It it easy to try it without the silicone. Mine works great without it.

I picked up some of the RTV Red High Temp silicone and it says you can use it for oven doors on the back. Its easy enough to bolt it on though and try. I just feel like since it wasn't formed for the drum and needs to pull outward, that I may end up having some leaking if my bolt holes aren't dead on right.

I just gently bent it by hand to the larger radius and it fit like a glove. I bought high temp silicon too, but ended up happy without it.

The draft doors on my BGEs don't have a seal of any kind, by the way.

Pork's On!
 

5AM--Wake up
5:20AM--Coals hot and transfered to drum--1 intake + valve open full
5:45AM--Temp at 252 --2 Shoulders ON!
6:15AM--Temp at 261--Closed valve to 3/4 full. Want to run hot today
6:20AM--Back to sleep

This is all happening at 23 degrees F outside! HillyBilly BBQ Drum is KISS all the way with a weber lid and quick clamp holding drum seal. Amazing how well this works. You guys are awesome for posting all this info.

Guys,
I am in the process of building a UDS. Actually have a buddy with some time on his hands who is putting it together, but I'm pretty familiar with the process. I have a lined drum and burning it out several times with a big fire has done no good at all. A torch wouldn't even hurt the liner and it is extremely difficult to get it down to bare metal. I have done a LOT of internet research on epoxy phenolic liners over the last several days and I was just wondering if anyone knows of any specific reasons why the liner needs to be removed other than just general peace of mind. As far as I can tell, the worst thing in the liner is BPA, which is the chemical which got attention about a year ago for being in some baby bottles and Nalgene water bottles. I actually found one study which concluded that heating food in a can lined with an epoxy phenolic coating did not result in an appreciable increase in the amounts of BPA in the food. I personally don't think drinking out of a water bottle with BPA is harmful (and epoxy phenolic coatings are used in water tanks and such) but realize that when you bring heat into the equation it could change. With that being said, epoxy phenolic resins are extremely heat and flame resistant and are used in such applications as firewalls in airliners (where surely you wouldn't want people you are saving from fire in a crash to just breath a bunch of poison, right?). They are also used as heat resistant handles in certain types of cookware, and also in Bakelite which is used in a variety of applications including cookware. I also found this statement--"Phenolic resins have excellent fire resistance and when induced to burn will release only minimal quantities of smoke or toxic fumes. "

SO...Is anyone cooking on their's with the lining still in or does anyone with a background in Organic Chemistry or personal experience with someone getting sick care to chime in and tell me why I shouldn't do this? Obviously I don't feel 100% comfortable with it but I'm pretty close to it. The charcoal basket design does not expose it to the most intense heat of the fire and if it won't burn or react to heat much higher than the 250 F or so that I plan to introduce it to I feel like nothing is going be released from it...
Thanks for any and all opinions!
Cary

I think the answer you are going to get to your question is no. Burning out must be done. did you drill your holse before burning out so the fire coudl get plenty of oxygen. You have to have plenty of fuel in the drum so that it burns super hot. Make it glow red. It will come off.

Peace of mind is what made me buy a brand new unlined drum. For $40 - $50 I am not going to risk it.

Well I got the drum finished and coated the inside with crisco... Here's a final pic...

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z...d/a008232d.jpg

I went to dinner with the family and then decided to check my mail... I was shocked to see the Tel-Tru thermometer in there since I ordered it Thursday.

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z...d/6e3b2eb9.jpg

I have the drum fired up and seasoning right now... I put a good layer of charcoal in the basket and then added some large chunks of hickory that I had laying around... The lid doesn't seal all that well and I can see smoke coming out of the edges... I may have to make a seal of sorts if it becomes and issue... Tomorrow I'll drill the hole for the Tel-Tru, but for now I have my BGE thermometer from my Weber on there.

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z...d/1053cb9b.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z...d/fd8b9cd3.jpg

I'm making a stuffed fattie tonight to throw on there tomorrow... This will be my first fattie...

Very nice and simple UVaJester. I like.

She's a beaut! Another drum is born.

UVaJester-

Good stuff! So, what exactly did you do to get that lid to fit? It looks like you used the drum upside down and cut the bottom out of it, and then fit the lid around the bead at the bottom of the barrel. Is this what you did? Did you end up having to tweak the edge of the domed lid to fit easily?

Thanks! Great work!

The drum I used was a 55 gallon sealed drum. So I cut the top out and then I used an angle grinder on the bead to get the lid to fit better. It fits tightly, but it leaks a little. I can hold any temp 200 and up.... and I only notice the smoke coming from the lid seal when I have my intake wide open.

Big Lots 29.00 donor lid? Priceless!

the UDS looks great! Happy smoking!

Exactly...!!! $29 for a lid, cooking grate and a charcoal grate... Can't complain about that...!!!! hahahaaa

I wonder if I could cut the top flange off of the base of that Biglots grill and mount it into the top of my open-head drum... I know I've seen it done with Weber grills.