Ugly Drum Smoker

Marty said:
weber lid sealed well. 3 -1 inch pipe nipples welded into bottom of drum 2closed during cook also have flat lid have not tried it
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Well that all sounds good. Ok, what about the accuracy of your thermometer? Have you tested it in boiling and ice water?
 
Marty said:
? fired up uds on sunday cooked 2 chickens and a fatty.could not get the temp below 275. usd RO lump 1/3 chimney to start and 7lbs in basket top vents wide open ball valve open about 1/8 why can't i get it to 225?
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Marty, I think RO burns hotter. I would use less lit on start up and catch the temp on the way up. Then throw your grub on and keep an eye on temps. When I use just plain ole kingsford I only use about 8 coals to start and catch my temp on the way up.

Paul B
SS UDS
 
Marty said:
? fired up uds on sunday cooked 2 chickens and a fatty.could not get the temp below 275. usd RO lump 1/3 chimney to start and 7lbs in basket top vents wide open ball valve open about 1/8 why can't i get it to 225?
Click to expand...

I have tried both methods of firing up my UDS - catching the temp on the way up vs. lighting a big fire and choking it down. I liked the second method better because the groceries tasted less like charcoal smoke.

Fire it up as you described. Let things get nice and hot with all intakes open and the lid off. Once you've got a good fire going, close all intakes, put the lid on with the vents closed. Wait a while until the temp is about 200ish. Then open the lid vents and adjust the intake(s) to get it up to 225-250. I use a turkey fryer thermo placed at grate level to make these adjustments. When the temp is back down to the 200s I place my Maverick et-7 and et-73 accordingly (the probes will not tolerate temps >400).

This has worked for me, but different folks have different preferences.
 
Finally...

Finished the entire thread! Someone should publish this in book format and retire rich! Tomorrow night will be my first try with pork shoulders on my drum. Anyone have any tips or things to watch out for?
 
sjm845 said:
Finished the entire thread! Someone should publish this in book format and retire rich! Tomorrow night will be my first try with pork shoulders on my drum. Anyone have any tips or things to watch out for?
Click to expand...

Watch out for boredom. :biggrin: And, no, the thermometer is not stuck - it really is that steady.

Looking forward to hearing how it goes.
 
NASCARican said:
That brand also come with hinges!! I opted for the cheaper version @ biglots $29.95. The grills are for crap, but the lid is usable.
Click to expand...

It definitely is a POS... but I got the lid to fit pretty well. It went from a really tight fit to a somewhat loose fit, so I hope it seals when I test it out Saturday.
 
Tonight I got a decent amount of work done on the UDS. Finally got home before it was dark and was able to focus... I scrubbed the inside out again with a scrub brush and then prepped for paint. I almost forgot that I ordered a Tel-Tru black face gauge today, since the BGE didn't quite work out...

Here's a pic with the hardware mounted to the inside...
73c8d962.jpg


I used the black grill paint and it came out looking like this..
91ffd800.jpg


I ended up not really liking the flat black paint and I ran out of the first can after 2 coats.... So I decided to pick up the high heat grill paint that was semigloss... After 4 more coats of paint the UDS is looking not so ugly. hahahaa....
98fa84ae.jpg


I also was able to get my expanded metal bend into a somewhat circle... I was going to mount the charcoal grate to the pizza pan, but the bolts I bought are too small for the washers to span the grate. So for now I have a circle of expanded metal, pizza pan, and charcoal grate....
1077ac94.jpg


Tomorrow I'm going to use the RTV and mount the BGE vent and then finish the charcoal basket. Then it will finally be time for seasoning on Saturday...
 
I like the u bolt idea, think I'll borrow that idea from you.:p The UDS looks like a great cooker and fun to build. Hopefully my buddy picked up the barrel yesterday so we can get started this weekend. I'll be posting pictures as soon as I figure out how. Do I just copy and paste the img code?
 
WoodyQ said:
I like the u bolt idea, think I'll borrow that idea from you.:p The UDS looks like a great cooker and fun to build. Hopefully my buddy picked up the barrel yesterday so we can get started this weekend. I'll be posting pictures as soon as I figure out how. Do I just copy and paste the img code?
Click to expand...

I forget who mentioned this originally (it may have been uvajester), but using acorn nuts on the ends of those u-bolts would look really good. That's what I'm gonna do... I can't tell from the pics if Uva did or not.
 
Rodney said:
I forget who mentioned this originally (it may have been uvajester), but using acorn nuts on the ends of those u-bolts would look really good. That's what I'm gonna do... I can't tell from the pics if Uva did or not.
Click to expand...

Someone did mention that... I ended up just using a regular nut on the u-bolts, then came bak and cut the bolts close to the nut and rounded the edges a little to keep someone from getting snagged. It came out looking great and the regular nuts sit a little closer to the drum. I wanted them to dissappear... If I was planning on leaving them bare SS then I would have definitely used the acorn nuts.
 
UVaJester said:
Someone did mention that... I ended up just using a regular nut on the u-bolts, then came bak and cut the bolts close to the nut and rounded the edges a little to keep someone from getting snagged. It came out looking great and the regular nuts sit a little closer to the drum. I wanted them to dissappear... If I was planning on leaving them bare SS then I would have definitely used the acorn nuts.
Click to expand...

Good call.

Hmm... To bling, or not to bling... :wink:

-r
 
People have said to use high temp silicone to seal my BGE vent to the drum... Is that the same thing as the automotive RTV high temp silicone..??
 
UVaJester said:
Tonight I got a decent amount of work done on the UDS. Finally got home before it was dark and was able to focus... I scrubbed the inside out again with a scrub brush and then prepped for paint. I almost forgot that I ordered a Tel-Tru black face gauge today, since the BGE didn't quite work out...

Here's a pic with the hardware mounted to the inside...[\QUOTE]


Looking pretty good so far!!! Keep it up, hopefully your U bolts are spaced enough to let the bottom grate in, Mine almost were too close together...:redface:
Click to expand...
 
HeSmellsLikeSmoke said:
It it easy to try it without the silicone. Mine works great without it.
Click to expand...

I picked up some of the RTV Red High Temp silicone and it says you can use it for oven doors on the back. Its easy enough to bolt it on though and try. I just feel like since it wasn't formed for the drum and needs to pull outward, that I may end up having some leaking if my bolt holes aren't dead on right.
 
UVaJester said:
I picked up some of the RTV Red High Temp silicone and it says you can use it for oven doors on the back. Its easy enough to bolt it on though and try. I just feel like since it wasn't formed for the drum and needs to pull outward, that I may end up having some leaking if my bolt holes aren't dead on right.
Click to expand...

I just gently bent it by hand to the larger radius and it fit like a glove. I bought high temp silicon too, but ended up happy without it.

The draft doors on my BGEs don't have a seal of any kind, by the way.
 
Last edited:
Pork's On!

5AM--Wake up
5:20AM--Coals hot and transfered to drum--1 intake + valve open full
5:45AM--Temp at 252 --2 Shoulders ON!
6:15AM--Temp at 261--Closed valve to 3/4 full. Want to run hot today
6:20AM--Back to sleep

This is all happening at 23 degrees F outside! HillyBilly BBQ Drum is KISS all the way with a weber lid and quick clamp holding drum seal. Amazing how well this works. You guys are awesome for posting all this info.
 
Guys,
I am in the process of building a UDS. Actually have a buddy with some time on his hands who is putting it together, but I'm pretty familiar with the process. I have a lined drum and burning it out several times with a big fire has done no good at all. A torch wouldn't even hurt the liner and it is extremely difficult to get it down to bare metal. I have done a LOT of internet research on epoxy phenolic liners over the last several days and I was just wondering if anyone knows of any specific reasons why the liner needs to be removed other than just general peace of mind. As far as I can tell, the worst thing in the liner is BPA, which is the chemical which got attention about a year ago for being in some baby bottles and Nalgene water bottles. I actually found one study which concluded that heating food in a can lined with an epoxy phenolic coating did not result in an appreciable increase in the amounts of BPA in the food. I personally don't think drinking out of a water bottle with BPA is harmful (and epoxy phenolic coatings are used in water tanks and such) but realize that when you bring heat into the equation it could change. With that being said, epoxy phenolic resins are extremely heat and flame resistant and are used in such applications as firewalls in airliners (where surely you wouldn't want people you are saving from fire in a crash to just breath a bunch of poison, right?). They are also used as heat resistant handles in certain types of cookware, and also in Bakelite which is used in a variety of applications including cookware. I also found this statement--"Phenolic resins have excellent fire resistance and when induced to burn will release only minimal quantities of smoke or toxic fumes. "

SO...Is anyone cooking on their's with the lining still in or does anyone with a background in Organic Chemistry or personal experience with someone getting sick care to chime in and tell me why I shouldn't do this? Obviously I don't feel 100% comfortable with it but I'm pretty close to it. The charcoal basket design does not expose it to the most intense heat of the fire and if it won't burn or react to heat much higher than the 250 F or so that I plan to introduce it to I feel like nothing is going be released from it...
Thanks for any and all opinions!
Cary
 
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