I’ve been smoking on my Lang 36 for over 8 years and am ready for a capacity upgrade. The Lang produces unreal results with the help of countless hours of You Tube, This Site, other resources, and an OCD personality. The two top choices at the moment are a Lang 84 Deluxe with SS grates, all three available damper adjusters, and about 6 other options and add-ons (@ $10K) or a 500-gallon Primitive Pit with every option available checked off on the list (@ $13K).
This list of pros and cons of each is purely spontaneous from the top of my head and is factually debatable hence the reason for this post to get YOUR opinion.
Lang pros
1. I’m seasoned in the cooking and various behavioral characteristics of the Lang design.
2. Cooking time is quicker due to the elevated levels of radiant heat coming from the baffle.
3. Warmer Box limits the need for a separate Cambro or similar food holding equipment.
4. The expanded metal shelving on both sides is a convenient work, stage area.
5. Uses less wood and smaller splits.
6. Usage of all of the cooking area real estate is available due to the protective characteristics of the baffle and the resulting even cooking temps across the grates. I estimate that the total cooking area may approach the total usable cooking area of a 500 gallon traditional flow as a result.
7. Rendering fat keeps the chamber moist and adds flavor.
8. Less Pricey than the Primitive Pit
9. Easy to clean
10. Gull Wing door access is convenient and looks bad ass.
Lang Cons
1. Pales in comparison to a traditional flow in terms of convection cooking. The Lang is more of a 50% convection/50% Radiant cooking tool. Higher convection cooking produces a better tasting smoked product?
2. Fire box is tiny compared to these Franklin Style giant propane tank units coming out. Advantages are unknown but the giant fireboxes look cool as hell and you can use a shovel on the coals like a coal worker on the Titanic.
3. Inferior Smokestack exit design compared to the collector type exhaust at mid-level with the Primitive Pit. This causes the heat on the Lang to quicky race to the top of the chamber and exit the stack where the meat on the bottom grate loses much of that convection energy (Flavor).
4. Aesthetics: Welds work but have been hit by ye ole ugly stick too many times.
Primitive Pit Pros
1. Superior convection design produces slightly “different” final product. Better? My thoughts are convection heat with its smoke and chemicals adds the flavor NOT radiant heat.
2. Better dual axle trailer
3. Coolness factor
4. Total usable capacity may be more than the Lang
5. Hot zone near the firebox means Chicken can cook at the same time as Brisket etc. Lang can do this too but you have to crank up the heat to crisp skin which risk over-temping other meats on the cooker.
6. If its not “Better” than the Lang than why are all the best restaurants in the country not using Langs but are using this Franklin Central Texas type design cooker.
7. I can drink beer and tell people I’m cooking on a PP and laugh at my own adolescent mentality.
Primitive Pit Cons
1. Pricier
2. Longer cook times
3. No shelving in front of doors
4. No warming box
5. Uses more wood
6. Learning Curve
Lead Times on the Langs are currently 6 Months +. Primitive leads times are unknown at the moment.
Please help me decide and let me know why you would choose one over the other. I plan on doing much larger cooks than back yard and need the capacity which I believe either one will do the trick for the intended volume, but I want the one that can give me a superior product. The Lang has been amazing, and I can’t even imagine how it can get better but again all of the most legendary pit masters are NOT using reverse flows as far as I can tell. Leaning towards the Lang now.
This list of pros and cons of each is purely spontaneous from the top of my head and is factually debatable hence the reason for this post to get YOUR opinion.
Lang pros
1. I’m seasoned in the cooking and various behavioral characteristics of the Lang design.
2. Cooking time is quicker due to the elevated levels of radiant heat coming from the baffle.
3. Warmer Box limits the need for a separate Cambro or similar food holding equipment.
4. The expanded metal shelving on both sides is a convenient work, stage area.
5. Uses less wood and smaller splits.
6. Usage of all of the cooking area real estate is available due to the protective characteristics of the baffle and the resulting even cooking temps across the grates. I estimate that the total cooking area may approach the total usable cooking area of a 500 gallon traditional flow as a result.
7. Rendering fat keeps the chamber moist and adds flavor.
8. Less Pricey than the Primitive Pit
9. Easy to clean
10. Gull Wing door access is convenient and looks bad ass.
Lang Cons
1. Pales in comparison to a traditional flow in terms of convection cooking. The Lang is more of a 50% convection/50% Radiant cooking tool. Higher convection cooking produces a better tasting smoked product?
2. Fire box is tiny compared to these Franklin Style giant propane tank units coming out. Advantages are unknown but the giant fireboxes look cool as hell and you can use a shovel on the coals like a coal worker on the Titanic.
3. Inferior Smokestack exit design compared to the collector type exhaust at mid-level with the Primitive Pit. This causes the heat on the Lang to quicky race to the top of the chamber and exit the stack where the meat on the bottom grate loses much of that convection energy (Flavor).
4. Aesthetics: Welds work but have been hit by ye ole ugly stick too many times.
Primitive Pit Pros
1. Superior convection design produces slightly “different” final product. Better? My thoughts are convection heat with its smoke and chemicals adds the flavor NOT radiant heat.
2. Better dual axle trailer
3. Coolness factor
4. Total usable capacity may be more than the Lang
5. Hot zone near the firebox means Chicken can cook at the same time as Brisket etc. Lang can do this too but you have to crank up the heat to crisp skin which risk over-temping other meats on the cooker.
6. If its not “Better” than the Lang than why are all the best restaurants in the country not using Langs but are using this Franklin Central Texas type design cooker.
7. I can drink beer and tell people I’m cooking on a PP and laugh at my own adolescent mentality.
Primitive Pit Cons
1. Pricier
2. Longer cook times
3. No shelving in front of doors
4. No warming box
5. Uses more wood
6. Learning Curve
Lead Times on the Langs are currently 6 Months +. Primitive leads times are unknown at the moment.
Please help me decide and let me know why you would choose one over the other. I plan on doing much larger cooks than back yard and need the capacity which I believe either one will do the trick for the intended volume, but I want the one that can give me a superior product. The Lang has been amazing, and I can’t even imagine how it can get better but again all of the most legendary pit masters are NOT using reverse flows as far as I can tell. Leaning towards the Lang now.