Ugly Drum Smoker

angrybird said:

Thanks RustyPup,

I haven't picked up a Yellow Pages in years thanks to the internet. Guess I'll have to find one somewhere!

The guy's I've spoken with have given me hourly rates and told me it would take an hour and a half! Thanks for giving me something to shoot for (especially knowing how long it should take) when cold calling.

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I had a couple of shops quote me the same way - hourly shop rate. None of those shops had any idea how long it would take, so they were kind of hesitant to give me a direct quote. I basically had to pry it out of them by telling them that I prefer to use cash and needed to know about how much to bring with me.

When I got to the yard of the blaster I went with, they were pushing a car they'd just finished out of the shop, so they had everything set up and ready to go. I told the dad what I was building out of the drum, told him that I needed the inside as clean as possible, but the outside was less important because I would be painting it. I took the drum out of the Jeep, the son carried it into the shop and started blasting away while I stood in the parking lot and chatted with the dad. In literally 10 minutes (probably less, but certainly not more) son brought the bare drum back out and put it into the Jeep for me. We chatted for a few more minutes and I left. I got home so soon my wife asked me if they had been closed or something. We both thought I'd be waiting quite a while.

Your mileage may vary, but it's worth checking out smaller local businesses. I've found that it's much easier to deal with folks one-on-one when they can make the decisions themselves and not have to run it by someone higher up the food chain than they are.

Good luck!

Got mine blasted while I waited for $25. Did not take this guy long at all to blast it out.

How do you put your Maverick ET-732 grill thermometer into your UDS?

I have an exhaust pipe coming up the middle of my lid and I usually just drop the probe down thru there. Problem is that there usually is a piece of meat there so I don't think I am getting accurate readings. I though abough running it between the lid and the drum but I don't want to damage the cord.

First time poster here...I need help to choose which drum is right for UDS.

First picture is 30 gallon, butatone (paint related chemical) for $ 9
third picture is 55 gallon, from milk factory at my town. for $ 12
or buy both of them?

Thanks Rusty and Poppy.

I managed to get someone down to $40. But that is the lowest I can find for blasting after calling around a dozen people.

I'm now considering getting a reconditioned drum for $60. They tell me that the reconditioning process includes burning and blasting it. And they claim there there are no liners or rust inhibitors sprayed inside the drum. Do you guys know if this is the common reconditioning process? I'm actually surprised that it would come out with a bare metal interior.

angrybird said:

Thanks Rusty and Poppy.

I managed to get someone down to $40. But that is the lowest I can find for blasting after calling around a dozen people.

I'm now considering getting a reconditioned drum for $60. They tell me that the reconditioning process includes burning and blasting it. And they claim there there are no liners or rust inhibitors sprayed inside the drum. Do you guys know if this is the common reconditioning process? I'm actually surprised that it would come out with a bare metal interior.

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One can only take them at their word, and what you see.

Bare metal is what you want. You have to compare to new cost...which is about the same, I suspect, but then you know what was in it beforehand, etc.

Outside should not matter much, unless you wish to paint etc.

I burned the inside of a new 30 gallon barrel with a propane torch (big one) to remove antirust and sprayed outside with flat black 500 temp Rustoleum.

If $40 is the cheapest blasting job you can find, and a reconditioned drum is only $20 more, it might be worth it to go for the reconditioned drum. You know what your labor is worth to you, so...

I'm with BobBill, in that you can only go by what they tell you and what you see. If it looks like it's bare metal inside (or maybe a light oil) then it might just be bare metal. I would also think they'd use a rust inhibitor, but who knows? You could hit a spot inside it with a piece of sandpaper and give it a day or two to see if any rust forms on that spot only. That would tell you if there's any kind of rust inhibitor on it or not. Of course, if the inside of the drum has a light coat of rust on it, then you know they didn't coat it.

I used a weed burner on the outside of mine to burn off the paint and any crud inside it. The burner got the metal so hot from the outside, that I didn't need to try to heat it from the inside. The main reason I had it blasted after I burned it was to clean up after the weed burner, and to make sure I got the inside of the drum as clean of contaminates as possible. I too hit it with high-temp primer and paint after that.

If $40 is the cheapest blasting job you can find, and a reconditioned drum is only $20 more, it might be worth it to go for the reconditioned drum. You know what your labor is worth to you, so...

I'm with BobBill, in that you can only go by what they tell you and what you see. If it looks like it's bare metal inside then it might just be bare metal. I would also think they'd use a rust inhibitor (maybe a light oil,) but who knows? You could hit a spot inside it with a piece of sandpaper and give it a day or two to see if any rust forms on that spot only. That would tell you if there's any kind of rust inhibitor on it or not. Of course, if the inside of the drum has a light coat of rust on it, then you know they didn't coat it.

I used a weed burner on the outside of mine to burn off the paint and any crud inside it. The burner got the metal so hot from the outside, that I didn't need to try to heat it from the inside. The main reason I had it blasted after I burned it was to clean up after the weed burner, and to make sure I got the inside of the drum as clean of contaminates as possible. I too hit it with high-temp primer and paint after that.

Just BS said:

How do you put your Maverick ET-732 grill thermometer into your UDS?

I have an exhaust pipe coming up the middle of my lid and I usually just drop the probe down thru there. Problem is that there usually is a piece of meat there so I don't think I am getting accurate readings. I though abough running it between the lid and the drum but I don't want to damage the cord.

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I drilled a hole slightly larger than the probe in the side of my drum & run the probe & cable thru it.

Just BS said:

How do you put your Maverick ET-732 grill thermometer into your UDS?

I have an exhaust pipe coming up the middle of my lid and I usually just drop the probe down thru there. Problem is that there usually is a piece of meat there so I don't think I am getting accurate readings. I though abough running it between the lid and the drum but I don't want to damage the cord.

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I've tried different methods: through the exhaust, hole on side of the drum, grommets. Turns out the absolute best method for me was to take my angle grinder and drill a line about one inch long into the drum lid. This little notch on the outer rim lets you take the therm in and out so easily. No fiddling around with sticking it into a hole and removing it. It doesn't affect the exhaust at all because the hole is so small. Try it and you won't regret it. KISS

If anyone NEAR ATLANTA,GA is looking for the perfect 55 gallon barrel for $20.00 to build a smoker (UDS-smoker) out of then give Charlie a call. These are UNLINED barrels so you don't have to burn the liner out and then wire brush it out after that (A lot of work). Below is a picture of the two that I just got from him, one for building a UDS for my nephew and tho other.....ya never know. I built a UDS from one of these barrels 2 years ago. Here is his Craigslist add.

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/eat/for/3835241940.html


55 gal steel drum - $20 each (stone mtn)
steel 55 gal drums steel or plastic food grade formerly contained molasses honey or oil thanks charlie 404 488 1905

finally finished all 731 pages
drum ordered,doner weber grill on standby
big thanks to everyone who has posted,kept me entertained while stuck offshore
home next week and ready to go smoking
johnny

I have started on the next builds as I had another two drums: They are in fairly good condition.



I decided that for these next two, I want to make a few changes. I will stick with the KISS principal:
- 2 x 3/4" inlets on the bottom and 1 x 3/4" ball-valve
- 1 x 2" exhaust on the lid with a directional exhaust pipe (to face away from/in to any breeze as needed) plus an additional 2 x 3/4" holes with caps and the existing 3/4" bung with a cap, should I need them.
- the charcoal basket needs to be more narrow than my first one, which is 8" tall and 18" in diameter - it's just tooo wide I think.
- the red silicone oven seal on the barrel rim works really well so I am repeating that.
- only one level of grill, 8" down from the rim, as I don't have a dome lid and won't use the upper grill much (if ever).
- handles - I need a more robust solution for handles so decided to make my own from some threaded SS rod and bolts and some wood I had - 'Grande Al BBQ' was born! I have made six of these.

FYI...inspect your drum carefully before having it sand blasted, otherwise you might get more air vents then you wanted.

I learned this lesson the hard way....and now have a new drum that should with stand the sand blasting.

Thankfully I have a friend who is doing the sand blasting for free.

When you guys do the burn-out don't you get black soot on the inside of your barrel? Do you clean it off?

My first UDS.

I have been lurking here for a while now. So, I just finished my first UDS and I am pretty happy with the outcome. I maaaaaaaay have over engineered it, haha. :razz:
The bowl set up is 2 bowls. The bottom bowl I was going to put wood chips in and the top bowl is a water bowl.

I will try to fire it up this weekend, baring any honey do's.

Any comments and feedback are appreciated so that I can make tweaks before firing her up.

Thanks again.

Deeg said:

When you guys do the burn-out don't you get black soot on the inside of your barrel? Do you clean it off?

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Not so much soot, per-se, but there is some burnt paint/liner/rust/other yuck and residue that needs to be removed. Most folks who have contributed to this thread have tackled it with a flap-wheel on an angle grinder or a wire wheel on a drill. Either one looked like too much work to me, so I had my drum sand blasted after burning it. It took 10 minutes and cost me $20, but it was worth every penny to me. Just my opinion - your mileage may vary.

And yeah - as JimmyK mentioned, check out your drum before having it blasted. The first thing the blaster asked me was if it was covered in rust. If it had been, he couldn't guarantee that the blaster wouldn't blow through it. Thankfully, my drum was in pretty good shape, with very little rust. Dented like all get-out, but very little rust...

Deeg said:

When you guys do the burn-out don't you get black soot on the inside of your barrel? Do you clean it off?

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Yep - in all of my burn-outs the inside has been filthy afterwards. I have cleaned them out with washing up liquid, sponge and water and on one occasion alcohol, but that was over-kill and the fumes almost knocked me out as I reached down into the barrel. I did consider cleaning it with a pressure-hose, but actually a soap and water is fine.

Once it's all dry, I wipe it down with old vegetable oil with a rag - none of that fancy spraycan oil for me! It's going to get greasy and sooty once you do a few burns, so as long as any nastiness from the drum is burnt or scraped off, it should be good.

RustyPup said:

...And yeah - as JimmyK mentioned, check out your drum before having it blasted. The first thing the blaster asked me was if it was covered in rust. If it had been, he couldn't guarantee that the blaster wouldn't blow through it. Thankfully, my drum was in pretty good shape, with very little rust. Dented like all get-out, but very little rust...

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I was quoted R$150 today (about US$75) to sand-blast the drum and they thought it would take about 1.5 hours!

Now, I wasn't sure if sand-blasting was something to do BEFORE the burn out to take all traces of paint off, or AFTER the burn-out as you suggest. Does sand-blasting clean it right back to clean metal? I am thinking about taking one of my recent burnt drums to them and seeing how long it does take - if they say R$150 for 1.5 hours, that means R$50 for something that takes 30 mins (about $25) which is pretty reasonable!

Whats up everyone. This thread is great. I built my UDS last year and its been putting out excellent Q ever since. Figured I would post some pics finally.