Ugly Drum Smoker

mike5150 · May 20, 2012

My Second shot at Ribs

I screwed up 3 Racks of Baby Backs a few weeks ago. So I gave it another shot with a rack of Spare Ribs. They turned out really good I made up some rub and left them in the refrigerator overnight Cooked them 234 deg 3 hours then put them in foil sprayed on some apple juice and cooked another 2 hours. I was going to put them back on for one more hour but they was falling apart so I let them rest in the warm oven about 30 min and I could not take it anymore I had to give them a try boy they was good I have posted a few photos

My Rub I used

2 Tbl Spoon Paprika
1 Tbl Spoon Black Pepper
2 Tbl Spoon Dark Brown Sugar
1.5 Tbl Spoon Season Salt (lawry's seasoning salt)
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Teaspoon Cumin
1/4 Teaspoon cayenne Pepper (go easy on this)

kennyd0118 · May 20, 2012

nice rack!
-Kenny

gravityguy · May 23, 2012

Hi all,

I have just started on making my UDS. Finally managed to get hold of a drum with a lid and found somewhere that soda blasted it for me for free... Result!!

Just started drilling all of the holes etc and am now looking at which cooking grate to buy. I have a 6ft circumference drum which gives an overall diameter of 34". I was looking at the weber grate but that only seems to have diameter of about 23". Is this big enough? If so, what size bolts will I need to hold this? I've seen others using 2" but would this be enough to hold the grate?

Now that I commenced work, I shall upload some photos as I progress. :razz:

Mike

MDRex · May 23, 2012

2 Questions:

Other than weber 22.5" cooking grates, are there any heavy duty stainless steel options? I love my SS Kamado Joe grates, but those would be too small.

Is there any reason I shouldn't put the extra intakes (which seem to always be capped) on the front next to the main ball valve intake?

GreenDrake · May 23, 2012

I pick up my build today to take to the powder coater. Can't wait. Thinking of going with hammered bronze with Tel-Tru glow dials.

DaveMW · May 23, 2012

MDRex said:
2 Questions:

Is there any reason I shouldn't put the extra intakes (which seem to always be capped) on the front next to the main ball valve intake?

If you need to open them up, especially at the start of the cook when first getting the temp up to proper level you will want that air coming inb to stoke the area around teh basket for an even burn rather than one side of your fire basket burning hot. Space them evenly around and up high enough that the ash doesn't cover them yet at the botom of your fire basket.

Paul Worth · May 23, 2012

gravityguy said:
Hi all,

I have just started on making my UDS. Finally managed to get hold of a drum with a lid and found somewhere that soda blasted it for me for free... Result!!

Just started drilling all of the holes etc and am now looking at which cooking grate to buy. I have a 6ft circumference drum which gives an overall diameter of 34". I was looking at the weber grate but that only seems to have diameter of about 23". Is this big enough?

A 6ft circumference works out to slightly less than 23" (72" / 3.1415) so the Weber grates are a perfect fit. Academy Sports sells a cheap 22" grate that is a pretty good fit but you need slightly longer bolts. The BBQ Pro grates sold by Sears and KMart are a good fit and good quality.

Paul Worth · May 23, 2012

MDRex said:
2 Questions:

Other than weber 22.5" cooking grates, are there any heavy duty stainless steel options? I love my SS Kamado Joe grates, but those would be too small.

Weber has stainless grates for the 22.5" kettle grills (part #3070784) They are a bit pricey but they're great (no pun intended)

http://store.weber.com/items/?pid=1117

tmhdgpth · May 24, 2012

huaco said:
Try drizzling some veg. oil on the newspaper before you crumple it up... It will last a LOT longer and you will have more consistent starts on your chimney. Learned that trick from Alton Brown...

+1 works *every* time!

coewar · May 24, 2012

tmhdgpth said:
+1 works *every* time!

Quote:
Originally Posted by huaco
Try drizzling some veg. oil on the newspaper before you crumple it up... It will last a LOT longer and you will have more consistent starts on your chimney. Learned that trick from Alton Brown...

What works for me all the time is "3 donuts"
Take 3 pieces of newspaper and make your "snake", but then loop it and crunch the ends together to form a circle. Get 3 of those and you're good without any oil or anything else. If you do 3 then it won't really matter what size of sheets they are. 3 Small ones will work fine.

gravityguy · May 24, 2012

Paul, cheers for the advice, I have ordered the 22.5" grate which should hopefully be here tomorrow.

I have now almost completely finished my smoker and can't believe how easy it's been. As promised, here are a few photos of the 'almost' finished product. Just need to wait for the thermometer to arrive and add the charcoal basket (which i'm making from an old washing machine drum).

Once I have added the thermometer and charcoal basket i'll add some more photos. Not the best craftmanship in the world but I'm proud of it so far :becky:

Mike

gravityguy · May 24, 2012

The holes in the lid look terrible because, well... they are! lol First time i've ever used a step drill bit and took a couple of holes to get the hang of it. I also 'screwed' up the first air hole on the bottom so had to use some bolts and washers on the nipple to fix it. I used some car radiator filler to fill the around the edge to make it air tight.

tmhdgpth · May 24, 2012

Hi Mushcreek,

How did you locate the stainless drums? Thanks!

Tom
tmhdgpth

gravityguy · May 24, 2012

Also forgot to say that it has actually been painted all over even though the photo looks like i've only added a couple of orange strips. I used metallic black VHT paint on the most of it so looks like gun metal grey in the flesh, add the orange is actually metallic red. Looks better in real life than in the photo

coewar · May 25, 2012

gravityguy said:
The holes in the lid look terrible because, well... they are! lol First time i've ever used a step drill bit and took a couple of holes to get the hang of it. I also 'screwed' up the first air hole on the bottom so had to use some bolts and washers on the nipple to fix it. I used some car radiator filler to fill the around the edge to make it air tight.

It's beautiful. Living up to the name of UDS. My current one is not nearly as pretty as yours.

Just have to sand off any pieces of metal sticking up or down to prevent cuts.

N2entropy · May 25, 2012

chinesebob said:
I'd like to know what the heck Norco was doing to get rid of that much swisslube.....or do I?

We use it in manufacturing the worlds biggest dump truck at LIEBHERR.
I'm building my first UDS using these drums as well this weekend!

KSims1868 · May 25, 2012

How long are y'all getting out of your barrels?
I've been noticing that my barrel is about to need replacing soon. I think I biult this thing a little over 2 years ago. It stays in the garage, but have to admit...it's taken a few heavy rain showers unfortunately when I was too "tired" to drag it back in the garage.

wmarkw · May 25, 2012

Will I be ok with 3/4" x 2.5" nipple vs the 1"? My lowes was out and I didnt want to drive across town to the other tonight. I guess I can go back out this weekend but wondering if an extra 1.5" will hurt anything.

gravityguy · May 26, 2012

Thanks coewar

I've managed to find an old washing machine tub on ebay which I now have in my back yard. Looks like it has the potential to be a great charcoal basket. The only thing though that I think may not be good are the 3 big ridges inside. They stick up about 1.5"-2". Will this affect the burn of the coals or will it be ok? I've added a photo to show you what I mean

Its also a lot wider than I imagined it to be. I know people have used them before but I can't help thinking that there will be too much surface area and therefore it will require a hell of a lot of charcoal. The total diameter is 19". Also, how much charcoal would you put into this for a decent burn?

Sorry, that is a lot of questions but I'm so close to finishing I can almost taste those ribs and brisket already :mrgreen:

Mike

Pappy · May 26, 2012

gravityguy said:
Thanks coewar

I've managed to find an old washing machine tub on ebay which I now have in my back yard. Looks like it has the potential to be a great charcoal basket. The only thing though that I think may not be good are the 3 big ridges inside. They stick up about 1.5"-2". Will this affect the burn of the coals or will it be ok? I've added a photo to show you what I mean

View attachment 65222

Its also a lot wider than I imagined it to be. I know people have used them before but I can't help thinking that there will be too much surface area and therefore it will require a hell of a lot of charcoal. The total diameter is 19". Also, how much charcoal would you put into this for a decent burn?

Sorry, that is a lot of questions but I'm so close to finishing I can almost taste those ribs and brisket already :mrgreen:

Mike

The tiny holes will keep the ashes from falling out and will reduce the air, putting the fire out.

I have a basket that is 17" dia. x 12 deep. It will hold 20# plus chunks of wood. It will last over 20 hours easy. It heavy to lif and set in place. I have to watch out for my 2" thermometer probes when I set it in.

Ugly Drum Smoker

Got Wood.

Full Fledged Farker

gravityguy

Guest

Knows what a fatty is.

is Blowin Smoke!

is Blowin Smoke!

Paul Worth

Guest

Paul Worth

Guest

MemberGot rid of the matchlight.

Knows what a fatty is.

gravityguy

Guest

gravityguy

Guest

MemberGot rid of the matchlight.

gravityguy

Guest

Knows what a fatty is.

Well-known member

KSims1868

Guest

Full Fledged Farker

gravityguy

Guest

is One Chatty Farker

Similar threads