Hobby Climber
TreeHouser
Had an idea some time back when I came upon an old oil tank someone had dumped back in my folks wood lot, ...A pig Cooker !
Waited till winter time and with the help of a friend, we slid it out over the snow and loaded it into the pickup.
Not having any experience in how to design or build a pig cooker, I went over many an idea till this past spring.
Every pig roast I've attended in the past, the pig though good, came out chard and visually unappealing.
If your familiar with the concept of "Beer-Can-Chicken", where you place a can of beer in the cavity of a chicken and sit it upright in the BBQ with indirect heat till it comes out fully cooked and golden brown. ... that's kind of the thought behind the design of my cooker.
I split the tank in two. Using some angle iron, I made a rim on both halves to give it some strength & to hold it's shape.
Inside, I made an internal frame that also holds the 1/4" thick water/heat tray.
It was made out of a large I-beam that was turned into a channel iron shape and I capped the ends making a water tray.
After fabricating the grill, I made an exterior frame for added strength and one day I will simply add an axle to tow it but for now it sits in a small trailer.
There are two fire boxed and they are accessed from each ends of the cooker for simplicity of adding charcoal & regulating heat.
I've never worked with metal before but ended up doing all the fabricating, fitting and clamping. Had a friend do the welding for me since I didn't have that skill.
To date, I've only cooked two pigs on it. A 60 lbs & a 54 Lbs and both turned out better than I could ever hope for.
I was going for that golden brown exterior and with the large water/heat tray that's a bit wider that the grill, the steam vapour prevented the skin from getting chard.
In the attached pic, that pig was fully cooked and delicious !
ps -to the guy who dumped their trash oil tank in my folks wood lot...….. Thank You !!!
Waited till winter time and with the help of a friend, we slid it out over the snow and loaded it into the pickup.
Not having any experience in how to design or build a pig cooker, I went over many an idea till this past spring.
Every pig roast I've attended in the past, the pig though good, came out chard and visually unappealing.
If your familiar with the concept of "Beer-Can-Chicken", where you place a can of beer in the cavity of a chicken and sit it upright in the BBQ with indirect heat till it comes out fully cooked and golden brown. ... that's kind of the thought behind the design of my cooker.
I split the tank in two. Using some angle iron, I made a rim on both halves to give it some strength & to hold it's shape.
Inside, I made an internal frame that also holds the 1/4" thick water/heat tray.
It was made out of a large I-beam that was turned into a channel iron shape and I capped the ends making a water tray.
After fabricating the grill, I made an exterior frame for added strength and one day I will simply add an axle to tow it but for now it sits in a small trailer.
There are two fire boxed and they are accessed from each ends of the cooker for simplicity of adding charcoal & regulating heat.
I've never worked with metal before but ended up doing all the fabricating, fitting and clamping. Had a friend do the welding for me since I didn't have that skill.
To date, I've only cooked two pigs on it. A 60 lbs & a 54 Lbs and both turned out better than I could ever hope for.
I was going for that golden brown exterior and with the large water/heat tray that's a bit wider that the grill, the steam vapour prevented the skin from getting chard.
In the attached pic, that pig was fully cooked and delicious !
ps -to the guy who dumped their trash oil tank in my folks wood lot...….. Thank You !!!
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