Ugly Drum Smoker

porcinepirate said:
GREAT WORK Pit Boss Honeycutt, I really like the finish and craftsmanship and attention to detail you put into your UDS. I can't wait to see what you do for the smoke stack (chrome? to go along with the black finish).
As I told you before I want to redo my coal basket to incorporate the great Ideas you used on yours.

Porcine Pirate

" Pigs are our Tasty Friends "
Click to expand...
Thanks! I think chrome would look pretty custom, but I may end up going with black iron 2" nipple. If I can get a couple from the guys at work?? As far as the baskets go, the 2nd one I did literally took me no more than 15 minutes. Let me know if you want to throw one together. I would be more than happy to help out. Are you still using your heat diffuser? If so, does it seem to be helping?
 
I found a drum from www.midamericasteeldrum.com, right here in my city. They are $45 brand new. No lining but it has paint on the outside. Whats the best way to get that paint off there or is it even necessary? I dont really have a yard where I can get away with open flames shooting out of the thing for hours. Some neighbor would probably have the FD over here real quick. I guess I could take it to a friends house out in the "country" if need be.
 
stepheneleven said:
I found a drum from www.midamericasteeldrum.com, right here in my city. They are $45 brand new. No lining but it has paint on the outside. Whats the best way to get that paint off there or is it even necessary? I dont really have a yard where I can get away with open flames shooting out of the thing for hours. Some neighbor would probably have the FD over here real quick. I guess I could take it to a friends house out in the "country" if need be.
Click to expand...

I would still do a burn no matter what they say about the inside. If nothing else go get a few bags of charcoal and light it up. Just keep your lid handy and toss it on if you feel it's getting outta control. I did mine at night so the neihbors wouldn't see the smoke.

This will help clean the inside and soften or completely burn the paint on the out side.
 
thanks again Ron, so when the paint softens, what is the best method of removing it? I'm not much of a handyman so I'm sorta ignorant to these kinds of things. The UDS will be the most complicated thing I've ever built. Do I get the drum super hot and then hit with a special brush or tool or something, or do I just break out the paint thinner/acetone? or both?
 
I just hit mine with 60 and 80 grit on an orbital sander and then wiped it down with regular rubbing alcohol to paint it. It's not a professional job by any means.

Most on here use the wire wheels, if you don't have an orbital, but do have a drill, this may be the way to go.

Depending on how ugly you want you Ugly drum smoker to be 8). You could just do rough wire brush after the burn wipe it down and hit it with a couple of coats of High Temp BBQ paint.
 
Being new to this forum I only recently learned about these UDS's, and I must say am pretty impressed. I don't have a need for another smoker at present time but you never know. It's good to know that this knowledge and experience is out there.
One thing leaves me wondering though. Why do you all not use a heat deflector to create an indirect setup? You could use a large pizza stone, water pan, or terra cotta plant base on a lower level then cook on a higher level. I'm sure there is a valid reason, I just can't figure it out.
 
Bacchus said:
Being new to this forum I only recently learned about these UDS's, and I must say am pretty impressed. I don't have a need for another smoker at present time but you never know. It's good to know that this knowledge and experience is out there.
One thing leaves me wondering though. Why do you all not use a heat deflector to create an indirect setup? You could use a large pizza stone, water pan, or terra cotta plant base on a lower level then cook on a higher level. I'm sure there is a valid reason, I just can't figure it out.
Click to expand...

Some do and some don't use a deflector. I do both depending on what I am cooking.

Just depends on the cooking style of the individual and the flavors you wish to acheive. A deflector will allow smoke and controlled (normally lower) heat, but it's not the essence of the meat smoke since the deflector will collect the juices. I drilled hole in my deflector to allow the deflection of heat, but still get those juices to the fire.

All depedns on how you want to cook.
 
Bacchus said:
One thing leaves me wondering though. Why do you all not use a heat deflector to create an indirect setup? You could use a large pizza stone, water pan, or terra cotta plant base on a lower level then cook on a higher level. I'm sure there is a valid reason, I just can't figure it out.
Click to expand...

I think the reasoning behind not needing a heat deflector is because of the distance between the fire grate and the cooking grate. If you do 24" minimum like everybody recommends, you don't need a deflector.
 
Random hardware info

Bering's in Houston has an awesome stock of stainless steel hardware... when I built my UDS, I looked high and low to find steel hardware without zinc or galvanized. I wish I had found Bering's earlier... guess I'll just have to build another UDS! :-D Also check out their grilling section for a good selection of charcoal and other stuff. I realize this is only useful for folks in Houston or nearby, but they do have internet sales for those in need. Figured it would be most useful to include it with all the other UDS info.

Bering's Westheimer
1-800-BERINGS
1-800-237-4647
6102 Westheimer
Houston, Texas 77057

Bering's Bissonnet
713-665-0500
3900 Bissonnet
Houston, Texas 77005
 
Pit Boss Honeycutt said:
Thanks! I think chrome would look pretty custom, but I may end up going with black iron 2" nipple. If I can get a couple from the guys at work?? As far as the baskets go, the 2nd one I did literally took me no more than 15 minutes.

1. Let me know if you want to throw one together. I would be more than happy to help out.

2. Are you still using your heat diffuser? If so, does it seem to be helping?
Click to expand...

1. I might try using the 16 inch grate out of the webber I used for parts. when I made my original one I just used the expaned metal for the bottom. I bent the corners down to make legs, and it works, just does not look elegant / professional as yours.

on number 2, I do use the diffuser for ribs esp, I only want the cooking temp in the 220s to 250 range, and I can keep it there pretty constant. I put a water pan, or drip pan so no drippng in the bottom of barrel or direct cooking.

When I tried to do a pork butt and get up to the 350 range, with the diffuser in place I had trouble reaching that temp. But I also do not have smoke stacks on the lid. With stacks this may let less heat escape and give me better draft when I want it. I will have to experiment.

Porcine Pirate

" Pigs are our Tasty Friends "
 
I'm so EXCITED!

I just got to open one of the drums I've been given by a local small strip mall owner that was used for doing soil samples when they were purchasing the building.

There are 10 open top drums with lids and rings but he didn't know what kind of lining they had inside.

1 was very light and it sounded like it had a couple gallons of liquid in it. I told him I'd take it home and get it opened up to see what kind of lining it might have and that as long as it was not the dreaded "red" lining :shock: I'd be back for the rest in about a week.

Got it home and after 3 trips to HF :evil: I finally got a socket big enough to fit the ring bolt.

I opened it up and it was beautiful inside :-D ('scuse while I wipe a tear :redface: I'm just so happy! ) there was a light coating of rust all over the interior and lid.

No liner, none, nada, zip. Just bare metal I am so excited! :biggrin:

I'll be using my new HF weed burner with electronic ignition to take off all the paint on the outside and my new HF 4 1/2" Grinder with knotted wire wheel this weekend to get it back to shiny and get the lid all cleaned up.

I LOVE BARE NEKID METAL! :mrgreen:

The seal was only half on and that half only had a little bead of silicone caulk.

I want to be able to post pics and I need a little info about how :roll: to get pics on here using photobucket so I can share the build and the eventual BBQ pron as I become a full fledged novice member of the UDS brotherhood.

If you can help with the pic info pm me.

Thanks brothers,

Smoke On!

brotherbd
 
Boshizzle said:
You don't have to cut a rectangle shaped hole. You can drill a few large round holes and install the door over them to get the same result.

holes.jpg
Click to expand...

This is what I did with a wood barrel smoker I made. If anybody has one of those cheap wallmart square grills rotting away in the yard scavenge the vents for the UDS. No welding needed.

DSC02339.jpg


DSC02338.jpg
 
New Drum Pics

Trying to see if I get the pics right.

Here's 2 pics of my newly opened drum.

Lid up, gasket pulled off, light rust everywhere I look. :-D

100_6022.jpg


A closer look down in. :eusa_clap
100_6023.jpg



Gotta dump the water out find my white marker for layout and fire up my new weed burner. Might do the burn at night just for the fire pron. :twisted:

I will post pics of the build as it progresses.

Thanks Norco, Bigmista, N8man and the other greats of this thread!

With this drum I will honor the masters teachings with a K.I.S.S. UDS! :biggrin:
 
Last edited:
Both of the drums I purchased were alleged to have come from a bakery. They looked as if the contained some sort of cooking oil. I just got back form the car wash with the alleged unlined drum; I thoroughly washed and rinsed one of them. I guess we will see if it flash rusts. I think I will still burn it after drilling all holes to be on the safe side. I won't post a picture since it looks like brotherbd except not rusted yet. The first of two builds begins.
 
porcinepirate said:
1. I might try using the 16 inch grate out of the webber I used for parts. Porcine Pirate

" Pigs are our Tasty Friends "
Click to expand...

That is what I ended up doing. Down at the scrap yard they had an entire pallet of expanded metal that was all uniform in size. I just cut it in half and bent it around a fire extingusher to get the rough bend. thus the 3 butt welds. But cheap to say the least.
 
Finallly got around to making my drum. I've been reading this thread since it only had about 150 pages and have read all of them since. I've also read every other site I could find, so I didn't really have any questions when I fianlly jumped in. I just wanted a simple, decent looking drum that was easy to operate. Anyway, he's the final product.

f60ffef2.jpg


Loaded up with 20 lbs of butt.
a280b7b6.jpg


Flipped half way through.
0de74b14.jpg


Pulled and ready to eat!!!
fb1414d8.jpg


If you are looking to build one and have trouble locating expanded metal, Go to the closet organizer section in Home Depot and pick up one of these (11 bucks) it measures 16"x16" and is 10" deep. Just have to burn off the paint.
e5b5722c.jpg


I realized I had galvanized washers and replaced them prior to use.
 
Bubblehead, i have been looking for a stack like the two you have here for about 2 weeks with no luck. I am just going to do a single stack. Would you mind sharing where you got the stacks



f60ffef2.jpg
 
Thanks for the tip on the organizer basket Bubblehead. Looks like it'll work great. :eusa_clap
 
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