Ugly Drum Smoker
- Thread starter jgh1204
- Start date
Coach_Mac
Knows what a fatty is.
Where are all of you getting your lids? I want to make another UDS and use a grill lid. Are they just lids you already have?
firecracker jack
is one Smokin' Farker
Thankfully a member of the brethren, helped me out and found some used webbers on craiglist in my local neighborhood...I tried doing the craiglist search and came up empty(my lack of computin' skills)...But anyways I had scored one the next day...bought the whole grill for about 25$...
firectackerjack
firectackerjack
Thawley
Take a breath!
I don't know about he place in Riverside, but I can usually score a few freebies in Newport Beach if you're interested. They are the fixed lid type though.
firecracker jack
is one Smokin' Farker
I purchased my drum from a company that reconditions them....I told them the intended use(for a smoker). and they said it would be alright for that use...After I got it home I started to get a little parinoid about using it. I called them back just to be sure. They asked for the code # on the bill of sale and reassured me that there should have been nothing hazardous in the barrel, but once reconditioned there was no way of knowing...They did explain that in the reconditioning process, the drums are put through a blast furnace which heats to an extreme temperature and cooks it back to bare metal...Then they repaint the outside and put a rust preventative on the inside.....I then burned it twice, hot enough to cook the paint off of most of the outside, for about three hours each time..I had flames a foot or so above the top of the barrel..and then did about a 8 - 10 hour seasoning burn at about 280 - 300* with coal....
I'm hoping It'll be alright???? Any comments???
firecrackerjack
I'm hoping It'll be alright???? Any comments???
firecrackerjack
ComputerMike
Take a breath!
Your burn out sounds fine.
C
chickenskinmusic
Guest
USD Jigglers
I think they are referred to as Jigglers----Someone posted something concerning these to shake their firebox when it ashes over. Any help would be appreciated.
I think they are referred to as Jigglers----Someone posted something concerning these to shake their firebox when it ashes over. Any help would be appreciated.
steelerQ
Found some matches.
This is one amazing thread! Thanks to all who have shared, I've been inspired to start my own UDS, and with it, my first foray into the world of BBQ.
I have landed a new, unlined drum, a CL special Weber donor grill, and the bulk of the necessary hardware. With the help of Norco's excellent tutorial, my holes are plotted and drilled. I'm working on the basket, and still need to do a burn-out before the paint job and seasoning burn.
On the subject of paint, I have a question. I would like to paint my barrel and the lid flat black. The Weber lid obviously has the glossy, porcelain enamel finish. My understanding is that paint will not properly adhere to this finish. I have attempted to use a grinder with a 60 grit wheel, but it has been slow-going, at best. I'm less than 1/8 of the way done, and the wheel is shot. Any suggestions? Do I need to go down to bare metal, or just remove the gloss? Thanks to all for your thoughts.
I have landed a new, unlined drum, a CL special Weber donor grill, and the bulk of the necessary hardware. With the help of Norco's excellent tutorial, my holes are plotted and drilled. I'm working on the basket, and still need to do a burn-out before the paint job and seasoning burn.
On the subject of paint, I have a question. I would like to paint my barrel and the lid flat black. The Weber lid obviously has the glossy, porcelain enamel finish. My understanding is that paint will not properly adhere to this finish. I have attempted to use a grinder with a 60 grit wheel, but it has been slow-going, at best. I'm less than 1/8 of the way done, and the wheel is shot. Any suggestions? Do I need to go down to bare metal, or just remove the gloss? Thanks to all for your thoughts.
Norcoredneck
somebody shut me the fark up.
Scuff it, clean and paint. First butt or 2 and you won't care.
MadKirk
Knows what a fatty is.
Sounds fine, from what I've gathered. I'm using a burned/cleaned out mineral oil barrel, and although I've only smoke a fatty during seasoning, there was no bitter or metallic taste. Others are probably correct with the smoke problem diagnosis. Change your woods or use less and see what happens.
firecracker jack
is one Smokin' Farker
still getting off flavor from drum
After the first cook in which I used a fair amount of mesquite which could have led to a bitter after taste....I tried again yesterday with another cook using only maple...I ate only a taste of the ribs....They had no unusual flavor while eating them but still had some off taste afterwards.
I thought I' start by washing the drum clean with soap and water then rinsing it out thouroughly....It had a real oily gummy substance on it....I heard someone say that Mesquite is a very heavy oily smoke and I wondered if that was leaving the residue and after taste??? Or if I used too much veg. oil when seasoning and that led to the oily substance?
Anyways when I scrubbed the inside down and wiped it dry..I noticed it really still had a metalic smell to it. I figured after a seasoing burn, and two cooks with wood smoke it would have lost that smell....So I don't know which way to go from here....Do I do another barrel burn with a real hot fire???Or just another seasoning attempt,(this time without the ash pan so the heat from the coal basket gets more directly to the bottom of the barrel.)..Or do I chit-can the farkin thing and find another source and drum?????:eusa_clap
After the first cook in which I used a fair amount of mesquite which could have led to a bitter after taste....I tried again yesterday with another cook using only maple...I ate only a taste of the ribs....They had no unusual flavor while eating them but still had some off taste afterwards.
I thought I' start by washing the drum clean with soap and water then rinsing it out thouroughly....It had a real oily gummy substance on it....I heard someone say that Mesquite is a very heavy oily smoke and I wondered if that was leaving the residue and after taste??? Or if I used too much veg. oil when seasoning and that led to the oily substance?
Anyways when I scrubbed the inside down and wiped it dry..I noticed it really still had a metalic smell to it. I figured after a seasoing burn, and two cooks with wood smoke it would have lost that smell....So I don't know which way to go from here....Do I do another barrel burn with a real hot fire???Or just another seasoning attempt,(this time without the ash pan so the heat from the coal basket gets more directly to the bottom of the barrel.)..Or do I chit-can the farkin thing and find another source and drum?????:eusa_clap
Rich Parker
Babbling Farker
After the first cook in which I used a fair amount of mesquite which could have led to a bitter after taste....I tried again yesterday with another cook using only maple...I ate only a taste of the ribs....They had no unusual flavor while eating them but still had some off taste afterwards.
I thought I' start by washing the drum clean with soap and water then rinsing it out thouroughly....It had a real oily gummy substance on it....I heard someone say that Mesquite is a very heavy oily smoke and I wondered if that was leaving the residue and after taste??? Or if I used too much veg. oil when seasoning and that led to the oily substance?
Anyways when I scrubbed the inside down and wiped it dry..I noticed it really still had a metalic smell to it. I figured after a seasoing burn, and two cooks with wood smoke it would have lost that smell....So I don't know which way to go from here....Do I do another barrel burn with a real hot fire???Or just another seasoning attempt,(this time without the ash pan so the heat from the coal basket gets more directly to the bottom of the barrel.)..Or do I chit-can the farkin thing and find another source and drum?????:eusa_clap
That is weird!
Did you use less wood? My charcoal basket has a 17" diameter and is 6" high. I usually fill it with all KF briquettes with about 2 - 3 fist size chunks of wood.
Are you sure that you are using a rub that you have used in another cooker without any problems? Don't you own a DPP60? Fire that thing up and cook a butt with the same rub and same wood to see if you get the weird taste.
If that does not work, I would throw that farkin drum away and buy a brand new one. I would rather spend some extra $$$ than get sick or nasty food.
farklf
is one Smokin' Farker
Naw! Keep cooking! It's gets better with time. It's just the can getting heated up! You could do another burn out if you wish . Mine was like that at first. But with patience, good things will come.
firecracker jack
is one Smokin' Farker
Ok, so here's a funny story....So here I am all freaked out about my drum and not knowin' what to do. My brother finally got back to town, and I spoke with him about it...So he said he'd try some to see if he would get an after taste.(so long as he didn't die from lead poisoning or something).
Anyways he stopped by and had a bone or two. I asked him to wait a while because it took somtime(maybe 5 min) for me to develope the after taste and kind of a dry sensation in my mouth. Well time went by and he said he didn't notice any bitter after taste, just they were just good. I remember when the wife originally tried some after the first cook, and she said she hadn't noticed anything wierd. (After I sensed something wrong, I told her not to eat any more till I either figured it out, or did away with the whole mess). So then the only other thing that came to mind was that on the day of the first cook was,(if your'e still following this is where it starts getting funny....And if it proves to be true....Go ahead and laugh your arse off) I took a double dose of a generic prilosec to calm my acid reflux problem. Periodically I stop taking them to see if I can do without by changing my diet(this time I stopped consuming most soft drinks due to the amount of acid in them). I had gone afew days without the meds and the acid reflux was comin' back hard, so I took a double dose...Figured it was safe, and that it would help faster, and besides a doctor a few years back wanted me to take that dosage of prilosec (Don't know if both drugs are the same)...Later I read only to take one a day...So I mentioned that to my brother and we read a little more of the fine print ("ferric oxide red, Ferric oxide yellow"), These were two of the first three ingrediants...It's farkin IRON!.....What's the chances of getting too much Iron intake, by taking the medicine?...and having it leave a bitterness and dry sensation in my mouth and dancing on my taste buds....Well I don't know for sure, but I gotta take the wife to the doctors tomorrow and I'm going to see what she thinks.
After I had scrubbed out the UDS I decided to give it just another seasoning burn..So I fired her up and let her burn for an hour or so, and in the mean time I made my a fatty stuffed with cream cheese, sundried tomatoes, Green olives, and a little gorgonzola for flavor. Cooked her maybe a little long(about 180*), and then sliced it up and got me a taste.
Did'nt notice any wierd after taste...And I had noticed as the day had progressed that my dry mouth thingy had gradually, pretty much gone away...I gave it some time to see if any after taste or anything would come, and happy to say no! So then I thought I would try some of the que' I made from the first two cooks. Just the slightest after taste, but tasted more like rub ingreadiants with nothing matallic about it...And it didn't leave my mouth dry like the last two nights.
The night of the first cook I took a double dose of the medicine, last night I only took one, and tonight I did'nt take any...I believe as its getting back to normal level in my system...So are my taste buds.
Firecrackerjack
Anyways he stopped by and had a bone or two. I asked him to wait a while because it took somtime(maybe 5 min) for me to develope the after taste and kind of a dry sensation in my mouth. Well time went by and he said he didn't notice any bitter after taste, just they were just good. I remember when the wife originally tried some after the first cook, and she said she hadn't noticed anything wierd. (After I sensed something wrong, I told her not to eat any more till I either figured it out, or did away with the whole mess). So then the only other thing that came to mind was that on the day of the first cook was,(if your'e still following this is where it starts getting funny....And if it proves to be true....Go ahead and laugh your arse off) I took a double dose of a generic prilosec to calm my acid reflux problem. Periodically I stop taking them to see if I can do without by changing my diet(this time I stopped consuming most soft drinks due to the amount of acid in them). I had gone afew days without the meds and the acid reflux was comin' back hard, so I took a double dose...Figured it was safe, and that it would help faster, and besides a doctor a few years back wanted me to take that dosage of prilosec (Don't know if both drugs are the same)...Later I read only to take one a day...So I mentioned that to my brother and we read a little more of the fine print ("ferric oxide red, Ferric oxide yellow"), These were two of the first three ingrediants...It's farkin IRON!.....What's the chances of getting too much Iron intake, by taking the medicine?...and having it leave a bitterness and dry sensation in my mouth and dancing on my taste buds....Well I don't know for sure, but I gotta take the wife to the doctors tomorrow and I'm going to see what she thinks.
After I had scrubbed out the UDS I decided to give it just another seasoning burn..So I fired her up and let her burn for an hour or so, and in the mean time I made my a fatty stuffed with cream cheese, sundried tomatoes, Green olives, and a little gorgonzola for flavor. Cooked her maybe a little long(about 180*), and then sliced it up and got me a taste.
Did'nt notice any wierd after taste...And I had noticed as the day had progressed that my dry mouth thingy had gradually, pretty much gone away...I gave it some time to see if any after taste or anything would come, and happy to say no! So then I thought I would try some of the que' I made from the first two cooks. Just the slightest after taste, but tasted more like rub ingreadiants with nothing matallic about it...And it didn't leave my mouth dry like the last two nights.
The night of the first cook I took a double dose of the medicine, last night I only took one, and tonight I did'nt take any...I believe as its getting back to normal level in my system...So are my taste buds.
Firecrackerjack
Rich Parker
Babbling Farker
I still think you should be extra careful and pack up the drum and all leftover Q for me to dispose of.
Glad to hear you and your family are safe of smokin toxins.
firecracker jack
is one Smokin' Farker
Thanks Rich,
I suppose I should still play it safe..I'll ask the doctor her opinion tomorrow. Heck I guess I could have them look for any nasties through blood work....If I notice anything more I just scrap the whole thing and start a fresh...It could only happen to me!:icon_sick
firecrackerjack
I suppose I should still play it safe..I'll ask the doctor her opinion tomorrow. Heck I guess I could have them look for any nasties through blood work....If I notice anything more I just scrap the whole thing and start a fresh...It could only happen to me!:icon_sick
firecrackerjack
Norcoredneck
somebody shut me the fark up.
S
scherty
Guest
Suitable steel drums in New Zealand
I have been searching in NZ for suitable steel drums for my first smoker ... the 2 sizes I keep coming across are-approx 36" high and about 22.5" diameter ... but the downside is that it is a lighter guage steel. Or the heavier guage steel drum which is I am guessing is imperial size at about 23" diameter but only about 32.5" High. So at the end of the day I am torn between the lighter guage steel but more room at the top or a heavier drum but less room at the top. Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers from NZ
I have been searching in NZ for suitable steel drums for my first smoker ... the 2 sizes I keep coming across are-approx 36" high and about 22.5" diameter ... but the downside is that it is a lighter guage steel. Or the heavier guage steel drum which is I am guessing is imperial size at about 23" diameter but only about 32.5" High. So at the end of the day I am torn between the lighter guage steel but more room at the top or a heavier drum but less room at the top. Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers from NZ
H
Hugh Jorgan
Guest
Get two drums, make your UDS with 24 inches from the fire grate to the cooking grate. Remember when you cut out the top to leave a few wedges to support the top grate. If it is already open, put grate support hardware as close to the top lip roll as possible.
Use the second drum as a donor. If it is closed top, you can use either top or bottom for lid.
Cut it off just below the first bulge. Flare the bulge edge with a hammer until it will fit over the drum top.
Finish shaping and weld on chimney, or drill out a ring of holes.
You're all set. I'll load some pics.
H
Hugh Jorgan
Guest
Lid from top on drum, from bottom beside on floor.
Close up of lip, two different angles.
Close up of lip, two different angles.
