Hello from Maryland

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oc-ken

Fire Starter
Original poster
Feb 12, 2008
39
10
I wanted to stop in and say hello. I just replaced a Brinkman with a mobile 48 Lang. Drove almost 1,500 miles round trip 2 weekends ago to pick it up. I could use a little help with the fire management with this cooker. any tips would be very nice.


~Ken~
 
Well hello neighbor!! got a few MD'ers runnin' round here!! Bring that thing up to HdG at the N tip of the bay.. got a group here that'll help ya eat what ever ya smoke up!! Horseshoe season is fast approachin'... bring your wallet!! lol
 
What did you think of Lang's headquarters? I have never been, but would like to browse around over there!

What are you burning, dry hardwood? The model 60 I have is really easy to operate and maintain temps. Let me know what your doing and I will reply back. Stuff like...damper full open, vents, door positions, size and number of logs, etc
 
Bring my wallet?
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this sounds bad! I just can't wait to learn how to use it. I started off wit the brinkman and after the mods I became pretty good with cooking on it. I just had a hard time with the fire managment.
 
Well it was just like it looked on the website. Mr Ben Lang was a great guy to talk with. He met us there on a saturday morning so we could pick it up. He spent alot of time with me. But is was raining in Georgia...

so when I got home I bought a 1/2 cord of seasoned oak and maple mix. real nice looking wood. It has been down for a year and cut and split about a week prior to me picking it up.

the wood grate is very high off the bottom maybe 5 inches. I kept the damper full open. I did install my BBQ guru in the back of the fire box about 2 inches from the floor. it has a 10 CI fan. I tried to start off with a small amount of lump and 2 pieces of soda can sized wood. used a propane torch. almost all the lump fell through the grate.
 
I was wondering is that too high for a grate? I looked at the 60 and it is only about 2 inches off the floor of the fire box.....
 
I will try and post pics Mark. btw thanks for the help..... I will say I did a 10 lb Brisket and it did turn out real good. I ended up staying out with the smoker alot (which I do not mind) I ordered a Maverick ET-73 so when I do go inside I can still see how things are going. How do you like yours?
 
I'd like to meet him...he was so helpful to me in making my decision and answering every question I had---and I had a lot!! Its hard to believe the guy has time for anything else, he always answers his calls!!!

Here is what I would do.....get rid of the Guru for now until you are ready to play with it. They are really for people who are sick of having to tend to the fire, but you need to learn your machine first. Also, the guru is intended to be used on a hot smoker, not while starting one up:-)

You should be able to use just wood to start a nice fire, but if you want to add some extra coals, then start some charcoal in a chimney, then put it on your grate, add 2 or 3 small sticks after that. ( If no charcoal, then put just 3 or 4 small sticks on the grate and use a propane torch or brush burner for 5 minutes under the grate to get the logs going.)

You must have all vents open, cooker door ajar, and the firebox door ajar, and chimney damper wide open(i never have to adjust this). The key here is to bring the smoker up to temp, get the whole unit warm, all that steel hot, once you have a hot grill---say 300 degrees, then you can close the firebox door, the cooker door, and adjust your vents as needed for temp.

What you really want is more coals, so you have to add a few logs more up front, then just 1 every 40 minutes or so as needed. If you have hot coals on the grate, then you can back of the vent for control. Keep in mind though, that if you overload it with wood and charcoal, it may be hard to ramp it down to a 200 or a 220.

Add food when the smoke gets nice and thin and blue---it will, I promise!
 
Sounds nice. I need to come by and sample! If you get a good source for wood, let me know. I've come across some cherry, but for some reason, can't seem to get any "free" oak which is crazy around here...

Welcome!
 
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