Help me select a smoker

[stoneunhenged]

I've got a small farm and a few years ago began raising pigs. I bought a Traeger for smoking the meat and it's been fine for a few chops or a butt here and there. Now I want to begin smoking an entire half of a hog (a half weighing in at about 100 lb.) at one time. Assume that cost is not a factor in the selection. I don't need to wheel the smoker to events. It just needs to stay in one place and smoke excellent meat. Any suggestions for absolutely the best smoker? Thanks.

 

[capt dan]

well I am kinda partial to mine!



She pretty easy to use, and 100 lbs of meat in her is no problem. If you want to do mare than 100 lbs, maybe the next bigger size will be better. Mine is the 60, the next one is an 84, 2 more feet longer with a door on each side. Bout 3 K for the one pictured above.

 

[sweethanky]

oh man that thing is nice

 

[fatback joe]

Yeah, I'll second......or third that.........get a Lang.

 

[richtee]

The Langs are great.

Stop by the Roll Call forum and give us an intro post... experience, location, etc. Kinda a tradition here, and Welcome to SMF.

 

[pineywoods]

If your not gonna move it check out Cowgirl's pit methods for smoking whole hogs that should give you some simple but great info. A nice block smoker could be just what your looking for

 

[packplantpath]

The simple carolina style method is to get a big oil drum, split it in two, weld some supports on and put a grate, cut a fire door, put it on wheels, and go.

It's not indirect, but if you get one of the wider barrels and put coals down the side, and the pig in the middle it works great. It's the way we've done it for years for whole hog. Now, if you want to cure it and cook low and slow, it don't work so good. But, honestly, whole hog does not seem to benefit that much from cooking at 225 to 250. Most times, we cook around 325 to 350 for ~10 to 12 hrs and it's moist and pullable, and quite smokey if you use enough wood.

 

[downstatesmoker]

Man that smoker is sweet looking. Wife would kill me but I think it may be worth it, course being just outside NYC the thing would take up my entire backyard..... yeah definately worth it.

 

[vlap]

I think I have to go buy a house with a yard so I can buy one of those! I always love looking at a lang!

 

[agmeyer]

Hello from Sedalia, MO. If you are never going to move it why not make a permanent building type smokehouse? Make it to use either gas or electric and wood also. If you have enough trees in that part of the country; cutting the trees after big storms and having a splitter and a place to stack the wood to cure is nice. For my ideas; an electric or propane offers a more constant temperature with less babysitting. I am pretty new so I have a small offset smoker. Having a trailer mounted unit; that you could rent out for parties with a deposit might pay off? You could sell the pigs and rent the smoker also. My great grandparents used a small smokehouse for a lot of years.

 

[capt dan]

We have a local farmer who sells roaster hogs and he lets the roasters go with the hogs(with a deposit) for free. They are nice, easy and fool proof. But he has about 8 of them and raises alot of hogs and calves. But to smoke meats, they would not work. They are more of a cooker, and they don't want ya using wood in them, cuz it burns the paint off of them.

Thanks for the compliments. I always wanted a Lang, and after joining ths site and seeing how some of the Lang owners made smoking look so easy. I just started obsessing over them. I visited another site(aint gonna list it

) and a guy in Pa had one for sale, just 6 months old. The price was in line(a lil high, but he took very good care of it) and I begged on bended knee for the wife to agree to the purchase. We made the trip to the far side of Pa. to get it in Feb, and the drive through the Poconos was extreme, and memorable to say the least.But i returned home alive and inspired. The Lang 60 has not let me down one bit, and continues to impress me actually. It is a tank of a smoker at 1100 lbs, but I can move her with oe hand on a level hard surface, and she tows down the road at 70-80 without any issues. I have enjoyed every single smoke with her, and last weekends grad smoke was by far the best butts I have ever smoked or tasted.6 at a time


had some extra room so I did some baby backs too.

This saturday night will be my very first overnight smoke at home, and the menu includes 8 pork butts, 2 packer briskets, and 4 fatties of different flavors and fillings. Might very well be the first time I have been drunk before 10 am ever, and I am OLD! The best part of this smoke is................................I aint pullin the pork, and I aint slicin the briskets, and I aint cuttin the fatty. The proud parents of a local graduate are doing all of that, and by noon that meat will be gone, and I'll be nappin!

 

[pineywoods]

HMM only bad part of that Capt is missing all that sampling time

 

[shooterrick]

I love my Little Lang. She smokes well and steady temps. I bought mine several month ago and only regret is I didnt do it sooner. Currently working on a gas starter/assist for those riverside smokes and tailgates when I dont want to carry large amount of wood. Great lookin eats Dan.

 

[neens]

I'm with most of the other guys I love my lang. If you want some other options I looked atDiamond Plate products their web site is http://www.diamondplateproducts.com/index.php they have a rear fire box. If your looking to save space you might want to check out stumps their web site is http://www.stumpssmokers.com but it seems to be down right now for some reason.

 

[jal1639]

http://www.lyfetyme.com/

These guys smoke like crazy!!!

 

[tn_bbq]

Check out Backwoods Smoker or Ole Hickory Pits or Jack's Old South Cookers (3 time Memphis Grand Champion)

http://www.backwoods-smoker.com/
http://www.olehickorypits.com/Defaul...?CategoryID=76
http://brittsbarbecue.com/html/jack_...h_cookers.html

I don't think it's any coincidence that lots of folks that compete with the Memphis circuit (MIM has whole hog category) use the Backwoods Smokers and restaurants like the Ole Hickory Pits.

 

[travcoman45]

Langs er great, but you ain't wantin ta move it, so, I believe I'd build myself a nice block smoke house, yall can run it on wood er gas easy enough, do more then 100 pounds a meat, easy ta use, easy ta keep clean. It's the old timers way in the craft. Good luck.

Here's a link to a site with some info on permanent smoke houses:

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/smokehouse-old.htm

 

[downstatesmoker]

"Meat Smoking and Smokehouse Design" (Where the information linked to above comes from) is a wonderful book my sister got for me. Being that I am in NY just outside the city I doubt I will be building a smokehouse any time soon, however it is very informative. Anyone interested in smoking (is that everyone here?) should read this book.