Ugly Drum Smoker

joewhite2417 · Oct 1, 2013

Guys, thanks so much for the inspiration from this epic thread. I went ahead and built it using the KISS philosophy. Seasoning burn was last weekend, first cookout this weekend!

Joe

First barrel (had a liner, consigned to fire pit duty) https://db.tt/3CbiYDqT
Fire basket construction https://db.tt/wWS0jgT9
Fire basket completed. https://db.tt/VTvGoC3q
Smokey Joe. https://db.tt/pbkIppOu

(one day I will learn to post pics!!)

DjPorkchop · Oct 3, 2013

Hello everyone. Long time lurker, firs time poster in the UDS thread.

So I saw a guy on the big video site that built a nice looking UDS and I got the bug in a bad kind of way and then I found this site and this thread. Needless to say, a few dollars later, I buily my first UDS.

I picked up some lump coal from walmart and sprayed the inside down real good with a whole can of cheapo cooking spray including cooking racks. I then filled my coal basket and dumped my chimney of coal in and put in the racks and closed the old girl up. Off she went.

No on that video I watched, the man got his up to 200, put the cap on the rear vent and closed his 2 ball valves half way, brought it up to 225 and there she sat all day.

In my case, I put the cap on the rear vent at 200 and closed my valves half way and the temps plumeted well below 200. I then opened the valves all the way and left the cap on and it came up to 200 on the dial (250 i would guess). And there it sat. I then took the cap off the back vent, closed my valves half way and she leveled out at 225 on the dial, again I'm sure not accurate. I actually found myself chasing temps for a better part of 5 hours.

Like I said, the coal I used was the 6 pounds of lump that Walmart sells and I have heard bad things about it. The only other option I have is Sams club and they have the 40 lb bag of best of the west and 40 lb El Diablo Mesquite.

Decisions decisions. This is my first smoker ever and by the end of the day of seasoning, I was plum worn out chasing temps. Any good tips or advice?

Take care everyone and happy Q'ing!

retired trucker · Oct 4, 2013

For you guys that have the "dreaded" red liner in your barrels. Burn about two barrels worth of oak pallets through your barrels and then paint or do whatever you are going to do to the outside. Then spray the inside down with Pam or some other spray oil and fire that baby up and start cooking. With the heat generated from 2 burns of oak pallets, there is no worry about any baddies left in the barrel that will leach out and affect any cook you might do in your UDS.

Think about it! When your up to cooking temp, the sides of the barrel on the outside is not hot enough to burn your hand if you accidentally touch it. It won't scorch the paint you painted the drum with, so it will not get hot enough to put out any bad fumes from any left over red liner. Besides, the pam will form a layer of soot and seasoning to the inside of the drum. My drum had the red liner and after two hot burns, I quit and did not sand, grind, or do anything else to the inside of my drum. I finished the outside and then started cooking on it. Two years later, I am still alive and well and my drum is like it was when I built it. (Of course I do have a second nose growing on my forehead, but I think it was caused by other outside forces.) :becky:

Blessings,
Omar

ebijack · Oct 4, 2013

DjPorkchop said:
Hello everyone. Long time lurker, firs time poster in the UDS thread.I built my first UDS.
In my case, I put the cap on the rear vent at 200 and closed my valves half way and the temps plumeted well below 200. I then opened the valves all the way and left the cap on and it came up to 200 on the dial (250 i would guess). And there it sat. I then took the cap off the back vent, closed my valves half way and she leveled out at 225 on the dial, again I'm sure not accurate. I actually found myself chasing temps for a better part of 5 hours.
Decisions decisions. This is my first smoker ever and by the end of the day of seasoning, I was plum worn out chasing temps. Any good tips or advice?

Every smoker is about air flow control. If your chasing temps, your tending it too much. Make a change and wait till it stabilizes. It sounds like you started with too many lit coals, and ended up choking off the fire and them fighting to get the coals going again which can take awhile to stabilize. That is also something that changes a bit with each smoker and you have to learn how many to lite for your smoker. How big is your coal basket, is it off the base of the drum, Your stand pipes might be to restrictive for your drum, should be easy to remove and try again just to verify. A lot of variable's with every drum design. Don't give up. Did you do a high temp burn yet?

Click to expand...

rifraf · Oct 4, 2013

DjPorkchop said:
Hello everyone. Long time lurker, firs time poster in the UDS thread.

In my case, I put the cap on the rear vent at 200 and closed my valves half way and the temps plumeted well below 200. I then opened the valves all the way and left the cap on and it came up to 200 on the dial (250 i would guess). And there it sat. I then took the cap off the back vent, closed my valves half way and she leveled out at 225 on the dial, again I'm sure not accurate. I actually found myself chasing temps for a better part of 5 hours.

Hello great looking drum there DjPorkchop. Just curious if you may have restricted air flow issue? Do you have the 2" bung hole open on the top of the lid as well as your 4 stacks or just the 4 stacks. The four stacks has a area of 1.76625 inches. I only run with a the two inch exhaust which has an area of 3.14 inches. Almost double the size of just the 4 stacks. My temps settle in at about 275 with my one inch ball valve open half way and the other two caps closed! I use royal oak lump from Menard's because i can get it at just under 3 bucks during the Memorial Day sale! I start my fire with a weed burner which should be equivalent to about a half to a full chimney full of lit coals. Also if I would need to i can run the temp up to 350 or even 400 with just the ball valve. Just dont give up do a few more practice runs till you figure out what works best for you. Also dont be afraid of a temp swing of 20 or 30 degrees either direction. Once you learn your beast you will love it and the family will love the great q!!!

achieving that sweet blue

two butts with some MOINK Balls

BenCA · Oct 4, 2013

Just getting started but, you get the idea.

Lowki · Oct 4, 2013

what he said, we built 3 and i have to say seamless is the way to go. i can get about 14-16 hrs on a load of coal. It is a bit of a hassle getting the grates in and out but thanks to a tip from a fellow brethren member and competitor we now just use 18" grates on top of our 22 and have no problems loading and unloading. Good luck and happy smokes.

shovelrobert · Oct 5, 2013

another FNG joining with ideas.

I've been reading and planning like all new guys, coming up with all kind of ideas,but after reading the first 100 pages of the thread, the last 100 pages and going back to page 100 and reading a couple hundred more I've built a plain simple UDS, no welding till I added the axles, and a really ugly coal basket, (no measuring, just torched holes in ash pan to bolt a 12"expanded metal basket 3" above it). After my first cook attempt I added a second long stem thermometer and I'm running near 100* difference between the center and outside of drum,I thought it was junk thermometers but when I slide the long one out they are reading close to the same. I gathered a lot of good ideas from you all,I wish I could remember who posted everything so I could give you credit

shovelrobert · Oct 5, 2013

maybe I can figure out how to post a picture

shovelrobert · Oct 5, 2013

I did weld a chain link to my nipple caps after I lost one, it gives you something to grip it by too, I think this was the only idea I had that wasn't in the text unless it's between page 300 and 600.:-D
The axles are 1/2 " black pipe with a 7/16 nut welded on each end,
The thermometer mount is a 1/4 barb X 1/2 brass fitting mounted to the drum with a 1/4 X 1/2 bushing
so I can cap the bushing when the thermometer is removed.

shovelrobert · Oct 5, 2013

Food came out good, pictures don't do it justice, there were some sweet Italian sausages but something happened to them by the time the chicken was done.

shovelrobert · Oct 6, 2013

The nuts and bolts for the axles are 5/8 , the jam nut on the inside allows you to adjust the bearings then lock it together so the bolt won't back out.

banderson1357 · Oct 6, 2013

First Time Poster...learning

Been viewing this thread for a while and got some good ideas from it. Have built 5 UDS' so far, this is latest...see if pics will post OK. Waiting to find a Weber dome for it, bartered the others away!! Try to make them with stuff I have laying around or can scrounge up from scrap yard sales etc. Barrels usually cost me $25.00 at scrap dealer. The 3.5" inlet works great and is easy to reach. Scrap cedar shelf on this one. Happy BBQ'ing!

RT · Oct 6, 2013

Nice job banderson1357.

DjPorkchop · Oct 8, 2013

ebijack said:
DjPorkchop said:

Hello everyone. Long time lurker, firs time poster in the UDS thread.I built my first UDS.
In my case, I put the cap on the rear vent at 200 and closed my valves half way and the temps plumeted well below 200. I then opened the valves all the way and left the cap on and it came up to 200 on the dial (250 i would guess). And there it sat. I then took the cap off the back vent, closed my valves half way and she leveled out at 225 on the dial, again I'm sure not accurate. I actually found myself chasing temps for a better part of 5 hours.
Decisions decisions. This is my first smoker ever and by the end of the day of seasoning, I was plum worn out chasing temps. Any good tips or advice?

Every smoker is about air flow control. If your chasing temps, your tending it too much. Make a change and wait till it stabilizes. It sounds like you started with too many lit coals, and ended up choking off the fire and them fighting to get the coals going again which can take awhile to stabilize. That is also something that changes a bit with each smoker and you have to learn how many to lite for your smoker. How big is your coal basket, is it off the base of the drum, Your stand pipes might be to restrictive for your drum, should be easy to remove and try again just to verify. A lot of variable's with every drum design. Don't give up. Did you do a high temp burn yet?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply I appreciate it. As far as a high temp burn, I did manage to get the UDS up in the 350 range for a good hour or so.

When I lit my coals, I did use a chimney that was almost full and the remainder of the coals in the bag went in to my coal basket. (6 lb lump)

My coal basket is made from a 18 inch cheapo BBQ grill (the base of the grill and the gill rack). The basket I mounted to the grill grate was made by using 2 pieces of 12x24 expanded metal wrapped around a propane tank for shape. It is about 13 inches across and about 11.5 inches deep.

A valuable lesson I learned is that I BADLY need a nice smoker/meat probe. I am not so trusting of the dial I have mounted. On a side note, I have mounted 3 bolts in the barrel just above my coal basket. I was going to get a extra large pizza pan and drill it out for a heat diffuser.

All in all, I love the UDS and am excited to get in to the world of smoking food. This is my first attempt at it. I have never used a smoker before I built this drum.

The attached image is my coal basket attempt. The remains in it are after a 5 or 6 hour season run of 6 lbs of coal.

Click to expand...

DjPorkchop · Oct 8, 2013

rifraf said:
Hello great looking drum there DjPorkchop. Just curious if you may have restricted air flow issue? Do you have the 2" bung hole open on the top of the lid as well as your 4 stacks or just the 4 stacks. The four stacks has a area of 1.76625 inches. I only run with a the two inch exhaust which has an area of 3.14 inches. Almost double the size of just the 4 stacks. My temps settle in at about 275 with my one inch ball valve open half way and the other two caps closed! I use royal oak lump from Menard's because i can get it at just under 3 bucks during the Memorial Day sale! I start my fire with a weed burner which should be equivalent to about a half to a full chimney full of lit coals. Also if I would need to i can run the temp up to 350 or even 400 with just the ball valve. Just dont give up do a few more practice runs till you figure out what works best for you. Also dont be afraid of a temp swing of 20 or 30 degrees either direction. Once you learn your beast you will love it and the family will love the great q!!!

Hello rifraf and thanks for the reply. I did have the 2" as well as the 1" (??) closed during the seasoning run.

I do plan to give it another run this weekend if the weather treats me good. Before I go and ruin some expensive cuts, I am tossing the idea around about doing some chicken maybe and some MOINKS and a couple fattys. If things turn out good, then great and I can look like a Q king to the wife and kids and if it goes bad, then well it was only chicken anyhow and I got to practice running the old girl again.

I appreciate your reply and look forward to hearing form you again. Take care and happy Q'ing!!

HookedOnQ · Oct 8, 2013

banderson1357 said:
Been viewing this thread for a while and got some good ideas from it. Have built 5 UDS' so far, this is latest...see if pics will post OK. Waiting to find a Weber dome for it, bartered the others away!! Try to make them with stuff I have laying around or can scrounge up from scrap yard sales etc. Barrels usually cost me $25.00 at scrap dealer. The 3.5" inlet works great and is easy to reach. Scrap cedar shelf on this one. Happy BBQ'ing!

Just wondering how this works with the intake higher than your exhaust. Would think there would be some airflow issue there. I have always thought you exhaust needed to be higher than your intake I guess thats not true cause it looks to be working for you

49erUDS72 · Oct 10, 2013

photo of my UDS

banderson1357 · Oct 10, 2013

Ya no prob. Have a pipe to extend if needed. The heat from the coals naturally rises and pretty much creates it's own draft.

HookedOnQ said:
Just wondering how this works with the intake higher than your exhaust. Would think there would be some airflow issue there. I have always thought you exhaust needed to be higher than your intake I guess thats not true cause it looks to be working for you

banderson1357 · Oct 10, 2013

Thanks!

RT said:
Nice job banderson1357.

Ugly Drum Smoker

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