Slimmer & Longer vs. Fatter & Shorter

[Handyfan]

I'm looking at getting into stick burners for the first time. I've gotten a lot of great info from posters here so I'm going to ask another question:

I'm looking at a few of what I would call "medium sized" pits (some of you will call them "mini" pits, I'm sure). Most of them are 20" diameter pits (40" to 48" long), but one of them is a 24"x36" pit. All these pits have roughly the same grate space (or at least close enough for me); so what I'm wondering about is what people think about a longer/narrower pit vs. a shorter/fatter one with the same capacity. A couple of these are actually from the same manufacturer, so it really would be "apples to apples" between those. Aside from being able to cook larger/taller food in the 24"er, are there any other issues (flow, temp spread, etc) that favor one or the other? For example: one issue for me might be weight. I may be moving this pit a few times a year, and the 24" pit clocks in at 850 lbs. Oh yeah, I'm looking for a conventional flow cooker, not a reverse flow.

[Huskee]

I've heard many folks say that larger diameter cooking chambers are easier to control- so I'd lean toward fatter & shorter, although I've not cooked on different diameter ones. I do know from personal experience when you're cooking a load of pork butts it's better to have more height room than length, so in that case that 24" would be really handy. If all you cook is ribs or salmon for instance then that might never matter.

I think your title is click bait!

[Jerod Broussard]

I've read posts by quite a few guys that would rather cook on a 24" compared to a 20". As Huskee mentioned above, the extra thermal mass holds temps a lot better.

And the vertical room on a 24" is better than a 20". It doesn't seem like it just looking at the numbers, but it is worth it, even if you never load it down with butts.

[Handyfan]

Yeah, the vertical looks like a nice plus. I'm starting to lean that way because the cost is almost the same. Just as a reference, I looked at the pipe specs: if you include the end plates a 24x36 and a 20x48 look pretty close in mass. Still don't know if I want to jockey around an 850# cooker though. I live 6 mos. a year in one place, and the other 6 mos. 3 hours away.

[Max Good]

Roger Davidson with Horizon agrees the larger diameter pits are easier to control.

[Ernest]

Then there's the Karubecue. It's slimmer and longer plus fatter and shorter at the same time. It burns wood.

[DWCowles]

But Ernest it might take him a long time to get one. Don't forget it was remove from the giveaway list because they were so far behind in production.

[KBQ]

I'm not sure where that story came from; it's not true. -Bill

[Ernest]

DWCowles I'm sure it won't be that long. Bill is on the Pit now. KBQ

[DWCowles]

When are you going to upgrade to the commercial KBQ Ernest

[Ernest]

Don't start DWCowles HAHA

[Max Good]

While Karubecue doesn't maintain a warehouse full of smokers, delivery times are still reasonable for this unique, hand made smoker. I'm sure Ernest would agree with me that anyone looking at stick burners should check out the KBQ.

[DWCowles]

I wouldn't say it's the best smoker out there. If it was all of the pro bbqers would own one. Which reminds me I watch all of the Pitmasters shows and never did see a KBQ but I did see a lot of Langs. Hmmmm! Ernest

[Ernest]

That's because Lang is well known. KBQ is fairly new.
But once they see the light, they'll come over to the KBQ side. And when you get yours, you'll probably put little monster next to your WSM. HAHAHA,
BUT seriously, DWCowles , the smoke quality on this thing is just out of this world.

[DWCowles]

I will never know Ernest I have enough cookers as it is

[DWCowles]

If you're looking for a stickburner I recommend that you check out www.langbbqsmokers.com

[Handyfan]

Actually, when I started seriously looking at stick burners a few months ago Lang is where I started, and there seem to be a LOT of Lang fans out there. But I think I want to go with a conventional flow cooker. Right now, whenever I need to load up my 22" WSM it's almost ALWAYS a mix of butts & chicken. I really like the idea of having a "cool side" & a "hot side" to work with, especially if I can get some sort of tuning plate arrangement that will let me do it either way. Plus, I got a kick out of Ben Lang's video when he was saying how important it was to "steam clean" your cooker after every use. "Just hose it down". Hey, I lived in GA for 20 years, but now live in Minnesota. There's a lot of things you can do with a hose down there that don't work so well up here from Oct-April. I don't even have outside water most of the year.

[Jon Solberg]

Handyfan , I've been using a pump garden sprayer to do my steam cleaning in the winter. it works pretty good.

[Handyfan]

Thanks to everyone for their advice, on this post and others. With spring (sort of) on the way, I think I'm about to take the plunge. I'm leaning toward the Lone Star Grillz 24"x36". This looks like it'll give me a 24" barrel at a price that's competitive with most 20"ers. Anyone have a Lone Star?