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bbq_noobie
Guest
Another in Alabama - Carter Oil Co. in Sheffield (256-383-0914). NEW for $20. Used are $10, but I wouldn't buy a used one from an oil company.
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Ugly Drum Smoker
- Thread starter jgh1204
- Start date
smokindave74
Knows what a fatty is.
Actually used oil drums are not that bad. If you do a good burn, and then powerwash it out, they work great.
Most people talk about food grade drums like they are a good thing. The liner in a food grade drum is way harder to get our AND more toxic than the mineral oil residue in a drum. No carcinogens in motor oil..........its organic. Look up an MSDS sheet for motor oil. Worst thing you can get a minute trace of oil left in a drum is a laxative effect.
huaco
Is lookin for wood to cook with.
I seasoned my UDS and had a few problems. I did not have a very large fire. I was able to get the UDS to well over 230 for several hours. But... to do that I had to open all three bottom vents. I did not have an exhaust stack on it at the time (Since then I got a 10" pipe and screwed in the 2" bung). Could not having an exhaust stack cause back draft and smoke come out of my bottom vents?
smokindave74
Knows what a fatty is.
Yeah, without an exhaust hole, you would have a problem. You need draft to get the intake air to fuel the fire. Did you have just the bung hole opened at least? Having the pipe wouldn't make a difference, as long as you had some sort of exhaust port.
With your 2" pipe in there, you should be fine. Try it again. You should be able to get to 300+ degrees with all three vents open and enough hot coals to start out.
smokindave74
Knows what a fatty is.
Finally got some pics........
Finally got some pics uploaded of the drums I have made. Sold a few so far, and I hope to make 2 or 3 more. Very simple design with magnets over 7/8" draft holes.
Found some great barrels.....higher gauge steel. I cut the bottoms out, and use the open top w/bolt ring as the bottom. So far I have had a little trouble with drippings coming out of the bolt on bottom, might try some RTV around the groove in the lid.
Finally got some pics uploaded of the drums I have made. Sold a few so far, and I hope to make 2 or 3 more. Very simple design with magnets over 7/8" draft holes.
Found some great barrels.....higher gauge steel. I cut the bottoms out, and use the open top w/bolt ring as the bottom. So far I have had a little trouble with drippings coming out of the bolt on bottom, might try some RTV around the groove in the lid.
Attachments
Spicy-Meat
Knows what a fatty is.
Nice job Smokindave. I have to try the casters. Did you weld or screw them on?
dozenmonkeyz
Well-known member
Finally got my first UDS to operable and decent looking condition so thought I'd follow up on my earlier post and give some details.
Stuck with a pretty basic and simple design. Cut the flat top out leaving a slight rim inside the edge ring in case the lid may need it. Drilled 3 evenly spaced 1" dia holes at 2" from the bottom of the drum. Burned the drum out; it's previous life was a container for a water soluble machining lubricant and I think the drum had the clear rust resistant liner... plus, why not BURN:twisted:
After the burn I washed off the entire barrell with water/tide to clean off the burn residue. Next I hit the exterior with grinder and sanding disc, and softened the sharp edge with the grinding wheel.
Next, hit it with 2 cans of high heat rustoleum and rubbed the inside with crisco.
Picked up a cheap kettle for parts, so I hinge mounted the lid after pounding out and fitting the rim on the drum. Also, slapped on some cheap frig magnets for air control.
Used 1/4" tapered head bolts backwards through the drum with a double nut and washers, 3 equally spaced at 2 different grill heights starting at 24" +/- from the bottom of the charcoal basket.
Stuck with a pretty basic and simple design. Cut the flat top out leaving a slight rim inside the edge ring in case the lid may need it. Drilled 3 evenly spaced 1" dia holes at 2" from the bottom of the drum. Burned the drum out; it's previous life was a container for a water soluble machining lubricant and I think the drum had the clear rust resistant liner... plus, why not BURN:twisted:
After the burn I washed off the entire barrell with water/tide to clean off the burn residue. Next I hit the exterior with grinder and sanding disc, and softened the sharp edge with the grinding wheel.
Next, hit it with 2 cans of high heat rustoleum and rubbed the inside with crisco.
Picked up a cheap kettle for parts, so I hinge mounted the lid after pounding out and fitting the rim on the drum. Also, slapped on some cheap frig magnets for air control.
Used 1/4" tapered head bolts backwards through the drum with a double nut and washers, 3 equally spaced at 2 different grill heights starting at 24" +/- from the bottom of the charcoal basket.
dozenmonkeyz
Well-known member
Charcoal Basket
The charcoal basket cost me almost nothing and was nearly all salvage material. The grate was a junk yard find of an old gas grill grate for $1. The expanded metal was out of a steel shop leftover pile and cost me $5 for 13"x52". The bolts and tie wire were leftovers from an old project.
I simply cut the grate to square with the angle grinder. Bent the expanded metal into a square and wire tied it to the grate. Twisted a pair of wire for a handle and bolted the legs on.
The charcoal basket cost me almost nothing and was nearly all salvage material. The grate was a junk yard find of an old gas grill grate for $1. The expanded metal was out of a steel shop leftover pile and cost me $5 for 13"x52". The bolts and tie wire were leftovers from an old project.
I simply cut the grate to square with the angle grinder. Bent the expanded metal into a square and wire tied it to the grate. Twisted a pair of wire for a handle and bolted the legs on.
dozenmonkeyz
Well-known member
First Burn
Lit the basket with 14 hot KF coals on 5-6 lbs with apple chunks. Seasoned for a couple hours full bore and topped out about 450^.
Throttled back down to about 350^ by closing 2 1/2 intakes over about 1 hour. Control seemed nice but magnets were sort of a hassle.
Threw on a fatty stuffed with green pepper, onion and cream cheese, and some split chicken.
With an hour or so left, put some corn in. I guess I hadn't rolled the fatty very well. It split apart but stayed intact enough to make it thru the cook.
And cooked meat.
This was my first ever smoke and the trial run on the UDS... both came out fantastic! The fatty was over done but delicious and the chicken was great
Thanks for all the advice and tips and trial & error this thread and posters have offered:clap2: This was awesome and I'll share my experiences as I explore more smokin!
Lit the basket with 14 hot KF coals on 5-6 lbs with apple chunks. Seasoned for a couple hours full bore and topped out about 450^.
Throttled back down to about 350^ by closing 2 1/2 intakes over about 1 hour. Control seemed nice but magnets were sort of a hassle.
Threw on a fatty stuffed with green pepper, onion and cream cheese, and some split chicken.
With an hour or so left, put some corn in. I guess I hadn't rolled the fatty very well. It split apart but stayed intact enough to make it thru the cook.
And cooked meat.
This was my first ever smoke and the trial run on the UDS... both came out fantastic! The fatty was over done but delicious and the chicken was great
Thanks for all the advice and tips and trial & error this thread and posters have offered:clap2: This was awesome and I'll share my experiences as I explore more smokin!
stglide
Knows what a fatty is.
Look'n good! The ole drum is quite the smoker for now more than what you put in one!
W
webegrubbin
Guest
Noob here...Im making a conventional UDS with the lid that came with the drum. Am I able to use 2 cooking grate layers? I was thinking of putting one grate about 7 inches from the top, and the second grate about 5 inches below the first grate. would the second grate be too close to the coal? How far does the grate need to be from the coal, and is how does it affect the cooking if its too close?
garyk1398
Babbling Farker
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webergrubbin, I believe you need about 24" from the coals otherwise you would be just grilling instead of smoking. With a diffuser plate, my guess is you could get below that 24" range. All of the drums I have made use (almost exclusively) the original lid that came with it. My recent ones use a lower grate & a upper grate that sits on it with "legs". Good luck with your build and post pron!
Bearsmokes
Knows what a fatty is.
Okay, have just completed reading 8072 posts and am ready to start building my UDS. My thermometers showed up yesterday in mail, now this weekend to round up the hardware and hopefully pick up a barrel.
TurboDog
Knows what a fatty is.
I read every post in this thread , took me about 2 weeks of spare time , very informative. Some may ask was it worth it? Definitely , I have a really good understanding of how these thing are supposed to work , what problems I may run in to , and how to get around them. About half way through the thread I started noticing people (who obviously hadn't read the thread) asking questions that I knew the answers to , even without building one as of yet , because of the wealth of information I'd gathered already just from reading it. Tomorrow my father is bringing me two free unlined hydraulic fluid drums , they were closed head but the heads have been removed with a drum deheader. I already know my weber lid isn't going to fit directly on top , my father measured the barrels and they're 23" across , so my intention is to used the bottom third of the second barrel to fabricate a lid. As far as the rest of the build , I'll be keeping to the free materials theme as much as possible , I'm unemployed , and this thing needs to be ultra cheap.
TurboDog
Knows what a fatty is.
Ok my free drums deal didn't happen , so I guess it's back to searching for a drum , and a delay on building my UDS. Anyone have a lead on drums in southern Louisiana?
biglag
Knows what a fatty is.
Yep. Wire rope specialists in prairieville and you can buy them new, used, refurbished, whatever. There's a place in Zachary or somewhere close that has used lined ones for $10-$20 and I can get u their info if you want. There's also an ad in 2theadvocate for someone selling 8 of them for $120 but unsure what was in them prior. Good luck and holla if u need anything else.
Lag the lurker
TurboDog
Knows what a fatty is.
Thanks for the tip on Wire rope Specialists , I'll be giving them a call to find out what they're asking for sure. I'd also like the info on the place in Zachary if you don't mind , I'd rather an unlined drum , but if a little elbow grease is gonna save me a bunch of cash I'll surely go that route.
1FUNVET
Babbling Farker
Check with local spill clean up companies or environmental companies. They have to put the stuff in clean drums.
biglag
Knows what a fatty is.
The ad in the paper is 8 drums for $120 or willing to separate and they all have lids. 225-763-1718
Wire rope specialists 225-673-6685
Or wireropespecialists.com
May not be able to find info on lined ones in Zachary but still trying.
Lag the lurker
TurboDog
Knows what a fatty is.
OK , so I called Wire Rope Specialists , and they referred me to Drums and Containers , ( drumsandcontainersinc.com ) they quoted me a price of $56 on a brand new , raw steel inside , black paint outside , open head drum with a lid. This sounds like a pretty good deal to me , the drum wouldn't even need to be burnt , and therefore it wouldn't even need to be repainted on the outside. I figured I would post the info in case anyone else in the area was interested. Thanks for the lead , I really appreciate it.
EDIT: The drums on the advocate site are plastic BTW
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