Complete smoking newbie pulling off a pig

[bry14661]

Ok so first off I would like to introduce myself as this is my first post. I have minor BBQ experience. I have never owned my own grill until now. I have never really cooked much more than burgers, bacon, chicken, the basics and that was over charcoal or propane. Now onto my situation. My friend and I got outselves into a situation with pulling off a pig roast for our family this thanksgiving. A friend of ours caught a ferel hog that weighs in at about 130lbs. He is telling me it should be about 80lbs when dressed out.

So i really have no idea where to start but i am confident i will pull this off. I went to Home Depot and bought this grill..


After reading the PIG ROAST 101 post by BBQMAN i have gained some knowledge and im beginning to wonder if the cooking grate is large enough to cook my hog/pig on.

I see it will take about 10 hours to cook a pig that size and i need the air temp around 275-300 and the pig to cook up to 165 then possibly wrap it till it hits 200??

I have a bunch of beginner questions so heres go.

What do i use in the fire box? charcoal? wood? both? big pieces of wood?

I want to use wood chips but how much do i need? should i presoak them? and if so in what?

How do i marinate my hog? pre rub? during the cook? inside? out? I believe it will be skinned since its a ferel hog.

please if you have any info or any learning experiences from your roasts please share. Assume i know nothing because that just may be true. haha thanks guys

[whitey]

I would think Lump with a few small wood chunks.
I dont know if You have enough real estate do do an 80 lb hog.
That be be a little crazy,Maybe..Dunno.
Pratice temp control and understand its fuel consumption.
Good Luck.
Whitey..
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[SVonhof]

I hope others chime in, but I don't think that pig is gonna fit in that smoker...

You are probably biting off a lot more than you probably should! I would never tell somebody I could do that without even having the grill to do it on already, much less understand how it works (or the downsides and tricks to get it to cook properly).
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Scott V.
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[SimonSmokes]

how about you do like the butts and the ribs, if that all fits, and cook the rest of the animal some other way ? like braised ham stew, some sausages, etc ?

[Big Ron]

If you chop off the limbs and head it MIGHT fit? Good luck and take pictures please
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[ckone]

Can you dig a hole in your yard? If so do that, put lump charcoal in the hole with larger piles under the hams and shoulders with the pig suspended above, turn it every so often. If you can't dig a hole in the yard I don't know what you are going to do to dig yourself out of the hole you are in. good luck.

After thought. Where are you located? do you know anyone with a larger pit you can borrow?
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[DJW]

Be sure and take plenty of pics......I wanna see this.
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[Jarhead]

Welcome aboard, bry14661.
I think you're gonna need a bigger smoker.
or build something like this.
http://cuban-christmas.com/pigroast.html
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[daddywoofdawg]

Hate to say it but I have seen those at lowe's and menards and you won't get a whole hog on that MAYBE a 30-40lber but that's about it.Get you some cinder block and build you a simple pig roaster see cuban bbq in google for some quick simple builds that can be temp.
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[Mr Tony's BBQ]

I have 1 of these I have done 100+ pounds of roasts on, never a whole pig on it. IF you manage to get it in there, be sure to have first added some kind of metal to deflect the flames / heat where they first enter smoke chamber [ look up mods for brinkmann ] if you were to cut it into quarters and use both upper and lower racks - you should have no problem, whole pig will be pretty tight! Maybe try using only the lower rack, face towards fire- racer position with but almost touching back of smoker...NEVER close the chimney as it is for exhaust not temp control. Keep the fire to the left side of the firebox, either small splits or bagged chunks of hardwoods with charcoal - dont soak...apply dry rub to pig, put foil over face as it will be close to flames - cant imagine any room to wrap critter in foil...get up early - easier to hold at temp than to rush it to done....be prepared to quarter and either rotate chunks or finish on direct flame[?] Get a good thermometer and check all parts before serving!!Be sure to have a large metal bucket under the drain hole, that piggys gonna let out a load of fat! Far more than that beer can will hold. Good thing this is for family. ....they will be more understanding... wish I were there to see this! Could be fun, maybe.......
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[feldon30]

Best of luck to you.

This sounds like trying to pitch a perfect game against the Yankees having never picked up a baseball before.
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[232mako]

[yossarian]

When I cook whole pig (which I will do in 8 or 9 days), I build a dry-set cinder clock pit. Easy and reasonably cheap. The lid is made out of 2X2 and the cheapest OSB available. The cooking rack is just about the hardest thing to source.

I can send you some diagrams and pictures if you give me an email address.
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[BBQMAN]

That size pit won't fit that sized hog.

That being said, feral pigs are also GAMY (caps for a reason).

I'd Qtr it, and let it marinate in Mojo (available at GFS and the Hispanic market.)

I prefer Badia Brand.

They are also much leaner than the average farm raised pig, so care will be needed not to dry out the meat.

Best of luck with it.
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[Fig Pucker]

I am no expert but have had hosted a few pig roast where I have brought in others to do my pig. here are some pics of a 100 pound pig. thier smoker was a converted oil tank.

Splayed out the pig was at least 2.5 feet wide and 4 feet long.





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Andy
WSM 18.5" 22.5", Genesis EP330

[BBQMAN]

Andy great looking pig but just a tip for you:

Next time you want to go the apple in the mouth route, ram a empty beer bottle (open end first for obvious reasons) in BEFORE the cook.

When it's done, remove the bottle, and replace with the apple.

Works for me!
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[Fig Pucker]

[bry14661]

[sixfofalcon]

Best advice I can give you is to forget about using that grill. It takes several long "easy" cooks (boston butts and/or other hard-to-screw-up cuts) for anyone to identify and correct the myriad of "quirks" (I'm trying to be nice here) that you will encounter with that rig.

Plus, as others have mentioned, you simply aren't going to fit an 80# pig in there, at least not in any manner that will be conducive to cooking it. At most, you can fit a small suckling pig, and even then you are only going to get decent results if you know your rig well and have modified it out to overcome all the quirks.

I'd say your best bet is to dig a pit in the ground and set up a rotisserie.
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[SimonSmokes]

wtb news of this adventure.