Ugly Drum Smoker

stevemiller said:

I put two of these $3 dollar valves on my intakes on my drum.(have a brass one on one of the three) Even at 375 deg. they were cool to touch. The drum seems easier to control now. I change all three at the same time and it seems to burn in three directions in fire pan. I am not one of the Ellette but in my opinion this works great.:idea:

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Prolly works great on a calm day. If you get those kind of days.

Antifreeze Drums

I have a source for 55 gallon antifreeze barrels. They are closed topped and unlined. I have a drum deheader, so removing the top is not a problem. My question is what are the safety issues involved in using these drums. I plan on burning them out before cooking on them.

Thanks,

Sterling

Chandler, AZ

Sterling said:

I have a source for 55 gallon antifreeze barrels. They are closed topped and unlined. I have a drum deheader, so removing the top is not a problem. My question is what are the safety issues involved in using these drums. I plan on burning them out before cooking on them.

Thanks,

Sterling

Chandler, AZ

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As long as you don't drink the stuff, a good burn should be fine.

Sterling said:

I have a source for 55 gallon antifreeze barrels. They are closed topped and unlined. I have a drum deheader, so removing the top is not a problem. My question is what are the safety issues involved in using these drums. I plan on burning them out before cooking on them.

Thanks,

Sterling

Chandler, AZ

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My drum was full of glycol but it was open top and had a thick liner that was a pain to get off. I'd say you are fine with a good burn.

stevemiller said:

I put two of these $3 dollar valves on my intakes on my drum.(have a brass one on one of the three) Even at 375 deg. they were cool to touch. The drum seems easier to control now. I change all three at the same time and it seems to burn in three directions in fire pan. I am not one of the Ellette but in my opinion this works great.:idea:

Click to expand...

I thought about trying those. May still on the capped inlets. Whats the worst that happens it melts and you have to cut it off?

Codeman said:

I thought about trying those. May still on the capped inlets. Whats the worst that happens it melts and you have to cut it off?

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Worst thing is, since it's on the intake side of things, you end up with the smoke from the plastic imparting a taste (or worse) to your food. I wouldn't do it.

Many people have been using these without problems. Ramp your UDS up to 350 and put your hand on the intakes. My UDS was sitting on ice for 5hrs at 250 and didn't melt the ice.

First post, noobie here. Just went through the entire thread and my eyeballs are falling out.

I have a sealed drum that contained hydraulic fluid. Going to cut the top out with a high speed grinder and thin cutoff wheel. Am I going to blow myself up unless I fill it with water or something first?

Awesome thread!

Edit: was told the hydraulic fluid or other oils (rather than solvents) wouldn't have the airborne combustibles. So I opened the bungs and blew out the air in the drum anyway with my shopvac, and cut the lid off tonight. Nice pretty plain steel insides which I'm cleaning up now.

sdb25 said:

Worst thing is, since it's on the intake side of things, you end up with the smoke from the plastic imparting a taste (or worse) to your food. I wouldn't do it.

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By the valve being on the outside of the barrel, I don't think there's any danger of it "smoking" and giving off nastys that would impart in the food. I don't think it'll get that hot....warm maybe....but not hot enough to give off fumes. Just an observation. Not criticizing your statement/opinion.

BTW....My name is Demosthenes. Long time stick-burner. Heard a lot about these UDS's for many years. Age has slowed me down to where baby sitting my stick burner all night is not fun anymore. Bought a used WSM back in Feb. 09.........best $125 I ever spent. (just wish it was bigger :mrgreen I can't see forking out $399+tax for the 22.5 WSM, so I figure why not spend less than $100 and get the same capacity as the WSM's 22.5 and build myself an UGLY. (in progress)

The beauty (or lack of) in building a UDS is there are so many different looks you can give it......flat top lid vs. dome lid......ball valve intake vs. magnets vs. daisey wheel......holes in the flat top lid for exhaust vs. 2"pipe nipple w/ 90° elbow pipe.......barrel welded to a hand truck for easy transport vs. plate or stem casters...painted vs. ugly, and the list goes on.

I've enjoyed reading "most" of the post in this section and will continue to read them for more insight and ideas.
Thanks,
Demosthenes

Lazy R said:

First post, noobie here. Just went through the entire thread and my eyeballs are falling out.

I have a sealed drum that contained hydraulic fluid. Going to cut the top out with a high speed grinder and thin cutoff wheel. Am I going to blow myself up unless I fill it with water or something first?

Awesome thread!

Edit: was told the hydraulic fluid or other oils (rather than solvents) wouldn't have the airborne combustibles. So I opened the bungs and blew out the air in the drum anyway with my shopvac, and cut the lid off tonight. Nice pretty plain steel insides which I'm cleaning up now.

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Good luck with our build and post pics for proof!!

Lazy R said:

First post, noobie here. Just went through the entire thread and my eyeballs are falling out.

I have a sealed drum that contained hydraulic fluid. Going to cut the top out with a high speed grinder and thin cutoff wheel. Am I going to blow myself up unless I fill it with water or something first?

Awesome thread!

Edit: was told the hydraulic fluid or other oils (rather than solvents) wouldn't have the airborne combustibles. So I opened the bungs and blew out the air in the drum anyway with my shopvac, and cut the lid off tonight. Nice pretty plain steel insides which I'm cleaning up now.

Click to expand...

Good luck with your build and post pics for proof!!

reconditioned drum

I got this drum yesterday.
Can anyone tell me about how long I need of a burn I need to get the coating off. Looks like some kind of epoxy to me. I also thought I would go ahead and drill the holes for the intakes I am going to 3/4" nipples do I need a 1" hole? thanks

Sterling said:

I have a source for 55 gallon antifreeze barrels. They are closed topped and unlined. I have a drum deheader, so removing the top is not a problem. My question is what are the safety issues involved in using these drums. I plan on burning them out before cooking on them.

Thanks,

Sterling

Chandler, AZ

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Piece of mind goes a long way! A new drum is only around $45.00. You will always wonder every cook you have if you got all the contaminant out. If I had any safety concerns I would go with a new one.

smknok said:

I got this drum yesterday. View attachment 34948 View attachment 34949
Can anyone tell me about how long I need of a burn I need to get the coating off. Looks like some kind of epoxy to me. I also thought I would go ahead and drill the holes for the intakes I am going to 3/4" nipples do I need a 1" hole? thanks

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Burn it until its gone and don't worry about the time.

Rich Parker said:

Burn it until its gone and don't worry about the time.

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noted and appreciated just trying to get a time frame

1. Cut your intake holes in the bottom.
2. Cut pallets along the center line and the long ends and centre piece in half
3. Fill barrel until you can't get in one more toothpick.
4. Cut that much more wood again and have it stacked ready.
5. Get air compressor with a 2 metre wand blower attachment
6. Get a Tiger Torch.
7. Fire up the wood with the tiger torch from the bottom air intakes. Go around the bottom.
8. When the wood "shifts" inside the drum. Put the blower wand in a air intake and hit it with 20psi of air.
9. Put out your smoking eyebrows and split ends.
10. Repeat 8 and 9 until you can load the barrel again.
11. You should end up with a barrel half full or better of coals. Keep hitting it with air.
12. Keep body butter handy for your peeling skin. Cheeks and nose especially.

The coals will last in excess of 8 hours if you don't hit them with air frequently. The "fire" might be gone but those coals are going to last and they are HOT. Pallets seem to have good hardwood in them. At least the ones I had did.

It wasn't rude...

LT72884 said:

thanx guys. Sorry for the miss communication and rudeness of my post. I was not trying to do that. Just mis typed what i wanted to say

Yeah i will be using 4 x 3/4 incj intake holes using a ball valve for one of them and plugs for the others. I could use magnets to

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And if you took it that way, lighten the hell up.

After some homework and forum reading I did decide on the Ugly Drum Smoker. Headed down to a local oil distributor and picked up a drum used for hydraulic fluid for 20 bucks. Sealed top job, and the lip on top is closer to fitting my Weber lid than the larger rolled top.

Got right to work with my hi-speed with cutoff wheel.




There was still about half gallon of hydraulic fluid in there. Look at those nice clean sides with no coating!



I cut three 1" holes 2" up from the bottom.


Picked up a hardwood pallet and burned it in the barrel to clean out the oils.



Stopped by a welding place and had him make me a basket for the charcoal. It's 16" diameter or so (we bent the expanded metal around a 16" wheel) and about 6" tall. He charged me 30 bucks for it. Then I fasioned a handle out of some very heavy wire I had on hand.



Made some legs out of 3/8" bolts that hold it up about 3" off the floor.



Picked up some hardware



Cleaned out the drum after the burn, used the wire wheel on the Makita and brush & hot soapy water. Boy was I a mess after that!



So then I wipe down the inside with Crisco and burn a chimney of briquettes to season it. With the air ports fully open, it went to 375 degrees, and burned a couple hours hot before working its way back down.



Painted it last night, and this morning began assembly. Put a flange in where the ball valve will for for some strength.



My grill support ended up at 8 inches below the top, which made it 24 inches above the bottom of the charcoal basket. I used stainless bolts about 2" long.

Here it is with one grill on the bolts



Now, one of the main uses for my smoker is making jerky (deer). I need all the square inches of rack space I can get. With these Weber grills and the square handles, I can rotate them 90 degrees and lay them on the one below, stacking them. I bought 3 of these grills and they lay in there nicely. Leaves maybe a little more than an inch between grills.




Installed my ball valve and pipe cap fittings.




For my turkey fryer cheapo thermometer, I picked up this fitting at the hardware store. It fits nicely through there and I can pick up temps 1" below the bottom grill.






That's it. She's done and ready to make jerky, slim jims, ribs, chicken, and a whole host of other interesting culinary delights. I have around 150 bucks in it I guess, if I count every nut and bolt, not including the Weber lid I already had. The lid doesn't quite fit down over the lip, it's very close, and this spring when kettle grills come out on sale I'll get another one where I can bend the lip all the way around and fit just right on this, so I don't mess up my good Weber lid. I'm pretty happy with how it looks and am anxious to get barbequein'!!

jetfxr27 said:

Prolly works great on a calm day. If you get those kind of days.

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I found this the best way to do the air intakes. One peice of strap metal from lowes $1.50. 4 bolts, 4 nuts, 4 washers, and 4 springs. Works great and very easy to adjust.

Wow, I have been reading for a couple of weeks and have finally made it through. Sadly I haven't been able to find a barrel yet (though I have a post on craigslist and have been watching the classifieds for the last couple of weeks). Hopefully soon.

Anyways, thanks for all of the information! I look forward to posting once I get started.