Ugly Drum Smoker

I get all my drums locally from Windsor True Value for $7 each unlined. They call them burn barrels and have 60+ on hand all the time. Check your local tractor supply house or feed supplies houses and ask for burn barrels. These even include the tops and rings for $7!

LINKY : https://plus.google.com/111149392689253192014/about?gl=us&hl=en

This is in Virginia since I didn't mention it earlier.

Need some help, got a drum awhile back did an inital burn out and cutting of the air holes. Unfortunatly somethings came up at home and i havtnt had time to finish it. My problem now is that the drum is rusted inside and out. How in the H#LL am i going to get the rust off. Thanks IN advance

Have it blasted. I'm sure you can find a local paint and body Place to do it pretty cheap

Hello all, I have a couple of questions for you drum vets about temperatures inside a drum smoker.

I have a home-made drum smoker (you can see here) made from a 30-gallon drum. I've experimented with putting thermometers in different locations inside the drum. Two are on the side just above the grills, one is just under the lid, and another on the top grill using a clip (therm and clip from [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004IMA718/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i02]Maverick[/ame]).

I've noticed that the differences between each of the thermometers can swing wildly during the course of a 10-hour cook. For example, the two side therms will be 15-20 degrees apart for an hour and then slowly creep together until they're only a few degrees apart. The side therm just above the rack can be 25 degrees less than the therm on the grill, just a few inches away. I've done enough cooks to verify that this happens to some degree every time but there seems to be no pattern. For example, the side therms will be close for an hour and then go in different directions.

I've verified as well as I can that the therms are not touching the food nor are they wet from sauce/etc. The therm attached to the grill perhaps can't be trusted because it's touching metal (through the thin aluminum clip) but I would have thought after a few hours that the inside temps would have settled down.

My guess at what's going on is just pockets of (relatively) hot and cold air created by the convection of the air inside the drum. My questions are:

1) Is this a good guess?
2) Is this a problem? Do most drum smokers exhibit this behavior?
3) If it's a problem, how can I minimize it? Perhaps by rearranging the food on the racks in a different way?

I've thought that maybe insulating the drum with a blanket or cover would help but nobody else seems to be doing that so I doubt it would help.

Thanks for any help!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-drum-smoker/

Well not being an expert I will say that the UDS is more stable cooking something than it is on a dry run with nothing on the grill.

Remember, Safety first, always.

Not sure if this was posted before, I checked the posts around that time but didn't see anything.

Remember brethren, safety first, Always.

Condolences to the family.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/07/29/oil-drum-explosion-kills-man_n_1715280.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

A guy in my area has been selling drums for a long time now. He sold me a former grease drum that he assures me had a drop in removable liner. He says he removes the liners himself. The inside of the drum I bought does look very clean. Should I be concerned? Or just clean it out with some biodegradable grease remover like a citrus type cleaner and be done with it?

Just finished my UDS. Mega thanks to everyone on this thread that posted info on how to do it. Looking forward to my first Q. Can't decide what to smoke first. Any suggestions (and tips since I am totally new at this)?

@ Deeg, I have 2 racks in my 55 gal UDS and the 2 will be as much as 75-100* different.
Everything I have ever read, here and elsewhere had said each will develop its own characteristics for how they cook. I have to agree. It is virtually impossible to do everything identical every time.

DMW said:

I am about to start my first UDS. Because I am lazy and in a remote area I opted for the kit from Big Poppa's. I have my drum. On the side it says it was used to transport ethanol so I am planning to burn it out good but here is the question. I've read a lot about how and why to burn out the drum but I don't recall any mention of what to do about the lid. Doesn't it also need to be baptized with fire? If so, how?

Anyone have an opinion about using a drum that transported ethanol?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Don

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I'm preparing myself for not being able to justify the time and money for making my own basket and just going with the Big Poppa basket. Have you received your kit yet?

If so, I have a couple of questions that you (or anyone with experience with this kit) will hopefully be able to answer. Since the website doesn't say and Google, as well as BBQ Brethren, searches bring up nil results, what are the dimensions of that basket? Any idea how many lbs of briquettes it'll hold? Does it appear to be good quality and made from safe materials?

It appears many people like the rubs and such from Big Poppa, but there's only 1 You Tube video (besides from Big Poppa) about this kit and all he says is that it appears to be "good quality". Since I'm a n00b to Big Poppa products, I don't really know if their products are worth the costs or not.

ibmachead said:

Just finished my UDS. Mega thanks to everyone on this thread that posted info on how to do it. Looking forward to my first Q. Can't decide what to smoke first. Any suggestions (and tips since I am totally new at this)?

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Most of us did a fattie or two for our initial smoke. Sprinkle some dry rub on a pound tube of sausage, place it directly on the rack, and smoke it until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Pull it off, wrap it in foil and a towel for a half hour. Enjoy the fruits of your labors.

It's hard to mess up a fattie and even if you do you're only out a couple of bucks and you can probably still use it to season beans, stew, or scrambled eggs. Get it right and you're a genius (for a few minutes)

Try some Moinks :thumb:

Just finished every page of this thread. And picked this up this morning for $37. Going to drill tonight and hope to have my first run this weekend while I brew up some Imperial Pumpkin Ale.

Thanks to all who have posted here. Can't wait to put all I've learned to use. More pics to follow.

Here is a quick question...

Is there a difference functional difference between a round charcoal basket and a square basket?

Also, I'm having a friend of mine fab my charcoal basket. I was thinking on 14" across and 12" tall. Would that suffice?

My basket is 15 across and about 10 1/2 high ... more than enough.

I started gathering parts over a year ago and never went anywhere with actually building anything. Last week I got the bug up my crawl and put together a 30 gallon drum smoker.

I started with a new drum, had to cut the lip off of the top for the lid to fit. I used paint stripper to remove the factory finish and sanded it with an orbital sander/220 grit paper before painting.





Found a Weber grate on clearance at target for 5 bucks and had picked up an 18" OTS on Craig's list a while back for the lid.

Why did you remove the paint from the outside?

manther said:

Why did you remove the paint from the outside?

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It was beat up pretty bad. I used "grill paint" from rustoleum to paint the drum.