Ugly Drum Smoker

On the zinc issue and as I had stated I had to use zinc bolts for the charcoal basket due to the lousy selection from hd and will soak with vinegar and hit them with a torch. As you see one of the replies basically said you would have to disintegrate your food before its a problem. After reading this entire thread going back and forth on that issue found something interesting in my research. Decided not to go the Weber route for now, was looking at the wally world uniflame 22.5 grill for 40 bucks to use the lid and some other parts, clicked on the parts list. I could not even guess how many of these they sell but lets assume its a big number. The charcoal grate is zinc coated, not sure if its different zinc than a bolt is coated with but it says zinc coated. I assume if it was harmful some law firm would have been more than happy to sue them. Might be totally off base as I am a newbie but it is interesting food for thought. u guys and gals are great, gonna get mine done by end of weekend and get it dirty.
 
Academy Sports has 3" and 2" thermometers for $10 each. Picked up 3 today.

I have looked at a lot of commercial stuff, and a lot of it looks like plated materials in the cooking area.
 
Seachaser said:
Academy Sports has 3" and 2" thermometers for $10 each. Picked up 3 today.

I have looked at a lot of commercial stuff, and a lot of it looks like plated materials in the cooking area.
Click to expand...

Thanks man! I will be heading there tomorrow.
 
DRUMBUM:
As long as you cook the food right it will come out good, I have only done 2 cooks on my UDS and both were very good. Here are a couple of pics.

Here is my first pork butt, ran at a steady 250 deg. for 10hrs. Came out nice and moist, with good bark.
DSC00940.jpg


Here are some chicken thighs I did Sunday, also very moist and yummy. You can see all the smokey goodness they had.
DSC01044.jpg

DSC01045.jpg


This is a pork tender loin I did on my OTS for a comparison.
DSC00935.jpg


Once you get yours done and start cooking on it you will wish you had found out about them sooner. I know I did.
 
Oh yeah!!!:clap2: That looks awesome!!! When cooking on the UDS how frequently are ya'll adding wood for smoking if any?
 
I only added wood at the begining. For the pork I used 2 chuncks of hickory wood, and for the chicken I only used 1 1/2 cups of apple wood chips. Both worked well.
 
Drumbum77 said:
Oh yeah!!!:clap2: That looks awesome!!! When cooking on the UDS how frequently are ya'll adding wood for smoking if any?
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mix in wood chunks amongst the coals. distributed evenly, it should smoke as long as there's fire, which will be a while. I have coals left over after 10-12 lbs for 10 hrs.
 
Thanks ya'll! I can't wait to finish this thing. The only thing is...I might not be able to stop making them. =) My wife thinks I'm crazy.
 
Drumbum77 said:
Thanks ya'll! I can't wait to finish this thing. The only thing is...I might not be able to stop making them. =) My wife thinks I'm crazy.
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My wife knows I'm crazy, she saw me reading this thread and decided the UDS was too ugly and that I needed a BGE. That worked for me.
 
The drum I have is painted on the inside not really a "Liner"! Can Just put a basket of charcoal in it and burn it out that way ? Its been very very dry Here in the Dallas area and I don't feel comfortable loading a bunch of junk wood in my UDS and catching something on fire !!
 
liners are always painted on. There is a ton of useful info on how to burn them out. You can search the thread or do as I did and read the entire thread and you will find that you know everything you need to know about building a big and maybe beautiful UDS!:-D!:-D! As for burning out the liner in Texas....you may have to wait until the dry spell is over. I did mine with a weed burner.
 
mike5150 said:
The drum I have is painted on the inside not really a "Liner"! Can Just put a basket of charcoal in it and burn it out that way ? Its been very very dry Here in the Dallas area and I don't feel comfortable loading a bunch of junk wood in my UDS and catching something on fire !!
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It's dry everywhere bro. Just be careful.
 
Do any of you turn your meat or leave it like it is? I am sure this has been covered, but I get a sensory overload after 500+ pages.
 
mounting the thermometer to the UDS

I remember seeing a post somewhere amongst the 500+ pages where someone used an attachment that would allow you to push and pull the thermometer out of the smoker. Where can I buy one and what is it called. I feel stupid, hopefully someone knows what I'm talking about.
Thanks!
 
I just have a bolt that I drilled a 5/32" hole down the middle of. A cheap Wal-Mart thermo slides in and out of that- is that what you mean?
 
Drumbum77 said:
I remember seeing a post somewhere amongst the 500+ pages where someone used an attachment that would allow you to push and pull the thermometer out of the smoker. Where can I buy one and what is it called. I feel stupid, hopefully someone knows what I'm talking about.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

There are several ways you can do this. I used a brass nipple and cap. See posting #8311
 
chimney

quesiton about the exhaust (chimney) ports... i know some people just drill 1/2" holes evenly spaced in the lid.. but my lid already has the bung hole so i was just going to thread a short pipe into it.. also i like how it looks..

question is though.. when people do this.. are they just using the black plumbing pipe used same as used the intake ports?.. i would be wanting something that woudl thread into the existing bung hole.

thanks,
 
soapy, like this?
3917862653_068b7cb2fb_z.jpg

the bung is 2" pipe thread. black pipe is heavy, I used 2" electrical conduit much lighter and cheaper
 
this is the fourth drum i've made and the best so far thanks to insights from this thread.

inaugural run today started with MOINKS then a rack of st louis spares. chugged along at 230 without budging. splendid!
 

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Very cool setup. I wish I could find performer/older platinum carts like that
 
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