Ugly Drum Smoker

The turkey thermometers are adjustable if they have the hex fitting seen in this photo,

Just turn it while the tip is in boiling water till the needle is at the correct reading.

I bought a cheap $6 or so cover from Wall Mart and it has lasted me over 18 months. My drum sits on my front porch under the overhang, but open to the elements none the less.

retired trucker said:

I bought a cheap $6 or so cover from Wall Mart and it has lasted me over 18 months. My drum sits on my front porch under the overhang, but open to the elements none the less.

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I got one of those covers you see over a stack of tires at garages and tire stores. Mine happens to have the Michelin Man on it :razz:

Paul Worth said:

I got one of those covers you see over a stack of tires at garages and tire stores. Mine happens to have the Michelin Man on it :razz:

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that's a really good idea, I think I may borrow that:tape:

This thread has 2.2 million views!!!!!!! It's got more views than all the "sticky threads" combined! LOL

snyper77 said:

This thread has 2.2 million views!!!!!!! It's got more views than all the "sticky threads" combined! LOL

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And yet this thread is not stickied?

TurboDog said:

Yes , I leave my drum out in the rain , and yes it gets water inside it . Unfortunately I have no shelter in my yard , I suppose I need to invest in a cover of sorts to keep the water out when not in use.

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I have this Brinkman Smoker cover from HD and it works PERFECT. My dad has a Weber kettle cover on his and it is a little short. I have a kettle lid so I got this cover b/c it is longer. It is the perfect length and diameter for a UDS with a kettle lid to go all the way to the bottom of the drum. I leave my UDS on the deck all winter in MN with this cover and have no issues with moisture inside. The elastic on the bottom keeps it on tight. For $10 it can't be beat!

I SO TOTALLY LOVE YOU GUYS!!! Just finished my first UDS this past week and put it to work right away. I got the drum from our local scrap yard for five bucks. Had to burn out the last dregs of glue (used to make Kellogg's cereal boxes), but after a good burn the nasty sand out (a right of passage...) it didn't take long to add the hardware and build the fire box. I actually ripped the expanded metal off the back of my garage door and sewed it together with the copper wire from #12 Romex. The ash pan is an old rusted deep dish pizza pan with holes drilled in the sides for ventilation. The plan was to use it to smoke shoulders for my daughter's graduation open house. I started a bag of KB with a few hickory chunks here and there at 11:00 p.m. on Friday night and put two shoulders on at about 12:30 a.m. (The plan was to give myself enough time to use my BWS if things didn't go right- open house was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.) I went to bed at 3:00 a.m. when I became convinced that the temp wasn't going to budge from 250- put a couple of fatties on for breakfast (a first for me!) By 7:00 a.m. the fatties were done (OH MY LORD!!! I will never light a fire again without throwing one or two on the side!!! World's best kept secret...) Long story short, by midnight on Saturday, I had finished a total of 5 shoulders on the UDS and kept them in my oven wrapped overnight. By the time I shut down, I still had about a third of my fuel left! The pulled pork was incredible, and got rave reviews from our 250+ guests on Sunday. My thanks go to BigMista and all the brethren for your trials and errors, insight, and inspiration! This sight is the happiest place on earth! (well, except for maybe the smoked turkey leg stand at Disney World...) :wink:

Jim Sirks
Battle Creek, MI

BWS with offset
UDS (Proud new owner!)

P.S. DEFINITELY don't go with a side mount thermometer! 120 degree difference between it and the grate thermometer I put in "just to check."

Welcome to the drum corps Jim. You found out in one cook the awesome ability of a uds if made the KISS way. I know you are proud of your build, I was and still enjoy it after about 20 months of use. Congratulations! :icon_shy

Good looking drum Jim, And the food looks great also.:clap:

Jsirks said:

P.S. DEFINITELY don't go with a side mount thermometer! 120 degree difference between it and the grate thermometer I put in "just to check."

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Those two images cannot be seen!!! :-o

Jsirks said:

P.S. DEFINITELY don't go with a side mount thermometer! 120 degree difference between it and the grate thermometer I put in "just to check."

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At one point I was measuring 150 on my lid , 225 on the outside edge of the top grate , and 350 in the middle of the bottom grate. This is my only complaint about the UDS , kind of hard to judge a cook time with the temps so wildly different throughout the drum.

TurboDog said:

At one point I was measuring 150 on my lid , 225 on the outside edge of the top grate , and 350 in the middle of the bottom grate. This is my only complaint about the UDS , kind of hard to judge a cook time with the temps so wildly different throughout the drum.

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With the use of the angle iron on a grate near the fire, I don't get nearly that much difference. The lid, however, still does show a lot less.

Welcome Jim.

Ahhhhh...I remember when my drum was all new and freshly painted. Shiny new weber 22.5" grate inside. Here we are about 3 years later and she's still pumping out great BBQ. Getting about time to replace with a new one (I use it a LOT).
Great 1st cook. Keep it up!!

uds llid please help

hello everone ..im a new come here and like all the rest i need help..lol
i bought a 55 gal stainless steel barrel because i didnt want to deal with the burn outs , sanding etc...
my intentions were to have to cooking grates and use the weber top.
now here lyes my problem//
the barrel is 23" not 22.5":evil:
any suggestions ??
i was thinking to cut it and weld a 1/2 piece but a friend of mine said that the metal is to thin and it will warp..
any suggestions will help
thank you in advance !!

The BBQ Chronicles - An Ugly Drum Smoker Story

My journey to build a UDS. in photo! Hope it helps someone.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3232615222366.2123812.1476214331&type=1&l=5b59f6594d

lwdbo said:

hello everone ..im a new come here and like all the rest i need help..lol
i bought a 55 gal stainless steel barrel because i didnt want to deal with the burn outs , sanding etc...
my intentions were to have to cooking grates and use the weber top.
now here lyes my problem//
the barrel is 23" not 22.5":evil:
any suggestions ??
i was thinking to cut it and weld a 1/2 piece but a friend of mine said that the metal is to thin and it will warp..
any suggestions will help
thank you in advance !!

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Search for the thread by JMSeltzer on his mod of putting a strip of metal along the top of his drum so his Webber lid would fit without banging it out of shape. It is a simple but effective mod.

Has anyone had experience using grape wood in their smokers? I know here where I live a lot of people use grape stumps for firewood but didn't know how it would work to smoke meat.

lwdbo said:

hello everone ..im a new come here and like all the rest i need help..lol
i bought a 55 gal stainless steel barrel because i didnt want to deal with the burn outs , sanding etc...
my intentions were to have to cooking grates and use the weber top.
now here lyes my problem//
the barrel is 23" not 22.5":evil:
any suggestions ??
i was thinking to cut it and weld a 1/2 piece but a friend of mine said that the metal is to thin and it will warp..
any suggestions will help
thank you in advance !!

Click to expand...

I used a SS drum as well. I had to flare out my kettle lid lip a little to overcome the dimension difference. I added a strip of gasket all the way around on the inside of the lid.
I used ss bolts with a lock-nut assmbly to support the grates.

Got the little UDS done finally! Made it to haul in the toyhauler!