Ugly Drum Smoker

I had a hard time locating a drum for my first UDS but now know where to look. Find auto oil change place that changes transmission fluid too the fluid comes in 55 gal drums. Great thing about trams fluid the drum is unlined and clean on the inside a good burn and you'll have a perfect drum.

Ebay has food grade unlined for $39 delivered. Received mine yesterday and it was in great condition. It had soybean oil in it. Ready to get the UDS rolling.:hungry:

Cannot wait to start, buddys UDS food is amazing

Is this the Ebay ad that reads " ship ONLY MN IA IL NE WI ND SD"

yup.. email them if not in the area and pay freight? It would be worth it to me. I have buddies who burned out lining and said never again.

powdercoating

Stupid question for the most part, but curious what people's experience with powder-coating is. I know price is very dependent on the shop. But how am curious how much it has run people and if they think it was worth it.

Second issue is even more personal. My current UDS is about 3 years old. It has a decent bit of rust showing through the factory paint. Is it worth cleaning up, or should I just grab a new drum and start from scratch.

Thinking about it because it needs some minor repairs anyway. I had been using it with a BBQ Guru (worked phenomenally), but I upgraded to an BGE this summer and have ignored my poor old ugly drum. Unfortunately after 6 months of Egging, I think the drum simply smokes better. My drum was a great stick-burner, and sticks make better smoke. I tried to test that 2 weeks ago, but only found out that I needed to rework the drums plumbing. My blower was apparently killed by ant (opened it up to see quite a bit of wire insulation missing - next time will remove the blower between cooks). The shorted fan in turn blew out the relay in my Guru brains. No frustration with BBQ Guru - my own fault for leaving my blower out and not examining it for damage.

Wanted a CyberQ Wifi anyway... But it would look better on a powder coated drum (especially if it is going to sit besides my egg).

FWIsmoker from another post "I got mine sandblasted and powder coated for about 80 dollars"

I paid $100 for sandblast and high temp powder coat.

I guess I need to move forward with the eternal quest of perfecting my UDS. My drum already has a very effective air intake diffuser, great fire basket and ash pan and a DigiQ II. I don't think any changes will really improve the quality of the cook...

1) improve air management system with CyberQ Wifi and a removable blower
2) improve convenience and mobility with casters or cart (currently sitting on bricks)
3) improve water management with water shedding lid (current lid holds water)
4) improve bbq'er attitude by adding bottle opener.
5) improve capacity by adding additional grid
6) improve capacity by adding removable smoker box (for making smoked sausage)
6) improve aesthetics with powdercoat

So many little things to make life better.

This is what I'm working with these days. I've got a stainless drum that I will build when I move for school.

My Turn!

Well Gents,

My time has come for my build! I picked up this barrel for free from a local machine shop in town. It had mineral oil inside, that should be ok for smoking in right? Also do you drill holes before the first burn to help it out?

Im sure this was answered somewhere already but I havent seen it yet, and im only on page like 120.

Yep, you need to decide what your going to do for your intake/intakes, drill your holes so you can enough air flow to burn hot. Everything is answered in this thread, take your time, take notes while you read, get a game plan together. Copy/paste notes from the pages, also put the page number with your notes so you can go back and look at photos etc. Decide what type lid your going to use. And have fun and do some awesome cooks!

nice looking drum. Really like the spike collar and the side pipes

Love the red seal on top

Can you describ and tell us about the seal between the drum and dome lid. Looks like red RTV. And how did you apply/form the seal. I've got the 1/8" X 2" aluminum plate around my drum and the doome llid is a bit loose. How did you do it and make such a neat, attractive job?

jcinadr said:

I guess I need to move forward with the eternal quest of perfecting my UDS. My drum already has a very effective air intake diffuser, great fire basket and ash pan and a DigiQ II. I don't think any changes will really improve the quality of the cook...

1) improve air management system with CyberQ Wifi and a removable blower
2) improve convenience and mobility with casters or cart (currently sitting on bricks)
3) improve water management with water shedding lid (current lid holds water)
4) improve bbq'er attitude by adding bottle opener.
5) improve capacity by adding additional grid
6) improve capacity by adding removable smoker box (for making smoked sausage)
6) improve aesthetics with powdercoat

So many little things to make life better.

Click to expand...

Curious about the removable smoker box. I just completed a uds and have two smokes thru it. I would love to know how to use for smoking sausage.

Weber lid to big

I just got a stainless barrel to begin my UDS build. I noticed when I placed my weber 22 inch lid on top of the barrel it was to big. Almost like the barrel top is warped or my lid is. My barrel did not come with a lid. When I place the webber lid on it I can feel about a 1/2 inch gap between barrel and lid. Any suggestions to obtain a good seal without welding and fancying fabrication. Thank you

If you want a great burn, used forced air injection though your vent holes.. Shop vac exhaust comes to mind. Turns your UDS into a blast furnace.


Removable smoker box - I make my own sausage. Most of the sausage I make is at a "sausage party" every year. The advantage of the party is that we have 2 very modern 500lb capacity smokehouses available (they are the result of much research and evolution over decades). We have smoked as much as 3000lbs of sausage in a weekend. My idea was to use the UDS as a smoke generator for a 100lb capacity mini smokehouse. I would either use flexible hose to channel the smoke to the smokehouse from the chimney, or just put the smokehouse on top of the uds instead of a lid. Key to my design is using an electronic draft control - using a high tech smokehouse really spoils you.

fwiw the smokehouse master at our party has tried to convince me to get an old metal refrigerator to build out into my smokehouse. That said, I suspect I will stick with wood.

What kind of place did you guys find to sandblast your drums? I've called around my area and no one really wants to do it because of the blowback they'll get shooting into the closed end of a drum.

Just got my UDS done.

Thanxs tot everybody for this awesome topic.
Wil make a new build topic when i am at home.

Done

kloenie said:

Just got my UDS done.

Thanxs tot everybody for this awesome topic.
Wil make a new build topic when i am at home.

Done

Click to expand...

Love the extensions for your ball valves. Looks great, nice work!