Lang 60 or 84???

[MGM]

I’m new to the forum, and I need some advice.

I have been using a 22” Weber Smoky Mountain Cooker for about 10 years with good results. But, there are times that I need a lot more cooking space.

A Lang 48 Deluxe would handle most of my needs. However, 1-2 times per year I cook for 80 guys and gals at work, and some day down the road, I want to smoke a whole hog.

Will a Lang 60 Deluxe handle these needs, or do I need the 84?

Thanks...Mike

 

[73saint]

They always say go one size bigger than you need. I would call them and ask to talk to Ben. He’s a genuinely good man, and will try and steer you right. I’m looking at the 84 but that sucker weighs a lot and I do like my patio 36s maneuverability. I’m sure you can do a whole hog on the 60 but obviously you can do bigger, and more on the 84.

Neither is a bad choice lol!

 

[pineywoods]

You can smoke enough on a 60 to feed that size crowd that being said I don't know that you can ever have a smoker that is too big. I have an 84 and have smoked 49 butts at a time a couple times but most of the time I never have it filled to capacity.

 

[MGM]

Do you guys have any experience with the optional fire box dampers – 1 that opens directly into the warmer box and 1 that shuts off the main cooking chamber? I understand that they turn the warmer box into a vertical smoker.

 

[pineywoods]

I haven't seen those dampers mine is an older one before that was an option I do have the warmer box but no dampers

 

[waterluvr]

Having doors on both sides of the 84 is the one thing the 60 is lacking, you can put case after case of meat on either cooker but the 84 makes *staging* meat much easier on the cook. It's a reach to get to the back of the racks on the 60" and I burned myself a time or three when I had it loaded up for bigger crowds.

I started out with a 60 deluxe and immediately knew I had made a mistake not buying the 84, when you cook for 50+ people you want to be able to stage meats 1/2 to a an hour apart to keep it all hot and fresh and the bigger cooker makes that job so much easier.

As an example I would start out early in the day running it low at 225* and load it up with rib tips and butts for 6 hours, then let it rip to heat up another 75* and move all the tips into foil pans and transfer them into the warming box while I did a few rounds of 1/2 chickens and quarters on one side and country style ribs on the other side next to the butts that were finishing with several rounds of the chicken and country style 1/2 hour apart.

 

[MGM]

Having doors on both side would be a benefit as would the extra cooking space on the Lang 84 Deluxe. I also like the warmer box size that can accommodate full-size pans.

 

[waterluvr]

You can load up three 21" full size foil pans full of BBQ, and you need that warmer space on the 84 deluxe model more than you'll ever know cooking for a large group of people. There are hot spots on the 84 as with any cooker and you'll have a 10-20 minute window per batch for finishing time and that warmer is the bee's knee's for everything coming off early in a batch.

I have a huge old 5 day ice cooler that I re-purposed for holding BBQ in as well, once I get a pan full in the warmer it gets covered and transferred into the cooler and we serve from there I can hold 4 pans in that cooler.

I use 1/3 size pans for all the sides and prepare all of them in the main cooker usually do cornbread casserole with BBQ baked beans, collard greens and yams.

 

[MGM]

Wow...waterluvr...sounds like you've been doing this for a long time...I'm just a backyard BBQ guy that cooks for his work buddies a couple times per year.

As suggested by 73saint, I'm going to call Ben Lang this week, and hopefully pull the trigger on a new Lang smoker...

 

[waterluvr]

Wow...waterluvr...sounds like you've been doing this for a long time...I'm just a backyard BBQ guy that cooks for his work buddies a couple times per year.

As suggested by 73saint, I'm going to call Ben Lang this week, and hopefully pull the trigger on a new Lang smoker...

You should leave a message for Ben regarding the purchase of an 84 deluxe, he'll call you back on one of those. Lang is a pretty busy place these days and they have CS reps to handle most inquires but he's darn proud of those 84's and can really talk you through the advantages of why it's the one to buy for larger cooks.

The 84 flat out has it all over the 60 when your chasing the clock cooking for a crowd of hungry people, I'm certain you'll be very pleased with it.

 

[Hank R]

A dumb question never used a stick burner would a 84 use much more wood than a 60 if they were both loaded with the same amount of meat??

 

[waterluvr]

A dumb question never used a stick burner would a 84 use much more wood than a 60 if they were both loaded with the same amount of meat??

Over the course of an 10-12 hour cook you'll use about 1/3 of a wheelbarrow more wood in the 84 versus a 60.

 

[bmudd14474]

I saw get what your comfortable spending. The wood will be minimal difference IMO. The bigger unit gives you more spare for more items. I find its not when I am cooking big cuts of meat that i get into a pinch for space but its when its smaller stuff like app, wings, ribs. These items tend to take the space. That being said a 48 would cook more than enough food imo but Id go 60 or 84 if you think you will do bigger and bigger events.

 

[MGM]

Guys, thanks for your comments. I decided on the Lang 60" Deluxe Smoker Cooker and I ordered her this week. The 60” is large enough to handle virtually all of my future cooking needs and isn't so large that I would feel guilty cooking up a couple slabs of spares and a pork butt on the weekend. It should be delivered in 4 weeks, perhaps a little sooner. This will be my 1st stick burner, and I'm excited to get smoking on her!

 

[InThePittBBQ]

Congratulations, you will love the BBQ that comes off your new Lang!

I just took delivery of a new 84 with the frame extension and chargrill on the front, pretty excited to finally be able to do whole hog's and lambs on the main cooker for supper and be able to prepare lunch on the chargrill.

 

[Hank R]

Let us know how well it goes.