Ugly Drum Smoker

Thanks for the compliments guys. It was a bit nerve wracking, posting in front of the pros.

CambuiAl, it is Welsh dragon red. She's named in honor of a big chain smoking girl I knew back in the valleys. Awesome UDS by the way, the handles are a thing of beauty.

WJM, there was a 3 inch hole right in the middle but to be on the safe side, I drilled another 8 one inch holes at random intervals at the bottom. I did find some expanded steel on some UK website but you had to order a massive amount. Maybe it's worth us Brits getting together and chipping in.

Two openings on my lid

I'd like to hear what to do with the small ring at the bottom in this photo. It's made of plastic so It has to come out, just not sure how to make use of this opening. Seal it up or what?

Thanks ya'll, Steve

teeb57 said:

I'd like to hear what to do with the small ring at the bottom in this photo. It's made of plastic so It has to come out, just not sure how to make use of this opening. Seal it up or what?

Thanks ya'll, Steve

Click to expand...

Im guessing your talking about the small bung hole in the lid. The seal over it should be metal if not remove it and there will be a plug screwed in it just leave that in there and it will be fine

General question:

Has anyone here tried or heard of using a Line-X/Rhinoliner type coating on the outside of a UDS? I would assume it would work as long as the inside heat is controlled.

Any thoughts?

ShrediMaster said:

General question:

Has anyone here tried or heard of using a Line-X/Rhinoliner type coating on the outside of a UDS? I would assume it would work as long as the inside heat is controlled.

Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

There's some stuff for automotive use that folks use on the underbody that acts as a heatshield.

http://www.lizardskin.com/car-ceramic-insulation.html

I've seen it used on the undersides of truck cabs to shield the heat of the exhaust.

Looks like it will withstand 500°F as well. Way more than we cook at on UDS'. Another benefit might be temp control during cold weather smoking.

Chad

teeb57 said:

I'd like to hear what to do with the small ring at the bottom in this photo. It's made of plastic so It has to come out, just not sure how to make use of this opening. Seal it up or what?

Thanks ya'll, Steve

Click to expand...

Steve -that looks pretty normal. You have a 2" hole and a 3/4" hole opposite each other on many lids. I just take the plastic plug out and put a brass 3/4" screw-thread plug in, which I have found in most plumbing shops here.

You can see it in this photo below:



Hope that helps.

CambuiAl said:

Steve -that looks pretty normal. You have a 2" hole and a 3/4" hole opposite each other on many lids. I just take the plastic plug out and put a brass 3/4" screw-thread plug in, which I have found in most plumbing shops here.

You can see it in this photo below:

Hope that helps.

Click to expand...

Yes it does, Thanks CambuiAl. Nice job on your drum!

Steve

Thanks

Well I just wanted to say thank you for all the great info here. I read all the way to page 15 before deciding that it was something for me. To be honest, I didn't read everything yet, but it is pretty much easy to build if one keeps it simple.

Although it isn't finished yet, the first cook went suprisingly well for my first time smoking anything.

The only problem though was that everytime I opened the lit to glaze, it puffed out the bad white smoke for a few minutes before it cleared back to the sweet blue... I tried closing all the inputs 2 minutes before opening, but it didn't help. I have a total of 3 3/4" inputs with one closed off and the valve at 1/2 to 2/3 open. Either I need to take the grate out or just leave it closed untill kt is finished...

I did some thermal imaging while smoking italian fatties today.

The first is the chimney starter just for giggles. The second is just a few minutes after loading the basket with the lit coals on one side and the last is near the end of the smoke.

SuperJETT said:

I did some thermal imaging while smoking italian fatties today.

The first is the chimney starter just for giggles. The second is just a few minutes after loading the basket with the lit coals on one side and the last is near the end of the smoke.

Click to expand...

That's cool to see. So to speak.

water pan or no water pan?

Got my drum and thanks to all the great info here I'm ready to begin building my UDS. One thing have haven't decided on yet is whether or not to put in a water pan. I've seen posts here where others have built their UDS with a water pan. It seems to me that with water directly under the meat that this with just be steaming. After cooks of 6 hours or more I would think the steaming would cause the meat to become mushy. I would like to hear from others who've installed a water pan if you're happy with the quality of food your UDS is producing and whether or not you'd install a water pan again if you were building another smoker. Thanks in advance for sharing any suggestions, advice or experiences, Steve

Had my first cook in my UDS that was finished about a week ago... I had some temp problems and was hoping someone could enlighten me.

I lit 15 coals in my chimney. I've got 3 3/4" intake holes and 8 1/2" exhaust holes around the circumference of the lid. I put pipe nipples on two of the intakes when temps got to around 210. The third 3/4 is a ball valve and was left open. No exhaust holes were covered.

The temp climbed and ranged mostly between 280 to 300 it probably would of climbed higher if I didn't take off the lid occasionally to cool it off. I couldn't seem to bring it down with the intake adjustments. I also didn't want to completely close off my intake ball valve on the third hole. But, I did close it about half way. Still was hot.

There doesn't seem to be any leakage in the drum. When I close all the holes, the fire goes out pretty quickly. Any ideas on what I can do to keep those temps down? Do the exhaust holes need to be slightly bigger?

New guy here. Been spending a lot of time reading and most UDS links lead here. Now, I didn't sit down and read all 733 pages of this thread (Wow!) but I ready quite a few. I got my UDS all assembled last weekend and gave it a test run, and for Fathers day we gave it a full run and I have to say I'm super duper happy with my results.

One note though, my 2" hole saw is apparently for wood only because I only successfully made a shiny circle in my lid. So I painted over the shiny circle and used my 1 1/2" uni bit to make the biggest hole it could make. Turns out it's perfect. With the ball valve fully open and that exhaust size, my smoker with calibrated thermometer holds right smack at 225F. Perfect for some Brisket here in Texas! :mrgreen:

Oh yea, one other note...just a small relatively unknown fact is that a 55 gallon drum WILL fit in the back of a MINI Cooper. :mrgreen: Best part of my purchase of said drum was when I proudly pulled it out and set it on the driveway, watching my wife wrinkle her nose and say "And just WHAT is THAT?" Wasn't long before she was asking how long for some breakfast fatties though. :mrgreen:

Here's the smoker...nothing special, just a run of the mill UDS that works very well thanks to all the info you guys have provided.



Yes, still need to find me a domed lid, doesn't seem to be as easy for me as for others.

First cook though turned out well. Armadillo Eggs, Moinks, Hot Links and Brisket.

angrybird said:

The temp climbed and ranged mostly between 280 to 300 it probably would of climbed higher if I didn't take off the lid occasionally to cool it off.

Click to expand...

Really? Taking the lid off cooled down the fire? :twitch:

SmokerKing said:

Really? Taking the lid off cooled down the fire? :twitch:

Click to expand...

Not sure what you are getting at with your snark. The point of my post is that I can't keep it at a steady temp of 240-250ish. Looking for suggestions on how I can achieve as much.

I think you need to play with your intakes a little more. I have the same intake arrangement as you and I typically run one 3/4" pipe nipple completely open, one closed, and the last one has a 3/4" ball valve that is about half open which gets me to about 250 degrees. Try the next cook and adjust your intakes before you make any additional changes to your exhaust.

foam2 said:

I think you need to play with your intakes a little more. I have the same intake arrangement as you and I typically run one 3/4" pipe nipple completely open, one closed, and the last one has a 3/4" ball valve that is about half open which gets me to about 250 degrees. Try the next cook and adjust your intakes before you make any additional changes to your exhaust.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your comments. The problem I'm having is that (if I understand things correctly) I do not have much room to play. Two of my 3/4" holes are plugged. The third one is already partially closed.

Am I correct in thinking that shutting more of that 3rd intake would be a bad idea? Or is it okay to shut off the intake to almost nothing?

Perhaps I need to start with 10 coals instead of 15. Not sure what kind of difference that will make. But perhaps worth a shot.


Thank you.

angrybird said:

Had my first cook in my UDS that was finished about a week ago... I had some temp problems and was hoping someone could enlighten me.

I lit 15 coals in my chimney. I've got 3 3/4" intake holes and 8 1/2" exhaust holes around the circumference of the lid. I put pipe nipples on two of the intakes when temps got to around 210. The third 3/4 is a ball valve and was left open. No exhaust holes were covered.

The temp climbed and ranged mostly between 280 to 300 it probably would of climbed higher if I didn't take off the lid occasionally to cool it off. I couldn't seem to bring it down with the intake adjustments. I also didn't want to completely close off my intake ball valve on the third hole. But, I did close it about half way. Still was hot.

There doesn't seem to be any leakage in the drum. When I close all the holes, the fire goes out pretty quickly. Any ideas on what I can do to keep those temps down? Do the exhaust holes need to be slightly bigger?

Click to expand...

Keep the lid on. Taking the lid off will let heat escape & temp will drop around your cooking grate in the short term. It also allows a lot of oxygen into the drum that will make your fire burn hotter. That's why your temp spikes when you put the lid back on. If temps spike, you can close off all the intakes to choke the fire down. Drums hold heat very well so it takes longer to bring temps down than up. Close off all intakes & wait for temps to start to fall, then open the valve up about halfway. Be patient & wait for the temps to stabilize before make any other adjustments. It can take 10-15 mins or more before it settles in. From that point on make very small adjustments to the intakes & give them time to work.

My drum has 3 nipples, one with a ball valve. I cook most of the time around 275 & have two nipples capped & the ball valve only 1/2 to 3/4 open. I use around 10-12 briquettes to start my fire. I cap off one nipple at 220-225. The second at 250-255. At 265-270, I close the valve halfway. Within 10 mins, it usually has settled in between 275-280. If not, I make a small adjustment to the valve to dial in the temp I want.

I would say then try different fire management. It sounds like your fire comes on strong so I would say start closing your intake earlier (at a lower temperature as you're coming up) and then adjusting your valve until you get where you want to be. If you can snuff the fire out pretty quickly, don't be afraid to shut the ball valve a little more to get your fire under control. You're still letting in air and by leaving your exhaust wide open you have no fear of creasote smells etc. The uds responds very quickly, don't be afraid. If the temperature after that wants to settle in a little higher than you want don't fight it.

Thanks Foam2 and olewarthog. I appreciate the pointers.

I'll start with 10 coals and shut down 2 of the intakes sooner. And even more importantly, now that I know I can completely shut off the intake (and not ruin the food), I'll give that a try if need-be.

Thanks again.