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

wlh3 09-15-2007 03:05 PM

Hi all from a newbie. Read this thread from the start and I want to build one UDS. Here it comes is 1 1/2" between barrel bottom and fire box about the right height?
Thanks wlh3

Meat Burner 09-15-2007 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wlh3 (Post 462733)
Hi all from a newbie. Read this thread from the start and I want to build one UDS. Here it comes is 1 1/2" between barrel bottom and fire box about the right height?
Thanks wlh3

Ye sir! Mine are at 2" and work fine. :mrgreen:

wlh3 09-15-2007 03:37 PM

Thanks Meat Burner have access to a 341/2" barrell at local feed store for $ 42.00 new or can go with the vegas outfit $20.00 and shp of $22.00 used but taller. My Step daughter works for a food co. and she is checking if they have used Barrels for sale. I hope to make a final decision soon
wlh3

Meat Burner 09-15-2007 03:49 PM

wlh3, I have made 4 UDSs and all were 34 1/2". Used 4 half-in ball valves 2" from bottom, top rack 3" down from top lip and second rack 3" below that. That way I can use my weber lid or use the flat lid. All work great. Right now one has been burning for 8 1/2 hours and butt is at 188 degrees. Shook the barrel about an hour ago and temp jumped back to 230 as usual. Hope that is helpful. BUILD THAT BAD BOY AND YOU WILL BE ON HAPPY FARKER!

Brian in So Cal 09-15-2007 03:58 PM

Wlh3,

Let me know if you can get those food grade barrels from your step daughter. I guess I should say can she sell them to me. I live about 45 mins from Port whynotme :-D (Hueneme).

Thanks,
Brian

wlh3 09-15-2007 05:13 PM

Thanks again Meat Burner I was trying to figure out how to get two racks in the shorter barrel.
Brian will let you know on the barrels from the food co. Bought my first house off White canyon road back in 1980 in Canyon Country.
Just so everyone knows how to say Port Hueneme say it like this
Port Why knee me :lol: Chumash Indian name
Thanks all
wlh3

Brian in So Cal 09-15-2007 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wlh3 (Post 462794)
Thanks again Meat Burner I was trying to figure out how to get two racks in the shorter barrel.
Brian will let you know on the barrels from the food co. Bought my first house off White canyon road back in 1980 in Canyon Country.
Just so everyone knows how to say Port Hueneme say it like this
Port Why knee me :lol: Chumash Indian name
Thanks all
wlh3

Thanks I will wait to hear from you on the barrels. Whites Canyon, You got out while the getting was good. Lots of traffic now. I have a friend that lived in Port Hueneme. he always you to say Port
whynotme. That has stuck with me for 30 years.

Meat Burner 09-16-2007 07:02 PM

$42 for a new barrel sounds good. They are $65 here so I get the burn barrels for $12 and start a mega fire in them and go from there. You don't need to do the burn with new ones. Not at exciting but easier to build. Good luck!!!!!

BBQ101 09-16-2007 09:21 PM

I got a good price on a used Drum lid and lid clamp for 15$ after tax. I will pick up some other goodies at work in the morning. I plan on setting this up for use with the Stoker. I also plan on re-reading this thread to get my ideas planned out.

swamprb 09-17-2007 03:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBQ101 (Post 463640)
I got a good price on a used Drum lid and lid clamp for 15$ after tax. I will pick up some other goodies at work in the morning. I plan on setting this up for use with the Stoker. I also plan on re-reading this thread to get my ideas planned out.

On the bottom of this page is a pic of a guy using Gurus on his BDS. I'm thinking of a draft system myself, mostly for the BGE, but I like the versatility of the Stoker. I was hoping to see some at the PNW Eggfest, but all I saw was Guru's.
I can only imagine using one in the UDS if I were using lump, I have no intake issues with brigs.
http://bigdrumsmokers.com/awards.htm#
Brian

Norcoredneck 09-17-2007 04:25 AM

Hear rumor some Redneck rigged something like that :twisted:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=31680

wlh3 09-17-2007 11:07 AM

$42 for a new barrel sounds good. They are $65 here so I get the burn barrels for $12 and start a mega fire in them and go from there. You don't need to do the burn with new ones. Not at exciting but easier to build. Good luck!!!!!
__________________
Hey Meat burner that $ 42.00 barrel does have a light redish paint on the inside but not that heavy creme colored stuff like in the apple juice barrels. Living in a neighborhood I probly won't want a huge burn so the new one is looking better all the time. My stepdaughter still has not let me know about the used barrels at her work.
Thanks
wlh3

Brian in So Cal 09-21-2007 09:52 PM

Hey Bretheren, How many vents do you have at he bottom of the UDS. I put three so I neeed to put a ballvalve on each one?

Thanks,
Brian

motley que 09-21-2007 09:56 PM

i have 4 openings on the botom, only 1 valve but it may be better to have two

Brian in So Cal 09-21-2007 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by motley que (Post 466955)
i have 4 openings on the botom, only 1 valve but it may be better to have two

Are the other openings open all the time?

Meat Burner 09-21-2007 10:05 PM

Brian, I have four 1/2" opening and all have ball valves. Some cooks may only require 1+ open and sometimes maybe 3 open, but not too often. Different smokers may work different but that is what I have done with all of them I've built. Just my $.02.

Brian in So Cal 09-21-2007 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meat Burner (Post 466962)
Brian, I have four 1/2" opening and all have ball valves. Some cooks may only require 1+ open and sometimes maybe 3 open, but not too often. Different smokers may work different but that is what I have done with all of them I've built. Just my $.02.

Thanks, Is your fourth hole open all the time?

Meat Burner 09-21-2007 10:21 PM

It is open during the cook but I like to close everything up when not in use and the ball valve makes that easy. Don't want small critters getting in my smoker and keeps the moisture out.

tntitan 09-24-2007 06:35 AM

here is the thread on the ugly drum smoker enjoy

swamprb 09-24-2007 07:54 AM

I used my 3 UDS's in my first competition, and I am proud to say the Big Drum Smoker design is THE REAL DEAL! I had ABSOLUTELY NO Problems controlling the fire in my drums even in windy conditions (we were on the boardwalk of a waterfront park) The teams on each side of me all had WSM's and they problems ranging from low/high temps, running out of water in the pan, to the doors falling of in the middle of the night. Now they all got their names called to the podium and my friends Ty and Debbie got Grand Champion, my drums were Rock Steady! I brought a WSM and didn't even fire it up, maybe I should have and I might have done better-I don't know? I had to do it for myself and they say "know your pit" and the Big Drum Smoker design UDS is a no brainer!
Ball valves would just add more cost and wasted space in my trailer.
I Love my UDS's!!

Brian
Midnight Ramblers

Mark 09-24-2007 08:42 AM

I dont use ball valves. I made a square version of the round vent on top of a Weber kettle. This post describes it:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=31723

Also did my first cook on it; chicken and deer meat fatties. I Used all-wood. Gonna grind up the fatties for nachos with home made salsa. Then yesterday I smoke-dried about a grocery bag of hot peppers. The temp was kept low by closing the bottom vent.

swamprb 09-24-2007 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark (Post 468003)
I dont use ball valves. I made a square version of the round vent on top of a Weber kettle. This post describes it:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=31723

Also did my first cook on it; chicken and deer meat fatties. I Used all-wood. Gonna grind up the fatties for nachos with home made salsa. Then yesterday I smoke-dried about a grocery bag of hot peppers. The temp was kept low by closing the bottom vent.

Whatever works! Pics of that Stainless Steel drum would be nice!

pepper76usa 09-24-2007 11:27 AM

Newbe with a welder my drum
 
3 Attachment(s)
My first Post. You guys are great. I made my first UDS two weeks ago.
Ok here is mine. I was going for the "gehto" look. Also, tomorrow I use my homemade offset, "gehto" style smoker.
Attachment 10073
[ATTACH][ATTACH]
10075[/ATTACH][/ATTACH]

swamprb 09-24-2007 11:35 AM

Very nice! They have more chains than Mr.T!

Brian

Mark 09-24-2007 12:22 PM

[QUOTE=pepper76usa;468070]Ok here is mine. I was going for the "gehto" look. Also, tomorrow I use my homemade offset, "gehto" style smoker.
[QUOTE]

"Bling" should be gold plated (or at least use gold colored spray paint).

Norcoredneck 09-24-2007 03:24 PM

Here comes the Chain Gang! Looks cool.

Brian in So Cal 09-24-2007 05:35 PM

Dude, That is sweet. Reminds me of my steering wheel on my 63 chevy Implala when I was a teenager.

I wish I still had that car.

Norcoredneck 09-24-2007 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian in So Cal (Post 468310)
Dude, That is sweet. Reminds me of my steering wheel on my 63 chevy Implala when I was a teenager.

I wish I still had that car.

La Bomba mod
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k2...pala8164-B.jpg

BBQ101 09-27-2007 07:57 AM

:-D Got mine built just have not painted it yet. We fired it up with less than a bag of brickets and it cooked for over 12 hour at 250. Went to ask my kids for my Digi camera to be told it was busted :evil:. No picks for a couple weeks but we like to call the build style Texas Redneck.

turf 09-28-2007 07:54 AM

new here
 
Folks,

this is a great board. I can't believe it took me so long to find it. Anyway, thanks to all for the great ideas here in this thread. I have been looking for a good food grade drum for about a year now, since I saw the BDS. This week, I called a bakery supply dealer and he has 4 food grade drums that I can have, just need to pick them up. My wife is not keen on the idea, but it will give me a project. She thinks that 3 charcoal grills, one charcoal smoker and an electric smoker are more than enough, but we all know differently, don't we?

Turf

jgh1204 10-01-2007 03:49 PM

Once you get the UDS made you can eliminate some of those.

tntitan 10-01-2007 03:53 PM

i dont even look at buying another smoker since i built mine

tntitan 10-01-2007 08:45 PM

this thread is so popular i think they should put this in the top thread what do you guys think

turf 10-02-2007 01:16 PM

well, I have destroyed the electric smoker for parts. so it is no more.

I have done some preliminary shopping and got some supplies, I will start the process of building it tonight. the barrell is a closed top, so I will cut it off, and since I am cutting from the top, the lid will no longer be any good, but I think I found a flat lid for it. I also tried my webber lid and it fits perfect. I will take pictures tonight of what I am starting with and take pictures throughout the build. I am super excited. a bit of construction on the UDS, a beer, and then a bit of darts and a beer, and then a bit of construction on the UDS, A Beer.... and so on.

jgh1204 10-02-2007 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tntitan (Post 472277)
this thread is so popular i think they should put this in the top thread what do you guys think


This thread is already road-mapped.

bmarley5780 10-03-2007 02:03 PM

Would like to know if anyone has stacked two drums togather without welding, and have have success.

Where exactly did you cut them?

N8man 10-03-2007 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmarley5780 (Post 473229)
Would like to know if anyone has stacked two drums togather without welding, and have have success.

Where exactly did you cut them?

Check out Brother Keale's Thread:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=27259

Browser 10-04-2007 03:54 AM

This has probably been asked before, but why are BDS’s/UDS’s and their various offspring so fuel efficient when compared to, say, an offset? The thing that put me off building an offset was the need to re-stoke the things regularly, whereas the UDS is well known (following Bigmistas method) for it’s ability to be loaded with unlit coal, dump a chimney-load of lit on top, load the meat when temps are correct and then leave to cook, apart from checking the meat now and then. Must be a reason, does anyone know what it is?:confused:

Norcoredneck 10-04-2007 04:09 AM

Air control. For the same reason a Klose pit will be more efficient than a cheaply made offset. The better control of air you have the better control of temp. If you read all the bandera info they talk about making gaskets to seal up everything. If you read all the post about Spicewines and making fire baskets and adding Guru/Stokers they are controlling the burn by contolling the air. If you read about Stumps gravity feed smokers the same here the fuel is stacked in a tube and air control only lets the fire burn so much to control heat.

bmarley5780 10-04-2007 01:58 PM

Anyone have experiance with 8 butts on at once?

jgh1204 10-04-2007 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmarley5780 (Post 473771)
Anyone have experiance with 8 butts on at once?


If you had a kettle lid, you could probably make it work with 2 shelves.

bmarley5780 10-05-2007 07:12 AM

I agree, but being as I need these UDS's (2) done by next weekend for a festival and the fact I waited to the last minute. I cant find any free/cheap kettle lids...

I have bought another barrel, which bring me up to 3. I plan to use one barrel to make extensions for each barrel. This lets me utilize the barrels flat lids :)

Anyways, my question was more geared to the tech. side. How does the barrel perform with that many big meats on, etc....

Thanks
Joe

Smokin Gator 10-05-2007 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmarley5780 (Post 473771)
Anyone have experiance with 8 butts on at once?

I haven't done 8 but I have done 6. I used 2 racks and a Weber Kettle lid. The first time I had a much more difficult time keeping the temps up so 225 and the cook took longer than usual. The second time I used more lit briqs to start and let the cooker settle at about 275. After I put the butts on the temps came down to where I like em and held much better.

bmarley5780 10-05-2007 07:42 AM

Gator thanks for the insight.

So basically 1 fully lit chimney into the middle ofa 12 pd bag of Kingsford "should" do?

Joe

Smokin Gator 10-05-2007 07:58 AM

I usually start with a heavy half a chimney. When I am going to do a big cook I start with a little more that 3/4.

As far as the amount of charcoal... it seems to vary based on the size of your fire ring. Mine is about 17 or 18 inches in diameter. I have gotten to where I put a large coffee can with both ends cut out in the center of the ring. Then I fill up the ring around the coffee can with briqs. I would say I put about 14 or 15 pounds in. After the chimney briqs are ashed over I dump them in the coffee can and then pull the coffee can out. Then I put my chunks of wood in for flavor and let it rock.

bmarley5780 10-05-2007 12:34 PM

One more question: What is the best tool to cut barrels up?

grinder
air nibbler
reciprocating saw?

ipls3355 10-05-2007 01:00 PM

bmarley,
Sorry, I was gonna send you a pic last nite, but had a technological meltdown. I drilled a series small holes along the cut line until I had a slit wide enough for a reciprocating saw, then evened the cut out with a grinder.

Browser 10-05-2007 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmarley5780 (Post 474436)
One more question: What is the best tool to cut barrels up?

grinder
Good, especially if you use the modern ultra-thin cutting discs (1.5-2mm thick) as they generate little heat and so cut quickly with little distortion. They ain't too good at goin' round corners though.

air nibbler
Again good, little slower and if it's made like mine you risk breaking the damn anvil off if you exert any leverage on it:mad: Will do quite sharp corners and is nice & neat with practice.

reciprocating saw?
I've used a jigsaw (I think you call 'em Saber Saws?) but I've seen one or two brethren using a thing called a Sawzall that look pretty handy. Again, no heat distortion but slower than a grinder.
If you could get to use one a plasma cuter will do nice neat, speedy cuts with little/no heat distortion.
You pays yer money and takes yer choice really:-D

tntitan 10-05-2007 02:34 PM

ok i just found some drums they are green with the words on the side of them light amber product of china what do you guys think should i use them or not

Crüe-B-Cüe 10-06-2007 10:55 AM

I have a local supplier that sells refurbed, open head 55 gallon drums for $35 and new for $56. They just don't usually keep a whole lot of new ones in stock. The refurbs have been burnt out, dents knocked out and painted. They also have new 85 gallon unlined salvage drums, but they are about $150.00 each. I was thinking I would just build two 55 gallon instead going with one bigger one. I don't think the 85 would be that much bigger to justify the extra cost.


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