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Ugly Drum Smoker

jlough69 said:
I am also at that point with my barrel. I burned it out well and have hit the obvious couple of paint spots that the burn missed, but how can you tell all of the liner is out?

Thanks,

John
Click to expand...
i just do it until i get to bare metal ( shiny ) also wear ear plugs or something and safety glasses trust me.......:roll:
 
heres my drum with my first cook ever (about 6 months too late)

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bacardi2001 said:
i just do it until i get to bare metal ( shiny ) also wear ear plugs or something and safety glasses trust me.......:roll:
Click to expand...

I still have a way to go then to get to bare metal. I can see fine rust forming over much of the inside but still has a few "protected" spots I need to work on. Thanks for the info :-D
 
thanks man! cant wait to build my next one. i found some barrels that are a little taller and not as big around as my first one so i'm going to make one with 2 shelves.
 
This is the best thread ever! Third run today. Chicken will go on at 9 in the morning. When I pull out the chicken, I am going to adjust the temp and lay on a rack of spare ribs.

I just poured a half chimney of fire into my stovepipe and pulled it out and sealed her up. Now I am going indoors to roll a fatty. I'll put it on in about an hour.

Thanks for all the info on this thread. It took a long time to read through it all but it was worth it. Be on the lookout for pics.
 
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Just a few questions

HI gang, I am new to the forum I used to hang out on the BGE forum. I recently found some 55 gal. 23 X 34 inch drums to make my first VDS. I got the drums from a friend that owns a bakery, they had food grade oil in them with no liners. I got six of them at no cost!!!! Since reading I see several you have built more than one VDS so I thought I would ask to see what worked out best and have a few questions.

1) Is 2 to 3 inches off the bottom for the air intake holes the right height?
2) How far off the bottom of the drum should the charcoal grate be??
3) I found some material to use for a fire box but am not sure if the air flow will be good enought and wanted to get your opinon's. It is steel from a hammer mill, its about 1/4 inch thick and has 3/16 holes in it. I am wondering if the holes will be large enought to not plug up with ash.

I currently use a large BGE and love it!! But cant wait to build the VDS and get it fired up.
 
EggliciousQ said:
HI gang, I am new to the forum I used to hang out on the BGE forum. I recently found some 55 gal. 23 X 34 inch drums to make my first VDS. I got the drums from a friend that owns a bakery, they had food grade oil in them with no liners. I got six of them at no cost!!!! Since reading I see several you have built more than one VDS so I thought I would ask to see what worked out best and have a few questions.

1) Is 2 to 3 inches off the bottom for the air intake holes the right height?
2) How far off the bottom of the drum should the charcoal grate be??
3) I found some material to use for a fire box but am not sure if the air flow will be good enought and wanted to get your opinon's. It is steel from a hammer mill, its about 1/4 inch thick and has 3/16 holes in it. I am wondering if the holes will be large enought to not plug up with ash.

I currently use a large BGE and love it!! But cant wait to build the VDS and get it fired up.
Click to expand...

I can't wait to see the answers you all give this guy!
 
I am new to this forum, and new to BBQ...

I'm from NJ, but had been down in NC the last 2 years and fell in love with BBQ while down there; however, I am back in NJ and have been going into BBQ withdrawal since leaving NC. So I decided after getting back to NJ I'd try my hand at BBQ-ing, and started investigating smokers. From my research I discovered how most of the mass produced smokers are either expensive or don't produce as good of a product as the expensive smokers, so having a good bit of ingenuity and free time I decided that I would build an UDS. With that being said, I was hoping some people could give me some input on my build to date and plans for my drum:

I was able to pick up an new 55 gallon drum (paid $40 because it was returned to the container company because it was scratched up), it was unlined, but it did have an anti-corrosion coating that I took a grinder to and stripped the inside of the drum down to the bare metal. Next I plan on drilling 3-3/4" holes along the bottom that I will regulate with 1" magnets. I will drill holes 2" off the bottom to mount a grate by which I will lay a charcoal basket that I am going to build out of expanded metal. I will also drill holes about 8" from the top of the drum to mount a cooking grate. Finally, I will drill 4-3/4" holes, that I will also regulate with magnets.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions to help me make the most out of my build.

Also, with inside of the drum stripped to bare metal, how do I keep the inside from rusting?
 
well after about 2 weeks of reading i'm finally done! i've kept notes and am super stoked to get this thing going!!! my dad has some leads on a drum for free :D :D so i'm just waiting on that. i've been dreaming of the bbq after seeing all the food pron in here :D i plan on taking pics the whole way through so as soon as i get going i'll start posting!
 
Rich Parker,

Sorry to be so late with a reply to your question.

I got my latch clamps at Harbor Freight.

Jerry
 
HI all
I stop over at the local hardware store just to see what they had in grill parts today. I found a 22 1/2 In Weber lid that had a small ding for $10.00 and 2 grates for another 10 in the discount bin. Looks like another cooker in the making.
 
Hey all,
I fed 80 people pulled pork today off of 1 UDS. The results were outstanding. Everyone said it was the best 'Q they'd ever had. Temps stayed around 220-240 all day long with only 1 intake hole open. I did have one small mishap though, while slightly shaking the drum to shake ashes off the coals, the grate and all of the butts fell into the bottom of the UDS. Thankfully I was able to salvage everything but it's tough to bend the whole upper half of your body down into that thing while it's smoking and fish around for hot slippery meat with your eyes screwed shut. lol. Sorry no pics pics of the pron or me smoking myself.

Note to self: Get longer screws to support cooking grate.


Paul
 
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I just wanted to say that at first, I hated my drum. I liked the ease of cooking, but did not like the flavor of the meat. I know I am in the minority on this, but just didn't care for it. I then got a large egg and the drum sat covered for months with no use. I stumbled across a thread by JD about using the flower pot base as a diffuser. I liked the idea, so I went to Home Depot, got one. Now my burn times suffered greatly. I was scared to cook anything more than ribs for fear that I would run out of fuel. I tried K, Comp K, RO lump, mixtures of these and still could only get 6 to 8 hours out of it. Then I ran across Stubbs charcoal at Lowes. This chit is the bomb! I ran it for 12 hours Sunday at a constant 240 grate temp and still had half a basket left. The real bonus is I never had to kick the drum once to knock off ashes. I can proudly say that I now abso-farking-lutely love my drum. And I owe it all to the Brethren. Thanks guys. Group hug. :biggrin:
 
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