Ugly Drum Smoker

[jgh1204]

If you set the # of threads per page to the max, it is only 161.

[TDaddy]

Originally Posted by jgh1204

If you set the # of threads per page to the max, it is only 161.

Thanks for the advice!

I wish I knew about that earlier, I would have gotten through this thread a lot faster!

[BBQpower]

[quote=woodbutcher1;1659545]

Originally Posted by BBQpower

Now I got the 30Gal drum for free and was Clean inside, to small for a UDS, someone suggested I do a mini but I was thinking of just using it as a firebox and putting a 55gal drum horizontally but then it won't be a UDS anymore Time to go find 2 55Gals.

First of all : Your 30 gallon drum is best suited to go with a 18 1/2 " Weber or similar Kettles for lids.

Where as the 22 1/2" is used for the 55 gallon drums.

For the Mini drum, 10 to 16 gallon size using the Weber SJ @ 14" dia. or similar made grills of the same.

Thanks I just figured most of it and look what I found for it!
A LID!! I just remembered picking this up on the side of the road!
It's cool when you find a clean drum one day and a lid another then pull the junk out and they go together!
To MINI UDS or not? I keep wanting to make a separate chamber smoker and wait for a 55gal drum. I may just throw this 22.5" weber on top of the 18" 30gal drum and make a separate chamber smoker.
Sorry to steer it away from a UDS but it may not become that. still no idea, ADD sucks.

[webegrubbin]

Im about to build a UDS and I'm looking at drum options. I can get a used food grade drum with lining for $15 or I can buy a new unused unlined drum for $68? Which should I buy? Is it worth it to buy the new unlined drum to save the trouble of burning out the paint?

[ZouBBQ]

Would you pay someone else $53 to burn out the liner? If not, go with the cheap one.
Or use it as a bargaining chip To talk the price down a bit

[colonel00]

Originally Posted by webegrubbin

Im about to build a UDS and I'm looking at drum options. I can get a used food grade drum with lining for $15 or I can buy a new unused unlined drum for $68? Which should I buy? Is it worth it to buy the new unlined drum to save the trouble of burning out the paint?

I am a firm believer that removing a liner is a rite of passage when building a UDS...at least once.

[LoveBBQ]

Originally Posted by colonel00

I am a firm believer that removing a liner is a rite of passage when building a UDS...at least once.

No thanks! I'll stick to the unlined anti-freeze barrels my brother has.

[FFPEREZ]

Finally finished reading the thread.....boy that took a while.

Happy I found it and now I know all the information I need to build my own.

THANK YOU EVERYONE for the details, the pics, and all the knowledge you have put into this thread.

[Spicy-Meat]

Tomorrow I am going to get my nipples welded to the drum then I am going to burn it out. My drum is unlined so I am just going to throw on a few pallets. Once I am done doing the burn do I take it to the car wash and hose out the inside then dry it then apply the Crisco to the inside? What is the normal process after the final burn out? I assume after I Crisco the inside I paint the outside and I am ready for the first season cook. Thanks for your help.

[jgh1204]

I found used unlined barrels in San ANtonio for $20 and they deheaded it for free.

[Burn Baby Burn]

Beware! DO NOT wear loose fitting shirt while using wire wheel to clean drum! It's amazing how fast a T-shirt can get wound up on a wire wheel at full rpm!!

[Burn Baby Burn]

BTW......Many TY to all who have posted on this thread! Soooo many great tips and ideas to ponder and sort through on my way to Q perfection!

[mickthomas]

Hi all, just thought i'd chuck a couple of pics of my uds....I have both flat lid and a knockoff weber type lid.....constantly improving....this thread is awesome have read 100 odd pages and not even scratched the surface...





cheers

and thanks for all the info

Mick

[jalon]

Pics look good Mick.

So...I finally finished my UDS yesterday...let me tell you, it embraces the "U" in UDS
Pics coming soon.

Did a test burn last night, took it up to 300 for a while, held it relatively constant (first time ever with anything like this) and kept 300-320 for about 45 minutes. I thought, "Let's see if I can do 225..." Well, didn't quite work out like I planned. My rig has four 1" inlets, one of them comes up the side to a ball valve like many others have on here. In the effort to get it to come down, I think I ended up putting the fire out. I did make a few mistakes in the process, I managed to fluctuate the temps 100+ a couple of times doing things I knew better, but sometimes you just have to experience it to get the feel. I did get a few hours of burn out of it, but I think I read in a few other threads that I need to start with just a couple of inlets, and catch the temp on the way up, not down.

Otherwise...during the burn at 300, there was a nice blue smoke from the one small hickory chunk I put in, and had the neighbors out of their house, sniffing - "What's that I smell...??"

Thanks to all for the help so far!!!

Jalon

[PhilipW]

Originally Posted by Spicy-Meat

Tomorrow I am going to get my nipples welded to the drum then I am going to burn it out. My drum is unlined so I am just going to throw on a few pallets. Once I am done doing the burn do I take it to the car wash and hose out the inside then dry it then apply the Crisco to the inside? What is the normal process after the final burn out? I assume after I Crisco the inside I paint the outside and I am ready for the first season cook. Thanks for your help.

Crisco to prevent rusting till you season. Then I cooked a couple fatties and some moinks. Felt like an initiation.