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-   -   Ugly Drum Smoker (https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23436)

otis 03-07-2010 09:42 PM

sbd25 & Emil.

thank you thank you thank you. It's nice to see somebody not buying into the zinc hysteria. There's not enough in the hardware we use to cause any problems, unless you're doing a Max Klinger and trying to eat a Jeep's worth...

And for the dreaded red liner concern... I challenge anyone to submit info for the thread showing that the fumes off one contain particulate that is dangerous if ingested. I have yet to find anything that makes me believe this is worth worrying about. Especially once you have seasoned the interior of the drum. A good coating of bacon grease and some heat & smoke, and the liner is sealed.
The only info I can find ( http://ijt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/7/2/201 ) on the breakdown of one of these liners is that there is a "possibility" that the fumes "may" contain some irritants if inhaled. "Carbon monoxide appears to be the major toxicant produced by the combustion of phenolics. Sensory irritation as indicated by reduced respiratory rate may be due to formaldehyde production; however, sensory irritation is lower than that produced by wood"

To me, there is more danger in that stogie you're puffing on, or in the process of driving back and forth to work, than there is in one of these liners that people get bent out of shape over. I think it's just an excuse to play with fire. Which, I'll admit, is fun.

Gotta Love It 03-07-2010 10:32 PM

Did some thighs on my lined UDS tonight and ate them about an hour ago. Still alive and kicking here...

pigdog 03-07-2010 10:59 PM

Otis...Gotta Love It.....Love your maverick style

stiffy 03-07-2010 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gotta Love It (Post 1208053)
Did some thighs on my lined UDS tonight and ate them about an hour ago. Still alive and kicking here...

THis should be interesting..... at 4 am when you wake up and dash to the TOILET!!!!!

Gotta Love It 03-08-2010 12:21 AM

Yeah--I don't really think that's going to happen.

UVaJester 03-08-2010 09:15 AM

My first fattie and the first thing cooked on my UDS.... Came out great. Te only comments I got was that people wanted a sauce to go on it...

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z...d/df612000.jpg

otis 03-08-2010 10:46 AM

Pigdog--it's that "different drummer" thing I've always been cursed/blessed with. Just have a hard time going along with the crowd just to do so... I've found "right" and "wrong" to more and more a perspective deal as opposed to an absolute. Especially when it comes to Q. Outside of food safety, I haven't come across any absolutes. For everything I've been told or read that you "can't" do, there is somebody else who has been "doin' it that way fer years an' never had a problem"...

I even put my cooking grid only 22 inches from the bottom of the charcoal basket (because I put my thermomter just below the grate. 24 inches would've put the thermometer face against the rib of the drum, not allowing it to be screwed in tight without bending the head of the thermometer) instead of 24. Cooks just fine. AND, at 22 inches, for some reason the temp difference between the side and the center is less than on my other UDS with the 24 inch spacing. Did the 2 inches make that much difference (that's what she said...), or is it just a difference in drums? Don't know until I make my 3rd one. It'll be 22 inches also, if possible.

pigdog 03-08-2010 10:58 AM

hahahaha, your a rebel Otis....

AJP 03-08-2010 11:01 AM

I say go with what works. If you can avoid zinc I would just to be safe, if you can get a barrel without a liner I would. If you can't make it work and smoke some meat. I did my first barrel so that I was 24" from the charcoal and it only left me 7" to the lid. I'm making another one now that is more like 21" or so, so I can do a beer can chicken.

Rodney 03-08-2010 04:13 PM

Although it's not that hard to subscribe to the "better safe that sorry" school of thought with regard to zinc and either strip off the zinc or use SS, which I'll likely also do (and because I prefer the look of SS), I do like to get to the bottom of issues like this to satisfy my own curiosity...

Hazardous zinc oxide fumes are only produced when zinc boils at 907 deg. C, or 1664 F. The only thing on the UDS that could conceivably get this hot is the charcoal basket and the bolts that hold it up. There's no way that zinc-plated hardware on the drum itself could get hot enough to create zinc oxide vapors... if it's not brighter than bright cherry red, it's not hot enough to burn the zinc plating off and release fumes.

Zinc oxide is only hazardous if inhaled as a vapor in significant quantities, as in welding galvanized steel, and is actually classified as "generally recognized as safe" as a food additive by the FDA, so I can't imagine that zinc oxide fumes sticking to your food are going to do anything to you. As someone said earlier on here, it's an ingredient in daily multivitamins and sunscreen.

One thing I hadn't heard (but is mentioned in the first link below) is that if you do get "metal fume fever" from welding galvanized steel and trying to get high from the fumes, although you may feel like crap at the time, once the symptoms go away there are apparently no lasting effects. I'm not willing to count on that, but it's interesting nonetheless...

Sources:
http://www.periodictable.com/ZincSafety.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_oxide
http://911research.wtc7.net/cache/wt...s/metcolor.htm

-Rodney

Boshizzle 03-08-2010 05:21 PM

Some candle wicks are made of zinc. As stated above, zinc vapor is the problem, not molten zinc. It has to get pretty hot to boil.

Rodney 03-08-2010 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boshizzle (Post 1209003)
Some candle wicks are made of zinc. As stated above, zinc vapor is the problem, not molten zinc. It has to get pretty hot to boil.

And zinc's melting point is 787 F, which is *still* far from what the drum itself will ever see in anything but a burnout...

sdb25 03-08-2010 06:23 PM

Just a reminder, this is the UDS thread. Not the "zinc is gonna kill you" thread.

just sayin'

Boshizzle 03-08-2010 07:55 PM

I think the safety discussions are very relevant to the UDS thread. Just look at some of the unsafe things that some people have been prevented from doing already in this thread such as using the drum after painting the inside, etc. People need the information so they can make an informed decision. Zinc or no zinc, paint on the inside or no paint, remove liner or keep liner, galvanized charcoal basket or not, etc.

Those things are as important, or more so, than whether or not you put an access door on it or a Weber grill lid.

otis 03-08-2010 09:30 PM

Agreed, Boshizzle. This should be discussed intelligently instead of just having the same "Danger Will Robinson" message passed on like a couple old ladies talking over the fence. Just because something is "accepted" as true doesn't mean that it isn't worth taking a closer look at from time to time. And I stand by my statement that I have yet to see anything that makes me think the practices we've been discussing are harmful to us. When somebody posts something other than opinion, I will reconsider. And I will continue to put my two cents in for no other reason than to just maybe get folks to think for themselves and do a little research instead of blindly following the herd.

My stance is that the owners of the site (any Q site, actually) don't want to be on record in any way shape or form looking as if they condone a practice which "may be" harmful if Jupiter aligns with Mars. Sorta like something causing cancer in rats if they bathe in it long enough, it's easier to say "No! No! Don't do that!" than it is to put the info out there and let people make their own decision.


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