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Burning 1/4 Cord of wood.... how long till coals?

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DirtyDirty00

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Im burning 1/4 cord of wood tonight. Im not sure all at once or i might put half and then lets that burn down a bit before throwing more wood on (i dont want the flames to be too high to avoid the fire department!)


anyone have any idea on how long this will take until it has burned down to coals?
 
DirtyDirty00 said:
Im burning 1/4 cord of wood tonight. Im not sure all at once or i might put half and then lets that burn down a bit before throwing more wood on (i dont want the flames to be too high to avoid the fire department!)


anyone have any idea on how long this will take until it has burned down to coals?
Click to expand...

Why are you burning that much wood?
 
Impossible to guess, with the lack info given. What kind of wood? What type of vessel are you burning it in? Seasoned or green? Rounds or splits?
 
Plan on three to four hours to get a bed of hot coals deep enough for the pig.

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just keep throwing the wood in until the hot coals are at least a foot deep

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Good luck with it Rich. The first one is the hardest, not knowing what to expect. They get easier!
 
mmmmeat said:
Dah DAH DDUUHHH Cowgirl to the rescue!!!, how deep is that hole?? 4ft?
Click to expand...

lol Thanks! Yep this one was 4ft.. It takes a foot of hot coals, room for the hog and another foot or so of head space. It's worth the work though. :thumb:
 
cowgirl said:
lol Thanks! Yep this one was 4ft.. It takes a foot of hot coals, room for the hog and another foot or so of head space. It's worth the work though. :thumb:
Click to expand...

what's your normal cover? to you have a constant peice of something that you always cover with? i.e. a peice of sheet metal or plywood or the like?


sorry bout the lil hijack Rich. Pit Pig is somethin i've wanted to do for a while and may get my chance at christmastime!
 
mmmmeat said:
what's your normal cover? to you have a constant peice of something that you always cover with? i.e. a peice of sheet metal or plywood or the like?


sorry bout the lil hijack Rich. Pit Pig is somethin i've wanted to do for a while and may get my chance at christmastime!
Click to expand...

I have a sheet of metal that I use over and over. The pit is too hot for a wood cover.

Good luck with it... hope the ground isn't too hard to dig in December, you might want to dig your pit before cold weather sets in. :)

Never mind... your ground probably doesn't freeze as hard as here! :)
 
shoot, our ground doesnt freeze, would have to get cold for that ;) i just gotta deal with the stinkin clay!!
 
Thanks everyone.

Yes cowgirl. Tonight is the night. Gonna start Burning the wood soon!

Big problem tho. My hole was 3 ft deep. With all this rain the water level has risen and I got about a foot of water in the hole. I bucketed the water out but no avail. Hour later its full again.

Well I'm gonna try and make do! I'll load it with rocks and fill the bottom with soil just above the water level. Then ill burn the wood and bury it. It will barely be below ground. Maybe 6 inches. Then we will dig a hole next to the pig and mound the dirt on the pit
 
You can burn in a 55 gallon drum and use the coals as they come w/o having to wait for the entire pile of wood to burn up.

At the bottom of the drum cut out a "hole" large enough to get a flat shovel through (give it 2-4" extra width so you can move the shovel around inside). The height of the hole can be in the 8" range. About 6-12" above the shovel hole drill holes in the drum to allow rebar to be slid through...forming a grate. Keep the rebar about 3-5" apart. I can't tell you exactly how far apart to keep it as I haven't seen or used a drum in a while now. You want the gap large enough to allow your burnt coals to fall through. Fill the drum with wood and light it up. The coals will fall to the bottom and you can just scoop them out with your flat shovel.

That's the method I was raised on. Works like a dream and you can take the drum with you if the cooking is to be done away from home...quite typical where I am from.
 
This would work if I was using a spit... Which I did last year. This year I'm cooking it in the ground. Need all my coals to be done at once to put the pig in the ground and seal it up
 
Sounds like a fantastic time! Did you end up picking up the rubs from Oakridge? If not what did you do it in, and if so which did you get?

I would love to do a whole hog in the Gamebird and Chicken and the Comp Pork and Beef together, get that nice sweet heat flavor happening. Also did you inject anything into him?

Anyway, hook us up with the PrOn-a-thon and let us lick our screens wishing we were there:hungry:
 
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