Ugly Drum Smoker

Sammy_Shuford said:

You have local "box" stores? Home Depot, Lowes, they all have expanded metal. Not a lot, but my fire box was made from it.

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I went to HD - they didn't even know what EXPANDED METAL is. I hate HD, I'll try Lowes.

stl-rich said:

I went to HD - they didn't even know what EXPANDED METAL is. I hate HD, I'll try Lowes.

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If HD and Lowes doesn't have it, then try googling "St Louis, MO metal supply." I tried and got lots of listings for possible sources. If that doesn't work, try a welding shop.

stl-rich,

here is the part numbers for what you need at the home depot in st louis. shows them in stock for sale at the store

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...metal&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

It is usually in HD where the hardware/bar stock is. It is in a flat box with a viewing hole in the center.

Here are pictures of the expanded metal basket I just made.
I used the Weber 13.5" diameter charcoal grate, and then 12" x 48" piece of expanded metal that I bought from McMaster Carr (had to buy a 48x48 piece and cut it).
I then took baling wire and tied the grate to the EM every other diamond, setting the grate two inches up from the bottom, leaving me 10" high of basket. I then brazed the EM to the grate using MAPP gas and Bernzomatic copper/bronze brazing rods. (I forget which they were, whichever melts at 1650F). The brazing worked quite well and the baling wire ties got incorporated into the joint for added strength.

Next, I am waiting for my 20" deep dish aluminum pizza pan to arrive from Amazon for the ash tray.

Did my maiden UDS cook yesterday.....I have a basic Norcoredneck design, will have to post a pic or two later on.

I probably overdid the cook........6 racks of baby backs and about 18 buffalo wings.....things were a little crowded, to say the least.

Read a lot of this thread, but did not read enough about temp control and lid removal for meat tending. I will have to adjust my cooking procedure, and take the loaded grates OUT to baste and shuffle meats, with the lid still on. I took the lid off a couple times for about 2 minutes or so, and things really fired up, and I got too much smoke and I suffered some pretty major temp spikes.....up over 290-300 about 2 or three times.......was really hard to get the thing back down under 240 or so. I did shut down the intakes before pulling the lid, but it still spikes. The key is to leave that lid on 99.9% of the time.

Ribs turned out okay, but did have a little Kingsford taste and were not as tender as on my other equipment.....my guess was that I had too much smoldering/creosote when I shut the thing down to bring down the temp spike.

Next time I think I will probably use the top rack only, and only cook about half as much meat. Keep the air moving. I noticed a lot of thicker white smoke whenever I pulled lid to shuffle things around.

Firing the thing up, loading the meat, and leaving it alone......are key steps. Maybe I need to just sauce and then cook in the sauce, with the lid off, right at the end, before pulling the meat.

Any thoughts or observations?

Thanks,

SmokinDave

stl-rich said:

I went to HD - they didn't even know what EXPANDED METAL is. I hate HD, I'll try Lowes.

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You have to look for it! The kids at the stores only know games, not materials.

If you are in the midwest and have a Menards chain store nearby, they have cheapo tabletop grills on sale for $5. They have an 18" pan that will work perfectly for an ash collector on the bottom of your drum. I'm also going to trim the grate down and set it inside my coal basket on top of my existing coal grate to reduce fall-through.

I know people have found these cheaper elsewhere, but this is as cheap as I've seen them at Menards, and they have pallets of them to sell. I'm sure they'll be cheap around Labor Day, too.

On a side note, boys and girls, we have hit over 1,000,000 views of this thread. I wonder if that's also how many bites of good food have been taken from cooks on UDSs built here! Imagine all of the drums used, lined up side by side, and all fired up at the same time. That would be one impressive cook!

I have a used closed head mineral oil barrel now and I think once I cut the top off I will sacrifice my cheap Lowes Uniflame charcoal pit and weld it to the top, after I cut it to the approp. size. That way I will have a nice domed lid.

update on the twins...

The UDS is done ! - Here are the picts and info
Bought a new unlined drum from Maxi Container for $30. Burned it out to be sure.
Bought expanded metal from a father and son Metal Fab shop I found searching for 'Metal Fab' on Google. Nice people, he rolled the EM for me. I brought back the finished drum and basket and he welded it for a very reasonable price.
I did a classic redneck build - thank you very much Norcoredneck !! :hail:
Bottom grill about 6 in from the top (33.5'' drum - charcoal grate 3'' from bottom - 24'' gap = 6 in).
Using a turkey fryer thermometer and a cheap probe wireless type - not happy with the thermo situation, need to find something better.
Seasoned with veggie oil.
Basket

Basket close up

Drum

Drum with seasoning fire

I went to HD - they didn't even know what EXPANDED METAL is. I hate HD, I'll try Lowes.

Stl-Rich,

Ace Hardware has expanded metal sheets 24"x24", at the right gauge. What I did was cut the sheet in half giving me two 12"x12" sheets. I then wired them together with thin stainless steel wire (also at Ace, on a spool of about 50', $3 or so), overlapping them by about 8". Then I shaped them into the proper cylinder type shape and wired them down onto my charcoal grate. I ended up with a charcoal basket 12"x12"x12". Works like a charm. Before wiring everything with the stainless steel wire I ziptied it first to get a real tight fit. Added the stainless steel wire and cut off the plastic zip ties.

when ya"ll paint your uds, do you clear coat it?

shdybrady said:

when ya"ll paint your uds, do you clear coat it?

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I did not clear coat mine, but i have 3 coats of paint on it.:clap2::clap2:

I got anxious and went ahead and put a clear coat on it. Seemed to make since to me. I chose an iron color to paint it. It came out more of an army grey. Pretty cool combo

stl-rich said:

I went to HD - they didn't even know what EXPANDED METAL is. I hate HD, I'll try Lowes.

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FYI, there's a link in my sig to a video I made on building my charcoal basket.

-Rodney

I am not sure if love you all for all of this information or hate you.

I am not the proud owner of a MIG/Flux welder (thank you craigslist) and I don't even have a drum yet . Actually found some drums on CL today as well but have some chuckies and butts on the COS right now. Obviously I cannot leave that thing unattended.

colonel00 said:

I am not sure if love you all for all of this information or hate you.

I am not the proud owner of a MIG/Flux welder (thank you craigslist) and I don't even have a drum yet . Actually found some drums on CL today as well but have some chuckies and butts on the COS right now. Obviously I cannot leave that thing unattended.

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Hey brother. You don't have to weld anything. I have built about 10 of these and never welded anything. And I have a wire feed welder.

Oops, I lied. Wife just informed me I did weld one basket for a friend for some reason.

i did weld mine but see how it would be just as easy to use some bailing wire or stainless steel tie wraps

Could a guy get a PLASTIC 55 Gal drum and make a UDS out of it? Its a low temp smoker after all - the charcoal ring and ashcatcher would be metal (I'm not that crazy) but I just wonder

Wifey would e so happy with a big blob of blue plastic in the backyard :crazy: