Ugly Drum Smoker

rhollar said:

This is for all of you that use a two rack UDS. I am building my third UDS and I am wanting to put two racks in this one. Question one is how far down do you put the top rack? I was thinking of 1 1/2 inches from the top and then 7 inches down for rack number two. What do you think or am I totally off. Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

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I make all of mine @ 3" and 7".

I have mine at 5" below and 12" below the lip using a weber lid. This way I can get 2 butts on each rack without touching the lid or easily do beer can chicken on both racks. I have the bolts in place for the optional flower pot heat diffuser which lets me run it exactly like a WSM or take it out and just use the top rack traditional UDS style.

You'll be just fine with that , Norcoredneck used a barrel that contained water-based machine lubricant in his tutorial which can be seen here.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43943

Finding a food grade barrel only insures one thing , more work getting it cleaned out. As far as your kettle lid goes , they have a 22.5" grill at BigLots , that sells for $29 , you can use the lid and the grate out of it , not a bad deal really. Good luck.

rhollar said:

This is for all of you that use a two rack UDS. I am building my third UDS and I am wanting to put two racks in this one. Question one is how far down do you put the top rack? I was thinking of 1 1/2 inches from the top and then 7 inches down for rack number two. What do you think or am I totally off. Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

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What the other guys said is fine, and it won't matter all that much. If you want pork butts as high as possible, need 6-7 inches from bottom of top grate to bottom of the lid. But for just small things on top, 3-4 inches is enough.

However I have abandoned my pre-drilling of grates and now use the grate-with-leg approach. I can't recall where on this forum, but there are some images. Essentially I make legs for my grates, from like 5 inches to 7 inches. I pre-drill holes for bolts at the lowest setting, where I'd put my heat-shield grate (with some angle iron pieces on it) and then I "stand" my other grates on top. That allows me to be flexible and quickly take things out and swap them around, and they can stand on their own like little tables when not in the grill.

two racks

Thanks for all the responses, coewar do you have a photo of how you have your racks? Also are the legs zinc or stainless.
Nthole on yours having your lower rack 12 inches below do you have any issues getting burnt or too hot. New to this habit, I am now on my third UDS in less than 2 months, wife really don't complan now that she has found out when I smoke she don't cook. win win.:clap2:

I've noticed a lot of people putting kettle lids on their UDS. Which is better the lid that came with the drum or a kettle lid? Why choose one over the other? Sorry I'm a newb about to begin making one for the 1st time.

CarlWayne said:

I've noticed a lot of people putting kettle lids on their UDS. Which is better the lid that came with the drum or a kettle lid? Why choose one over the other? Sorry I'm a newb about to begin making one for the 1st time.

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Kettle lid gives you more room on the top rack, but adds to the expense.

Choosing a kettle lid allows you to put two racks in your drum , and still have room to smoke tall thing on the top rack , like beer can chicken , or whole turkeys.

TurboDog said:

Choosing a kettle lid allows you to put two racks in your drum , and still have room to smoke tall thing on the top rack , like beer can chicken , or whole turkeys.

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This will be the first time I have ever used a smoker. EVER! So I think I could just use the lid that came with he drum and scrounge for the time being for a kettle lid. As for right now 1 rack is enough for me. Just to get the hang of it.

I just got done building mine today. If I can do, then you can do it. I have no building sense at all. I followed all the tips here and it looks great. I can't say it was a cheap build, because I went with a new unlined drum, had to buy a step drill bit, new rack, expanded steel for the basket and stainless steel nuts and bolts. But I built it and I will cook on it. That's the most important thing. Have fun with your build Carl. Good luck.

Good info. Building a new UDS myself

nthole said:

I have mine at 5" below and 12" below the lip using a weber lid. This way I can get 2 butts on each rack without touching the lid or easily do beer can chicken on both racks. I have the bolts in place for the optional flower pot heat diffuser which lets me run it exactly like a WSM or take it out and just use the top rack traditional UDS style.

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My UDS has a flat lid. I put my rack 8 inches from the top. If I want to add a top rack, is 3 inches enough clearance from the lid to cook some baby back ribs? Thanks.

rhollar said:

Thanks for all the responses, coewar do you have a photo of how you have your racks? Also are the legs zinc or stainless.
Nthole on yours having your lower rack 12 inches below do you have any issues getting burnt or too hot. New to this habit, I am now on my third UDS in less than 2 months, wife really don't complan now that she has found out when I smoke she don't cook. win win.:clap2:

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Most of my bolts are the normal grade steel which may have zinc coating.

I spray all of it thoroughly with a cooking oil (olive oil works great, but PAM stuff is fine too.) Inside of the drum too and rubbing it helps. Lid too. Then I heat the drum at least to 350 degrees for at least 30 mins. This will season and seal everything inside and if you do it well, it will have a nice coat that actually won't rub off easily.

And once you start cooking, everything will be coated in black stuff. The zinc in the metals there shouldn't pose any problem at this point, even without all this prep. The temperatures that zinc starts coming off the metal is much higher than you'd ever smoke at. Only the charcoal itself gets hot enough. I also heard the zinc poisoning is only if inhaled.

When you purchase cooking grates for any grill, they sometimes are stainless steel and sometimes the same grade with potentially zinc in it.

I don't have a pic, but there are some on this site. I found some long bolts that either have a head large enough not to fall through the grates, or I got enough fender washers (large washers) and nuts to attach them to the grate and also create "feet" for them so when standing on another grate, they won't fall through. I just used 3 per grate. Some have done 4 legs.

And you can adjust the height if needed by just moving the nuts and washers down the bolt.

rhollar said:

Thanks for all the responses, coewar do you have a photo of how you have your racks? Also are the legs zinc or stainless.
Nthole on yours having your lower rack 12 inches below do you have any issues getting burnt or too hot. New to this habit, I am now on my third UDS in less than 2 months, wife really don't complan now that she has found out when I smoke she don't cook. win win.:clap2:

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I ONLY use the lower rack if the heat diffuser is in place. Otherwise, yes, that would essentially be grilling level!

I am thinking about building my pops a uds. He really likes mine. So I am planning on using a weber again for parts. Last time I built my fire basket with the expanded metal and weber charcoal grate. This time I am thinking about just triming the top off the bottom of the weber kettle and using it. How's that work out for folks? Seems much easier and it makes better use of my parts weber kettle.

I'm visiting Petaluma / Santa Rosa Cal next weekend and looking for a place to get a barrel to build a friend a smoker for while visiting. Does anybody know of a place to find them? I'd prefer a removable top for the build. New is ok as well.

Anyone know of a place in the Dallas area to get a drum sandblasted on the inside or a reasonable price? Burn Bans make it a bit tough to remove the liner.... I got quotes from $75 to $175

byounghusband, I don't know where to get it sandblasted, but, I bought a brand new drum that has never been used and does not have a liner. It was alot cheaper than the sandblasting. See the info below.

2214 SINGLETON BLVD
DALLAS, TEXAS
75212

For more information email us at customerservice@dallassteeldrums.com
(214) 638-7027
Fax: (214) 638-3786
Monday – Friday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm
Heavy duty drum: $44.50
Extra heavy duty drum: $49.00
Removable Bolt / Ring lid
2” & ¾” bung in lid
New drum never used / no liner / metal only

Big Joe

Big Joe TX said:

byounghusband, I don't know where to get it sandblasted, but, I bought a brand new drum that has never been used and does not have a liner. It was alot cheaper than the sandblasting. See the info below.

2214 SINGLETON BLVD
DALLAS, TEXAS
75212

For more information email us at customerservice@dallassteeldrums.com
(214) 638-7027
Fax: (214) 638-3786
Monday – Friday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm
Heavy duty drum: $44.50
Extra heavy duty drum: $49.00
Removable Bolt / Ring lid
2” & ¾” bung in lid
New drum never used / no liner / metal only

Big Joe

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When I was building mine in Phoenix, this is the route I went. For me, it was a matter of what my time was worth to get the liner out. I decided to go with new drums for both of mine.

They were about double what is listed above, thats a great price!

BillywannaQ said:

My UDS has a flat lid. I put my rack 8 inches from the top. If I want to add a top rack, is 3 inches enough clearance from the lid to cook some baby back ribs? Thanks.

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I think it is, but I'd say purchase a rack and measure them to the highest point. Not much else will fit like that. it was my original configuration. Then I went out and found lids to weber kettles which give me much more room for whatever I want to use on the top rack.