Ugly Drum Smoker

[shifferem]

Nice work!! I'm glad to see that sanding discs worked decently on the liner as the HOA would have a fit if I did a big burn here...looking forward to seeing your end result. I will be out looking at a few drums this weekend crossin my fingers that they are good enough to get me started!

[Sammy_Shuford]

Only 3 60 grit pads to do the whole inside? I must say, I would expect more pads.
OBTW, you can get an adapter and small hose, hook the sander right up to a wet/dry vac.

[MushCreek]

I have 2 of the $5 thermos from Wal-Mart, and they are both right on the money. Get some water boiling; it should read 212. That will give you an idea if it is off, and by how much.

[repoman013]

i cant believe i read the whole thread, thanks to all for the great info , its has taken me months to fin read, work keeps getting in the way, i am building my smoker now will post pics when fin, iam kinda sad to be at end of thread , enjoyed reading after a hard night of stealing cars lol

[porcinepirate]

almost there

drum cleaned inside and out and painted - Check



Air Flow controls installed, hardware installed - Check



all that is left is to pickup Webber grill parts this afternoon, then I will season it and then be ready for maiden smoke tomorrow.

Here it is with season smoke going. it has worked out great less then 10 minutes to 240 F, and holding over an hour once vents were adjusted. I used the bottom of the webber, it has more vent holes.



here is the temp gauge



Porcine Pirate

" Pigs are our Tasty Friends "

[MushCreek]

I like it! The bottom of the Weber looks like a good idea. What keeps it from sliding off in windy weather?

[Smokin'Ron]

Diggin' the upside down Gril for the lid Porcine. I goofed my weber up trying to may a lid collar. So I went to plan B with a hitch pin, I need a washer on each side to make it work, but they will allow me to pul the top rack adn pull the hitch pins to pull the bottom rack easily.

Install my thermometer, 1 handle ( I need more bolts), built my basket, but I don't think it is big enough. I couldn't find the expanded metal around her so I grabbed a charcoal chimney, knock the bottom and handle off and drilled a bunch of holes in it. Attached it to a charcoal grate with 2 U bolts.

For my first rack I used 3 U bolts, but it seems unstable, May need to add a fourth.

Removed all of the hardware and doing my burn tonight while the neighbors sleep

[Meat Burner]

Ron, I like your hitch pin idea. It can be tricky getting the botton grate in and out with stationary bolts for the top grate. Nice idea bro. I would be very leary of only using three points to hold any grate. From experience, it may surprise you how easy it is to dump a brisket into the bottom of your barrel. Four points would be a lot safer. Keep us posted as it looks great so far. Hope the fire basket works out. It might make a real hot spot in the center of the grate. Let us know.

[CUTigerQ]

I posted this already in it's own post but thought it was better suited for here...Im picking up a drum tomorrow and need to get the lid cut off of it for a UDS. Two questions on that, should I keep the top and make a lid out of it after it is cut off or should I throw it away and get a Weber lid...and if so, how should it be cut off??

2nd question is where can I get it cut off near Atlanta? Anyone know or can anyone here do it for me?

I wanna be cooking in this baby next week.

Thanks Guys!!

[Meat Burner]

This UDS threat has a lot of information about cutting the barrel and various ways to make the lid. You might want to take some time and read through it. It will answer your questions. Good luck.

[CUTigerQ]

I dont have a search feature because im not a paid subscriber yet. Otherwise, I would have searched for it. 319 pages is a lot to manually search for and could take me weeks.

[Meat Burner]

It's going to be a chore brother but well worth it. There have been so many things tried that worked out and also that didn't work so well. It usually ends up keeping it simple for the best performance. My favorite UDS, and go to smoker, is the first one I built almost 3 years ago. Was simple and works sooooo good.

[MushCreek]

There are several ways to cut the lid. You could cut it off below the bead, since most drum beads are a tad big for a Weber lid. This will leave a sharp edge, with no reinforcement, though. You can cut it inside with a chisel, or a reciprocating saw (SawZall) with a metal cutting blade. I suppose you could cut it out with a grinder as well. If you cut it out of the inside, it won't work as a lid. If you go to a place that deals in drums, they'll usually have a drum cutter, which is a giant can opener, for lack of a better description. The place I work has one. They leave a very sharp edge about an inch down inside- you want to pound it down with a hammer or grind it smooth- trust me on that! They have lids that fit open drums, with a big circular clamp that holds it on. I like the Weber lid, since you can put tall stuff on your top grate. If the bead is too big for a Weber lid, you can add a strip of steel around the inside, sticking up about 1/2" above the bead. On my stainless drum, I drilled and bolted it every 3" or so. I recently built a steelie for a friend, and welded it every 3" instead. A 1/8" X 1" strip works well, and you can bend it by hand. Keep asking; we can talk you through it! Here's some pics of the strip I added to my SS drum:

[h20loo]

Marietta- get your lid before you cut the barrel. You may want to leave a 1/2" lip inside for the lid to sit on.
Many people built their barrels when the thread was 10 pages old.
It sounds like you might enjoy the benefits of buying a ready to smoke UDS.

[GldnKniteofBBQ]

Im in the process of building my first smoker project in the form of an UDS. I wanted to pick the brains of some experienced builders to see what they think with a couple of questions i have... 1) Im using 2 3/4" ball valves to control air flow with no other holes drilled on the bottom. Is this sufficient? 2) I cant seem to find anything that isnt galvanized to attach these ball valves to, but i did find some copper nipples but for some reason they have PVC around a portion of it (i forgot to include that in the pics). Is the PVC going to give off toxic fumes? 3) If i remove the bung valve off the lid of my drum, will that be sufficient exhaust? It measures 2 1/2 inches in diameter.

I think thats it for now. I need to get after the charcoal basket next. Thanks!

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