Whole Hog Cook Question

[seth711]

We are doing our first whole hog this weekend for a friends pig roast and I am looking for some time or cooking input from all of you whole hoggers out there. We are cooking on a borrowed converted oil drum charcoal burner that we fired up yesterday for our first test. The cooker looks like it loves to cook at 300 degrees and was wondering how long a 160 pound dressed weight hog was going to take to cook. I will butterfly it and removing the head and will be doing it carolina style. My initial plan was to cook it for the first 4 hours at 325 then back it down to 250, and this might be possible if I am able to plug some of the drafty holes on the pit. I was figuring about 16 hours with this method and about 12-14 with the 300 degree cook? This make sense? Input?

 

[midnight]

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. I do 150 avg. weight hogs at 225- 275 deg. on my offset. They usually take about 18 hours total time. I cook mine open belly down and mop or inject heavily. If you want you can cover the leg ends with foil to keep them from burning. I don't cook mine with the head on, but if you do foil the ears to keep from burning.

Some people will flip the hog over 1/2 way through the cook. With my offset I don't need to do that. I don't know about a barrel cooker??

your times and temps sound good. Remember that a hot hog will stay above 180 deg. for a few hours, so if it gets done a little early just back off the heat and monitor the meat temp. Make sure to have a big garbage can near by when you start chopping it up.

Post some pics if you can!