Spit roast a pig: what a garden stand can and cannot turn
Updated: October 2026
You are pricing a pig or a lamb for a birthday in the garden, and a £160 listing says 60 kg. The number on the title is the decision, and it is often a claim rather than a cook someone in Britain has described. This page is about when to spit roast a pig at home and when that means a different machine. Chickens, the probe sequence, and the rest are on [how to use a spit roaster](/hub/grills-and-barbecues/spit-roaster/sub/spit-roaster-how-to-use). The nine amazon.co.uk rows, with shelf prices from about £60 to £215, are in the [spit roaster comparison](/hub/grills-and-barbecues/spit-roaster). The Products Compared editorial team set the review limits from those files on 15 October 2026. We did not turn a carcase. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
You are pricing a pig or a lamb for a birthday in the garden, and a £160 listing says 60 kg. The number on the title is the decision, and it is often a claim rather than a cook someone in Britain has described.
You are pricing a pig or a lamb for a birthday in the garden, and a £160 listing says 60 kg. The number on the title is the decision, and it is often a claim rather than a cook someone in Britain has described. This page is about when to spit roast a pig at home and when that means a different machine. Chickens, the probe sequence, and the rest are on how to use a spit roaster. The nine amazon.co.uk rows, with shelf prices from about £60 to £215, are in the spit roaster comparison. The Products Compared editorial team set the review limits from those files on 15 October 2026. We did not turn a carcase. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Claimed load | Power | What reviews turned | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  onlyfire onlyfire BRK-6012 114 cm | 40 lb, about 18 kg | Mains, voltage not stated | Chickens and a pork loin | 9.0 | about £64.99 | View offer |
| Alternative |  Kendane Kendane 40 kg spit stand | 40 kg | 15 W AC | A 25 kg hog; heavier pigs did not | 6.1 | about £169.98 | View offer |
| Best value |  hzexun hzexun 100 kg spit stand | 100 kg | 45 W, 220 V | No UK cook; stalls below 100 kg | 4.0 | about £215 | View offer |
On this page
A pig’s weight is the decision
Start with the dead weight you will actually collect, not the weight the stand’s title prefers. Superior Meats, a UK butcher, describes suckling pigs around 10 to 14 kg and lambs often around 18 to 22 kg. Their rough guide for a 16 to 20 kg pig is about five hours, longer in a cold wind. That is a butcher’s planning note for the animal, not a measured run on any motor in our table. Spitting Pig Hertfordshire, writing about their own catering machines, allows about six hours for a 40 kg pig and about seven hours for 50 kg, and about three and a half to four hours for lamb. Those hours belong to their ovens.
A suckling pig at 12 kg is a different job from a 40 kg pig. The first can sit near the stated 10 kg line of a camping or fire-pit stand only if you treat that line as a claim and you still have clearance for the carcase. The second is the size caterers put on a dedicated machine. A lamb at 20 kg is already past every grill-kit load in this comparison. The onlyfire BRK-6012 states 40 lb, about 18 kg, and the UK texts on it are chickens and a pork loin. Putting a 20 kg lamb on that rod because the numbers look close is how a grill kit gets asked to do a hog-oven job. If you are still choosing the type of stand, the kit or stand page is the fork.
What the kept stands claim
Four freestanding listings carry the heavy numbers. Kendane, at £169.98, states 40 kg on a 132 cm rod with a 15 W motor at 3 revolutions per minute, four heights, and lockable castors. DOBADN, at £154.99, states 60 kg and five heights from 16 cm to 60 cm. The onlyfire 60 kg kit, at £159.99, states the same height band, 2.5–3 revolutions per minute, and a warning that uneven weight above and below the rod can stop the rotation. hzexun, at £215, states 100 kg, a 51 inch spit, and 45 W at 220 V. None of those kilogram lines is a weight we have measured.
The texts that do exist cut the claims down. On the Kendane, one UK review describes a 25 kg hog that turned, with a silent motor and a height that suited a fire on the floor. Two other UK texts say a pig at about the claimed 40 kg did not turn properly, and a 60 kg pig managed half a turn and was cooked by hand for nine hours. One of those reviewers says the listing should have said no more than 35 kg. A large share of the 79 reviews, averaged at 4.1, are forks bought without this stand, so the star line is a mixed pool. hzexun rates 3.2 from 31 reviews, and the paragraphs in the file are from the United States, Germany, and France. They describe breakage or a stall around 40 kg, around 70 lb, and around 150 lb, plus wobbly legs. That is not British opinion of the tripod, and it is still the only commentary the file has. DOBADN is 5.0 from one review with no paragraph. The onlyfire 60 kg kit has no star line. The honest line is that those two listings claim 60 kg and no cook in the file checks it.
What a hog-roast machine costs instead
A propane hog-roast oven is a cabinet with burners, a lid, and a spit motor, priced by catering suppliers in a different band. MobCater lists machines from £2,549 to £5,375, running at 37 mbar, with a small 240 V spit motor, and gives an example rated to 80 kg. Spitting Pig lists a Hogmaster at £2,495, stated up to 75 kg. Kirklands lists a small propane machine up to 30 kg. Sunshine BBQs, in a seller’s guide, splits DIY stands into bands up to 25 kg, 25 to 40 kg, and 40 to 60 kg and more, with shop prices from about £500, and weekend hire often £150 to £350. Those pages are sellers describing their own kit. They are the price cliff next to a £169.98 tripod, not a test of the Kendane motor.
Hire is the practical route when the pig is around 40 kg, the guest list is a crowd, or you are selling the food. A weekend at £150 to £350, on Sunshine’s guide, can undercut a stand you then discover will not turn. Selling the meat makes you a food business. The machine, if it is LPG catering equipment, is also a Gas Safe question. HSE sheet CAIS23 points mobile-catering LPG at engineers with that competence. A charcoal tripod in the garden is not that gas appliance, so Gas Safe does not attach to the Kendane because it burns charcoal. It does attach once you hire or buy the propane oven. A 220 V line on the hzexun still does not print a BS 1363 plug.
Pork still has to be cooked through
Whatever turns the pig, pork has to be cooked through. The temperatures and the equivalents live on the how-to page, taken from the Food Standards Agency: 70°C for 2 minutes in the centre, or the Agency’s hotter and shorter combinations. Probe the meat, not the bone and not the rod. A caterer’s six hours for a 40 kg pig is their oven on their clock. It is not a timer you can copy onto a 15 W garden motor that UK texts could not turn that weight. Cold wind, which Superior Meats already flags on a smaller pig, stretches any of those hours.
Do not build a home recipe that skips the probe because a listing says automatic rotation. Rotation only moves the surface. If the motor stalls, as on the Kendane report of a 60 kg pig finished by hand, you are no longer spit-roasting. You are turning a carcase with gloves for most of the day, which is a reason to stop and hire rather than a technique to recommend. Keep the cook in the garden, keep a mains lead on a 30 mA RCD, and stop if the motor smells hot. The Agency’s danger zone, 8–63°C, still applies while a large joint waits to be carved. Rest it covered and carve while it is hot, or chill it. The stand you bought does not change that rule.
Common questions
How heavy a pig can a home spit take?
Use a weight a review has turned, not the largest number on the title. In this set the Kendane UK texts describe a 25 kg hog that turned, and pigs around 40 kg and 60 kg that did not. The camping and fire-pit stands state 10 kg, with no pig cook attached. DOBADN and the onlyfire 60 kg kit state 60 kg and have no review paragraph. hzexun states 100 kg, and the non-UK texts describe failure far below that. A suckling pig at 10 to 14 kg is the size a butcher names. It is still not a tested load on these stands.
Is a £200 stand the same as a hog-roast machine?
A garden stand in this comparison tops out at £215 on the raw shelf. A propane hog oven on MobCater’s list starts at £2,549 and runs to £5,375, with an example rated to 80 kg. Sunshine BBQs puts DIY hog stands from about £500. The £169.98 Kendane is a charcoal frame with a 15 W motor. It is not a lidded gas cabinet. Matching them by the word spit is how the lighter machine gets a 40 kg pig it may not turn.
How long does a 40 kg pig take on a caterer’s machine?
Spitting Pig Hertfordshire allows about six hours for a 40 kg pig and about seven hours for 50 kg, on their machines. Lamb on that page is about three and a half to four hours. Superior Meats suggests about five hours for a 16 to 20 kg pig, longer in a cold wind. Those are their guides. They are not times for a 15 W amazon.co.uk stand, and they do not replace a probe in the meat.
What is a suckling pig versus a full pig?
Superior Meats puts suckling pigs around 10 to 14 kg. A pig at 16 to 20 kg is already their about five hours size, and a 40 kg pig is what Spitting Pig times at about six hours on a catering machine. Lambs in the butcher’s note are often 18 to 22 kg. The gap matters because a 10 kg claim on a fire-pit stand and a 60 kg claim on a tripod are not two ways of saying the same animal.
Do I need Gas Safe for a charcoal spit?
Gas Safe, in the HSE catering guidance, applies to LPG equipment used for catering, including a propane hog oven. A charcoal spit over a wood or charcoal fire is not that appliance. You still want a 30 mA RCD if the motor is mains, and an electrician if you need a new outdoor socket. Hire a propane machine and the gas question returns with the cylinders, at 37 mbar on the MobCater description.
What did UK reviews actually turn on the Kendane stand?
One United Kingdom text describes a 25 kg hog, a silent motor, and a height that worked over a fire on the floor. Two others say the bar or the motor did not turn a pig at about 40 kg, and that a 60 kg pig only managed half a turn before nine hours by hand. Many other UK texts in the same file are about forks, with no bar in the parcel. Those fork reviews are a different product and do not raise the 4.1 average into proof of the 40 kg claim.
Why do some review texts reject a 100 kg claim?
The hzexun file has no review labelled United Kingdom. The texts it does have, from the United States, Germany, and France, describe a break at about 40 kg, a 150 lb pig that stalled the motor, and a 70 lb pig that spun halfway and stopped. Legs were called wobbly and were screwed to blocks. One US text says a piglet around 40 lb worked after the buyer stiffened the stand. That pattern rejects the stated 100 kg. It still is not a British buyer’s report.
Related pages
Sources
Listing prices and ratings are from amazon.co.uk files dated 15 October 2026, not a live check. The public sources below cover cooking temperatures, outdoor electrics, and smoke rules.
- Food Standards Agency: Cooking your food (retrieved 15 October 2026)
- GOV.UK: Nuisance smoke (retrieved 15 October 2026)
- GOV.UK: Smoke control area enforcement (retrieved 15 October 2026)
- Electrical Safety First: Garden (retrieved 15 October 2026)
- IET Wiring Matters: BS 7671 regulation 411.3.3 (retrieved 15 October 2026)
- GOV.UK: Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 (retrieved 15 October 2026)
- GOV.UK: General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (retrieved 15 October 2026)
- HSE: Gas safety in catering (CAIS23) (retrieved 15 October 2026)