New drum smoker Build

[Kfederle]

I have seen questions about burning out a new barrel and liner. Mine is a little different so I want to make sure I'm doing it right. This barrel I have had concrete sealer in it and it has the light brown liner. With the light brown liner I believe you can burn it out then wire brush it all really good. Well I burned it which took care of the little bit of sealer in the barrel and it took a lot of the liner off. I will burn it again to get it all off. As I was burning it I was starting to wonder if the old concrete sealer would have an effect on the food I plan to smoke in the future. I have seen some people say as long as you burn it good enough its no problem, but others say chemicals like oil and diesel to not even mess with and to find a new barrel. Thoughts?

Once the barrel is cleaned up and fabricated should I spray the inside and out with black grill paint?

Thank you in advance.

 

[cclinard1]

If you were able to burn out the liner, you should be set. Definitely don’t paint the inside. Paint the outside using VHT high temp primer and paint.

 

[mcyork28]

Definitely do not paint the inside.

 

[bschoen]

Once clean and ready, spay the inside all over with a spray cooking oil, PAM or the like. Bring the drum up to the temp where the spray oil smokes. Good to go. Cook/smoke something.