Will the 1500 cook a whole pig? Yes. The size will be up to you. You need to consider the size of the door opening, which is 32.5" wide, and, the size of the main grate surface, which is 23" deep and 41" long (I would remove the upper grate). If you butterfly the pig, it will have to be smaller because of the 23" grate depth. If you smoke the pig in the racer position, I believe that you can use a larger pig.
One of the most important points for you to consider, is the removal of the pig after it is cooked. The 1500's lower shelf does not slide out, and if you use a tray or pan to put the pig on the cooker, and take it off the cooker, you will have to insure that it and the pig will fit into the cooker given the door dimensions.
I have personally not cooked a whole pig on the 1500, so I am unable to give you a definite answer that a certain size pig is the largest that will fit.
- Joined: May 10th, 2014, 12:33 pm
- Posts: 576
- Location: Sitting Near a Yoder Smoker, Smelling Sweet Blue
It's on my "to do" list for my YS1500, but I haven't done it. Like Herb said, depending on the size, sure. Just make sure it isn't too big so you are blocking any airflow.
If you do it, please post pictures.
I did a 85 lb pig on my rotisserie and that is 60 inches long, and there was not much space, as MBN competitions define a whole hog as 80lbs or more, I am thinking it may not be a whole hog cooker 
, I do not have one yet, I think I need to find out some more before spending $5k 9Canadian on one.
If you have a need for a specialized cooker, we would be happy to discuss your needs with you.
As you can guess, I am looking for a whole hog cooker that uses pellets, I do have a large offset stick burner, but living in Canada and travelling down town a 4000 lb BBQ to cook at Memphis in may is not my idea of fun. I have checked out the Louisiana Grills, but they look like overgrown Traegers, not real kick ass like your pellet cookers. When catering, the better looking the cooker, the better the food tastes 
perception, maybe. So I am wondering if you have such a beast on the planning table? I have YS640, and love it!
- Joined: May 10th, 2014, 12:33 pm
- Posts: 576
- Location: Sitting Near a Yoder Smoker, Smelling Sweet Blue
Chef Michael Symon cooked a whole hog in his Yoder Kingman. The Kingman has a 24" barrel like the YS1500, but it is 48" long vs 42" in the YS1500. So one can fit and cook in there, but I have no idea what size of hog he cooked. Not the best pic, but you get the idea.
http://instagram.com/p/qGybsTmi-g/?modal=true
We currently do not have exactly what you are looking for in our product line up, but there are awesome things always in the works.
I Did a 45lbs pig on my ys1500, and I also did a pork shoulder and a brisket. .. i had to cut the feet off to fit.. I'm very confident I could cook a 55-60 lbs. pig in there as well.. next year ill try bigger
I'd love to see that! 640 is definitely too small for all but a small suckling pig. We typically do them in a La Caja China. I have seen pics of one or two pigs from pellet grills but not many. Was the 45 lbs live weight or dressed weight?
Yep, I need to try that sometime. Very nice.
Gorgeous! Love to see the Sawzall out too! Did you butterfly it yourself? I've never tried that so I'm curious how it worked if you did it yourself. Also curious what temp and time it turned out and whether hams and shoulders were done at same time? How was skin? Crispy at all or no? Sometimes we peel big chunks of the skin off and crisp it up separately either in a fryer or broiler setup. Looks awesome and makes me want to get going on ours now and not wait until October! Nice job! Thanks for photos.
Yes butterflyed it my self with the sawzall. . I cooked it at 225 .. I cooked it for about 12hrs.. it may have cooked faster but I kept openeing the lid to show ppl.. ppl sure do get excited about that pig.. everything was cooked around the same time.. skin was crispy but no one ate it.. it turn out great! I did take all the ribs out before cooking and cooked the ribs in its own.
Smart on the ribs, at least in my experience cooking whole pigs/hogs using other methods. By the time the big muscles are done, the ribs always just end up as more pulled pork, as the meat has completely released from the bones by then. I've seen some folks try to use foil and other methods to insulate the ribs, but I think cutting them out and cooking them separately is smart. I'll probably do that next time too.
Shame nobody ate the skin! That's always one of the biggest seller on ours, typically.
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