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lcbateman3
03-18-2010, 10:00 AM
Instead of doing about a hundred million threads, I'll try to keep them here.

My father in law built me a right nice cooker for Christmas (yea, great father in law I know). It is made out of a 120 gallon barrell. It is set horzintal and from grate to coal bed is about 28 inches. Works great for pretty much slow and low cooking. I usually cook on it around 250~ish and have had some pretty good results with it.

One issue I have had with it is there are no vents in the side doors near the coals so I am getting them cut out and putting standard pie shape vent in it. That is unless you have some other ideas.

I have also been toying with the idea of sliding a water pan in it and giving that a try. Should I go for it or is it just a waste of time and material.

I think I am going to break down and make a UDS or something similar to it. You guys have me hooked. I can't tell you how much I have read and learned over the past few weeks! :thumb:

One more question for now. I have tried cooking whole ribeyes. While they turn out taste wise great, they are a little on the dry side. The one I tried this past weekend, I cooked for about 2 hours unwrapped, and then 2 hours wrapped. This brought it about a medium-medium well throughout (people I were feeding like there meat more done then me). Is there anything else I can try to keep it from drying out?

Thanks in advance. You guys rock around here. Have made me feel like home and addicted like never before. Sometimes my wife looks at me like I am crazy. Def when I told her about a fattie :)

Puppyboy
03-18-2010, 11:42 AM
Is this a direct heat grill or does it have a side fire box? Can you post a pic? That should draw more responses.

lcbateman3
03-18-2010, 11:59 AM
It is a direct heat grill. I'll take some pictures this evening and post them for everyone's review.

Ron_L
03-18-2010, 12:23 PM
I can't help with you pit question, but for the rib roast I have some questions.

1. What temp did you cook it at?
2. Bone in or boneless?

I cook mine at a minimum of 275 until the internal temp is 130 and then rest it for 30 minutes before carving. If someone want a slice done more I toss it onto the grill for a couple of minutes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

lcbateman3
03-29-2010, 10:02 AM
I can't help with you pit question, but for the rib roast I have some questions.

1. What temp did you cook it at?
2. Bone in or boneless?

I cook mine at a minimum of 275 until the internal temp is 130 and then rest it for 30 minutes before carving. If someone want a slice done more I toss it onto the grill for a couple of minutes.



Going back over it my mind I overcooked it. I cooked till about 145 and it set for a while afterwards wrapped so it kept cooking. Its a learning thing, I'll get it right soon!

As for pictures of my Pit here we go:

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c122/just_lionel/img054.jpg


http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c122/just_lionel/img055.jpg

lcbateman3
03-29-2010, 10:03 AM
I have started checking out the threads on the endless discussions of water pans (pretty interesting reading). I think mainly at least I need something to block of of the direct heat it am getting from the flames being completely under the meat. I am open for all ideas!

Midnight Smoke
03-29-2010, 10:07 AM
Could you take some Pic's of the inside?

Derek
03-29-2010, 10:11 AM
Instead of doing about a hundred million threads, I'll try to keep them here.

My father in law built me a right nice cooker for Christmas (yea, great father in law I know). It is made out of a 120 gallon barrell. It is set horzintal and from grate to coal bed is about 28 inches. Works great for pretty much slow and low cooking. I usually cook on it around 250~ish and have had some pretty good results with it.

One issue I have had with it is there are no vents in the side doors near the coals so I am getting them cut out and putting standard pie shape vent in it. That is unless you have some other ideas.

I have also been toying with the idea of sliding a water pan in it and giving that a try. Should I go for it or is it just a waste of time and material.

I think I am going to break down and make a UDS or something similar to it. You guys have me hooked. I can't tell you how much I have read and learned over the past few weeks! :thumb:

One more question for now. I have tried cooking whole ribeyes. While they turn out taste wise great, they are a little on the dry side. The one I tried this past weekend, I cooked for about 2 hours unwrapped, and then 2 hours wrapped. This brought it about a medium-medium well throughout (people I were feeding like there meat more done then me). Is there anything else I can try to keep it from drying out?

Thanks in advance. You guys rock around here. Have made me feel like home and addicted like never before. Sometimes my wife looks at me like I am crazy. Def when I told her about a fattie :)On the rib eyes, did you Marinade them with anything? And did you keep checking the water pan?

Also ( don't try to open the lid ( door often for the smoker/grill that does dry out the meat as I'm learning )

lcbateman3
03-29-2010, 10:22 AM
Could you take some Pic's of the inside?

Yep, Im going to retake them now. The ones i took before you cant tell anything in them.

lcbateman3
03-29-2010, 10:47 AM
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c122/just_lionel/img072.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c122/just_lionel/img069.jpg

Those are views from the top looking down.

This is going from side to side through the door. I am also going to cut vents into the side doors as well so I can have better control on temps.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c122/just_lionel/img071.jpg

RobKC
03-29-2010, 11:34 AM
You can easily end up with a dry steak going too low for too long. Meat thickness is important here. Anything less than 1.5" thick should be grilled over a hot bed of coals. With thicker steaks, I like to go indirect at 300-325 until almost done. Then go direct for the reverse sear, a couple minutes a side.

I'd also suggest adding a charcoal grate so the ash can fall through. That ash buildup could choke out your fire on longer cooks.

Stoic
03-29-2010, 11:41 AM
That's a nice looking grill.

Midnight Smoke
03-29-2010, 11:47 AM
What you have based on your last cook is a Direct cook setup. Meaning the fire is directly below the food. Picture a smaller drum attached to the side (where the door is) with an opening into the main chamber, this would become you firebox. That would make it an Offset smoker with the heat not directly under the food but moving over the food. If it was mine I would damper down on the exhaust vents, the one closest to the fire to have a smaller opening than the one at the other end.

I would also install a damper where the entrance is into the main chamber with a set of plates the full distance of the chamber. 6" -12" wide plates that you could space apart at different points to guide the heat along the chamber for more even cooking.

lcbateman3
03-29-2010, 12:34 PM
Thats what I have been thinking about doing. What size drum would work do you think? Thinking about making it detachable so pulling it down the road isn't a problem. Don't want the offset in the other lane knocking car mirrors off or hitting people on bicycles/mopeds. Works out fairly decent right now Because I can keep the heat around 250-275 even on direct. Have setup indirect as well with some success.

I'll work up some drawings and see what I can come up with.

Garyclaw
03-29-2010, 12:54 PM
Thats what I have been thinking about doing. What size drum would work do you think? Thinking about making it detachable so pulling it down the road isn't a problem. Don't want the offset in the other lane knocking car mirrors off or hitting people on bicycles/mopeds. Works out fairly decent right now Because I can keep the heat around 250-275 even on direct. Have setup indirect as well with some success.

I'll work up some drawings and see what I can come up with.

Ic, I have a set up just like yours is now that I have cooked a few hogs on. I built it "pre-Brethren" so I wasn't completely sure what I was doing and just going on what I have personally seen hogs cooked on. It has funtioned fine for that purpose but was considering making the same changes you are asking about.
Thanks for posting the thread and I'll be watching it grow with you.:thumb:

Midnight Smoke
03-29-2010, 12:54 PM
Just a guess, I would say a 30 gallon. But I do not know that a drum would be the best idea, maybe something a little heavier gauge.

lcbateman3
03-29-2010, 12:59 PM
Thinking about getting it rolled myself. Probably will cost more but then I can get it built to the specs I want.

lcbateman3
03-29-2010, 01:13 PM
Ic, I have a set up just like yours is now that I have cooked a few hogs on. I built it "pre-Brethren" so I wasn't completely sure what I was doing and just going on what I have personally seen hogs cooked on. It has funtioned fine for that purpose but was considering making the same changes you are asking about.
Thanks for posting the thread and I'll be watching it grow with you.:thumb:

Thats how I was, I kinda told my father in law what I wanted and he built it. I am like you, it works well for what it does now, but I want it to do more. One thing I am wondering is instead of building the box on the side how about if I came up from the back side of the grill?

I have plenty of room on the trailer that I could make a box roughly as wide as the grill, or making it smaller and baffle it out. Would this work as well? See crude picture for my thought :biggrin1:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c122/just_lionel/crudedrawing.jpg

lcbateman3
03-29-2010, 02:52 PM
If I go with the way above I could install butterfly valves on the pipes feeding the main chamber to also limit the amount going in. Would there be a reason not to do it this way?

Garyclaw
03-29-2010, 04:30 PM
I like it! The funkabbq guy (somebody help me out w/ his name) showed a build similar to that and thought I could abapt that to what we have. His fire box was in the back with 3 tubes going into the cook chamber.

lcbateman3
04-01-2010, 04:40 PM
Gary,

I think I am going to take two 55 gallon drums and weld them end to end. and then make the adjustments from there. Ill take some pics and put up some drawings. Probably going to have some questions for the people on here.

jonboy
04-01-2010, 06:52 PM
Donnie has a cooker like the one you are sketching.
He calls it the meat mamma. Grab yourself a beer and check out some of his videos about that pit and others. Here is a link to get you started.
Maybe he will show up and give you some pointers.
http://www.youtube.com/user/PopdaddysBBQ#p/u/57/GkCaXZChIlg
jon

lcbateman3
04-06-2010, 07:50 AM
Hey Jon, thanks for the link alot of great ideas there!