RCR06 said:

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cevans_40 said:

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RCR06 said:

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I'd like to have one, but like most of you I'm not getting on a waiting list or paying $3500 for one. It's hard to tell from that perspective on cooking chamber size. Looks very similar to the lyfetime smoker that's about $1300 and the old country Brazos that's $1000.

He makes/designs his pits at his restaurant(or at least he did at one time). There was an episode he did on pit building for that series that was on PBS. He was very knowledgeable. So I have no doubt that these pits are well designed and built. You know the old saying, they're worth what someone will pay for them. Apparently people can't wait to give him their money.

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Like the original pit he got from John Mueller? I am not bashing Aaron Franklin by any means but he got his start, and still uses today, with someone else's pit.

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Oh ok, so since he started with one from mueller he couldn't have made any of the others? Im not a franklin worshiper, but I respect what hes done. I went there a few months back to eat and we were allowed to go see the pits. They had 5 or 6 pits I believe, I heard he bought 1 pit from mueller when he started. Talking with one of the guys working the pits he said that several of their pits were damaged in a fire that happened in 2017. Hes the one that said franklin designed and helped build the new pits. Didn't really get into how many or which ones had to be replaced. Could have been bs, but that's the story I got.

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Correct, he bought his first one from his old boss.
He has designed and built the rest.

His place did have a fire when winds from Harvey came through

You can get a really nice 1/4" steel pit with adjustable firebox ventilation and stack, and those same dimensions for about 1/3 of that price. I bought one a few years back from B&R Pits out of Blanco (http://www.brpits.com/smokers) and it is a great pit.

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said that several of their pits were damaged in a fire

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I would have thought that the pits would have been ok other than some wood handles burned off or something. Maybe stuff fell on them?

RealTalk said:

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Looks like these will retail for about $3500. Based on my conversation with him a few months ago, the signup list is over 40,000 and he plans to make about 1000 smokers or so a year.

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Seems like he's pricing it too low!

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Let's see what happens when it comes times to put down a deposit.

Deats said:

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RealTalk said:

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Looks like these will retail for about $3500. Based on my conversation with him a few months ago, the signup list is over 40,000 and he plans to make about 1000 smokers or so a year.

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Seems like he's pricing it too low!

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Let's see what happens when it comes times to put down a deposit.

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He knows that not everyone on the list will buy. And I'd say a lot of those people had no clue what the price would be back when the sign ups started. back then he said it would be "about the price of two XL BGE's." I wonder how many are priced out now that it's roughly 50% higher.

nice setup. Im always interested in strategies for type of wheel. the smaller caster types work well if using on the driveway or under an awning, but too small of a diameter to get through grass, gravel, etc. The pneumatic are favorable where the caster types are not, but will always go flat over time, i.e. my two wheeler, riding mower, etc they can also appear bulky. What is the most versatile wheel solution? smaller pneumatics with jackstands?

Franklin isn't a fan of insulated fireboxes.

Here are his comments from a Texas Monthly article.

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Matt was happy to talk details of the design process. "The height of the firebox determines how even your top and bottom heat are," he said. The goal for them is to design pits with even convection and even heat on the top and bottom of the meat. "One thing we're trying to avoid is having to rotate meat," Matt says. They do this in part by insulating the firebox so that it burns fuel more efficiently. The firebox is made up of two tubes, one larger than the other, with an air gap between them. A ceramic fiber blanket fills the air gap to provide the insulation. It's an additional layer that Franklin finds unnecessary, and even detrimental to the barbecue. "The problem with an insulated firebox, especially in Texas, is that once it gets hot, it's hot," Franklin says. "It's basically an oven." He means that if the coals stay hot for a long time, there's no new wood and therefore no new smoke introduced to the barbecue.

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From this article. https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/thousand-gallon-smokers-bbq/

Did no one read the spec sheet in the photo? 19" x 36" cooking chamber in .25", double walled firebox.

I introduce enough smoke during my cooks... about a half log every 45 minutes and that thing hums at 275! (And I don't go through cords of wood...)

Funny thing, all the smokers leaving Sunny Moberg's shop (not mine) and Backline Fabrication (mine) have insulated boxes...

Double walled =/= insulated. It's airgapped.

Blood. As in my heritage and my grandfather's OTR handle back in the 70's, 80's and 90's...

Lol, nope. I sure didn't.

I think Mill Scale pits are insulated as well. Not sure if El Cucaracho's pits are insulated.

La Fours said:

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I think Mill Scale pits are insulated as well. Not sure if El Cucaracho's pits are insulated.

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Actually, Mill Scale chose not to insulate.

(Not the backyard, 94 gallon anyways)

wadd96 said:

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Double walled =/= insulated. It's airgapped.

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Spec sheet says double walled and insulated

The B&R pit I was referencing for price has a 20"x40" cooking chamber.

La Fours said:

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BSD said:

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La Fours said:

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I think Mill Scale pits are insulated as well. Not sure if El Cucaracho's pits are insulated.

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Actually, Mill Scale chose not to insulate.

(Not the backyard, 94 gallon anyways)

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There's no spoon.

If he were doing a offset with an insulated firebox, slideout grates, and those type of extras I could see it. Also, If has building 1000 of these a year, the quality will be ****, unless he's got crews of dudes building them.

It was only a matter of time until this happened.

Bobby Petrino`s Neckbrace said:

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Save your money, buy a Lang.

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Do you have a Lang? How long have you had it?

It's only been in the works 2 years...

wadd96 said:

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It's only been in the works 2 years...

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4.5 years actually. I signed up in Spring of 2015. I got tired of waiting so went a different direction.

Can't believe you gave up that easy!

the pit man said:

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If anyone is looking for a smoker/bbq pit I'd appreciate you taking a look at my stuff. Ask Deats, they work ... the cover photo is his smoker.
https://www.facebook.com/profabtx/?eid=ARDDDBe4cRtHI7NvdiJdRKkwzLzeVEtRrH_DD9ebFU-Zwo64MJY7Uvda6qN-Dxt_7BdM08IWYtCudAfn

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This is worth a look, all. Very impressive.

RCR06 said:

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cevans_40 said:

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RCR06 said:

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I'd like to have one, but like most of you I'm not getting on a waiting list or paying $3500 for one. It's hard to tell from that perspective on cooking chamber size. Looks very similar to the lyfetime smoker that's about $1300 and the old country Brazos that's $1000.

He makes/designs his pits at his restaurant(or at least he did at one time). There was an episode he did on pit building for that series that was on PBS. He was very knowledgeable. So I have no doubt that these pits are well designed and built. You know the old saying, they're worth what someone will pay for them. Apparently people can't wait to give him their money.

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Like the original pit he got from John Mueller? I am not bashing Aaron Franklin by any means but he got his start, and still uses today, with someone else's pit.

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Oh ok, so since he started with one from mueller he couldn't have made any of the others? Im not a franklin worshiper, but I respect what hes done. I went there a few months back to eat and we were allowed to go see the pits. They had 5 or 6 pits I believe, I heard he bought 1 pit from mueller when he started. Talking with one of the guys working the pits he said that several of their pits were damaged in a fire that happened in 2017. Hes the one that said franklin designed and helped build the new pits. Didn't really get into how many or which ones had to be replaced. Could have been bs, but that's the story I got.

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You are correct. Like I said, I don't want to bash Franklin in any way. I was just pointing out that he made a heck of a lot of good BBQ on a pit that wasn't really special and didn't have his name on it.

cevans_40 said:

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RCR06 said:

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cevans_40 said:

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RCR06 said:

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I'd like to have one, but like most of you I'm not getting on a waiting list or paying $3500 for one. It's hard to tell from that perspective on cooking chamber size. Looks very similar to the lyfetime smoker that's about $1300 and the old country Brazos that's $1000.

He makes/designs his pits at his restaurant(or at least he did at one time). There was an episode he did on pit building for that series that was on PBS. He was very knowledgeable. So I have no doubt that these pits are well designed and built. You know the old saying, they're worth what someone will pay for them. Apparently people can't wait to give him their money.

---

Like the original pit he got from John Mueller? I am not bashing Aaron Franklin by any means but he got his start, and still uses today, with someone else's pit.

---

Oh ok, so since he started with one from mueller he couldn't have made any of the others? Im not a franklin worshiper, but I respect what hes done. I went there a few months back to eat and we were allowed to go see the pits. They had 5 or 6 pits I believe, I heard he bought 1 pit from mueller when he started. Talking with one of the guys working the pits he said that several of their pits were damaged in a fire that happened in 2017. Hes the one that said franklin designed and helped build the new pits. Didn't really get into how many or which ones had to be replaced. Could have been bs, but that's the story I got.

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You are correct. Like I said, I don't want to bash Franklin in any way. I was just pointing out that he made a heck of a lot of good BBQ on a pit that wasn't really special and didn't have his name on it.

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Yes, I do. Have the 48" mobile. It takes 3 minutes to hook up to my truck, and head on down the road to tailgates, dove hunts, wherever. Big enough to handle 4 packer briskets if that's your thing. I often do a mix & match with a brisket, ribs, sausage. It's a little different design than most smokers, in that it's a reverse flow smoker. Once I learned about them (I have a friend that competes in competitions) and spent a couple weekends working with him, I was hooked. Once you get them up to temperature, these bad boys really hold the heat.

I love my Lang.

AggieFabricator said:

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As a fabricator, their prices are shocking, but even more shocking is that people are stupid enough to pay that. The welding and fab work on those are nothing special enough to justify the pricing. The mill scale guys are super nice great guys, I've told them the same thing. Anyone making boat loads of money off BBQ pita ought to ride the wave while they can. It's one of the hardest things to build and actually make money on.

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I had never heard of the Mill Scale guys before this thread. Looks like good craftsmanship and I like the raw/patina style of their pits. But man, there are several things missing that I'd like to have in a $4k backyard pit...

reddog90 said:

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AggieFabricator said:

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As a fabricator, their prices are shocking, but even more shocking is that people are stupid enough to pay that. The welding and fab work on those are nothing special enough to justify the pricing. The mill scale guys are super nice great guys, I've told them the same thing. Anyone making boat loads of money off BBQ pita ought to ride the wave while they can. It's one of the hardest things to build and actually make money on.

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I had never heard of the Mill Scale guys before this thread. Looks like good craftsmanship and I like the raw/patina style of their pits. But man, there are several things missing that I'd like to have in a $4k backyard pit...

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Same with Moberg. Both make a great product and have massive wait times but the $$ is outta control.

Pitman does whatever you want for cheaper and faster.