Ugly Drum Smoker

Two Quick items...

1)The drum I was hoping to get may be epoxy lined after all.
Anyone know a source for the AUSTIN - TEXAS area on unlined
or reconditioned drums in this area? Found a few lined Craigslist,
but if someone on this site knew.. thought I would ask.


2)I was thinking of contacting a shop that does SANDBLASTING to blast out
the liner. Does this sound like it would work? What would be a reasonable
fee to pay. I have three herniated discs, so minimal inside work is better for me. Hours working in the scrapping will not do.

Thank for the answers.

Smiter Q said:

Two Quick items...

1)The drum I was hoping to get may be epoxy lined after all.
Anyone know a source for the AUSTIN - TEXAS area on unlined
or reconditioned drums in this area? Found a few lined Craigslist,
but if someone on this site knew.. thought I would ask.


2)I was thinking of contacting a shop that does SANDBLASTING to blast out
the liner. Does this sound like it would work? What would be a reasonable
fee to pay. I have three herniated discs, so minimal inside work is better for me. Hours working in the scrapping will not do.

Thank for the answers.

Click to expand...

I took a lined lid to a local shop to have them try sandblasting off the liner, it did not work. Shot blasting (metal balls instead of sand) may work but sand did not.

I got a few drums that had apple juice in them and I was told that they had a liner. It looks like they are a light yellow and have a strip of tape up the seam. Does anyone know what the yellow coating is? Best way to get it out?

What's the best way to do the lid, put it 2/3 on during the burn? I saw how to burn the sides by speading the coals when it's laying down and slowly rolling it.

I was going to do a burn out on it first before I season it. The lids fit nice and tight but I would like to get a Webber lid so I can fit an extra rack in it.

So I finally got my UDS finished up and did the seasoning yesterday. I let it run for 10 hours or so to play with temps and learn a bit without risking meat. Now, during this process I experimented with several "situations" that I have read about in this thread and elsewhere. Unfortunately I came upon a couple things that I do not recall seeing specific discussions about (or maybe I have missed/forgotten the info).

One thing I did was to leave the lid off for a while to simulate a temp spike. As expected, after a bit the coals lit up and temps shot up. So, I put the lid on and worked on getting the temps back down under control. However, as I closed off the oxygen supply, the coals started to smolder and smoke. So, what do you guys do it situations like this? Obviously you want to avoid this situation but when faced with it, how do you guys get the temps back down without having the coals smolder and create the nasty white smoke?

My second observation and question is in regards to ash clouds from disturbing the coals. I have read where people say sometimes the have to give their drum a "kick" as the coals start to get covered in ash. There was even one guy (sorry, cannot remember who specifically) who built a fancy shaker contraption in his drum. So, I give my drum a kick yesterday to knock some ash off the coals and get a huge cloud of ash. Obviously this would ruin any meat that was on there. So, is there some ninja trick that people use or do you remove your meat for a minute until everything settles?

Other than these two questions I think I am good to go. Many thanks to everyone that has contributed to this thread and I hope to add my own contributions shortly.

Making progress

Got to work a little on the drum today. It was blue, but thanks to the pressure washer, and then the weed burner, bye bye blue. Did a burn for about 2 hrs while I was cooking on the kettle grill.

Next.. start making holes for the vents and rack, and then to the lid. Still unsure exactly how I will end up doing it...

pAT_13 said:

What's the best way to do the lid, put it 2/3 on during the burn? I saw how to burn the sides by speading the coals when it's laying down and slowly rolling it.

Click to expand...

I put the lid on about half and turned it a couple of times. It kept kinda snuffing the fire out - my wood wasn't very well seasoned for the burn and I had some trouble. There was still some liner on the lid so I put it in the fire pit, inside up, and built a fire right on it. That took care of it..

stglide said:

Got to work a little on the drum today. It was blue, but thanks to the pressure washer, and then the weed burner, bye bye blue. Did a burn for about 2 hrs while I was cooking on the kettle grill.

Next.. start making holes for the vents and rack, and then to the lid. Still unsure exactly how I will end up doing it...

Click to expand...

Assuming your drum did not come with a lid, check craigslist. You should be able to find a weber kettle to use. I had to flatten the lip of my weber lid and then persuade it to fit the lip of the drum. Not to bad really. You will have a few spots that are not absolutely perfect but I was surprised at how well it seals.

colonel00, with my UDS I have to get the hot coals in contact with the the other coals, so a small "kick" or a jiggle rod or whatever it takes, but I don't understand your " huge cloud of ash"..?? IMHO what you see as a cloud of ash is just the smoke setteling down.

chaddie said:

colonel00, with my UDS I have to get the hot coals in contact with the the other coals, so a small "kick" or a jiggle rod or whatever it takes, but I don't understand your " huge cloud of ash"..?? IMHO what you see as a cloud of ash is just the smoke setteling down.

Click to expand...

So you don't have ash particles flying about when you do this? When I kicked it or nudged the charcoal basket with a rod, it produced enough airborne ash that caught the updraft from the heat and came out the top. If there had been meat on the grate, it would have been hit. I guess huge ash cloud is a bit excessive, but there was definitely a good bit of ash in the air. Also, this wasn't very forceful at all. Just enough of a bump to get the coals to shift slightly.

colonel00 said:

Assuming your drum did not come with a lid, check craigslist. You should be able to find a weber kettle to use. I had to flatten the lip of my weber lid and then persuade it to fit the lip of the drum. Not to bad really. You will have a few spots that are not absolutely perfect but I was surprised at how well it seals.

Click to expand...

No, it was a solid top. Cut it out, and then worked it over w/ the grinder and steel wheel. I do have a Weber I found, so that will be soon to come also!

colonel00 said:

So you don't have ash particles flying about when you do this? When I kicked it or nudged the charcoal basket with a rod, it produced enough airborne ash that caught the updraft from the heat and came out the top. If there had been meat on the grate, it would have been hit. I guess huge ash cloud is a bit excessive, but there was definitely a good bit of ash in the air. Also, this wasn't very forceful at all. Just enough of a bump to get the coals to shift slightly.

Click to expand...

What are you using for fuel?

Mostly lump but I did have some leftover kingsford briqs. I didn't want to use new lump for just a seasoning burn. I realize this is more ash than just using lump that I would in a normal cook. However, I know people do use briqs often as well. Obviously I will learn much more about the UDS as time progresses. It just seemed like it would be a common issue. Then again, if I were using just lump, I shouldn't need to kick it ever unless I am to that last bit of fuel at the end of a cook.

Does anybody have a complete build photographed from start to finish??
Would love to observe....

Hey Colonel... a little ash on the meat just adds to the bark. :-D

Seriously, I know what you mean. I've experienced the same thing. I don't sweat it and I've never had problems. If your bark is pretty dry when the ash settles on the meat, you can use a dry pasty brush to brush it off, but I've always had too much moisture on the bark for me to be able to do that.

Drossie said:

Does anybody have a complete build photographed from start to finish??
Would love to observe....

Click to expand...

Check this out http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43943

stglide said:

Next.. start making holes for the vents and rack, and then to the lid. Still unsure exactly how I will end up doing it...

Click to expand...

As to a Weber top. On the first drum I built, I just flattened the tops rim with a pair of pliers, then placed the top on the drum and formed the tops lid over the barrels rim with a rubber hammer. It worked OK. Drum #2 was treated much differently and with better end results too. Here's a link to the more involved process which may be helpful to you.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89382

What do you folks use for fuel for your initial burns to get them good and hot to burn off anything inside the drum?

So tonight I finished drilling the holes and got a good fire going....was a beautiful sight seeing the flames!

Koopdaddy said:

What do you folks use for fuel for your initial burns to get them good and hot to burn off anything inside the drum?

Click to expand...

Wood Pallets. However, I had a ready supply of seasoned oak. You need hard wood to get a really hot fire.

Koopdaddy :

Way to go!