Wanted...advice on a smoker or rotisserie trailer

I am very happy with my Lang 48 (although I wish I had plunked down a little extra for a 60.)

I would go with the offset. The round and round is limited to what you can cook.

FromthePitBBQ said:

What make you like it? What are it's strong point?

Thanks!!

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Well, my first smoker was a CharGriller with the extra side firebox. It was a good learning experience and I had a lot of fun, but it was extremely difficult to regulate the temperature.

With the Lang, I start my fire about an hour before I want to cook. It gets up to about 300/350, then I adjust the dampers to drop it to around 250. It will hold a temp with little maintenance. I guess I throw a split in every 45 minutes or so.

I don't have much to compare it to, but it seems to be very solidly built.

The only real complaint I have is that there is no easy way to clean the firebox. You can't rake the ash out, you have to reach in and scoop it out.

I would go with the Lang…

My Lang 60 has done up to 200 pounds of meat at the Pretty Good BBQ with very little problem. I’ve done whole pigs up to 100 pounds each, and it’s the only cooker that we bring to the comps.

For me, I like the patio version. She sits right next to my kitchen door so that when I cook over night I just have to step outside and feed her. I have gotten used to keeping a moving blanket on her especially during the winter to get some extra sleep (about 1.5 to 2 hours between feedings).

She’s a breeze to clean and just goes forever.

I do not have a lang, but i have my own personally build reverse flow and I have to say, after using it in some contests next to a friend with a rotisserie, there are pluses and minuses to both, but i am happy with my choice. A reverse flow is designed to have even heat distribution across it's entire surface, eliminating the need for moving the food a whole lot, if at all. The rotisserie has hot spots, but overcomes them by averaging out where the food sits through moving it constantly. Reverse flow uses more fuel due to the mass of heated area and long exhaust flow path compared to the rotisseries, and subsequently requires a lot of attention to feeding the fuel to it. but reverse flow does not have the complication of requiring power, the limited space on each individual rack that the rotisseries have and the ever present danger of a rotisserie rack getting hung up and flipping your competition shoulders and ribs into the bottom of the smoker (I've seen it happen, not pretty)! I wouldn't change my reverse flow and my friend wouldn't trade his rotisserie for any other kind either.. Both are fine choices, just comes down to personal preference.

I think there may be a lot more cleaning to do with a rotisserie unit too.

My vote is Lang 60 D or the 84D with the chargrill..... and if its the 60 get the bigger chargrill added on .............. you will not be sorry ......

FromthePitBBQ said:

either one will be on a trailer and used for mostly for business purposes and maybe some comps.

Please give your thoughts....I hope to get many points of view on this topic!!!

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If your are planning to use the cooker from business purposes you should check to see if you Health Department and see if they have specs. on the type of cooker that they will approve.

When cater events we rarely cook on site. Most of our customers would rather have the food delivered already cooked and basically ready to serve. Here is the catch. The customers love to have the cooker smoking away while the guest arrive. So we bring the Lang 84D to the site. Fire it up and let it smoke away. The guest love the smell of the smoke and the look of the cooker. In the mean time, the food is cooked and in trays warming and waiting to be served. This reduces the mess and the need to tend a cooker on a customers site.

Most of the time the food is cooked in my Spicewine so I don't have to tend the fire every hour. The Spicewine hold a ton of food and requires little work and keeps rock solid temp in all kinds of weather.
I have the best of both worlds. The efficiency of a insulated cooker and the show that goes along with a stick burner.

If your going to cook a lot of meat often. You should really have a good plan and think about how much time you have and how you will use it.

Sorry for the long post but that's what works for us at the BBQ MAFIA.