Smoker Preferences for Catering

[Spydermike72]

Tony, I might disagree with you on a few points. I own a Lang for catering and my firebox is not rusty and I do not have a blazing fire going in it either to keep it going. It is all in fire managment and upkeep. If you treat your Lang like a cast iron skillet it will be beautiful for years to come (I have an older model, so I cant speak on the newer model). While we will be using the 84 for comps this year, I agree, that is a bit of overkill for a comp. I myself prefer a Backwoods for Comps, but that is my preference.

As for catering, I guess it is all up to the pitmaster and what they are comfortable with. We have to add a log about every 1-1.5 hours or so, that is not too much for me....

[BubbaBones]

Originally Posted by tony76248

I talked to the ABS folks and they stated that I can do an all night cook on about 5 bags of charcoal with a few sticks of wood mixed in. Does that sound about right?

I am looking at an ABS myself when I start up and 5 bags seems to be a bit on a overnight cook. Currently I am a pellet head and have limited experience with charcoal cookers so I may be way off but read a post of a guy using 40 pounds of coal in a Spicewine and it lasted 50 hours at 225.

[Dr_KY]

Originally Posted by txschutte

I have been cooking on the large reverse flow for a while. Even some on the drum for catering/vending.

What would you do in my situation?

In all fairness I never owned a cabinet smoker or an offset but I am very happy with 250 Meat Beast I built. It works much like the UDS as you don't need to tend to it very often. I can ramp up the heat and use it as a grill plus it has a hot holding chamber that also triples as firebox or more of an offset if you will.

Money is a huge factor for us at the moment and this build has been the best thing I could have created to do catering. Now to get some seriously deep smoke you would have to use more smoke wood but again over here on the island smoke/BBQ is relatively new so it takes less to get the job done.


Put on a show/ grab attenion? Yup
Stevenson's rocket anyone?






We have had three people working out of it at one time on ocassions with great sucess...

[Sawdustguy]

Originally Posted by FlCracker

I use a spicwine.A fiend of mine has a large spicewine and converted it to gas

That is pure and unadulterated blasphemy.

[tony76248]

Originally Posted by BubbaBones

I am looking at an ABS myself when I start up and 5 bags seems to be a bit on a overnight cook. Currently I am a pellet head and have limited experience with charcoal cookers so I may be way off but read a post of a guy using 40 pounds of coal in a Spicewine and it lasted 50 hours at 225.

You have to remember that the Spicewine is insulated and the ABS isn't. Like anything you need to see it for yourself to believe it on the 50 hour cook. I cook with a guy that has a spicewice and I will ask him all bs aside what he can expect as far as cooktimes go.

[tony76248]

Originally Posted by Spydermike72

Tony, I might disagree with you on a few points. I own a Lang for catering and my firebox is not rusty and I do not have a blazing fire going in it either to keep it going. It is all in fire managment and upkeep. If you treat your Lang like a cast iron skillet it will be beautiful for years to come (I have an older model, so I cant speak on the newer model). While we will be using the 84 for comps this year, I agree, that is a bit of overkill for a comp. I myself prefer a Backwoods for Comps, but that is my preference.

As for catering, I guess it is all up to the pitmaster and what they are comfortable with. We have to add a log about every 1-1.5 hours or so, that is not too much for me....

As I said, we are all passionate about our smokers, I was just sharing what I know, the Lang is a bargain reverse flow offset smoker. I can think of better but definitely not cheaper offset smokers that I would prefer to use in the catering business. How much wood do you use for one competition?

I never said they wouldn't work in the catering business. But ask yourself, what offset smoker would you rather have if cost was not an option (staying under $8k-$10k) and the Lang probably would not be at the top of your list, possibly not even on the first page. Tell you what, give me your top 10 offset smoker list.

The pitmaster is definitely part of the equation, I just know that if I don't have to dicker with the pit I can put my full concentration into the customer service. That is the part of the job that brings in the additional jobs.

[big brother smoke]

Originally Posted by Spydermike72

Tony, I might disagree with you on a few points. I own a Lang for catering and my firebox is not rusty and I do not have a blazing fire going in it either to keep it going. It is all in fire managment and upkeep. If you treat your Lang like a cast iron skillet it will be beautiful for years to come (I have an older model, so I cant speak on the newer model). While we will be using the 84 for comps this year, I agree, that is a bit of overkill for a comp. I myself prefer a Backwoods for Comps, but that is my preference.

As for catering, I guess it is all up to the pitmaster and what they are comfortable with. We have to add a log about every 1-1.5 hours or so, that is not too much for me....

I support this statement!

People "upgrade" when they start doing jobs of 300+ on a consistent basis. Moreover, BBQ catering does not mean overnight cooks day in and day out! Fire management in a stickburner is critical and as I said earlier. If you are consistently catering to the masses, you are paying someone to add a log to the fire anyway. This is my fourth season of catering with my fabricated stickburner. My only regret is that I did not shell out the extra
bucks for a Klose. 50% of catering is grilling more or less YMMV! For exapmle, this is a sweet "stick burning" catering rig.

[Dr_KY]

50% of catering is grilling more or less

I agree and that's why I love my rig. Last weekend we brought along a small gasser to quickly do burgers and warm tortillas so now I'm thinking of adding one to the tongue of the Meat Beast.

[TomTheGrillGuy]

This is a great thread! Thanks for all of the advice and opinions.

Tom the Grill Guy

[BubbaBones]

Originally Posted by big brother smoke

50% of catering is grilling more or less

This is very valuable information and good to know before I start up. I think here is Canada where true BBQ is still new to most people a drill is important until until you get taste buds trained.

Do others agree about how much a grill is used?

[blues_n_cues]

i agree. it's 50/50 for me too.

[C Rocke]

Depending on the job/event, we carry a Santa Maria grill, and sometimes our big gasser grill. We use the Spicewine because it is so flexible for what we do - BBQ, oven, hot box - And have a system that works. That's really what it's about, a system that works for your situation, with some flexibility to handle the jobs you want to take.

[BubbaBones]

Originally Posted by C Rocke

We use the Spicewine because it is so flexible for what we do - BBQ, oven, hot box

What is the temperature range that you can get a large Spicewine up to?

[Countryhb]

Originally Posted by BubbaBones

What is the temperature range that you can get a large Spicewine up to?

Go ask BigMista that question

[big brother smoke]

Originally Posted by Countryhb

Go ask BigMista that question

You went there