of the launch in a slightly open position. Wait a while and then close your cookbox door all the way. Let it go like this and get your temperature 25-50 degrees above your target temp. Then put your cold food on. The temperature should come down to around where you want it. If you're shooting for 285, your cookbox should be too hot to touch for any period of time.

This is generalized and not specific to the ambient temp, lbs of meat you are putting on, but this method is the Gospel According to Ben for firing up a Lang and it works.

Some good advice in here already but I don't agree with adding expanded metal to your firebox grate. Doing so will likely cause an issue where not enough ash can fall away from the fire so you'll have problems with ash in the smoking chamber, as well as a lack of oxygen getting to the wood (ie covered in ash). The distance between the grate and the bottom of the firebox is very small, and hot coals from that distance will easily be enough to keep a fire going.

Start with all doors and vents open, dump a whole chimney of lump charcoal whitened over, and then add 3-4 splits stacked up nicely to allow for good airflow. Allow that all to burn down mostly to coals, and then add a couple of more splits and close your smoking chamber and firebox door. Leave your firebox vents and your exhaust vents open wide and watch your cooker for a bit. You should have some good, thin smoke flowing and it should heat up your smoking chamber within 30 minutes or so. Don't worry if you overshoot your target temp because that's what you want to do... when you open your door to add your food you'll lose probably 50° easily. From there you'll add a couple of small splits every half hour to hour depending on how your wood is burning. Different woods burn differently, for different lengths of time, and will give varying degrees of coals to re-establish your coal bed.

Keep an eye on the firebox and if you notice your coal bed isn't replenishing like it should just add a couple of more splits, or a chimney of whitened over lump charcoal, and you'll be good to go. It will take some practice but you'll learn when you need to add what size of wood, or how many splits, or even if you want to add charcoal. Fluctuation in a stickburner is normal and I generally shoot for 275° when I cook. I add splits when I hit 250-255, and then it goes back up to about 280-285, and it's just a small gradual swing between those temps. Sometimes temps will drop quickly and I know that means my coal bed is running low so I'll toss on a couple extra splits.

Good luck and that video someone posted by Jeremy Yoder (Mad Scientist BBQ) is definitely a very good place to start.

From the pictures, it looks like there are quite a few ashes underneath the fire grate. You might try raking/shoveling some of the excess ashes out into an ash pan so that the airflow underneath the fire is not impeded?

I'm a closet Pyro like many others here. I love playing with campfires and fireplaces. Little dancing lights, dancing, burning, dancing. Where was I? Having a good coal bed to get the logs started burning is our mantra. It took me several cooks on my stick burner to realize that logic is backwards when it comes to BBQ. Instead of keeping the coal bed going to light the next stick, we are feeding the coal bed to keep it heating the pit. We are not so much worried about the pretty flame, as we are replacing the coals as they burn through. It's easier to do that with smaller pieces, more often. I started using pieces of wood the size of a 12 oz beer can, a couple at a time, every 45 mins or so, and I was able to control my temps *and* maintain my fire for longer.

Think of it this way. Big fire at first to heat up all that metal and to build up our coal bed that will actually cook the food. Then we feed the coal bed several small pieces an hour to keep that coal bed for the duration of the cook. If you look at videos of the big places like Franklin's, he's not cooking with sticks. They are firing up sticks to build coals, and then shoveling those coals into his fireboxes. At least, that is the way my mind finally wrapped around it.

Oh, and did anyone mention getting another piece of expanded metal?

I would caution you guys on 1 thing. This Lang 48 has a fairly small firebox. 18x18. If you add more than 3-4 sticks on top of a chimney of charcoal the temp will be 450-500.

In my 36 (17x17 firebox) if I start up with 3 sticks and a small Weber Chimney, I'm at 325 on the top rack within 30 minutes.

The 48 isnt much larger.

Big N Hot said:

I don't see a deep enough coal bed. Buy a piece of expanded metal from Home Depot and cut it to fit the fire grate. Set it in with the patterns in the EM opposing each other. It'll hold a coal bed longer.

How long are you letting it warm up before recording temps? I've got a Lang 36 stretch and it takes an hour or more to get all that steel hot. I might read 300 at the factory thermometer but the far end is still only warm to the touch.

To me it looks like you are measuring temps too soon and without a decent coal bed. Your temp swings may be following your pattern of a burning fire and not a truly hot cooker.

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I disagree. I've got an 84, I think you're fine and need to make a few subtle adjustments and you'll be humming at whatever temp you like.

I run at 275. Sometimes it's closer to 300, other times closer to 250, but it's somewhere in that range.

Build a large fire to start, I give my 84 about 90 minutes to come up to temp, and likley come down a bit because it'll get too hot. THat'll set a nice bed of coals though. I supplement with charcoal periodically. Maybe a handfull every hour to hour and a half. Using smaller, skinnier splits will also help. They catch quicker, burtn hotter, and make it easier to mitigate swings in temp. However, you'll need to add more consistently. I'm typically adding 2-3 splits every 45 mins or so.

Good luck. You'll get comfortable with it.

Av8er said:

There’s no reason to just go out and buy a guru. I have had one on an egg and yes it was nice but I would rather learn to use the stick burner as it was meant to be used. It’s just a learning curve that I am asking for assistance on understanding.

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if you are coming from an egg with a guru - that can maintain temp better (far better) than an oven - your expectations of the stick burner might be unrealistic.

here is a graph of the temperature profile of an EXCELLENT stickburner(member sudsandswine- shirley 24x84 I think). something like this, ie +- 25 to 50 degrees is what you look for with a stick burner



ie with a stick burner you just gotta let it do its thing.

Av8er said:

My expectations as far as holding a temp are no where near what my old Guru would do. I will be happy if I can hold 25-50 degrees.

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That should be no problem... good coal bed, small splits, and you will be good to go.

Av8er said:

My expectations as far as holding a temp are no where near what my old Guru would do. I will be happy if I can hold 25-50 degrees.

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ok, gotcha. do note that the graph I posted is +- 25-50 degrees so it holds 50-100 degree range

maybe try adding two sticks everytime to keep that coal bed going - you may have to be happy with cooking at higher temps though.

ahh, the joys of stick burners.

Av8er said:

So the first time I was playing around with temps on the new to me Lang 48 didn’t go well. Temps were all over the place and she was billowing white smoke the whole time. It was suggested that I was using too large of sticks. Today I come home and split some hickory sticks I bought from Walmart this morning to give it a go again. I started a small chimney of kingsford and put in three sticks about coke can diameter and 12” long. After 45 minutes to an hour the temp was at about 285. It started dropping to about 270 and I added another split. It stayed there for about 15 minutes and started dropping again to about 250. I added another stick and it was just maintaining 250. Shortly after I added another stick trying to get the temp up to 275. It started blowing white smoke again and the temp came up a little. I finally just shut her down and come in for the night. What am I doing wrong? Did I not have a large enough coal bed? If you get below the temp you are shooting for, how do you get the temp back up without making it blow white smoke for a while? Each time I add a split I would leave the door open for about 3-5 minutes depending on split size. Any input on what I am doing wrong is appreciated. This is my first stick burner so I know there will be a learning curve.


Excuse the sideways pic!! I am not sure why mine are doing that nor do I know how to fix it.

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Here's the way I like. It worked on my 36 and still works on the 60D.
Everything wide open and put in a bunch of wood splits. I use a weed burner to start the splits but don't use charcoal or chimney.
Let the fire get going really good with hardly any smoke and close the cook chamber and fire box doors to the partial open latch position as shown in Ben's video.
Once there's a good bed of coals and you see the chimney is drafting well you can add another one or two splits and close both doors.
Note: Add the splits crossways (opposite of your pic) and use them to shove the coals toward the front of the firebox closest to the cook chamber. This preheats the splits so there will be minimal smoke when you add more and shove the hot splits toward the coal bed.
Add enough wood to overshoot your desired temp and start closing the firebox pinwheels until you get down to what you want. I start by closing to half open and then slowly bump closed if needed only after the temp drop has slowed.
Some like to use the chimney damper to control temps but I leave it open and use the firebox pinwheels only.
Add splits as necessary but always add crossways and never directly to the coals. Always use the new splits to shove the preheated splits (some may have started to burn) towards the coals.
There's no set time to add more splits. It could be 30 minutes or maybe 45 or even an hour. Watch the temp gage and add as soon as you notice even a small temp drop. You'll learn the approximate time for given conditions as you run it more.
I also don't leave the firebox door open any longer than it takes to add the new splits. Excess or bad smoke has not been a problem since I started using this technique.
Good luck and don't give up. Soon you'll think back and wonder why you thought it was so hard.
One last note: Adequate brain cell lubrication and good fellowship are a tremendous help.

As a followup to my post. This is where I started to use my current method which I freely admit I didn't invent. I tweaked it a bit but the sideways conveyor belt comment got me on the right path.
Read through the whole thread for some decent info on your Lang.
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/lang/finally-discovery-a-method-that-worked-t766.html

Av8er said:

I am willing to try anything as I have nothing but sticks to lose. I will give that thread a look once I get off work. Should I leave my grease drain open or closed?

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Keep it open.

Build a GOOD coal bed.

Av8er said:

I am willing to try anything as I have nothing but sticks to lose. I will give that thread a look once I get off work. Should I leave my grease drain open or closed?

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I leave it closed.
Open and it seems to draft cooler air up through the drain tube and causes a larger temp difference left to right. That's on my 60D so it may not have as much effect on the 48.
It's easy enough to try both ways just don't be in a rush to change things. These cookers take awhile to stabilize after something has been changed.
After the cook I add enough wood to get the temp above 300, open the drain, and spray the cook chamber with water to steam clean it. There are several youtube videos from Ben Lang on various subjects.
Don't be afraid to call them if you have a question. They've been very helpful in the past for me.

Av8er said:

I am willing to try anything as I have nothing but sticks to lose. I will give that thread a look once I get off work. Should I leave my grease drain open or closed?

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I haven't noticed a difference either way, but I leave a bucket under mine so I leave it open to allow it all to drain.

I leave the drain open but don't think it breathes much with the3/4 nipple in a jug.

Build a fire, sit around drinking beer for a few hours without looking at the thermo constantly. Just keep the fire going, my money is on you figuring it out before you run out of beer.
p.s.
make sure you have a couple logs of Jimmie dean or keilbasa around, once you figure it out you'll want to cook something.

I see no upside at all in ever closing the drain. But a huge downside in closing it and forgetting to open it. At my age, I tend to leave my zipper open more than I used to so, I just leave the drain valve open all the time. One less thing to remember to do ... :-D

ironmanerik said:

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I leave the drain open but don't think it breathes much with the3/4 nipple in a jug.

Build a fire, sit around drinking beer for a few hours without looking at the thermo constantly. Just keep the fire going, my money is on you figuring it out before you run out of beer.
p.s.
make sure you have a couple logs of Jimmie dean or keilbasa around, once you figure it out you'll want to cook something.

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I used to use a plastic bucket under my drain also and left the drain open. I ended up with a terrible mess when the hot grease melted the bottom of the bucket.
Now I use a galvanized bucket and periodically open the drain only if I'm cooking a bunch of butts or chicken. I close it again after the grease flow stops.
As I said, it may not matter much with a 36 or 48 but it made a difference on my 60.
To each his own. I don't think there's ever just one "right" way to run the cooker.
I'll also say that I'm always afraid of getting arrested if I fire it up without a cold beverage open and nearby. Burning wood and smoking meat just ain't right without it.