Ugly Drum Smoker

I use an air hammer with a panel cutting chisel in it, it curls out an 1/8th inch wide ribbon and is very controllable and loud.

pitbossJB said:

I use an air hammer with a panel cutting chisel in it, it curls out an 1/8th inch wide ribbon and is very controllable and loud.

Click to expand...

Thanks!!!!!! I've been wanting one of those.....PERFECT reason to make the purchase!!!!!!

GREETINGS, Fellow Drum Fans!!

I have always wanted a UDS, but never had the time to search for a barrel. Well, I was getting fed up with my Oklahoma Joe, so I told a friend if he can find me a barrel, he can have the OKJ. He showed up at my house with not one but TWO BRAND NEW 55 gal. Drums. WOW! The wife was kind enough to spring for a BPS kit, so I spent the day yesterday assembling one. Took me about three hours, as I took many breaks due to the severe heat and humidity yesterday here in south Texas. I will say, the BPS kit is a nice kit, but it is overpriced. But for someone who never built one before it was a good first timer. After assembly, I fired that baby up, and I am amazed at how easy it is to maintain your temps! I played around with it all afternoon, and when I woke up at 3:30 a.m. for a leak, I popped out to see it was STILL chugging along at 250 9 HOURS LATER!:mrgreen: I just love how it holds temps and I cannot believe I didn't do this sooner. Here it is, and with some beef ribs I tossed on it this morning: I have another barrel, brand new, and I'll be collecting all the hardware I need to assemble another in the near future! Have a great day everyone!

wdpope1 said:

any body help me with how to insert pictures I built 2 new UDS`s and wish to share

Click to expand...

A good start here.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=222929

I'm new here and have a question about UDS builds. I don't have any welding skills so I would need to use conduit nuts to fasten the black pipe from the interior of the drum. My question is in regard the conduit nut being zinc plated. Is there any concern that it will give off toxic fumes as it is heated up during the cooking process? My understanding is that galvanized metals and zinc plated metals release toxic fumes when heated. Does it burn off during the first firing and thereby remove the hazard or am I just plain wrong about it being hazardous?
Again I'm very new to this but I'm eager to begin my first UDS and to produce some tasty food. Any help would be appreciated.

To be honest, when I drilled the holes the fit was so tight that I didn't even need the nuts. Also the nuts should be on the outside if there is anything I would imagine that 1) After the initial burn it should stop/reduce 2) being on the outside minimal if any would seep in and 3) perhaps you will not need them as well.

If you do use them, after they're on hit it with a torch first

spoondurham said:

I'm new here and have a question about UDS builds. I don't have any welding skills so I would need to use conduit nuts to fasten the black pipe from the interior of the drum. My question is in regard the conduit nut being zinc plated. Is there any concern that it will give off toxic fumes as it is heated up during the cooking process? My understanding is that galvanized metals and zinc plated metals release toxic fumes when heated. Does it burn off during the first firing and thereby remove the hazard or am I just plain wrong about it being hazardous?
Again I'm very new to this but I'm eager to begin my first UDS and to produce some tasty food. Any help would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

gaspipe1 said:

To be honest, when I drilled the holes the fit was so tight that I didn't even need the nuts.

Click to expand...

Ditto:thumb:

I used one of those variable size drill bits -- that are cone-shaped. When I got close to the right hole-size, I kept stopping to check the fit. When the hole size was right, I just applied pressure and threaded them in. No nut needed.

Found unlined barrels a mile from my house for $20 each. Got a new project.

I was able to find a drum for 20 bucks after a few days looking.it looks like a stainless steel drum with no paint on outside and no liner. It looks like ethyl acetate natural was in the drum. I am assuming it is safe to use as the site in the label said it is food grade.

Is this a good drum to use? Would a wash and season be enough or should it be burned out?

Link to site. Item number matches the one on drum.
https://www.vigon.com/product/ethyl-acetate-natural/

Thanks for any help!

Looks like it was galvanized instead :sad: . I saw another that was holding kerosene will go that route. This uds will get built!!!

Hmmm, I've never seen a galvanized drum.

I saw on another thread to try a manget and it stuck.

I have spent alot of time reviewing this thread, finding ideas, and following along with interest. I'd like to thank all the UDS builders who contributed here. No pics yet, but I found an unlined barrel and assembled a very simple version of the UDS, using the 3/4" black pipe vents on the bottom, and 6 holes in the lid for exhaust. Its not "finished" but I got it mostly assembled and burned in and ready for some action. I dont weld and have no fabrication skills, but it looks serviceable enough.

For those who have cooked with both, how much different does it cook than a WSM?

Not all stainless is non-magnetic, but some is less magnetic than full carbon steel. I have a similar drum to yours that was purportedly stainless and a magnet sticks to it as well. Yours does look galvanized though.

easy test is to put vinegar on it and watch for the zinc to dissolve if it's galvanized

Thanks. I'm learning a lot!

Hello everyone!

Newbie smoker here. I am looking into building my own UDS. I really wanted to simply just buy a PBC, but due to the fact that I live in Bahrain, the total cost with shipping will slam me near $600. Getting our hands on a good smoker in general is tough. the Char-Boiled ones here go for around $320 here and that the basically only one available. Lack of good BBQ market here is making me weep. It was a miracle today that somehow we found someone that has a WSM, new and unused for sale at a decent price and we are snagging that one. My friend will keep that while I'll work on a UDS for myself.

In any regards, I have been hunting some drums to make my own. It isn't hard to find some used ones, but finding a place that sells a new one is very hard. (You'd think that the middle east would be abundant with these, but nope. only used and abandoned) Found and stored a few guides on how to make one. Still hunting for high heat resistant paint atm.

A colleague of mine was willing to let me snag these drums one for myself to build , but I wanted to see with you guys if these are good enough to build a UDS with. They (as far as I know) have been used to contain and transport Diesel.

Drums in Question: http://imgur.com/a/RZ9dR

my Apologise in advance for my english.

I have a guru controlled UDS that has been working perfectly for several years, but needed something MORE - a smokehouse (a small one anyway). Loving my UDS, and guru, decided last year to try to marry the two into a smoke house. It worked, but not so well. So this year tried version 3 (version 2 was bandaids on version 1).

I would love to be showing you pictures of a perfectly working version 3, my mini-maxi UDS. I worked amazing for almost 1.5 hours. Then failed in epic proportions. Only luck had me catch it in time to save the smokehouse from the fire department...

It's design worked perfect, going to temp and maintaining possibly easier than my UDS - so I will describe the good, before getting to the bad.

It is a tightly built, double walled smokehouse, clad in tin. The walls are vented on the top of the inside, and on the bottom - turning them into a heat exchanger. The exhaust smoke maintains the temp of the outside of the inner wall. My smoke generator was essentially a tiny UDS made out of a tamale pot. The guru provided air via a whole in the floor of the smoker and the floor of the tamale pot. Putting the mini UDS inside insured every last calorie of heat made it into the smokehouse. While not relievent to the design, cold smoke could also be piped in through the fresh air plumbing (if I ever wanted to cold smoke-just hook a hose to the chimney of my original UDS. I got cheap and did the elbow in the floor via a small wood box under the floor...

Well after working apparently perfectly for almost an hour and a half, the failures were very apparent - the floor was burnt through and it was on fire. The steamer shelf in the tamale pot (that I was using for a grate) melted, dumping the fully ignited coals onto the bottom of the pot (and possibly directly into the wooden box below due to the air vent hole). The pot's bottom then melted, so one way or another - coal was on wood in the path of the blower. The airbox was completely on fire (and all the wood under the pot was gone) when I managed to get the fire extinguished.

No real damage was suffered to the smokehouse itself (minimal scorching of some of the frame supporting the floor), so all I have to do is replace the floor and air ducting (to the guru fan). Had the fire gotten to the edge of the floor into the heat exchanger in the walls - it would have been a total loss).

Ok, rebuilding with a steel L rather than wooden airbox, steel floorpan, metal grait and stainless steel pot (30 quart). So much for smoking a few hundred lbs of sausage this week... Thank God I did a test run and caught this disaster as early as I did, and Thank God it happened (so I can build a safer version).

Will post again once this thing is up and running.

So.....we've made it through the big thread

So far I have me turkey thermometer, step drills, and most importantly the bottle opener (see earlier comments!) - I have a stainless steel barb for the therm, I have a .doc going with all my other thoughts....

I've contacted a supplier and once we're out of Xmas breaks will hopefully get a new Unlaquered drum and away we go!

medsin said:

Hello everyone!

Newbie smoker here. I am looking into building my own UDS. I really wanted to simply just buy a PBC, but due to the fact that I live in Bahrain, the total cost with shipping will slam me near $600. Getting our hands on a good smoker in general is tough. the Char-Boiled ones here go for around $320 here and that the basically only one available. Lack of good BBQ market here is making me weep. It was a miracle today that somehow we found someone that has a WSM, new and unused for sale at a decent price and we are snagging that one. My friend will keep that while I'll work on a UDS for myself.

In any regards, I have been hunting some drums to make my own. It isn't hard to find some used ones, but finding a place that sells a new one is very hard. (You'd think that the middle east would be abundant with these, but nope. only used and abandoned) Found and stored a few guides on how to make one. Still hunting for high heat resistant paint atm.

A colleague of mine was willing to let me snag these drums one for myself to build , but I wanted to see with you guys if these are good enough to build a UDS with. They (as far as I know) have been used to contain and transport Diesel.

Drums in Question: http://imgur.com/a/RZ9dR

my Apologise in advance for my english.

Click to expand...

Those will work, just burn them out - Nice n Hot -for several hours then scrub them out.