Lang 36 patio?

[Psw757]

So here is my temp spread with no meat on and 225 on the Lang gauge on door.
Seems reasonable from a left to right perspective.

probes 1/2 are top left and top right
Probes 3/4 are bottom left and bottom right

any tricks to get the top to run a bit lower than 300 while trying to hold the 225 on the bottom?

 

[phatbac]

a couple things about temp.
while the temp on the gauge is pretty accurate for that location on the cook chamber there, on a 36 its hotter in some area than other. the nature of the reverse( and heat rising ) makes the upper racks hotter than the lower racks. and even a 225 you will notice food will get done faster. Langs operate hot and fast a little better than low and slow and there is nothing wrong with that. the myth that all bbq is cooked at 225 and nothing else is hogwash!

when you get your fire going and have 225 in some parts and 300 or close to it in other parts be mindful of your temps and cook your bigger meat in the hotter areas or you meat with skin that needs to be crispy like chicken. if you have 250 in one area and 325 in another cook some chicken for a couple hours ion the 250 then hit it in the 325 area for 20 minutes and you wont be disappointed!

learn your smoker, bbq is not an exact science. have fun and enjoy learning by doing,

Happy Smoking,
phatbac (Aaron)

 

[Psw757]

Thanks for the advice.

something else I noticed with my 36 patio is it runs pretty even left to right up to about 250 on the lower rack and door gauge which is 290/300 on top shelf. If the fire gets too big I start seeing splits between sides on upper and lower level.

i think fire management is part of it and not getting too big of a fire in the box is something I’m going to experiment with on the next cook.

 

[Dantij]

I have a water pan I place on the right side closest to the firebox. That helps with evening out temps across the grates. There will always be variances in temps from left to right and top to bottom unless you do some modifications. Al was able to dial his in so all 4 areas of his Lang 36 were about the same. I generally give my 48 an hour to heat up and that helps even out the temps also. I use the temp variations to my advantage cooking multiple cuts of meat simultaneously , ribs on the bottom left, briskets and pork shoulder on the right, and chicken on top.

 

[Dantij]

a couple things about temp.
while the temp on the gauge is pretty accurate for that location on the cook chamber there, on a 36 its hotter in some area than other. the nature of the reverse( and heat rising ) makes the upper racks hotter than the lower racks. and even a 225 you will notice food will get done faster. Langs operate hot and fast a little better than low and slow and there is nothing wrong with that. the myth that all bbq is cooked at 225 and nothing else is hogwash!

when you get your fire going and have 225 in some parts and 300 or close to it in other parts be mindful of your temps and cook your bigger meat in the hotter areas or you meat with skin that needs to be crispy like chicken. if you have 250 in one area and 325 in another cook some chicken for a couple hours ion the 250 then hit it in the 325 area for 20 minutes and you wont be disappointed!

learn your smoker, bbq is not an exact science. have fun and enjoy learning by doing,

Happy Smoking,
phatbac (Aaron)

Wow Phatbac, I just posted without reading your post first. I think you and I are on the same page! Do you use a water pan?

 

[Dantij]

a couple things about temp.
while the temp on the gauge is pretty accurate for that location on the cook chamber there, on a 36 its hotter in some area than other. the nature of the reverse( and heat rising ) makes the upper racks hotter than the lower racks. and even a 225 you will notice food will get done faster. Langs operate hot and fast a little better than low and slow and there is nothing wrong with that. the myth that all bbq is cooked at 225 and nothing else is hogwash!

when you get your fire going and have 225 in some parts and 300 or close to it in other parts be mindful of your temps and cook your bigger meat in the hotter areas or you meat with skin that needs to be crispy like chicken. if you have 250 in one area and 325 in another cook some chicken for a couple hours ion the 250 then hit it in the 325 area for 20 minutes and you wont be disappointed!

learn your smoker, bbq is not an exact science. have fun and enjoy learning by doing,

Happy Smoking,
phatbac (Aaron)

And I agree with you about cooking at 225°. I cook ribs between 240° and 260, brisket between 255° and 275, pork shoulder at 260°-280°. Chicken and sides go on top , the hotter the better!

 

[jrinaldi99]

This is all very consistent with how my 48 runs. The only thing I’ll add about using the top shelf is that it makes it difficult to mop, spritz, move and probe your larger proteins on the bottom. I’m starting to only use the top rack if I’ve got a very large cook going on.

 

[Dantij]

This is all very consistent with how my 48 runs. The only thing I’ll add about using the top shelf is that it makes it difficult to mop, spritz, move and probe your larger proteins on the bottom. I’m starting to only use the top rack if I’ve got a very large cook going on.

It's nice having options!

 

[Psw757]

Dantij , how big is the water pan your running?

I agree with the comments about it not needing to be 225 to be good, when the meat probe says it’s done, it’s done.

I think next cook I’ll let it get up to 300 and then add the meats and try to manage a smaller fire and see how that does.

 

[Dantij]

I use a 4×16 inch bread pan. Go to amazon. I paid @ $15 for an aluminum one but you can spend more for stainless steel.
Taking the cooker up to 300° is what I do . I actually steam clean before and after I'm done cooking. I scrape the steel plate every 2 or 3 cooks just to keep it smelling like fresh bbq.

 

[phatbac]

I have used a water pan but i really got used to the temps diffs and used it accordingly. i knew if the therm said 250 i could move the meat around to change the temp without hanging the fire. I may start using a water pan in my new addition.

Happy Smoking,
phatbac(Aaron)