"Baron Von Schwein" 120 Gallon Horizontal Tank RF Build. QVIEW!

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Since I first posted my 1st. post to you, my main desk top computer crashed and I cant get any of my files off of it.However I went to my laptop and was able to pull the following off. It's pretty good because they give you a pdf on how to smoke a whole hog on their cooker or one simular to it. Yours is a lot like theirs and they will be glad to send you the complete recipe, no strings attached. They are great people.

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Hello, Thomas!

I shared with you the three methods of cooking a whole pig taken from our free guide, "How to Cook a Whole Pig." Here are some more tips for turning out a great cooked pig.

Tips for Cooking a Whole Pig

The drip pan in all Meadow Creek Pig Roasters helps prevent charring and also funnels out the grease (except in the PR36). A barrier like this in your pig cooker is a big help in cooking the perfect pig and makes the grease a lot easier to deal with.

Place the cooker on solid, level ground where the cooker can't tip after it's loaded. Set a metal (not plastic) bucket under the drip stem for the grease to drip into.

Cooking time will vary, depending on the weather, thickness of the meat, cooking temperature, and how your cooker cooks, etc. Clear high pressure days are the best and overcast low pressure days are the worst.

Some pig cookers have a thermometer in the top of the cooking area. If it's really cold outside, this thermometer may not be giving you an accurate reading. Set a cheap oven thermometer on the grate or run a probe inside at the grate level to see if the thermometer is accurate.

Also, it's important to choose a pig that fits your cooker. You don't want to deal with a pig that's too long for your cooker and hangs over the end of the drip pan or your grease barrier. This is just asking for trouble because the pig will likely catch on fire or get too hot.

If you're just getting started with pig cooking, it's important to keep an eye on the progress throughout the cook, so you can make adjustments as needed.

I've included a chart in the PDF to help you determine the approximate cooking time for a whole pig with skin. The weights listed are live weights. Check the internal temperature in your meat with a probe thermometer.

The meat is fully cooked at 170 degrees F, but if you want to pull the pork, you may need to top it off a little higher. However, some of the best pulled pork I remember eating was cooked to the 170's. If you're cooking a whole hog with the belly sewn shut, you'll want to take it up to 200 degrees F.

Use your own judgment to determine when the pig is ready. If it's tender and you're hungry, go for it! Just remember to check the temperature of the thickest parts first.

Once the pig is ready, remove it from the pig roaster and set it on a table for carving or pulling. Remove the skin and slice the meat from the carcass or simply dig in with gloved hands and pull it to pieces.

We like freezing pulled pork in quart-size freezer bags. This keeps the barbecue tasting great for a long time and makes it easy to thaw a small amount at a time.

There is plenty more that could be said about roasting a whole pig, but we hope this guide has given you some positive direction for making your first pig the perfect pig!

And by the way, if the snout catches fire or the skin gets too hot and breaks open, it's not the first time that happened. Don't get discouraged because your first pig doesn't turn out spectacular. Eat it (if you can) and try again!

Most of all, I hope you enjoy your day. Grab your favorite beverage, sit back, and relax while that piggy smokes.

See Ya Next Time!

I hope the tips I've sent can be helpful to you. Download the guide for the complete print-friendly version.

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Have fun,

Lavern Gingerich
[email protected]
 

PS. Do you have any questions about cooking your pig or anything else? Please reply to this email and we'll try to help you out.

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Above: PR42 Pig Roaster with Second Tier Grate loaded with pork butts.

Meadow Creek's Pig Roasters work great for smoking pork butts, whole chickens, briskets, and more---besides cooking whole pigs.

Please lrt me know if this helps.  TOM

 
 
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I love checking back in on this thread and your progress! It's like I'm building a sweet a@# smoker but without all the burn holes in my pants or any of the nasty gray welding bugers... Great job...! Smokin - K  
Haha burn holes and welding boogers! Its funny how fast thats what you associate with working with metal. And the smell of metal embedded in your skin after grinding. Thanks for the idea on the lights. I think I am going to try moving them back first and if that still causes problems Ill look into those oval lights. Great Idea!
 
You are very welcome if I can help with anything let me know, I've smoking on large smokers like yours for about 40 years. Right now until I get the money I am having to smoke on a very small 2 rack smoker with charcoal and wood chips and small sticks of pecan or mesquete that I go out and cut myself then make it fit my smoker.Thanksgiving turned out great with 2 chickens and a ham. I just couldn't get any more on it. I'll be watching the rest of your pictures and post you do.
 
Since you considered moving it, why not move it forward, abuting the fender.  You may have to move both sides but it looks like it would solve you problem of heat radiation. Also if you dropped a log etc. it would not fall onto the light.  I have seen boat trailers with lights in and on the fenders.
 
When I built my smoker I didn't want to deal with lighting so I just bought a magnetic set.  Remove when in use, attach when in transit...
 
I would suggest 2 things. (1) put the vent stack on the other end of the tank away from the heat source and (2) make sure you do a test run BEFORE the wedding. There is nothing worse than all smoke and no pull. 
It's coming along great. My buddies & I built mine but nothing on such a grand scale. Can't wait to se the finished product.
 
 
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If you rig is small enough where you can still see the tail light on the tow vehicle - you may not need lights at all. Put some reflector strips on the back and call it good.

I just redid the back of my truck and found these waterproof led lights at Harbor Freight.

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-submersible-oval-led-stop-turn-trailer-tail-light-67064.html

You cut an oval shaped hole in the back frame member - install the rubber gasket and pop in the lights. The rubber gasket makes it so they push in when you pack into things -and you don't break the lenses!

This is how my truck came out.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/JIQ6dbS9hk1rB96EREWL_9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink
 
Does anyone have a link of a neat links of other cool builds I'm thinking about doing one on this old boat trailer i picked up.


I actually have a trailer sitting in the back yard for this very thing.  Well not really just for this but I could use it just for this.  I use to tow my Jet Ski around on it.  Picked up the trailer for free w/a boat on it.  Tossed the old fiberglass boat to the dumps for about $25.00 and kept the trailer.

I'm a little late here but any one needing a trailor for a build like this may also want to try hitting up any Tow yards or salvage yards for a really inexpensive boat trailor that'll get the job done just fine.

I have another boat trailer that I turned into a flat bed.  I actually had to pay a pretty penny for it but it's a better trailer and I got it years when I was in desperate need for a cheap flatbed trailer.  Otherwise I would not have paid the $250.00 just to convert a boat trailer.   It actually had a 1975 '17 Tahiti on it "nice looking jet boat" but the transome was trashed and motor/outdrive was gone.  Needless to say that boat ended up in the dumps too.

I'd like to see you guys pull this one off w/o a hitch LOL

The Build Looks Great.  Keep Up The Good Work.
 
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If you rig is small enough where you can still see the tail light on the tow vehicle - you may not need lights at all. Put some reflector strips on the back and call it good.

I just redid the back of my truck and found these waterproof led lights at Harbor Freight.

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-submersible-oval-led-stop-turn-trailer-tail-light-67064.html

You cut an oval shaped hole in the back frame member - install the rubber gasket and pop in the lights. The rubber gasket makes it so they push in when you pack into things -and you don't break the lenses!

This is how my truck came out.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/JIQ6dbS9hk1rB96EREWL_9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink
Oooo I like that! I could add a piece of angle under the back of the trailer then mount the oval ones in. The angles would keep them from getting crushed if the trailer gets tipped back too far (its pretty close to the ground so it wouldnt take much). I think I have some 3 or 4 inch angle at the job site I could use.

Thanks guys!
 
 
If you rig is small enough where you can still see the tail light on the tow vehicle - you may not need lights at all. Put some reflector strips on the back and call it good.

I just redid the back of my truck and found these waterproof led lights at Harbor Freight.

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-submersible-oval-led-stop-turn-trailer-tail-light-67064.html

You cut an oval shaped hole in the back frame member - install the rubber gasket and pop in the lights. The rubber gasket makes it so they push in when you pack into things -and you don't break the lenses!

This is how my truck came out.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/JIQ6dbS9hk1rB96EREWL_9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink


The lights you give in the link to Harbor Freight look totally different than the ones you have on your truck. The ones at Harbor Freight have only one row of LED lights and the ones shown on your truck look like they have two rows of LED lights.

I would be careful and make sure that the ones shown from Harbor Freight are not just Brake/Turn Signal lights. Make sure they have 3 wires and not just 2. If they only have 2 they will only be good for Brake/Turn Signal lights but not for Tail lights or vice-versa. You need lights that have 3 wires to be able to wire them up to act as both Tail and Brake/Turn Signal lights. Unfortunately, like the picture of the round lights to the right on the Harbor Freight page that show 3 wires, the oval ones do not show wires at all.
 
The round yellow ones are my turn signals.

Sexy - ha?

They do flash too fast - I think I need some type of resistor to simulate the filament 'load'.

The red Tail/Brake lights only have one row of LEDs but they are plenty bright.

Older vehicles only used 4 wires for tail/brake/turn signals.

Newer vehicles use a 5 wires system.

You can get an adapter for running trailers with only 4 wire tail/brake lights.

This is specifically for a Toyota - but the same is true for any 5 wire tail light system.

http://www.logue.net/trailer/index.htm
 
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The round yellow ones are my turn signals.

Sexy - ha?

They do flash too fast - I think I need some type of resistor to simulate the filament 'load'.

The red Tail/Brake lights only have one row of LEDs but they are plenty bright.

Older vehicles only used 4 wires for tail/brake/turn signals.

Newer vehicles use a 5 wires system.

You can get an adapter for running trailers with only 4 wire tail/brake lights.

This is specifically for a Toyota - but the same is true for any 5 wire tail light system.

http://www.logue.net/trailer/index.htm
When I was talking about the number of wires I was not talking about the trailer wiring system, I was talking about the individual tail light. If the individual tail light has only two wires it can only be used for either a tail light or a brake/turn signal light. If it has three wires it is probably set up as a duel tail light that can be wired as a brake/turn signal and tail light.
 
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Got the cutout for the firebox done and the frame welded on. I made the frame, tacked it on, and used a cutting disk to mark out the frame on the tank. Ill machine the panels for the dampers this week. I hadnt planned on it but I made a rack for the firebox with some 1/2" rebar. I also started mounting the smoker to the trailer. I got two of the four holes drilled and bolted together. I would of had them all done but the motor in the cordless drill I was using melted. Woops! My plan is to take next saturday to finish the inlet, finish mounting the smoker to the trailer, and a few other odds and ends so I can bring it home an burn it in. My plan is the following weekend to do the first smoke for my graduation party. It should give me a good chance to think through the needs of the rest of the build.

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Loved reading this thread.  Thanks for the entertainment!  When this is all done, are you going to make it look like a pig, as others have done? 
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Thanks again,

Brian
 
Nice work this weekend.  Until you get a new drill, you could use square u-bolts to hold it down.  I don't remember if it was suggested earlier or not, but you might want to weld some cross pieces on your firebox door on the inside to keep it from warping.  It usually isn't a problem on the thicker steel doors but with the ~24 gauge steel on the tank you have, it might have some issues.  It might not be a bad idea to put a piece just below your grate and about the same distance from the top on the door end as well.  The vent end still has the integrity of rounded bottom, as well as, the  heavy-duty insert you welded on.
 
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