Ugly Drum Smoker

OK - so I've read through more than 3,200 of the posts in this thread and have a plan for my UDS.

I'm picking up a new unlined open top drum this weekend and having it sandblasted as the neighbors and HOA will not tolerate even a torch burn to remove paint. The reason I'm going new is because 1) I like the flat top look and 2) by the time I buy a donor kettle for the lid I'm within $15 of the cost of the new barrel.

As I said, I read through 3,200 posts. I should have taken notes because now I can't find the template for the 8 exhaust hole pattern. Does someone have the link to the template or another copy I can use?

Thanks
 
is this the one?....

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1292345&postcount=6010

Espy said:
OK - so I've read through more than 3,200 of the posts in this thread and have a plan for my UDS.

I'm picking up a new unlined open top drum this weekend and having it sandblasted as the neighbors and HOA will not tolerate even a torch burn to remove paint. The reason I'm going new is because 1) I like the flat top look and 2) by the time I buy a donor kettle for the lid I'm within $15 of the cost of the new barrel.

As I said, I read through 3,200 posts. I should have taken notes because now I can't find the template for the 8 exhaust hole pattern. Does someone have the link to the template or another copy I can use?

Thanks
Click to expand...
 
rufio said:
Looking good!,

Hopefully I'll have my first one completed and painted this weekend. Wont get to cook on it yet though :cry: (It's in a summer house down the country. UDS creation doesn't really suit apartment living!)
Click to expand...



Thanks rufio, I plan on a season burn on Friday and pulled pork on Saturday. That brings up a good question. Since I already had an initial burn to burn off the paint, is a season burn even nessessary? I would guess it is since I wired brush the inside after the initial burn out. If a season burn is recommended, should I use more wood then normal or use the same as if I was smoking meat? Sorry about all the questions but I am new to the UDS lifestyle!! Thanks to all that have come before me to lead the way!!
 
I smeared crisco in mine for the seasoning. I think any kind of oil or even Pam will work. I lit a little bigger than usual fire in it. Let it good and hot without the lid on it, then put the lid on it. For the six hours I was awake it held 375ish. I left the intakes open and let it burn out through the night.
 
jgh1204 said:
Well, I think this going down as a failure. As I said, the drum was used to hold apple juice concentrate. Whatever they used to coat the inside of the drum is putting off a funky smell.

Not gonna que in that.
Click to expand...

I too have 2 drums that held apple juice concentrate, I did what i thought was an extensive burn it, the barrel was around 800* up to the middle and slowly tapered off too 400* at the top. But it didn't burn off the lining. I'm now sanding it off with a little electric mouse sander. It's taking quite some time to get it back down to bare metal. Sandblasting is definitely the way to go if you have the opportunity.
 
That's a great looking mod alright!

As for the seasoning, I'm planing on just pouring a bottle of Olive Oil or Sunflower oil around the sides of the barrel and letting it burn, I might mess around with trying to control the temperature before letting it go high and burn off.

I still need to finalise my charcoal basket though.

at the moment it's a grate with screws for legs! I still have my kettle bbq minus the Lid (which is being used for the UDS)

Do you think it would work if I cut off a section of the kettle and wrapped it around the grate? Would it be pliable enough?

I'm having a bit of difficulty getting strong enough expanded metal, but I'm obviously looking in the wrong places, would also love not to spend any more money on this thing.
 
I'm hopefully going to build my UDS this weekend and wanted to do a quick photoshop of my idea for the paint job and see what the brethren's opinion is.

ludwigsUDS.png


My thought was, that when i burned my barrel it got quite a bit of discoloration along the bottom to about 3/4's of the way up, it then rained the next day and that turned into a nice rusty color, (not nearly as rusty as the rust in my rendering) So I was thinking i would spray it with High temp gloss clear coat, and then mask off the inverse of flames and paint that silver. My question is, will that rust, continue to eat away at the barrel with clear coat on it? cause that would really suck to go thru all that and have my barrel bottom rust out.
 
First Smoke in UDS

Well, when the basketball tournament was finally over for my daughter, it was 6:00 in evening and not enough time to do a good slow smoke. So I did what any reasonable, new UDS owner would do considering not enough time to smoke but just enough time to make the neighborhood smell good. I had about a 1/4 bag of charcoal and I cut up some mesquite chunks and lit her up. To say the least I was very impressed. Held a constant 250-300 with no effort at all! When I last checked on it at 11:30 the temperature was solid at 250 degrees. Small amount of charcoal lasted longer than a full bag on my old weber! SWEET!!

UDS.jpg
 
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The Drum:
IMG_2694-768x1024.jpg


The Burn:
IMG_2727-768x1024.jpg


IMG_2728-768x1024.jpg


IMG_2731-768x1024.jpg


IMG_2733-768x1024.jpg


The Result:
IMG_2735-768x1024.jpg


The Sanding:
IMG_2778-768x1024.jpg


Clean Drum:
IMG_2777-768x1024.jpg


The Drilling:
IMG_2780-768x1024.jpg


Built:
IMG_2784-768x1024.jpg


IMG_2785-768x1024.jpg


Seasoning: (Installed the thermometer on the left, oops)
IMG_2797-768x1024.jpg


Cooked Some Quick Burgers and Dogs:
IMG_2799-768x1024.jpg


Seasoned:
IMG_2801-768x1024.jpg


Happy Me and the New Big Poppa Smoker and swag:
IMG_2794-768x1024.jpg
 
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That's awesome. I have several apple juice drums too but had no problem burning out the liner. Used 1 whole (free) pallet and a little accerlerant. Liner came off without a hitch. Used 409 and a rag and all the extra crap just wiped right out.
 
Okay, so I'm looking to mount my UDS to a cart which would give me some shelf space and a couple of work tables. I've seen guys using donor carts from old gassers and was wondering if there's a particular donor that I should look for? Here's a pic of an old Charbroil that I'm thinking may be work size wise and price wise since it'll be free. I'll have to double check the dimensions to make sure it fits. Thoughts....has anyone else used an old CB cart?

 
Thanks Displaced Texan,
If i was to paint it I was thinking doing this. I too love the color on the bottom. (the rust isn't the same, this was just something I did to get an idea.)
ludwigsUDS.png


(I posted this above but the link is broke and I can't edit the post to fix it.)
 
Great paint idea, blending the "U" in UDS with the very cool look of so many nice pits out there these days.
 
That a great looking smoker. I just finished building my UDS. Looking to start a new build with the Big P. hardware. The UDS cooks like a champ. Picture of my first.
 

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drum source near Milwaukee!

Mid-America Steel Drum Company

http://www.midamericasteeldrum.com/index.html

25.00 for unlined/unpainted!!!

Burning not an option in the city. Didn't want to do it anyway!

(only read thread up to page 90 so far)

Got an offset coupla years ago and that thing eats fuel. Will keep it for grilling.

Also have electric bullet smoker. Should I convert to charcoal? How?

charbroil electric.jpg
 
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