On Jul 31, 7:38*pm, Ignoramus28671 ignoramus28...@NOSPAM.
28671.invalid wrote:
This one was a rental at a party where I am right now.

* * *http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Pig-Roaster.jpg

Would be great to make one like this.

This looks like an added top mechanism that sets on a conventional
rental grille for cooking burgers and the like, which sounds like a
good simple way to use equipment the rental place already has on
hand. If you're trying to set up a dedicated unit, you have
considerably more flexibility.

I've seen a couple of pigs roasted, and there were a couple of
differences in the cooking units.

First, the height. These had the charcoal fire much closer to the
ground, which also meant the spit was lower. For the young pig you
show, that might not be a big issue, but the ones I saw roasted were
in the 120-150 lb. range, and the less distance you have to lift the
spit the better. Also, it makes for a more stable unit, which when
you're dealing with a large cookfire and simultaneously trying to keep
a lot of food off the ground can be a big asset.

Secondly, these were chain drive, which meant that the motor could be
mounted further from the heat, which helped the motors and gearcases
last longer.

Also, an operational note. The fat tends to drip off the parts that
stick out--the legs, even when they're cut short. It's best if there
is not fire directly under the dripline at those spots, leaving a pile
of coals in the middle and one at each end. One of the roaster
operators told me that lesson was learned from hard experience: when
flareups ignite the pig, it quickly gets so involved that nothing can
be salvaged, and it happens both easier and faster than one might
expect.

--Glenn Lyford