Ugly Drum Smoker

I just push fit my stack in the bung hole and when not in use replace it with the original bung fitting so its water tight :-D
Just got a nice Brisket today ready for a rub Friday and into my UDS for a second test run sat morning, hope its as good a success as last weekend.
A link to Some pics below of my build

G

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Here is a pic with the corks installed.

Lamb on the New UDS



Tried injection for the first time....ummmm.. i think something went wrong cause a lot of the injection just ran out. I used a teriyaki glaze then seasoned with garlic blend and seaoning salt



Here she is my new UDS with cherry red paint



Laoded up with 15 lbs of stubbs and and 5 lbs frontier lump and 5 chunks of cherry wood



Here is the inside setup of the UDS







got the temp up to 275 and put the food on. Winds drove the temp up to 350 at one point. I just closed the intakes and after 30minutes it dropped down to 315 degrees. after 3 hours I foiled the lamb shank and let it go for nearly 2 more hours before pulling it. I OVERCOOKED it. the internal temp was 201 degrees when it came off the UDS. Here's what it looks like fresh off the UDS.





Came out not as moist as I wanted it. but the flavor was really good and the smoke was very mild. I thought it would be much heavier with 5 peices of cherry wood. Thank you to all who shared their advice on this thread. I already have two orders for UDS's. Nobody out here hardly knows about these things. When I got the barrels people kept thinking that I would buiild it horizontally not vertically.

msuman said:

Ive only found one place around me that sales drums. Is $45 to high for a reconditioned unlined drum?

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I would buy it. I can't do a burn out so I have to take it to the sandblaster who charges 40 dollars.

Kenn, what kind of drum is that you're using for your fire basket? Very interesting. Will have to try lamb myself one day.

brickie

brickie said:

Kenn, what kind of drum is that you're using for your fire basket? Very interesting. Will have to try lamb myself one day.

brickie

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Looks like a drum from a clothes washer?

Hey everyone. Did my "seasoning burn" on the UDS today and it worked flawlessly. Absolutely a joy to use compared to some other smokers I have used in the past. The temp was sooo easy to control (even on a fairly windy day). I got er up to 225 with all three vents open, closed 1 vent and the ball valve half way and she held right there for over 6 hours till I closed er up and shut it down. Tooo easy. Had some family over today as well and they were all having a little "smoker envy!"

brickie said:

Kenn, what kind of drum is that you're using for your fire basket? Very interesting. Will have to try lamb myself one day.

brickie

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It is a washing Machine drum I got4 free at a washing Machine repair place. WARNING. if you use this, install tee hinges instead of the bolts to hold the food grate or else it may not fit or be extremely hard to pull out or place in

Great pics Ken007, Lamb looks nice n juicy. Like you said not many people know about this style of Smoker/BBQ Drum here either, I've had a ton of interest, everyone assumes when your building it that it will be on its side. SleigDoh, have you got any pics please congrats on the seasoning, enjoy. I Did my first Brisket yesterday for my second cook on my UDS, I think it satisfies that primeval urge in us all to light fire and cook meat Grrrrrrrrrr Brisket was juicy,tender and moist despite only being a small joint, cooked it for 6 hours, foil wrapped after 4 hours at 155F and took it up to 190F and let it rest in the cool box for 1.5 hours. Threw a few hot links on just to make use of the smoke.

yea BigG, I will snap some shots. It is nothing fancy, very similar to others in this link. just went with simple build but it sure worked great. maybe add some extras later, but for now, just looking forward to the weekend and some BBQ!

Did 2 boston butts this past weekend. Smoked for about 10 hours then had to finish up in the oven as we had a neighborhood thing to attend to. But the smoke went perfect; easy to control the temps and I was around 225 to 245 all day w/o messing with it. The pork turned out pretty good; I can tell the flavor difference with the open pit taste and the smoke was perfect. I did foil wrap and place in the oven to finish it upto 200* I pulled the next morning and some of the pieces were dry but not that bad. Was wondering if any of you all experience dry food with the uds? I'm a non foiler for ribs and do foil my butts but only when I want to shut the smoker down for the night. My last smoker I had a sand bowl diffuser and never had dry pieces.My ribs last week were ok; some of the ends were dry though. I have a square charcoal box. Should I explore a diffuser?

coewar said:

That is correct. My racks actually just have feet for the height. So I only have 1 set of bolts down low for my base rack (where I can put something to diffuse heat) and then essentially "rack tables" on top. Makes it very quick to take things out and replace and let's me be flexible for whatever size of things I might be smoking. Each set of "feet" is held with a butterfly nut on one side so I can adjust it too.

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hey, sorry for another picture request but do you have one of the racks out of the drum showing how you set it up? One of the other pics shows a top down view which was great but I'm still a little unclear. Thanks btw, you've been a great help like everyone here.

My lid plugs and my side table I might have posted this awhile back but with the growth of this thread I'm not going to look and see :icon_smile_tongue:

So I made my fire basket. While making it I decided to leave it tall. It's about 17" high over all, 13" or so from the grate to the top. I figured I could cut it down later if I wanted but by doing this I thought it shouldn't affect heat too much. Also, maybe I can use the pizza pan top as a diffuser of sorts.

I know it's not quite straight, I need to fiddle with the legs a little.

Nemo said:

hey, sorry for another picture request but do you have one of the racks out of the drum showing how you set it up? One of the other pics shows a top down view which was great but I'm still a little unclear. Thanks btw, you've been a great help like everyone here.

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Don't have pic of that handy. There are several on this site (somewhere). But very easy to explain.

You make legs for the grates. Each leg would require 2 "fender washers" (which are just large ones), a 8 or 6 inch long carriage bolt that is large enough to not fall through the grate below, but small enough so the bolt part fits through the grate it's going to be attached to. 2 nuts (one of which could be butterfly). If you don't use carriage bolt, you can use some regular bolt and create "feet" for it on the bottom using 2 more fender washers and 2 more nuts. This would be to prevent the leg from falling through the grate it's standing on.

So you just put 1 nut on the bolt and thread it maybe 1 inch, then a fender washer and then poke it through the grate you're attaching, and then the other fender washer and the other nut. Tighten them just a bit for now. Do the same for the other legs.. 3 legs or 4 legs for more sturdiness. Then make sure it sits on something flat and is somewhat "level" so it doesn't wobble. tighten all the nuts just a bit. Too much and the fender washers or the grate wires will start to bend.

And there you go. Make another one for another level to put on top.

coewar said:

Don't have pic of that handy. There are several on this site (somewhere). But very easy to explain.

You make legs for the grates. Each leg would require 2 "fender washers" (which are just large ones), a 8 or 6 inch long carriage bolt that is large enough to not fall through the grate below, but small enough so the bolt part fits through the grate it's going to be attached to. 2 nuts (one of which could be butterfly). If you don't use carriage bolt, you can use some regular bolt and create "feet" for it on the bottom using 2 more fender washers and 2 more nuts. This would be to prevent the leg from falling through the grate it's standing on.

So you just put 1 nut on the bolt and thread it maybe 1 inch, then a fender washer and then poke it through the grate you're attaching, and then the other fender washer and the other nut. Tighten them just a bit for now. Do the same for the other legs.. 3 legs or 4 legs for more sturdiness. Then make sure it sits on something flat and is somewhat "level" so it doesn't wobble. tighten all the nuts just a bit. Too much and the fender washers or the grate wires will start to bend.

And there you go. Make another one for another level to put on top.

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Thanks, I can see why that would be a great design.

Started on the intake holes with a titanium bit then the hole punch. Fortunately I started with a 3/4" punch but found out afterwards that it doesn't make a 3/4" hole. It's a bit oversized, almost 7/8". This greenline punch is made for electricians I believe (holes in panels, etc) and I suspect the 3/4" is made to fit the connectors that fit on the end of 3/4" conduit, hence why they are a little oversized.

So ordered a step bit to drill out to 1". Hopefully someone will avoid the mistake I almost made with this bit of info.

AustinKnight said:

My lid plugs and my side table I might have posted this awhile back but with the growth of this thread I'm not going to look and see :icon_smile_tongue:

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I have noticed that more and more people are using this for their exhaust. I know cowgirl has this and I have seen an increase. Is the advantage to this just more control of air flow and temperature? I feel like all those exhaust nipples just makes for more work than simply sliding a vent. It does seem pretty easy to instal if you need an exhaust for a flat lid, however, because all you need is to drill some holes. also did you weld the nipples in place or use jb weld or something of the sort or just screw them in?

My First UDS build and smoke

So I Started to build my first UDS before discovering this awesome forum. Turns out I should have done a bit more research before I started to acquire my parts. I ended up buying 4 food grade drums from a guy on CL. OPPSSSS:icon_blush: ya come to find out you guys talk about this "Dreaded Red Liner" and all 4 of my barrels have it. After a couple attempts at removing it with various methods the best i came up with was an angle grinder with a 36 grit flap disk. I went to town on it for about an hour and it was clean as new. I on the other hand was covered debris. That was basically the hardest part of the build. I burned the outside with a weed burner and a few pallets inside just to be safe. Drilled a few holes for my hardware, welded on some clamps for my lid and ball valve support, painted her with hi temp black. I must say it came together very easy after that liner was out. I couldn't wait too long to test it out so I smoked some bacon wrapped jalapenos and some links. They came out Amazing! So then next day I picked up a 8lb Boston Butt. I kept it pretty simple about 230-240 grill temp for about 81/2 hours. I didn't get the internal temp quite as high as I would have like due to hungry guests. I ended up pulling it of the grill at about 190 let it rest and pulled it by hand. Everyone said it was great but the bone needed a little persuasion to come out so i know it could have used more time. More practice for me. Here are some pics of the goods!


After defeating the red liner


Any reason just to use this

Looks good from here. I love the magnets for the air intake. Cheap, simple, and easy.