pig roast

[scubaguy]

Hi all.
Has anyone here ever smoked a whole pig. just a thought for the day.
Real question is about roasting a whole pig. Any advice or tips, etc. Planning on doing one for my parents 50th in about 3 weeks.
New to this smoking thing but man is it addictive have a 244 sq in horizontal offset smoker. Bought it about 3 weeks ago and its already to small. Just cant put all I want to do at one time on it. It will hold about 3 chicks, or one 12lb brisket. Its like mouth candy, have to watch out for fingers[ not mine] when carving. Im hooked I will openly admitt it .
Are there sm meeting I can go to, or at least send the family so they can understand the addiction they are living with? Already dreaming about a big ass smoker. Can you smoke underwater, mmmmmm let me think about that one.

Scubaguy

 

[jaxgatorz]

Hey scuba, welcome to the forum.There are some great threads on doing a whole pig....... I'll see if i can find a link to 1..... Try this...
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=77762

 

[scpatterson]

Im cooking my first one Friday night with some info I ahve gotten from here and everywhere else. Im using a reverse flow smoker so it will be a little different than yours. Im gonna put up some pics once its done. and what process I use. Maybe some thing will help you with yours...

Do some searches on here to see what you can come up with, Lotsa of good info here

 

[capt dan]

Smoking or cooking. 2 different things. Most folks cook them, if you try to actually smoke one, you may end up sick. I have heard some horrific stories about idiots who actually spend 20+ hrs trying to smoke a hog.
Most pigs are cooked at over 300 degrees! I would be safe and shoot for the higher temps. Thats the normal and correct way to do it.

 

[packplantpath]

I'll second what dan said. It shouldn't take over about 8-12 hours for a 200 lb live wt pig. I typically shoot for 300 degrees, but don't get upset if it hits 400 for short periods of time (30 min stretches). The ham can be a real booger if you want to pull the meat, so keep that in mind. If you start at 5 am, the ribs are ready to eat at lunch too, so that's a bonus.

Typically, I start with skin side up for the first 3/4 of the cook. Once the skin feels like it has separated from the meat, that typically means the meat has hit about 165. At that point, I turn it over and crisp the skin. That usually entails adding more airflow and coals. Have fun with it. Feel free to use wood chunks for smoker.

Oh, and if you want to turn it, plan ahead. Get wire mesh screens to sandwich the pig between, otherwise, it tends to fall apart when turning.