Whole hog

[West Coast Kansan]

Piggy arrived late and did not get cleaned up. So there was more prep than I had hoped to spend time doing also still partly frozen. Gave piggy as good of a cleaning as I could.  Injected apple juice and rubbed in the last of my Bad Byrons and the rest of Gizmo's rub. Put as much rub on as I could - all over the inside.



Also started to try to figure out what to do with this big boy to mount him for smoking in the bradley.  First Issue, I wanted 10 to 12 pounds and got 14 lbs 8 oz.  All the extra wieght seems to be in length.

Went through numerous periods of angist, panic and failure and finally decided to try some inside meat hook approach. The two clips by piggy are what i used - just some real heavy wire. One shaped with hooks to the outside and the other was shaped to go through the vent and grab the internally mounted hooks.  Lots of visions about this pulling through especially when piggy got hot - but just pushed them out of my mind. 



I gave the hook idea a test and it showed promise as seen below.  A couple of lessons here is ... the rug on the floor in front of the sink should be moved to avoid dripping blood. A second lesson is you should put the pan on the floor right after you move the rug and before hanging up piggy.  The third lesson is that if you put the pan on the floor and have already moved the rug before your wife comes into the kitchen it will extend your life.  Anyway piggy did just fine while all this was going on so to the next photo.  CAUTION THIS IS GRAPHIC and NOT FOR YOUNG VIEWERS.



Now you have to look closer than you might like... but you can see how well the internal hook has seated and how far "internal" it is located. I really needed to maximize how close piggy is to the top of the tower.



Now you see just how big of a fit problem I had.  But he was in.  I used a vice grip on the external hook to hold piggy.  It would rotate perfect with the vice grip holding the external hook above the vent. The specs on his skin is the excess rub from the counter. Again, I intended to put all the rub on the inside but life is not perfect. When I knocked the half gallon of apple juice over i gotta admit i spilled some rub also. 

Really things did look good at this point the mounting was working and other than piggy's ear being on the puck burner and not a puck, and his nose being on the bottom of the tower - and i still needed a water bowl and drip pan we were set... after all most of the sweat on my brow had stopped after the flurry of activity cleaning up the apple juice / blood / and my jar of rub.

[West Coast Kansan]

The primary thought here was that I really, really wished I had bought a 6 rack - but I didn't so the best thing I could think to do is pretend I did so I just twisted piggy a bit and slid in the drip tray and rested his face on a rack to keep his nose out of the drain hole.  You know how pigs can be...



The block of wood is not for neck pain but to keep his mouth open for an apple or some other presentation idea. You can also see the cavity blocking installed to keep the cavity open for smoke and heat to enter the inside.

Photo after the first hour



I moved the rack down to rest directly on top of the drip pan. Gave him a little more room and he seems to be resting comfortably.

After 3 hours I poked him with the ET 73 on both sides and



had temp reading of 119 shoulder and 107 hams each side was within a degree...pretty impressed.

I would recommend that you take your temperature readings from the inside of the cavity.  It will cut down punctures and ultimately leaks when the real cooking begins.  Did not think of it at the time however even with the wide open cavity to see  ;D



This I think was about hour 9. He has taken on a real nice color. Skin was feeling just right and the cooking was in the magic zone. This pig was going to happen. 167 at butt temp probe and 160 at the hams - which i was very pleased with being so far away at the top. I kept smoke flowing on this pig for the first four hours Apple and then at about 6 hours +- loaded another 4 hours of Apple.  When I finally moved the piggy to the grill I had 3 wood pucks on the ramp and my first bubba was next to feed.

[West Coast Kansan]

Loaded this guy onto the grill to finish. I was thinking a couple of more hours at a higher heat but...



The real nice color is from the smoker as seen in the previous picture. This guy does have a good slathering of Iceman sauce both inside AND outside now.



You can see the sauce marks from the sauce.

I did learn it is important to tie the feet together.  As he cooked more and the meat relaxed his legs extended - eventually interfeering with the plates over the burners and eventually the back of the grill.



Another coating of iceman sauce.  The skin is really excellent. Going to be super crispy. 

[Gizmo]

WCK,
Even after all that, it still looks like more fun than I had today.

This is totally awesome.  Looks like little piggy was getting happier and happier as the day progressed.  I would be willing to bet the smile on your face was as well.

Looks like piggy ate the apple.  LOL.

Looking forward to the appetite treatment review.

[West Coast Kansan]

Suns down and starting to get cold so lowered the hood on the grill using a block of wood to hold it open a bit and keep the temp steady.



Temp was pretty steady and I think was plenty warm.  The skin on one side split - (not photographed) because of the higher heat. Had serious magic happening however.  The whole atmosphere was a bit like cooking a whole hog as things were coming together.



It is clear that appearance is not going to win any contests but this piggy is highly smoked and is cooking up great with crispy skin.  All the meat has loosened and the skin is crisping great.

[West Coast Kansan]

This is a piggy in FTC and stuffed into a tin roaster.  He went into an oven preheated to 250 degrees.  Will go into the fridge in about 4.5 hours when i get up to pee.  Going for my blanket and more tomorrow.  ;D  :D



(forgot the picture)

[Gizmo]

Looks like piggy flexed the spit rod just a bit in the picture.  Very nice.

All Hail to the "Boss Hog". 

[West Coast Kansan]

Yea, it is flexed a good inch.  Getting some good heat and a piggy in the middle.  I had to rig up a riser to gain clearance above the burners so that made the span longer as well. 

House all cleaned painted and ready  ???

[Gizmo]

I wish, but no.  Brother-in-law coming over next weekend with a tracker to rip, grade adjust, and rototill the back yard for a new lawn.  Never finished it after we put the retaining wall in.  Anyway, have really enjoyed your posts.  We are all living vicariously through you right now.

Hopefully you didn't forget that I offered you my 6 rack for the extra space.  Well, I was hoping you'd take me up on the offer just for the excuse to have to come over and pick it up after the pig was done.   :D  :D

[LilSmoker]

That's amazing WCK,  

I saw in another thread that your wife felt sorry for the lil'piggy, my wife said exactly the same when i told her the plan, anyway i still haven't managed to get a pig the right size. On friday i had a phone call from a guy who told me he had 10 suckling pigs in stock of various sizes, but couldn't tell me the actual weights. Well i drove there yesterday morning (40 miles) but all the pigs were around 20+lbs the smallest being about 20lb, so more or less a wasted journey, although i did buy some nice shoulder/butts.

Anyway i think you did a great job WCK, and have given me even more inspiration to give it a go.

Just wanted to ask, in your opinion if i managed to get a 10-12lb piggy, would it be possible to do the entire smoke/cook in the BS?

Great pics, bound for the TrackForum no doubt!

LilSmoker

[Habanero Smoker]

Well! I guess that little piggy shouldn't have gone to the market. I'm always amazed to see a problem solved. Look good, but that is too much meat for me or any gathering I will every have.

[hillbillysmoker]

After following this idea in posts, I never thought it could happened.  I am absolutely amazed.  You should be proud of adaptations made to do this and the lovely pics.  I am sure the finished product will be well worth the time spent and that this smoke will be one talked about for a long time.  Thanks so much for sharing.

[LilSmoker]

Btw WCK, he looks like a real film star with that tan!  ;)

I also think you should give him a name, considering he's destined to be famous in the world of smoking!

[coyote]

Fantastic to say the least WCK , very,very cool. Great reporting , pics ,  the whole nine yards.  8)

                                                                 On behalf of so many , Thank you,
                                                                                                     Coyote

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

WCK,

Very nice......

Arcs_n_Sparks