Ugly Drum Smoker

Bigmista's drum smoker is a beautiful thing to behold. It looks good and I'll bet it makes some mighty good eats. I saw a similar one here in Wichita that was made from an old propane tank. The fella that was using it said the secret was keeping the meat four feet above the smoldering fire. He had a huge grill area that made it easy to tend to the meat. Follow Bigmista's advise and you will have a smoker that will do you proud and be a man sized conversation piece.

Bigmista's drum smoker is a beautiful thing to behold. It looks good and I'll bet it makes some mighty good eats. I saw a similar one here in Wichita that was made from an old propane tank. The fella that was using it said the secret was keepint the meat four feet above the smoldering fire. He had a humge grill area that made it easy to tend to the meat. Follow Bigmista's advise and you will have a smoker that will do you proud and be a man sized conversation piece.

Thanks Wayne!

I have made a lot of good eats on it. When I put a little more change together, I'm gonna try to hook up with Norco so we can build one together. Share the knowledge and build an even beter smoker...

I had to cut the rolled edge off the top of the drum for the Weber to fit. I laid a bead of High-temp silicone gasket on the lid for a more secure fit. The lid that came with the drum needs a little persuading but still fits.

My Webber 22.5 fits my 55

Do you use the Weber lid much? I set my E-Z-Que Rotisserie ring on it and i'm having visions of rotating old grandpa Q!

I use the weber lid when doung whole chickens or turkeys. I just kinda take my time and balance it on the top.

jgh1204 said:

The fire got real hot and was shooting up almost a foot past the top of the barrel. The rest of the green disappeared. The bottom 2/3rds of the barrel is burnt orange(may have to give this to Jorge if the color does not improve.)

One interesting thing I learned. When you spit on the side of a orange hot barrel, your spit does not sizzle on the side. It bounces off. Pretty cool.

So there is a new saying. Spit bouncing hot.

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If you were a real man you'd find another way to cool that thing off:wink:

It's starting to sound like my old earthenware Kamado-it went from green to orange before I rebuilt it! The BFarkinDS has cruised for 11 hours at 275* now, Lazarri Mesquite lump!

Jgh,
Gather as much info as you can and build your dream. Show your wife this thread: http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23251&highlight=bds

My wife rolled her eyes when I started gathering parts for mine. When she tasted the goods she had a change of heart. I actually heard her bragging about "our new smoker".

Read the description of the BDS. lots of good info. I cooked the butts on mine with 1 load of 12# of kingsford. I still had time to cook when meat was done. Also keep in mind the I live off interstate 15 where the semi trucks blow over and the wind was so strong that day it blew all the potted plants and trees over on my patio. I have wheels on mine and I had to chock them because it was rolling away and I held 220-250 deg.
I prommissed to make up a word document on my build but have family emergency and not able to get to my tools to measure hole size I used for fittings(see pics.). The holes in top are 8 1/2" holes. Do yourself a favor and get a step drill to make holes. If you ever drilled thin material you know the holes are not round but will be with a step drill.


My costco had them as a set. Little bit of money but they come in handy.

To answer other questions from the other thread. I have no door, I was waiting to see If I needed one. I loaded up on coal, lit, then threw on hickory chunks, Seemed to be a good combo. I have to dump mine out. Plan to make a scoop like Thirdeye did, pretty cool. I think the most difficult part of my build was the charcoal basket. Here is where I got my nickname "Norcoredneck" by my friends for my hillbilly engineering. I got a log (stump) about 13" in diameter. I got a piece of expanded metal 9 in"X43" I think. (circumference + 2" overlap) I used drywall screws and washers and screwed 9" width to log. I rolled log and tack welded when it overlapped. Remove log - ! ring. I used a piece of expanded metal and used 2 10" pieces of 1X2" tubing for standoffs and tacked it to ring.

Hope that makes sense.

Food for thought.

Looking at Mistas fire ring I would venture to guess he took 30 gallon drum and sliced it kept bottom for pan and slice with expanded metal for basket. This is good because it accomplished his need for emptying ash. Plus it probably provides more even heat due to fire diameter than mine. 12# of charcoal in a 13" ring stacks about 6-7 inches. In a 30 gallon drum it is lower. If it is ideal to keep 24" between coals and grill it would give more room for 2nd grill.

Mista, keep track of my ramblings and when we build the envy of barrel smokers we can use the ideas or laugh at my delirium. I think I need to wash my hands after giving the old man his Mophine

Norcoredneck said:

Looking at Mistas fire ring I would venture to guess he took 30 gallon drum and sliced it kept bottom for pan and slice with expanded metal for basket. This is good because it accomplished his need for emptying ash. Plus it probably provides more even heat due to fire diameter than mine. 12# of charcoal in a 13" ring stacks about 6-7 inches. In a 30 gallon drum it is lower. If it is ideal to keep 24" between coals and grill it would give more room for 2nd grill.

Mista, keep track of my ramblings and when we build the envy of barrel smokers we can use the ideas or laugh at my delirium. I think I need to wash my hands after giving the old man his Mophine

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You're not delerious. That is exactly what it is. Since I am on a balcony, it would be extremely inconvenient trying to dump the whole barrel. Plus it would end up with ash going over the side and that isn't a good idea since the apartment manager living directly under me. With the setup I have, I wait a day or two to make sure there are no lit embers. Then I give the charcoal grate a shake so all of the ash falls thru in to the pan (plus the unused coal stays in the grate for the next cook). Then I just dump the used ash into an old charcoal bag.

so, there is no need to dump ash during the cook to keep the airflow going?

Sorry if this is a stupid quesiton.

Thanks

B

No its much like a WSM
Easy to use

You can cook more good BBQ in a 55 gal. drum than you will ever be able to eat!
I have made several custom builds. To make the holes I use an electricians "slug cutter". It makes nice clean 7/8" or 1 1/8" holes. These are perfect fits for electrical box plugs. I have also threaded 1/2" and 3/4" pipe nipples in the holes to draft air closer to the charcoal ring. The slug cutters are expensive tools but after you make a few cookers they are well worth the price.

These things can really cook.

Napper said:

You can cook more good BBQ in a 55 gal. drum than you will ever be able to eat!
I have made several custom builds. To make the holes I use an electricians "slug cutter". It makes nice clean 7/8" or 1 1/8" holes. These are perfect fits for electrical box plugs. I have also threaded 1/2" and 3/4" pipe nipples in the holes to draft air closer to the charcoal ring. The slug cutters are expensive tools but after you make a few cookers they are well worth the price.

These things can really cook.

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Welcome aboard Bill! Do you have any pics of all of your cookers?

Now get on over to Cattle call and and introduce yourself!