Ugly Drum Smoker Photo Gallery

Uds





Jason

Son was here today with his camera so I grabbed a pic of Big Ugly. It is my testament to building a UDS on the cheap. My first day logging on here, I started reading the UDS thread(s) (and still read the new posts) and decided that this was the easiest and most economical path to real Q. As much as I wanted to incorporate some of the great ideas that others have offered, I kept telling myself "No; stick with the KISS method."

It's an open top drum with a flat lid and band clamp. In it's previous life, the drum held insulated glass sealant. Burned it, followed up with a grinder over the interior. This is when I learned that a 24 grit flap wheel is no match for whatever type of gloves you're wearing...

The Weber lid was from a kettle found rotting away under a deck. No legs, no grates, and the bottom half nearly rusted away. I had spotted it laying there, and was driving by one day when the owner was pulling out of the driveway. She was happy to see it go, since it was too large to throw in the trash. I did have to unroll the edge of the lid and hammer it flat to get it to halfway fit. It's not 100% airtight, but it works. I still have and occasionally use the flat lid also.

For me, the real fun was the hunting and salvaging the stuff to do the build. Additional kettle style grills (all freebies) found on CL and curbs yielded grates and additional lids. A stop on a whim at a welding shop got me a 24" x 54" piece of expanded metal for a couple of coal baskets. A piece of coat hanger makes a dandy basket handle. I'm using disc magnets over my intake holes instead of pipe nipples and valves. I'm getting pretty good at sliding them open and closed them with the toe of my shoe.

Between the thermometer and the nuts and bolts, I think I have about $25 invested. I did pick up a couple of cheapo grills at Dollar General Store late last fall on closeout for $6 each, one of which is now my ashpan.

Is it perfect? No, but it's pretty darn close. I don't get to cook on it as often as I would like to, but so far, I've been pretty happy with everything that has come out of it. Based on personal experience, I too would encourage first time builders to read the UDS threads, and keep it simple.

Chris

great to see a picture of your drum Chris! mine has gotten much dirtier since you saw it last.. i averaged at least 2 cooks a month through the winter, and am using the heck out of it again not that the weather has finally improved. did pork loins for a poker=party tonight, and doing chucks tomorrow. still loving my UDS.

hath said:

Just curious.. is that a pvc pipe going into the smoker feeding the waterpan?

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It's actually 1/2" copper pipe w/ elbow. After a few uses, i've realized it's unnecessary. Oh well. live and learn

My UDS

Here she is.

Jamber said:

Here she is.

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Looks good did you paint it yourself ??

The uglier, the better!

Yeah its 2 coats vht flameproof primer, 2 coats vht fire engine red engine metallic, and 1 coat engine clear. Cured paint and seasoned the other night. I was a bit upset when paint got here, ordered through summit racing and I thought fire engine red would be RED! Being a Husker fan the Copper orange color isn't what I was lookin for! Oh well next one will be flat black and blackshirt themed!

Here's my basic UDS.

Clean Drum:



Fire Basket:



All burned out and painted:



2 grates with lid hanging:



Fire basket ready for duty:

Here's my first:





And my second:













With the Rotisserie mod:

You are one sick SouthernHomeBoy, Has anyone tried to do an intervention with you yet?:crazy:

expatpig said:

You are one sick SouthernHomeBoy, Has anyone tried to do an intervention with you yet?:crazy:

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Yeah, but I catered it so they shut up.:heh:

Thats awesome. So it basically an air insulated uds. Do you notice any difference in temps with this design?

Some guys use a single larger diameter pipe for the intake and others use several smaller holes and a ball valve. The guys with the large intake, anyproblems with uneven burn or temp control?

firecap62 said:

Some guys use a single larger diameter pipe for the intake and others use several smaller holes and a ball valve. The guys with the large intake, anyproblems with uneven burn or temp control?

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Most of the UDS folks cook with only one intake open. I usually have one intake open about halfway (1" hole adjusted with fridge magnet) to maintain 250-275. As long as I keep the open intake away from prevailing wind, I don't experience any uneven burns. The coals burn from the center, where I arranged my pre-lit coals, to the outer edge fairly even.

firecap62 said:

Thats awesome. So it basically an air insulated uds. Do you notice any difference in temps with this design?

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Yes. My fuel consumption was cut in about 1/2. I can cook for 20+ hours on 5-7lbs of Kingsford Competition briq. But the best thing about it is its stability and weather resistence. Temps stay rock steady through wind and rain with little or no tending.

Food grade liner

Thanks for all the pictures and info. This site has been an amazing help for me and a friend to do a first build.
Question about inner liner; mine has the red food grade liner. We burnt the hell out of it for several hours and had the temp way up there. Do I still need to sand it or should it be OK? I'll never have the temp half that high again so I'm feeling pretty confident but you guys have done a lot of these. Sorry if I missed the answer to this somewhere else in the thread.

Finally Almost Complete

Just waiting on my rubs, Thermometer that I ordered from Spicewine, and I forgot 1/2" lag screws for my table. But here are some shots of my Not-So-Ugly-Drum.




Free Weber Lid! Score!


Cubbies bottle opener!


Diamond Plate side table!

What an awesome UDS SHB!!!

Southern Home Boy said:

Yes. My fuel consumption was cut in about 1/2. I can cook for 20+ hours on 5-7lbs of Kingsford Competition briq. But the best thing about it is its stability and weather resistence. Temps stay rock steady through wind and rain with little or no tending.

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