Whole hog roster / rotisserie advice

[Hockeydudde]

A buddy is clearing out a bunch of his in-laws stuff and asked if I want this.

I guess you put a hog in the cage and then the cage goes in the cook chamber? It was a custom job by a local fab house.

It is worth putting time into it?
Anyone used something like this?
The chamber looks like an enclosed cook chamber with an offset fire box, so I'm confused on the need for the rotisserie cage, but I've never done a while hog.

I don't need another cooker, but I was thinking about offering to take it, clean it up, use it a few times and then split the sale if I decide I don't want it.

 

[Brokenhandle]

I think you need it! At least for a couple cooks and some great pics!

Ryan

 

[Fueling Around]

I have never seen a whole hog spit with a basket.
I don't think the 2 items go with each other.
The cabinet appears to be a vertical smoker. Perfect for a batch of smoked sausage or bacon.

 

[Hockeydudde]

I have never seen a whole hog spit with a basket.
I don't think the 2 items go with each other.
The cabinet appears to be a vertical smoker. Perfect for a batch of smoked sausage or bacon.

That's what I thought too. If I go, I'll look around for something that could be the tray for the rotisserie.

 

[Hockeydudde]

One more pic.

 

[Hockeydudde]

So I picked up the trailer yesterday.
The hog cage is pretty cool. The basket is a clam shell, so it closes down on the meat holding it tight. It needs a frame, motor and coal tray (or the fire can be built in a whole in the ground).

The vertical offset is HUGE!
Cook chamber is 30" x 30" x 6' Tall. Fire box is probably 26" x 26" x 26". It's got 5 stainless racks inside. It was a custom design by my friends mom and dad and built by a welder that worked at Boeing.

I plan to get the vertical smoker cleaned up and see how it runs. Part of me thinks it'd be cool to keep the vertical and build a trailer on my 24 x 48 Bell fab, but another trailer on my property is about the last thing I need, lol.

 

[Hockeydudde]

Man, can't believe it's been 2.5 months!
Got the vertical fired up today for the first time in about 12 years!

Took quite a while with the pressure washer to clean out the inside.

Need to pick up some spray oil and some meat tomorrow!

 

[jcam222]

Looking good!! Keep on posting the progress.

 

[chilerelleno]

The hog spit/cage is worthless without a mount and drive, gonna be a lot of time and perhaps money to put that together into a working unit.
Someone will take it as is for a few dollars, that or scrap it.

That vertical is an absolutely beautiful beast!
Talk about capacity, wow.
Somebody would happily pay a pretty penny for it.

 

[02ebz06]

Heck, I'd keep that if it was given to me, and I'm a pellet bigot.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Looks nice. Curious how the temps run top to bottom in the cabinet. Will be watching for first meats smoked.

 

[jcam222]

The hog spit/cage is worthless without a mount and drive, gonna be a lot of time and perhaps money to put that together into a working unit.
Someone will take it as is for a few dollars, that or scrap it.

That vertical is an absolutely beautiful beast!
Talk about capacity, wow.
Somebody would happily pay a pretty penny for it.

What about putting a handle on it and mounding over a cinder block pit?

 

[Hockeydudde]

Looking good!! Keep on posting the progress.

Thanks! More pics coming.

The hog spit/cage is worthless without a mount and drive, gonna be a lot of time and perhaps money to put that together into a working unit.
Someone will take it as is for a few dollars, that or scrap it.

That vertical is an absolutely beautiful beast!
Talk about capacity, wow.
Somebody would happily pay a pretty penny for it.

Heck, I'd keep that if it was given to me, and I'm a pellet bigot.

Yeah, I'm a sucker for free...
I'm not sure we will ever use it and metanzas are pretty popular in my area. Might try to clean it up and sell it.

Looks nice. Curious how the temps run top to bottom in the cabinet. Will be watching for first meats smoked.

Me too! Eventually I'll do a test with bacon or chicken thighs. Just fired it up to season in and threw a few brats on there. It has a few sealing issues I'll need to work on before I worry too much about temp I think.

 

[Hockeydudde]

Well I devided the brats into two grates and spread them out.

There was a surprising amount of side to side variation. The side away from the fire box was quite a bit hotter. Pictured as they were taken off the rack, left to right.

But probably easily fixable with a well placed water pan.

Enjoyed with sauteed peppers and onions, homemade sauerkraut and some gluten free foccia style bread.

 

[02ebz06]

YUM!!! I love brats.

 

[JLeonard]

Oh man, That vertical is cool. You could feed an army off of that thing!!

Jim

 

[jcam222]

Looks great. I’m all about that homemade kraut too.

 

[Hockeydudde]

Oh man, That vertical is cool. You could feed an army off of that thing!!

Jim

Yup! You can cook 14 brats on a 200 gal smoker, but you can't smoke 20 briskets on a "normal" backyard smoker

Looks great. I’m all about that homemade kraut too.

Oh yeah! We love kraut. This batch isn't actually ready, but my wife pulled some off for dinner. It was still a little sweet and cabbage-y. I like kraut to pucker the lips. Was still tasty though.

 

[jcam222]

Yup! You can cook 14 brats on a 200 gal smoker, but you can't smoke 20 briskets on a "normal" backyard smoker

Oh yeah! We love kraut. This batch isn't actually ready, but my wife pulled some off for dinner. It was still a little sweet and cabbage-y. I like kraut to pucker the lips. Was still tasty though.

Funny enough most my batches take a full four weeks until nice and sour. My last batch was ready in 10 days!