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Ugly Drum Smoker

As far as temp control is concerned, if you are using the smaller valve, you shouldn't have any trouble. If I keep my valve half open, my temps maintain 225-240 without fail. The trick is to not let the fire flare up and out of control. When mine flares up i close the valve almost all the way and the temps drop down pretty quick. It takes time and practice. Keep at it. youll get it.
 
I too had terrible cooks at first, but I did not follow KISS or the three 3/4" nipples. I used a 3/4" nipple with valve plus a 1 1/2" valve from the center bottom, thinking the 1 1/2" would be used for water drain and air control. Doesn't work very well. Ended up installing a sliding door for air control, works for me. I also had lots of water from the first two cooks, since then it's been dry. I found the can in the middle of the fire basket with the divider wall works perfect to control the amount of coals burning, smoother temps and longer burn time.
I've had mine for a couple months now, I've went thru four bags of lump and three bags of brickettes. After ruining several pieces of meat, I started doing dry runs. Finally found what works for me. Brickettes only,No lump coals, circular basket burn, added two 1 inch holes in lid besides the 2" hole ( would not draft correctly, now it does), only 6 hot brickettes to start, not 10 or 12. Produced some good ribs last Sunday. First edible meat to come out of it.
So my advice is, don't waste money on meat until you figure out the drum. Eventually you'll find it. Don't give up, I was ready to sell mine twice, but I kept trying.
If your cook turns out bad and there is water still in drum and it starts to smell bad a couple days later< re sanitize it> 400 plus degrees cook will kill it. Oh yeah, keep the lid cracked open during heat up, gets the drum up temp temp faster, and releases the startup smoke and nasty tasting gasses and no I don't use fluid. I just don't like the smell or taste at first.
Hope this helps someone. Don;t follow what I did, follow KISS plans.
 
Picked this up today. My weber lid fits perfectly snug on top... I need to figure out what is going on inside this barrel. It was used to hold juice but it doesn't have a painted coating like I've seen on other barrels.

Barrel02.jpg
 
Spent some time this morning playing with my UDS, and I am starting to feel a little more confident with the temps. I decided to throw on a package of hot dogs for the kids while I was playing and they turned out well. The kids loved them and ate them before I even got one. I'm still noticing the moisture that I am hoping will go away in time.

I will add that it is disappointing to have the smell of apple wood stuck in my nose all night here at work without ribs or pulled pork to cure my cravings.
 
I'm using zinc coated bolts to hold my racks. I got a weed burner, and burned the bolts/nuts until they were red hot. In fact it appeared as is a "coating" was burning off. Just wondering if any of the smarter guys/gals on here can tell me if heating them up would have removed the coating??
 
finished...finally

Okay, my drum has been sitting in my garage for a month after a friend sand blasted it for me. I went ahead and hit it with an angle grinder in some spots where there was still some liner/paint. I used some 1 ft steel conduit tubes that I flattened the ends then bent them to attach as handles. I happened to have a lot of it laying around, so it saved me a few bucks.

As I stated in my previous post, I used some zinc coated bolts/nuts that gave me an excuse to get a weed burner. I burned them red hot and now they look like they're ashen. Got some 2" casters from HF and bolted them to the bottom. Four 1" intakes, three with caps and one with the ball valve on a 2 foot pipe (painted red with USMC). I have a 2" pipe on top for the exhaust.

Oiled her up today and filled about a third of the charcoal basket unlit, with about 15-20 lit briqs. I have an old therm from a gasser that I threw on there. When it wouldn't go past 200, I grabbed my remote temp and put the probe thru a potato and on the top grate...425! I capped off the three intakes and closed the ball valve half way. After putting the kids down, I came out and it's cruising at 240....nice :thumb:. Only thing I need to pick up is a new therm and it's ready for some meat!
 
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Uds assistance

Hi All,

OK, I admit I have read 90-95% of this entire thread and have the basics down. BUT still have a few questions. I intend to use a forced air system on my drum for the most part (Stoker w/ 5cfm fan). I already own multiple vertical smokers and BGEs and intend on using this as a "project/beach & park smoker" aka "beater". I have a good line on the drum (brand new top on). I just need to see if my Weber lid will fit. If not, I will have a flat lid fabricated. So In doing the research I came across some questions and ideas I would like to ask the experts:

1. I would like to use a BGE door insted of 3-4 holes on the bottom. For those that currently use this method, did you add the extra holes in your drum or did you only use the BGE for air flow? Did you notice any issues such as uneven charcoal burn.

2. My current plan is to use 2 cooking grates and a heat diffuser as well. I have a sketch drawn up already. Or should I just keep it at 1 grate to avoid the temp spikes I'm reading so much about?

3. If I have to fabricate a lid, I would like to use an exhaust stack instead of the holes drilled around the lid. How big (diameter) and how tall 4-6" do I need to make it? Is there an optimum place to locate the exhaust holes/stack (middle of lid or what distance from the outer edge)? I've seen both.

4. Add a heat diffuser/baffle or not. I plan is to install a 16" pizza stone or pizza pan w/ holes drilled out. It'll be 4" above the top edge of the charcoal basket 5" below the lower cooking grate (if added). Will this work? Do many use a diffuser or

4. My Charcoal grate will be 14" diameter (Weber grate), 8" tall (3/4" exp metal), w/ a 3" gap between the bottom of the grate to top lip of the ash pan. My ash pan will be 1" off the bottom of the smoker and 1" deep. From what I've read and seen, this seems to be the going size. Will this work? Too big, too small?


Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
JT
 
I'm not sure what benefit having forced air would give. The hard part is keeping the airflow to a minimum. You want just enough air to keep the fire smoldering slowly.

A second cooking grate is always a good idea.

If you make a lid, a single exhaust is fine. My UDS uses 2" pipe, which is a little bigger than 2" ID. If anything, that's too big. It works best if I block it off a little. Make sure you can close your exhaust so you can save charcoal for the next cook. If you close everything, it should go out fairly quickly.

I've never tried a diffuser.

Your fire basket sounds about right.

I built one UDS with a BGE door. It burns evenly, but seems to leak air a bit, as it's not as good for low and slow. It's not on my UDS, so I haven't had to fool with it.
 
BigDaddyJT said:
Hi All,

OK, I admit I have read 90-95% of this entire thread and have the basics down. BUT still have a few questions. I intend to use a forced air system on my drum for the most part (Stoker w/ 5cfm fan). I already own multiple vertical smokers and BGEs and intend on using this as a "project/beach & park smoker" aka "beater". I have a good line on the drum (brand new top on). I just need to see if my Weber lid will fit. If not, I will have a flat lid fabricated. So In doing the research I came across some questions and ideas I would like to ask the experts:

1. I would like to use a BGE door insted of 3-4 holes on the bottom. For those that currently use this method, did you add the extra holes in your drum or did you only use the BGE for air flow? Did you notice any issues such as uneven charcoal burn.

2. My current plan is to use 2 cooking grates and a heat diffuser as well. I have a sketch drawn up already. Or should I just keep it at 1 grate to avoid the temp spikes I'm reading so much about?

3. If I have to fabricate a lid, I would like to use an exhaust stack instead of the holes drilled around the lid. How big (diameter) and how tall 4-6" do I need to make it? Is there an optimum place to locate the exhaust holes/stack (middle of lid or what distance from the outer edge)? I've seen both.

4. Add a heat diffuser/baffle or not. I plan is to install a 16" pizza stone or pizza pan w/ holes drilled out. It'll be 4" above the top edge of the charcoal basket 5" below the lower cooking grate (if added). Will this work? Do many use a diffuser or

4. My Charcoal grate will be 14" diameter (Weber grate), 8" tall (3/4" exp metal), w/ a 3" gap between the bottom of the grate to top lip of the ash pan. My ash pan will be 1" off the bottom of the smoker and 1" deep. From what I've read and seen, this seems to be the going size. Will this work? Too big, too small?


Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
JT
Click to expand...

not sure how all those moss will work.

But I do know.if you follow the basic.directions they work great.

Why reinvent the wheel?
 
I use a forced air system - it works great. I have mine set up on a single 3/4" nipple. When I had it attached to a side nipple - there was definitely an uneven burn. The burn was from the side of the nipple to the other side of the uds. That said, the slow rate of the burn and distance from the burn to the food naturally minimizes the hot spot. When I rebuilt, I put the nipple in the center of the bottom and have a diffuser that pushes the air fairly evenly to the edges of the drum. This results in a very even burn.

I do not know how the bge door looks, but if I wagered a guess it has a plate on it to diffuse the incoming air (as apposed to simply blowing it as a single stream into the coals). My first attempt did not even have that - so anything is better than nothing and could very well be enough to give you good results.
 
new addition

It finally arrived, my Marine Corps bottle opener!
 
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jcinadr said:
I use a forced air system - it works great. I have mine set up on a single 3/4" nipple. When I had it attached to a side nipple - there was definitely an uneven burn. The burn was from the side of the nipple to the other side of the uds.
Click to expand...

I have not had a uneven burn with my drum. I use the IQ 110 attached to a side nipple also. My ash pan is a plow disk that has a slite cup to it. The nipples are just below the disk (just luck, was not planed that way). The air blows in under the disk, allowing for an even burn.
 
Disk plow ash pan would probably have been an easier fix that I did. My original build had the bbq ash pan - and I had temp issues (probably due to damp charcoal - but I blamed the pan for it's up/down airflow. I replaced with a pizza pan - and got better airflow (as the lip of the pan was now below the nipples - air could get sucked strait from the sides to the bottom of the fire). When I switched to the forced air system - the nipple was above the lip of the pizza pan - which caused an uneven burn...

I never thought about just changing the ash pan back to get a pre-made deflector. But deflecting down is even better. Perhaps will try it if I do a rebuild.
 
OK I picked up my drum yesteday, cut it open and found it had a "corrosion resistant" coating. It's a redish-brown transparent clear finish, not the dreaded red liner. The drums are brand new, can/will this stuff burn out? I'm waiting to see what the expers say before I start the burn. I'm hoping it's OK.

JT
 
BigDaddyJT said:
OK I picked up my drum yesteday, cut it open and found it had a "corrosion resistant" coating. It's a redish-brown transparent clear finish, not the dreaded red liner. The drums are brand new, can/will this stuff burn out? I'm waiting to see what the expers say before I start the burn. I'm hoping it's OK.

JT
Click to expand...

Hit it with a weedburner and it should be fine.
 
1FUNVET said:
Hit it with a weedburner and it should be fine.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Doing a burn, season and hopeflyy a cook this weekend. My Weber lid doesn't truly fit, so I'm contemplating buying an inexpensive Biglots/WM unit or fabricating a flat lid out of 3/16 plate. Any thoughts from the masses?

My Pops and I started making the basket yesterday. I kept things simple: 14" weber charcoal grate w/ 9" of 9ga expanded metal. Will post some pics in the next few days or so.



JT
 
BigDaddyJT said:
Thanks. Doing a burn, season and hopeflyy a cook this weekend. My Weber lid doesn't truly fit, so I'm contemplating buying an inexpensive Biglots/WM unit or fabricating a flat lid out of 3/16 plate. Any thoughts from the masses?

My Pops and I started making the basket yesterday. I kept things simple: 14" weber charcoal grate w/ 9" of 9ga expanded metal. Will post some pics in the next few days or so.



JT
Click to expand...

I can't say about the Big Lots kettle lid as I haven't been able to find one around here. The WalMart lid (same as the Lowes) is too small and poorly built. The KMart lid (same as Sears) is a near fit and good quality but you still might have to grind down the lip of your drum a little bit. If the Weber lid is within 1/8" you might want to take a grinder to the barrel before buying another grill or hammering on the lid.
 
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