Need advice on a patio pit...Lang 48 vs. Pitmaker Vault.

[cayenneman]

Im looking to upgrade on my patio pit and am torn between a couple of choices. I have a DPP trailer pit which is a stick burner, so Im hip to how stick burners operate. My choices are a Lang 48 and a Pitmaker cabinet. For the most part Ive never used a pit which burns charcoal with wood chunks for smoke like the Pitmaker. Id like some pros and cons and some answers from anyone who cares to share.

I know the Pitmaker will hold temp longer for an extended amount of time whereas I would have to keep adding logs to the Lang (which Im fine with).

1. Stick burners use wood as fuel and smoke and gives the thin blue smoke. What about burning charcoal in the vault with wood chunks? Is that gonna give thick white smoke which can be bad?

2. I know a bit about the Minion method...When the lit coals ignite the unlit coals, does this make for a thick, white, unsavory smoke flavor?

3. Anybody ever cook on both that can compare the two?

4. How well would a guru on the vault work vs adding logs quite often?

5. I like the idea of having a RF from Lang. Tell me bout the RF's KAM!!!

Well...seems like I had more questions which I cant think of right now due to the beer. Any advice would be appreciated and Ill follow up with other questions.



My two choices are below...and of course the is quite a price difference.

[k.a.m.]

cayenneman, I love the way R/F cookers keep constant grate temps and a Lang is a very nice choice in R/f cookers. I know you probably will not have both in your backyard setup so My only answer to you will be this. My back yard offset sees very little service now that I have the WSM's and UDS's. I love tending the fire but at night it gets real lonely and by the end of the next day I am whipped. So most of my long cooks that require early meal times go on the set it and forget it cookers. I will cook ribs on the offset if the other cookers are loaded this way I can tend a fire during the day. Personally I cannot tell the difference in meat cooked on an offset and one on the uprights. So with all this yammering I guess what I am trying to say is if you would like to get some sleep then the PitMaker is a nice choice and they turn out some awesome Que.
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Always remember slow and steady wins the race.

Hybrid Cooker

[cayenneman]

Way to lead the pack on the reply KAM! Can you tell me some details and/or advice on cooking with charcoal on an upright like a UDS?

[reddog1473]

I know it is not listed but have you thought about the Backwoods Smoker?

[cayenneman]

Not yet but I will check. That was one of my other questions...are ther any similar pits that might be as good or better or cheaper etc?

[reddog1473]

I just bought a Party and amazed how easy it is to cook on. One of those set it and forget type of smokers. I don't have a guru or anything but think it would be a nice option. I checked out the Pitmaker website and they make some pretty cool pits.. You can't go wrong with any of those choices..

http://www.backwoods-smoker.com/

[Big Ron]

I have not cooked on a Lang, but I have cooked on a Pitmaker. I was there and watched the Vault get loaded with about 5 lbs of charcoal and 3 chunks of wood. 9 hours later it was still at 250 long after the food was cooked and people fed.

Personally I use a homemade offset and it uses alot uf fuel and I am always tending the fire. Puts of great product no doubt, but I have been trying to sell it for a while now if that helps your decision.

My $.02
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Big Ron
Owner and Founder
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[k.a.m.]

cayenneman, I use either R/O charcoal or lump in our uprights. I am using more and more Frontier brand lump as I am getting very consistent clean burns with it. The thing with uprights is with either the charcoal or the lump you need a good supply of wood chunks mixed in with it if you want a more all wood flavor on your meat. The charcoal or lump does not have a lot of what I would call profile flavor smoke on its own. On a typical Butt cook I use about six to eight 2" to 3" chunks of Pecan or Oak to achieve the flavor I want. I hope this helps.
_________________
Always remember slow and steady wins the race.

Hybrid Cooker

[FireTowerBBQ]

Pitmaker Vault hands down. It's honestly the best pit I've ever used. Easy to control the temp, uses very little fuel, and it's always consistent. I'm actually about to purchase another one for a concession trailer and also the Safe (which is the smaller version). Call Victor or George, they'll be glad to answer any questions.
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Blake Griffith

PitMaker BBQ Trailer
Vault
Grill Meister
2 HP Multi-Jet Burners

[Tom C]

I have to chime in with different opinion. Maybe I’ve been doing it wrong, but having cooked in both my offset stick burner and my charcoal / wood chunk fed barrel smoker, I really noticed a difference in flavor of the cooks. The barrel smoker had much less of the wood smoke flavor I have come to love from my wood fed offset. Maybe it has to do with the type of wood chunks I was using, or the amount, but the whole family noticed the difference. To me it just makes sense, less wood = less wood flavor!
It might be less noticeable on longer cooks like for pork butts or briskets, but on shorter cooks for ribs and chicken, I’ve seen a difference.

No argument though on the fact that you get longer cook time without re-feeding which can be nice for those long cooks. I would just suggest that you try to get a taste of some food cooked on a charcoal / wood fed cooker before putting out the cash on that type of cooker. Just my opinion though.
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Homemade offset smoker 24"x48"
Charbroil CB900 grill

[Big Ron]