Ugly Drum Smoker

[kindollbbq]

Originally Posted by Rodney

I wonder if I could cut the top flange off of the base of that Biglots grill and mount it into the top of my open-head drum... I know I've seen it done with Weber grills.

I tell you what I am doing with the Big Lots Kettle. I am in the process of building my second UDS. The drum that I got seems to be very narrow. Almost not true 55 gallon it's so small. Anyways I tried the "lid" that came with the Big Lots Grill and it would've worked, but had a lot of "slop" in the fit. I honestly never expected it to be too big. The weird part is I tried it on the UDS that I already have and it was way too SMALL. Weird huh?

I then just took the "bottom" of the Big Lots Kettle Grill and made a lid out of it. Where there is a flange built into the bottom, I just took a pair of pliers, and bent that flange up and over in a way to create the lid.

It is definitely not the prettiest bend in the world, but I tell you this, it's a great fit and should seal really well once I get it up and running.


Brandon

[SuperQue]

I just got 2 barrels and I was wondering how can you tell if there is a liner? The barrels I got contained either juice or flour and the inside looks like it's painted red. Does this need to be burned out?

thanks

[AJP]

Originally Posted by SuperQue

I just got 2 barrels and I was wondering how can you tell if there is a liner? The barrels I got contained either juice or flour and the inside looks like it's painted red. Does this need to be burned out?

thanks

The red is a liner and needs to be burned out, have fun with it.

[HeSmellsLikeSmoke]

Originally Posted by SuperQue

I just got 2 barrels and I was wondering how can you tell if there is a liner? The barrels I got contained either juice or flour and the inside looks like it's painted red. Does this need to be burned out?

thanks

It is probable that you have the "dreaded" red liner which is extremely difficult to get rid of. Others will chime in if I am wrong. If it is, you will be better off finding barrels with no liner, even at a higher cost.

[Decoman]

Man I burned my barrel twice and it still had some liner in it. So I did a red neck sand blast. Sand in a bucket with some orange citrus cleaner, then with a green scratch pad, I went to work scrubbing, It came off after lots of elbow grease. Good luck

[UVaJester]

Are conduit fittings ok to use inside the drum..?? I needed to pick up a conduit nut and washer to install my tel-tru and they don't have anything noting whether there bare steel, zinc, etc...

[HeSmellsLikeSmoke]

Originally Posted by UVaJester

Are conduit fittings ok to use inside the drum..?? I needed to pick up a conduit nut and washer to install my tel-tru and they don't have anything noting whether there bare steel, zinc, etc...

Here is an online source for stainless conduit fittings.

http://www.gibsonstainless.com/

[UVaJester]

Originally Posted by HeSmellsLikeSmoke

Here is an online source for stainless conduit fittings.

http://www.gibsonstainless.com/

I went ahead and used the conduit washers from homedepot... I don't really want to wait and order anything since I have a fattie sitting in the fridge right now...

I did look over the fittings closely and I noticed some of the fittings did label zinc and a few labeled steel... Everything I got either said steel or no label at all. The washers look to be same finish as the steel conduit nuts... Maybe someone here has been down this road before...

(Edited to add)
After typing this I searched the part number on the bag for the conduit reducing washers (#26820) online and found a pdf catalog from Halex... They list it as just steel...!!! Thank goodness I didn't use the lock nuts from that company because even though HomeDepot had them listed as steel, the part number brings up a zinc coated lock nut in there catalog...

[ON THE FARM]

Originally Posted by UVaJester

I went ahead and used the conduit washers from homedepot... I don't really want to wait and order anything since I have a fattie sitting in the fridge right now...

I did look over the fittings closely and I noticed some of the fittings did label zinc and a few labeled steel... Everything I got either said steel or no label at all. The washers look to be same finish as the steel conduit nuts... Maybe someone here has been down this road before...

YES THEY ARE ZINC COATED!!!!

use a charcoal starter chiminy with 10 or so briqets in it, put in your parts and burn the zinc off of them.
i have done this many times with nuts and bolts.

[sdb25]

Dude, you need some high temps to burn the zinc off. You really don't need to worry about it though. People make a big deal out of the zinc, and unless you are breathing the fumes while welding on it, it really poses no risk. If some zinc manages to get on your food, it's fine. You aren't going to get toxic levels of zinc, even if you just ground up and ate the conduit nuts themselves.

I'm sure there will be several people saying otherwise, but I'd like to see the evidence.

[UVaJester]

Originally Posted by ON THE FARM

YES THEY ARE ZINC COATED!!!!

use a charcoal starter chiminy with 10 or so briqets in it, put in your parts and burn the zinc off of them.
i have done this many times with nuts and bolts.

I took my mapp gas torch and heated everything till it was glowing red, then scrubbed them with a steel brush... Hope that's enough...!!!

[michaelp]

The red liner will come out, you just have to get the drum hot enough. I drilled 3 3/4 inch holes in the bottom and hooked up a leaf blower to one of the holes to force air into the drum. Just throwing wood in the drum and lighting it wont get it to the temps to burn all the paint off let alone remove the liner. About an hour into the burn, the drum was glowing completely orange. Not one trace of paint or liner left. Looked like blued steel on the outside. You just have to use a lot of wood, and some forced induction, lol.

[UVaJester]

Got things going and threw my first fattie on there. Its stuffed with cream cheese, onions, orange peppers, and garlic... I'm taking it over to my Moms house as a appetizer for dinner. Hope it comes out ok...

[wheelterrapin]

Did you first flatten the edge of the webber lid and then weld the new wider flat piece to it?

Originally Posted by Babyboomerboy

I posted pictures of my just finished UDS on a separate thread and several people commented on my solution for getting a Weber lid to fit. Therefore I decided to post it here on the Mother of all threads for UDS builders. I read all the posts on this thread and a lot of people were having trouble getting the lid to fit their barrels. Some people hammered the top of the barrel to flatten the rim so the lid would fit. Some people flattened the Weber rim and then bent it over the barrel to get it to fit. When I flattened the rim of my Weber lid it just covered the top of the barrel and I didn’t have enough lid left to bend it over the side of the barrel. So my solution to the problem was to weld a strip of sheet metal around the edge of the lid. The first thing I did was to cut the sheet metal into a strip and then tack weld it together using the barrel as a form. Then I welded the loop of sheet metal to the lid. Now the lid fits over the barrel and is easy to take off and put on. I hope this helps some of you that are having the same problem with the Weber lid and a 55 gallon barrel. Happy smoking

[Emil]

Originally Posted by sdb25

Dude, you need some high temps to burn the zinc off. You really don't need to worry about it though. People make a big deal out of the zinc, and unless you are breathing the fumes while welding on it, it really poses no risk. If some zinc manages to get on your food, it's fine. You aren't going to get toxic levels of zinc, even if you just ground up and ate the conduit nuts themselves.

I'm sure there will be several people saying otherwise, but I'd like to see the evidence.

I agree. I understand how some folks are worried by what they read on here. If they are that worried about the conduit nuts they might as well just stay in bed in the morning and never leave home.