Whole hog for TG Day

[SmokinAl]

Smoking a whole hog has been on my bucket list for a long time. However my smoker is a Lang 36", so I'm limited as to the size of the pig I buy. I'm thinking about 25-35 pounds would fit in there easily, but where can I get a pig that small. I've been told that Publix will order a pig, but I think the smallest they have is 50#. Do any of you know if a 50# hog will fit in my Lang 36. Can it be trimmed to fit? which end would I put on the firebox end. A buddy of mine just did a whole hog & in my opinion it was terrible, dry & no taste. I don't want that result for me. So if you guys have any ideas, please let me know what you would do in my situation. Please don't tell me to buy a bigger smoker. :( I have a bunch of friends coming over & they are aware that most of the time I invite them over it's for some kind of experiment, so if it turns out good that would be a plus, but they have been here for some epic failures. I just don't want this one to be a failure. I'd like to blow their doors off!
Al

 

[phatbac]

I'm thinking a 50# er could fit head off on the Lang 36. the Lang sit say 72# can fit on her but that may include the upper rack so you could butterfly and then split in half down the middle and each half on a level and rotate. As far as flavor and moisture i don't pretend to know because i haven't done a whole hog myself ( although i want to when i grow up!) i have never had the opportunity to feed enough people to justify buying one.

I wish you best of luck and hope it comes out well. please post a thread about it and i may copy you and do one for Christmas. We just got a Publix and there is no secret as to what smoker i have!

Happy Smoking,
phatbac (Aaron)

 

[browneyesvictim]

Im in for this one Al! I cant say if a 50# hog will fit or not as I don't have an Lang or an offset smoker at all for that matter. But I would imagine you could do it in parts- not whole.

Might try checking out a local hog farm and ordering direct from them the size you want or even with the slaughterhouses

 

[Rings Я Us]

Weight Length Cooking Time
50 lbs 40" 4 hours
60 lbs 44" 4.5 hours
70 lbs 46" 5 hours
80 lbs 48" 5.5 hours

@ Belson Outdoors site

I'm guessing with head for pig roast

 

[motocrash]

Al,look at your local CL under Farm&Garden.You should find what you need. Hell I've done sucklings/shoats on a Weber kettle!

Bill

 

[normonster]

How about these little guys Al!! Right there in Mayo, FL!!! I bet you could fit two...haha

https://lakecity.craigslist.org/grd/d/american-guinea-hog-pig/6288399547.html

This guy has some 30 lb pigs for sale in Live Oak, FL..

https://lakecity.craigslist.org/grd/d/hogs-for-sale/6309588544.html

 

[motocrash]

There ya go.

 

[Rings Я Us]

Shish kabob piglet :eek:

 

[motocrash]

The veal of the porcine world ! :D

 

[hardcookin]

Al
I think that you would have to cut a 50lb pig in half to fit, or at least cut a ham off.
Also when getting started I would think the Lang will have a pretty good temp drop. That's a lot of cold meat going on with little air space.

Probably a 35lb suckling would be a better fit.

I'm also guessing you might have to rotate the pig.

I will be watching this smoke for sure...
If you was a lot closer I would let you borrow my smoker.

 

[Rings Я Us]

He can make a simple wire pig holder out of chicken wire . Like sandwich the pig in the wire so it can be moved without falling apart. lol pig in a basket.

 

[motocrash]

HAH! Like a fish basket,too funny

 

[Rings Я Us]

Look.. this grill is 34x19 cooking grate.. This pig is 65 lb.

See what they did.

http://www.traegergrills.com/recipes/pork/whole-hog

 

[motocrash]

Yeah,tented up....

 

[dugan]

I smoked a 40lb { after it was dressed} wild pig, head off on my Primo XL with plenty of room,and I'm sure the Lang 36 is larger than the primo. I did fold the legs/tied and lay it on its side, flipped it twice on each side. Came out perfect. I will be cooking a 125lb tomorrow on my big smoker.

 

[dugan]

Weight Length Cooking Time
50 lbs 40" 4 hours
60 lbs 44" 4.5 hours
70 lbs 46" 5 hours
80 lbs 48" 5.5 hours

@ Belson Outdoors site

I'm guessing with head for pig roast

Does this give a cooking temp to go with these times, seems rather fast to me. I've cooked several whole hogs and at 225f-250f to get a clean bone on an 80lb, I always shoot for 12hrs and a 4hr covered resting time. Thats for me and the pig.

 

[SmokinAl]

Thanks for all the ideas fellas, I'll be looking into my options.
Al

 

[indaswamp]

Smoking a whole hog has been on my bucket list for a long time. However my smoker is a Lang 36", so I'm limited as to the size of the pig I buy. I'm thinking about 25-35 pounds would fit in there easily, but where can I get a pig that small. I've been told that Publix will order a pig, but I think the smallest they have is 50#. Do any of you know if a 50# hog will fit in my Lang 36. Can it be trimmed to fit? which end would I put on the firebox end.

I've smoked a 45~50# whole wild hog, head removed, on a small Cabela's pellet grill. If your grill is the same size or larger you should have no problems. Yes it can be trimmed, you can have the butcher remove the head. As far as which end, it's strictly personal preference, but I usually put the tail end towards the heat due to the hams being the thickest part of the pig.

A buddy of mine just did a whole hog & in my opinion it was terrible, dry & no taste. I don't want that result for me. So if you guys have any ideas, please let me know what you would do in my situation. Please don't tell me to buy a bigger smoker. :( I have a bunch of friends coming over & they are aware that most of the time I invite them over it's for some kind of experiment, so if it turns out good that would be a plus, but they have been here for some epic failures. I just don't want this one to be a failure. I'd like to blow their doors off!
Al

Whole hog will be more bland than say cooking a pork butt. You have limited exposed meat surface with which to season a rub onto becaase the skin is left on a whole hog. Any rub on the skin will not penetrate to season the meat underneath. What I usually do is place the pig on the rack back down and over season the cavity. The smokey juice/seasoning that collects there can be used to moisten/season the pulled meat. What little exposed meat with rub that is there I suggest thoroughly mixing in with the pulled interior meat to further help distribute flavor and seasoning.

One thing you can do is use seasoning in an injection, but whole hog purists will advise against this. For them, bland whole hog is how it is suppose to be. It's just a very different 'animal' <punt intended> than pulled pork butt where you can season all sides of the exposed meat.
As far as dry, I do recommend an injection for moisture control. you will loose some due to cooking so adding more water will help.

 

[indaswamp]

Does this give a cooking temp to go with these times, seems rather fast to me. I've cooked several whole hogs and at 225f-250f to get a clean bone on an 80lb, I always shoot for 12hrs and a 4hr covered resting time. Thats for me and the pig.

I second this post, At least 12 hours @225~250*.... the wild hog I cooked took about 14 to get tender. YMMV.

 

[Rings Я Us]

I second this post, At least 12 hours @225~250*.... the wild hog I cooked took about 14 to get tender. YMMV.

That's 1 pound of charcoal per 2.5l bs of meat on a trailer mounted hog rotisserie cooker. rotisserie pig roast. Nothing to do with low and slow or smokers.

I was just showing the scale for him wanting to know if it would fit on his lang.

http://www.belson.com/Pig-Roast-Manual-Page-01-Instructions-and-Recipes