Ugly Drum Smoker

TXLX said:

I had been struggling with controlling my smoker after lighting the fire, sometimes would take 30 minutes to have a BBQ ready fire and sometimes an hour. I was lighting off half a chimney of lump and dumping it in the middle of my basket (hollowed out a spot.

Today, lit a small amount of coals in the basket with a weber cube, contained by a small coffee can in the corner of the basket. I was able to bring it up to temp slowly and had a fire BBQ fire ready with out much effort.

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TXLX, I use to use a can method but found my BBQ had a funny taste. It took a whole year to find the if you use Kingsturd that the chemicals used to make it would burn of as it light outward leaving a horrible taste to my cook. I found that if I lit a whole chimney and waited till charcoal was ashy white and dumping it evenly over the top of the basket fix the problem. Also a full chimney help get the UDS up to temp very fast. I also found to let the UDS burn for a bit (don't rush) wait for clean blue smoke. I did see you used lump so your method is fine but if in a pinch you use briquets be forewarned. I takes me 15 minutes to hit the temps I cook 275 usually with my method 1 hour though before I add my meat.

CoastieQue said:

Well its been awhile since i have sifted through a lot of these pages. I finally have a UDS and it has been left unattended. What would be the best way to get rid of the rust on the inside without really getting at it with a sander? Will a good solid burn help? Or do I just need to suck it up and pull the sander out?

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Depends on how bad its rusted. I would just spray it down with cooking spry and light the basket to kill any nasty thing that have grown in there. The rust should cover up quick with grease and smoke. if the rust is flaking off maybe hit it with a power washer first to knock off the big stuff.

CoastieQue said:

Well its been awhile since i have sifted through a lot of these pages. I finally have a UDS and it has been left unattended. What would be the best way to get rid of the rust on the inside without really getting at it with a sander? Will a good solid burn help? Or do I just need to suck it up and pull the sander out?

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I'd hit it with a power washer and see how bad the rust is. You might be able to scrub isolated areas with a stainless steel scrubber pad and clean it up easily.

bowhunter149 said:

Does anyone use the meat hanging rods in their uds like the pit barrel cooker does?

I'm planning to put some in mine but trying to figure out if i should make hangers for the ends of the rod to sit in or drill the holes in the sides of the barrel like the pit barrel cooker and the hooks n cooks barrel.

Here also something I was wondering about while building my uds. Most all smokers have the outlet vent in the top of the smoker. The pit barrel cooker does not, it only has the holes in the side that the rods sit in. I was wondering if not having the vent in the top but having it in the sides would create convention type cooking and maybe that is why the pit barrel cooker is reported to cook faster.

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I made UDS to run like pbc.. Rods are inside barrel and not going through wall of drum...use a locking ring to seal top and have 4 3/4 in outlet holes... Works great.. Cooked 90 lbs of briskets by be able to hang them.

Just finished building a uds. I put in 3 rods to hang the meat. I install them through the side wall and also have the outlet holes in the lid but they can be sealed off. Now just have to get it blasted and painted.

Next one I think I'll make hangers for the rods and compare how it works to the first one.

cinmur said:

I made UDS to run like pbc.. Rods are inside barrel and not going through wall of drum...use a locking ring to seal top and have 4 3/4 in outlet holes... Works great.. Cooked 90 lbs of briskets by be able to hang them.

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Do you wrap after internal of 165 to finish or just hang until done?

Fighting the wind today, make shift exhaust and intake block

Intake wind block

TXLX said:

Fighting the wind today, make shift exhaust and intake block

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Good idea. Work with what you got!

I've been reading this thread for a while, probably close to month now. I only created an account so I can see the pics.

I just finished my UDS using, mostly, the Big Poppa Smokers kit and a SS barrel I bought locally. I use the term "finished" loosly, as it is in a cooking state, but I already have future upgrades in mind (2nd rack, heat diffuser, side table, wheels, etc...).

I was wondering how hard it would, be or even if anyone was up to the task, of creating a UDS wiki website. There is a LOT of duplicate (or more) information in this thread. Generally speaking, a 12,000+ post thread is a very inefficient method of storing information.

I have the vision, but not the time nor resources to undertake such a project.

BM

well now that I have read this post upto 4000 +and have everything together I have stated my UDS
growned outside edge of lid with grinder after 3/4 way around lid was seperating from drum
lid fits tight
sandblasted rust inhibiter liner and outside took a whole 35 mins
drilled with step bit 4 - 1" holes it does get cold here in Ohio ( I grill year round )
followed all the advice from nebies to The Pro-Guru~s for my fire basket and grill ht
got to grease up indide after I find some Lard then fire it up with brickets for test burn
hope I can post some pick of my first fattie sacrifice and of course I Love Pork Butt and I can Not LIE

So I'm actually on page 239 of this thread but I feel like it's gotten to the point where it's just new people asking questions that have already been answered. So I'm going to ask a questions that probably have been asked before haha.

The picture I posted is a baking rack. I thought it would work perfect for the base of my charcoal basket. It has a lift of 3" on it already which I liked. My question on that is do you think I'll be struggling with my ash falling threw? More than usual? I only plan on using briquettes and realize you already have to kick it or shake it at times to get the ash off from time to time but wonder if this will enhance blockage?

Other question is about my 55 gallon drum. It was an open top, but my kettle lid non weber would only fit perfectly on the bottom end. I had read earlier in this thread someone had opened the bottom used it as the top and used the now bottom with removable lid as kinda an easy access to clean out the bottom and such. So I proceeded to remove my base and a few more hundred or so pages later I read one guy didn't like this approach because it made his intake air hard to control, and another guy liked it and said after awhile the seasoned drum will plug up any cracks or leaks. I believe what the guy said about a seasoned drum but that kind of defeats the purpose of having an easy access clean out base if you never open it. I guess my question is if anyone still uses this approach or has tried it and their opinions or suggestions on it.

BTW, thanks for all of the great info I already have from this thread. I have a crap ton of notes. I do plan on reading more from page 239, it's kind of like a good book, hard to quit once you get started!

That should work fine, but you will probably have to brace the legs, they look like they could fold on you. I built mine "upside-down", but I also welded on an outer lip that the the lid fits into, to avoid the drips down the outside that you get with the lid sitting on the outside of the drum. Good luck!!

pitbossJB;3123763I also welded on an outer lip that the the lid fits into said:

to avoid the drips down the outside that you get with the lid sitting on the outside of the drum[/U]. Good luck!!

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That adds to the ugly, doesn't it? :shocked:

pitbossJB said:

That should work fine, but you will probably have to brace the legs, they look like they could fold on you. I built mine "upside-down", but I also welded on an outer lip that the the lid fits into, to avoid the drips down the outside that you get with the lid sitting on the outside of the drum. Good luck!!

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Did you also weld the bottom shut or does it not really effect your cooks? I was thinking about putting a stove gasket in the rim to replace that gasket they come with. Worried that may get all dirty/greasy though.

jaimehelm,

Mine has a band that attaches the "lid" and it seals just fine. It makes it very easy to clean out.

Right on, that's what I have as well. Good to hear! I'm pretty excited about getting mine done, but the wife says to quit messin with it until after Christmas haha.

jaimehelm said:

The picture I posted is a baking rack. I thought it would work perfect for the base of my charcoal basket. It has a lift of 3" on it already which I liked. My question on that is do you think I'll be struggling with my ash falling threw? More than usual? I only plan on using briquettes and realize you already have to kick it or shake it at times to get the ash off from time to time but wonder if this will enhance blockage?

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Like mentioned, those "legs" should be at least braced. If you end up filling your coal basket as most of us do, it will weight quite a bit depending on the size of your basket and you wouldn't want that thing tipping over. IMHO I used 2 grates before on the bottom of my coal baskets to stop the small pieces from falling thru. I have since removed the cross grates as it does inhibit ash fall thru. I don't care about the small pieces falling thru anymore as I can cook for 15+ hrs and not have to kick/nudge the drum to assist in ash fall thru. I never have to touch it during any smoke/cook ever.

ebijack said:

Like mentioned, those "legs" should be at least braced. If you end up filling your coal basket as most of us do, it will weight quite a bit depending on the size of your basket and you wouldn't want that thing tipping over. IMHO I used 2 grates before on the bottom of my coal baskets to stop the small pieces from falling thru. I have since removed the cross grates as it does inhibit ash fall thru. I don't care about the small pieces falling thru anymore as I can cook for 15+ hrs and not have to kick/nudge the drum to assist in ash fall thru. I never have to touch it during any smoke/cook ever.

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I had originally planned to tie the supports down to a pizza pan. Have been debating if I still wanted to do that since I'll be able to open the bottom up for easy cleaning. Not very expensive and easy to do so I don't see why I couldn't still do that. That was my original thought as well with the tight boxed pattern on the baking rack, that it'd let less Charcoal fall threw but didn't think about the ash. Still pretty new to this all so I'm learning quite a bit all the time. I already have it tied to some expanded metal I did real fast yesterday. So I guess I will be finding out how well it works hopefully sooner than later!

I have to burn a painted on liner still though. I'm hoping it's not one of the hard liners.. Has a kind of burnt redish orange look to it. My next drum will be a unlined former oil container. Another thing I kinda jumped the gun on and bought early in the process of reading this thread.

Also curious as to what kind of charcoal you use?

jaimehelm said:

Also curious as to what kind of charcoal you use?

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Everyone has their favorite. I only use lump for high temp cooks anymore as I do not like all the dust and waste I get in every brand of lump I have ever tried. And really hate the pieces of non coal that I get in about 1/3 of them. Embers briquettes are the easiest for me to acquire, fairly cheap ( made by Royal Oak ) I really like Stubbs but it can be tough to find on a weekly basis. The Embers and Stubbs bags are smaller than some of the other brands which I also prefer, just easier for me to wrestle around ( had surgery on both hands).
Use what you like, try out different brands both lump and briquettes to see. You can't go wrong with either, you will just find what you prefer after awhile.