Advice? Smoking 50lbs Hog in 40" Gas Smoker

gavinwj

Newbie

Original poster

Aug 13, 2015

3

10

Manitoba

• Aug 13, 2015

• #1

New to this stuff, but I dove right in on this smoking thing and am trying a 50lbs hog in a 40" Masterbuilt Elite gas unit. Hey.... You do silly things for a brother's bachelor party! (Points for bravado...?)

I know the hog won't fit whole, so I'll have to quarter it up or something. Any recommendations from veterans on smoking temps and times? Strategies for laying the meat out? General wisdom for this type of project (besides "you should have started smaller...")?

 

bmaddox

Master of the Pit

Jan 5, 2015

1,705

144

Central FL

• Aug 13, 2015

• #2

The biggest problem you will run into if you can get everything to fit is that each piece will cook differently. Have you already bought the hog? You would be better served with 6 pork butts than trying to quarter and smoke a hog in a vertical smoker. 

 

gavinwj

Newbie

Original poster

Thread starter

Aug 13, 2015

3

10

Manitoba

• Aug 13, 2015

• #3

Hog is bought and thawed. It's what I have, and smoking it is what I'll do at this point. Now, the trick will be how to do it best.  

 

crankybuzzard

Smoking Guru

OTBS Member

SMF Premier Member

Jan 4, 2014

5,611

2,935

Montague County, TX

• Aug 13, 2015

• #4

gavinwj said:

 
Hog is bought and thawed. It's what I have, and smoking it is what I'll do at this point. Now, the trick will be how to do it best.  

Click to expand...

Use remote probes, rotate the meat now and then, and hope for the best.

The reason I say remote probes is to know when the smaller bits are done first.  Once they are complete, move the probes to the larger chunks.

 

gavinwj

Newbie

Original poster

Thread starter

Aug 13, 2015

3

10

Manitoba

• Aug 15, 2015

• #5

All said and done; the hog turned out fairly well and the party was great. I decided to half the hog down the backbone, removed the head, and lay it on racks (skin side up), binding the front to the back legs. It smoked at about 225° for close to eight hours. It took good smoke flavour, but I was a little sad the skin wasn't super crispy.