Pig Roaster Dilemma

[Jeff]

Looks like the pig roaster I have used for every pig I have roasted over the last 10 years is not going to be available to me this year. I have to come up with a down and dirty way to build a roaster before the pig roast.  I could do the dig a  hole bit but that dont appeal to me.  I'm sur eI'll come up with something but I'm looking for ideas and suggestions to spur the imagination.  I dont have a welder, so any fabrication of that kind has to be sourced out.  I'm thinking maybe some sort of stacked cement block encloser to hoild the heat, charcoal to produce the heat, and since Tammy wants to see a movie tonight, I'm going early to look around tractor supply for ideas.   I do have a hit-n-miss engine we could use to turn a spit. ;D Maybe we'll have to have people bring parts from all thier local junk yards and build one the day before eh?    I wish WE had a junkyard. :-\

[Tom]

The stacked block would work fine if the holes are filled with sand.  That would help it to contain the heat and provide some stability too.  A roof of roofing tin should be sufficient too.  A sheet placed below the pig will save any loose meat from falling into the fire and might stop flare-ups.  You have to be careful but sand hilled up on top will help to seal the holes from the corregations.

Leave a hole or two at the bottom so that new coals can be added.  These holes can be plugged with a single block.

[Dan_Shade]

I've done the dig a hole method, it works well.

have the day before crew dig the hole!  have the day after crew fill it back in!

[pigman]

and have a middle crew eat the pig. 8)

[Furby]

I have a 225 gallon fuel tank that I was planning to make into a roaster but haven't gotten around to it yet. We can use that, or I have one (pig roaster) already made that I'm pretty sure I can barrow, just not sure about getting it up to you in time.

[scsmith42]

Jeff, I am not going to be able to attend the pig roast this year, but I have a spit that you can borrow if someone is coming through North Carolina on their way to and from the pig roast.

The spit will work with up to a 250lb hog, is operated by an electric motor and it turns at 1 rpm.  To use it, you build two fires - one to be under the pig and a separate one to create coals.

I also have a smaller pig cooker on a trailer, that can be made available.  It would require you to split the pig into halves, but it is large enough for two halves.  It's a pretty nice unit.

Let me know if interested.  Regards,  Scott

[pigman]

Furby, you have me confused again.
I know how to make a barrow out of a male pig, but I didn't know you could make a barrow out of a roaster. I learn something new every day on the Forestry Forum. 8)
Bob

[Furby]

Yeah, ya caght me.
Had three hours sleep in the last two days.......... sue me! ;D

[Corley5]

How's about renting one ???  Mt Pleasant must have a rental place that has them ???

[beenthere]

Corley5 has a good idea.
If building one, consider that I've a brother who roasts a lot of pigs (probably an average of 2 a month each year for the last 20 years) as a side business and he doesn't turn them on a spit. He lays the whole pig spread eagle on a grill-like stainless grate, and slides it in the cooker and closes the top. A lot less fuss keeping it tied together and cooks great with the cover.
Charcoal is kept in side 'doors' that flip open to fill and tip in to provide heat. The coals are kept to the sides and not under the drippings. I'll see if I can round up some pics or drawings.

My first pigs were using the turning-spit method (old coal stoker gear box and motor) and done with concrete block and aluminum foil heat deflectors. More like open-air cooking but it worked over time (usually 10 hours), but was a lot of extra work too.

Cooked a lot of beef, pork, venison, and bear meat in the ground too. Dig a hole (4x4x4'), burn slabs for several hours to get hot coals, wrap the meat in linen, then chicken wire. Pour water on the linen to soak it, then drop it on the hot coals. Cover over with steel plate and shovel dirt over the top. Let it set in this underground pit for 8-10 hours. Remove the dirt, then the steel plate, and lift out some very well done meat. Delicious, but LOTS of work. Would feed 100-120 men with 160# of meat.

[thurlow]

Sounds like I'm missing a good time (piggie roast), but surely there's some good ole boys (or rednecks) around that part of the world that would loan a feller a cooker.  Around "here", a good ole boy.......by definition.........owns, either outright, or at least a share,  in a cooker that would cook any pig that ever lived. 

[Jeff]

Furby and the Stump Jumpers and I may be on the trail of creating an official Forestry Forum Pig Roaster so we will never need to want again. MARCEL! FORGET ABOUT IT!  We aint painting it polka dotted. ;D


I have a 40 to one gear box here I need to find a motor for. I'll post info on the gearbox tomorrow to see if anyone can help find a source for a motor.

[J_T]

Here I go to the local bank an borrow one  8) If you owe them enough they will let you have it . ;D They got a fire box in the center and has a pair of deepfryers on it .

[Stump Jumper]

If anyone has any pics or measurements or ideas on a pig roaster please let us know. 

Jeff do you still the roaster there so as to get some pics and measurements off from it.

[Jeff]

nope, its not here but I got em in my head. ;D I used that roaster so many hours I got it imprinted on my eyeballs.

[Lenny_M]

 I`ve been thinking about making one for years now, but havn`t got roundtoit
got severall small gearmotors 1/3 hp, 40-1 and 60-1 ratio i think and a stainless shaft 1 1/8x 6-7 ft long and sprockets to get a spick rpm of somewere around 1/3 rpm
 I can donate for A good cause. ;D
 The best roasters i`ve used are slow spick rpm with the coals off to the sides.set the roaster at a slight angle with a drain hole for the fat. The pig doesn`t fall apart from turning fast and no fat flair ups
Let me know if you can use them
                                               Lenny

[DanG]

Here's the plans. ;D

[Jeff]

Lenny, what do you need to have for the gearmotor and shaft?  I have a gearbox here but I think I'll have a hard time finding a motor that fits it. I'll post a phto of it shortly

[Jeff]

THis is what I have, I think a motor that actually "bolts up" may be trouble finding.  To bad we dont have more members closer and more time. I bet we could build a Forestry Forum pig roaster that you walk a live hog into and it comes out the other side on plates with all the sides


DanG thats a homely eye....

[Fla._Deadheader]

Shouldn't be all that hard to find a motor for that gearbox. Try an electric motor shop. I believe some standard motors will bolt up to that gearbox. Just replaces the front bell on the motor.

  Might be bigger than 1/3 HP though ???

[DanG]

If ya have to build a cooker, ya might think about using indirect heat instead of a spit.  It would be lots simpler to build and works real well.  You can build it right on the ground from concrete blocks and make a cover with some old roofing tin and a bit of scrap iron.

[Jeff]

I've had pig on a spit, and I have had it where it was splayed out on a rack. It always seems that spit cooked hogs cook much more evenly. At least the ones I do. I have been to roasts where the hog was burnt in places and in other places way under cooked.  I think anyone that has been to the Forum Pigroasts can tell ya, We got er down. ;D   I cook the hog very slow, starting late in the afternoon the day before and usually all that night.  I get the roaster up to temporature quickly and get the hog greasing, then I decrease the temp and begin injecting a mixture of beer and bbq sauce off and on through the night.  Usually it takes 12 to 16 hours. You can do one in less then half that time, but ours come out juicy, tender and flavorful. 

[DanG]

A pig can be cooked well on a proper cooker of either type.  It can also be screwed up on either one.  The cook has a lot to do with that.

To be sure, it's best to go with the method that is familiar to you, but if you can't get it put together in time, we can put something together that will work well.  Don't make me have to come up there and drink all your beer getting that pig cooked! :

[beenthere]

As DanG said well, it's the cook for both methods.
(one reason my Dad started roasting his own pigs, because he'd been to too many Greek pig roasts where the pig wasn't done. Seems the old tale that the apple in the pigs mouth was the measuring stick, and when the apple was done, the pig was done.  Not even close.  : ).

Do what works best, as the pig at last years' roast couldn't have been better than what it was. Even with all the excitement about the regulator on the gas supply line, that pig was done well and was a great excuse to stay up all night talking about it getting done just right and listening to all the stories and 'tails'.  But stand back when the meat butcher's line up to carve the piggy (but only far enough back to be able to reach a nibble or two for taste testing, and LBJ keeps the ground cleaned pretty well).

Is the old pig roaster for sale? busy? new ownership? busted?     Just curious. 

[Jeff]

Thats what I'm aiming for ya old pig cooker. ;) I'd love ta have you up here sitting and a telling me the right way ta do it. We can have Woodbowl pickin the appropriate background music whilst we swine.  

The old roaster's owner has an event "perhaps" the same day.  He said he would let us know in a couple weeks. That aint goona get er. We cant wait until the last minute and find out we might not have it. Best to just figure on not having it.