yeah but not it looks like it's actually been used and not something that just sits around as decoration.

Hi All, I have been trying to finish this thread for a while but things keep coming up! Love the site by the way Tons of Info on here. I just got my 1st drum on Saturday and i am going to start on it a little at the time. I have a couple of questions...

1. is the red stuff in the drum the liner that i need to burn?
2. How about that rubber looking ring in the lid burn it off?
3. Will acetone or paint thinner help loosen the junk inside, and will it be safe to burn after airing it out after drying, then will it be safe to cook on?
4. does it matter how long the nipples are for intakes?
i have some 1/2 4 inch nipples and i have some 3/4 1 and 2 inchers and close nipples 3/4
which one would be better before i start drilling?

I have a lot of the parts to make it i think.

Thanks in advance guys! You guys are a treasure trove of information

TuckAttachment 26357

Attachment 26358

Attachment 26359

Hello Wildcat. That red stuff looks to be the dreaded liner. Must be burned out. I don't know if those solvents will help but do doubt they will soften anything. I believe the liner is cured epoxy. That gasket needs to go and someone used a heat gun and a small chisel to remove it. The 3/4" close nipples are what I used on mine because they don't intrude into the drum very far and hence won't get in the way when cleaning out the drum in the future. Those are the only answers I can help you with, so good luck with your build.

If you want a lazy-man's way to safely remove the liner, first set up an outdoor propane burner. I'm talking about the kind they sell to heat turkey frying pots. Set the drum up on it and fill it with water. Then dump in about half a box of Cascade or Electrasol dishwashing detergent and fire up the burner. It will heat better if you cover it. Bring it to a boil, then turn it down some and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Then shut it down and let it cool. This solution will strip paint, grease, dirt, or oily junk off anything. I use the bottom of a once-lined drum for a cooking grate soaker, and i do the same thing - propane cooker, water, dishwashing detergent. I use a whole lot less dishwashing detergent. After just one time the liner was already falling off. Half a box will knock it out for sure.

After it cools all the way down, bail it out using a 5 gallon bucket and go dump the solution down a (funky) toilet that goes to a sewage treatment plant. Don't dump it outside or into a storm drain. We put dishwashing detergent down our drains every single day, and a little dissolved paint will be filtered right out by the treatment plant. Rinse your drum real well and wipe it out with dry rags. It probably won't need any wire brushing, but if there are any stuck-on spots, they will come off way easier after this soaking.

You'll burn a few $$$ in propane, but you will save yourself a real dirty job and this is probably more environmentally appropriate too.

seattlepitboss

That is an interesting way to get the inside paint off. I hope BBQWildcat or anyone that is building a UDS and tries it will let us know and show us the process and results with some pics.

Sure beats having the fire department show up.

460lbs of caustic boiling water on a Costco turkey burner? You've actually done this?

And video please...

http://www.chriscottonmusic.com/Medi...on-youtube.png

I've seen this movie... The fat guy get's burned... :roll: :mad:

You may want to change your name, the feds will be looking you up after reading this.

I finally got my UDScompleted! Thanks to Pat (Norco), n8man and Barbarian for their help and words of wisdom!

Good Looking DrumPit You Got There!!!! OutStanding!!!!:biggrin:

I have put a drum *bottom* on my turkey burner. If your concern is that the burner won't support the weight, stack up concrete blocks around your burner and put your drum on the blocks. Actually, yours is a really good point. Need a very very solid base, tipping over all that solution would be bad. Real bad.

seattlepitboss

Nice job garyk1398. What is that ash tray?

Just a little boost for the drumheads out there. Cooking competition on the drums is a good thing. 3rd overall in ribs and 7th in brisket, and a couple other anything but entries.

Another Member Due to this Thread
 

Hi There,

Name's JT and I am a new member. I joined because of this thread. It took a while but I read the whole thing!!!!

I have lots to learn as I have never cooked on a smoker before. I stumbled on to this forum/thread acouple of weeks back while looking for info on smokers.

I have a fair amount of backyard charcoal grilling experience, but have lived a sheltered BBQ life and have not been exposed to much Que outside my own little world. So I am a newbie all the waqy around I guess.

Anyway....You all have inspired me to build a UDS. I have started to scrounge up some pieces parts from here and there and will be building soon. So far I have got a free ball valve, a Weber cook grate and two cans of grill paint from Lowe's (also free w $25 gift card) and today I scored a free hunk of expanded metal. I got a cheap $16 pit thermo by grill care that I hope will do for now. Sometime this week I am getting the nipples, caps etc.

I scored a free barrel from my boss. The barrel he gave me was a open top style with the lid and is in great shape. It was behind a house he had recently bought and was empty. It had a slight fuel oil/kerosene smell to it when I got it. That smell was totally gone after burning the barrel out once.

It has a olive green liner on the inside that seems to be tough as nails as the first and only burn so far did not seem to get rid of much of the liner.

I am moving forward with this barrel for now, but I am looking for a better specimen to work with. I was ok with the barrel I have until i read some of the posts on here that were of the "why take a chance?" perspective.
Got me thinking I guess and maybe a little paranoid. hopefully I will find a nice food grade Drum soon. I read all of the suggestions about finding drums on here and called lots and lots of people to no avail so far.

So, that where things stand for now. I know we all love to read bout others builds so i will post often through the process and try to get some good pics for you all.

Here is a few pics of the barrel I have become leary of using for now.

New England brother...looks great so far!!! Keep after it and you will have a first class smoker very soon. Burn it out one more time just to be same, then "get r done". Keep posting those build pics.

Exhaust
 

Ok i drilled out the holes about 2" from the bottom. I used 4 intakes, 3 with caps and one with a ball valve. Which is the better type of exhaust for this setup? My drum lid has 2 bungs holes on it (one big one small) so will it be better to use the 8- 1/2" holes or use a pipe and 90 exhaust. Those freakin things make the lid HEAVY!!


Thanks
Tuck

Hey Gary, glad I could be of some help, I got all my help off the guys here. Welcome to the Drumhead Nation!!!

Hey BBQWildcat, I doubt you need the 90* elbow. I have to vent my exhaust out of my little Q shack so I don't want a elbow and I don't know why you would need one. You are correct about the extra weight IMHO. Also with the short 4" pipe I can shut down the drum with just a tin can over the pipe. I guess guys with 8 holes somehow plug them all up.

Do most lids fit right on the drum of do you have to customize them?
The lid I have isn't a perfect fit.. Should I keep looking for a better lid or work with the one I have?

It's a weather thing. Keeps the rain out if you use the lazy-boy outdoor storage mod...

http://www.thawleyphoto.com/gallery/...tml/UDS-02.jpg

As long as you have 2"s of exhaust the style doesn't really matter. I like to close off my intake and exhaust when I'm done a cook in order to save the unburnt lump. A puck works for me but there are lots of variations on damping down the barrel.
BTW- here's my latest drum-de-le-icious attempt.
Sour cream and brown sugar coffee cake with a bit of Maple smoke!
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...0loo/006-1.jpg

I guess I got the tin can mod from my granddad who always put a can over the exhaust pipe on his tractor to keep the rain out. I guess it really sunk in and that is why I do it. Plus it makes it real easy to shut the drum down after a cook or slow it down during a cook before taking the lid off to turn, baste, switch racks or whatever during a cook.

Norco's new quote
"Now you got it purty,
Go get it Dirty"


Welcome to the Drom Corps.

Thanks,

Looks like I might be keeping my original lightly kerosened drum for a burn barrel.

Today I got in touch with a guy from craigslist that has two 48 foot trailers full of drums. He said 90+% of them are food grade and most of those had olive, peanut oil or juice in them. To keep things simple he gets $12 ea. for any drum. He has sealed drums and open tops with lids.

Only negative about the whole deal is that he is about an hour away from me by car (about 75 mi). But, I am just happy to have found such a good source for drums.

I am going to have a couple of them for a weekend burn out. I might even have my uds all built by the end of the weekend. I have everything I need but the charcoal grate now.

Sorry for double posting, but I just thought of a few qestions for you experienced UDS builder/operators. Your opinions would be appreciated.

1.What will give me the most accuracy bang for my buck wise as far as thermometers go? I have a $16 grill care pit thermo with a 3" probe but it has not been used yet and I can return it if need be.

2. Someone mentioned using brass nipples/caps on there intakes so the caps would not rust onto the nipples. Is this a good upgrade or just a waist of money?

3. I am thinking about putting a 2" vent cap on top of my 2" exhaust nipple. It is the type that would go on the fuel oil tank for your home. This would be for both looks and functional as a rain cover for the exhaust. Do you think it would fark up my air flow through the exhaust or cause any other undesireable outcome?

4. I am considering a very short riser for the intake with the ball valve. I will use a 3/4x1 1/2" nipple out of the the intake hole. Then a 90* elbow, followed by a 3/4 x 2 1/2" nipple and then the ball valve. like I said very short. Do you think such a short riser would cause me any trouble with intake or temp adjustment? I am just thinking that the short riser would get the ball valve a little mor out of the way and look a bit better.

Thats it for now.

I am sure I will think of more though.

Thanks in advance for your input.

JT

Ummm JT... you are making the first mistake of building a UDS.. no worries, all of us do it... YOU ARE OVERCOMPLICATING IT... Build the thing as close to the basic UDS as you can with the materials at hand and then make the mods as you learn. there is nothing in your "hit list" that cant be added later. If something doesnt work, you will be more able to track down your problems if you make one change at a time.

Jt- keep the lid as light and simple as possible. The guys with 2" car exhaust or Bavarians pipe make for nice light lids and developed from experience with heavy or unweildy lids- trying to handle a hot unbalanced lid with one hand and mopping or flipping food with the other isn't easy peasy. For your intake -since you are in New England, I would go up a size in ID and bring the valve up higher. I like this when I'm cooking in a snow storm and my UDS is in a snowdrift. Also, winter cooking at 20 below requires a little more air intake then our New mexico Brethren with a 110 degree day.
One other thought- food safe barrels doesn't mean unlined.

AAWWW come on I wanna make mine Better!........Stronger!.........Faster!.... :biggrin:

I want Ram Air, Turbo Chargers, Dual Exhaust and Posi Trac! All in Titanium & Chrome Too!!:eek:

Sorry I kind of lost my head. It is funny that the reason I was looking into a UDS was because of the WSM's Price tag. But if you add up the price to everything I have thought about doing to my drum it steadily creeps closer and closer to the price of that WSM. ...........Crazy, but for some reason bulding it myself makes me want to keep upgrading it and I haven't even started it yet.

You are right I should go simple at first, and I remember reading that more than once in this thread and thinking "that is good advice". But, it is going to be hard to do. I'll have to see how it goes I guess. No promises even though I know you are 100% right about this.

The brass nipples should not be any better/worse performance wise than the black ones though. Do you think it is worth while for those due to the possiblity of the black ones rusting? I remember reading someone cussing out there nipples for rusting to there caps on here.

h20loo:
Thanks for the advice on the intake size. I actually remembered reading this too and forgot I guess........such a long thread. It will be cool to be having Que for din din in the middle January too. I will probably just use a very short 2" nipple on the exhaust with the vent cap. The vent cap is very thin and very light. My primary concern was the possible reduction of flow through the vent cap farking everything all up. What are your feelings on this matter?

BTW, I am going tomorrow evening to get 2 Drums(all I could get approval for was $25) from the barrel man. Do you all think I should just get two open drums with lids/bands or mix it up and get one of those and a sealed drum that needs to be cut open? he is a ways away so I will not be going back anytime soon.

Thanks, this site is great.

Good thinking... remember you arent making the space shuttle here... all it needs to do is smoke some form of mamal. If you can control the process, you are sucessful, if you cant.. you learned something.

Once you see how simple these things are to cook with in "stock form" you will probably forget most of the additions and concentrate on making smoked food rather than making a Smoker to smoke food... thats what we are all here for... well most of the time.

thickness
 

I talked to a guy who has 200 barrels in good shape with lids for $13, they had varnish in them.
I told him I might get some but might try and find some that had food products in them first.
He told me that barrels that had food in then aren't are thick as the ones that have had things like oil,ect,.
My question is that true or is he just trying to sell his barrels?:confused:
thanks,
craig

Craig;

first off , weclome fellow MOFO (that's short for Missouri folk)

Now, in an attempt to answer your question. I would discount his theory. If he is offering a heavy weight barrel, that wouyld be a good thing if you had a way of verifying that claim. I wouldn't worry too much about the barrels containing varnish. Varnish will burn off relatively easy. Enamel or epoxy lined barrells, on the other hand, can be a bich to burn out.

Personally, if I were you, I would also be considering the driving distance to get a barrell. If there was only a coating of varnish in an otherwise unlined barrel and it was relatively close by, and its a relatively heavy guage barrell, I recommend you go for it .

If you look at Grainger's Web site, you will notice that they are closing out their Ashcroft dial thermometers. I got some, and they don't need any adjustment but they are adjustable if they should slide out of calibration. They are high quality and the ones with the 3" or 6" stems are like $8. You can't order them online, you have to call Grainger to order them. And you have to have a Grainger account, which means you have to have a business license or know someone who does. But this is a real good deal in my opinion. I snapped up 3 of their 2" dial thermos with 9" stems back when those were about $12, now they put them back up to something like $30.

seattlepitboss

Exhaust venting
 

I am to the point that I need to put the exhaust vents in the drum lid. As it sits now, I think that there isn't any reason to make the exhaust adjustable. I am thinking that the amount of air you let in the bottom is going out the top. If you choke of the exhaust, you could override the air intake metering at the bottom. Basically, the air that flows through the system is the lesser of the amount you let through the bottom or top.

Am I thinking correctly? is the general concesus (4) 3/4" diameter holes?

Lid
 

I think it is 8- 1/2" holes on the lid.

ok now I am severly p.o.'d at myself!!!!

For some strange reason I had it in my head that the food grade drums with the red liner in them were the good ones. I just drove 120+ miles round trip and bought a freekin barrel that is not going to work out.

Fark Fark Fark Fark Fark!!!!! I am Dumb as a bag of hammers.

I am going to bed the ride made me tired.

Yahoo...I finally have something to post about. Went down to the farm turkey hunting last weekend and saw an old John Deere grill under the clubhouse. Had to 25++ years old. Anyway, I put the tape on it and it measured 22.5" across. My wheels started turning and I ended up bringing it home. After some good scrubbing and a coat of paint, I put he bottom of the old grill on the UDS and it fits perfectly. The top fit, but the bottom has a flange around it that actually fits it to the drum. I was even able to take the vent off the top and fit it to the bottom part of the grill. Shoot, I got to go take a picture and post it.

If you have an old rusted out John Deere grill, there is hope for it as a UDS lid.

Maybe you'll luck out and the red liner will burn out easy.....it has happened before

Here we go...and this is before I found out I am receiving a donated Weber grill to use for a top. :-D Might have to build another UDS.

There were three legs on the top (bottom) but two had broken off. I drilled 3/4" holes where the metal had torn out and threaded two pipes in and capped them. Fired it up last night and it holds great at any temp from 190 - 250. Then I tested for the shutdown and it goes dead in less than an hour when I close it off. Now I can smoke two grills worth of meat instead of just the one!

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...s/IMG_3430.jpg

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...s/IMG_3428.jpg

My red liner burned out in 20 minutes with a weed burner, give it a burn.:lol:

I gave away the first drum smoker I made. Sniff. Now I only have the 85. Sniff.

The black one in the back is my first one. The big yellow machine is the new 85. Attachment 26460

How heavy is the lid on that 85 gallon bad boy, Bob?

Thanks for the encouragement on burning out the red liner. , I will burn the hell out of it this weekend. I do not have a weedburner but I have pallets and a wire wheel. I'll let you all know how it goes.

I actually got two barrels last night. I thought they were the same on the inside but one only has a light tan liner on it that is actually already flaking off in spots. I think I will work with that one first.

thanks again

Fired up the UDS today after several months for a brisket and two butts.

http://i39.tinypic.com/vo8leb.jpg

That stack is cool man. Can we see the eats too? please?

:cool: Soon as it's done I'll post em up.

Fellow Brethren,

Just a noob here but what I've seen on this site is really,really awesome!
Last September I moved to my own house and it comes with a backyard that is relatively big for a city that I live in,ofcourse you need to take advantage of that so that calls for a good BBQ!
After a good Googling on internet I discovered you guys.
Since I just moved and spend all my hard earned money that I've saved over the past couple of years I won't be going anywhere outside of The Netherlands to go on holidays.
So.....I've decided to spend my holidays in my backyard and start working on my little "summer project".
I wanna build an UDS and a horizontal grill or offset.
Last Wednesday I bought two 52.78 gallon barrels with closed lid that had organic palm oil in it for 12,50 (euro's) each.
Didn't do anything with it yet but wanna start asap to build a fire in it to get it cleaned!
Most probably I'll go follow Norco's design as base combined with some other stuff that I've seen on internet.
I appreciate you guys allready for the time and effort you spend on this site and on me!

well after reading through this thread again... i got started the other day..

the hardest part is done alreaady....found the drum

neighbor had his son visiting him. he was pulling a small trailer to take to the dump. in the back was "My drum" with lid

http://i39.tinypic.com/5agd93.jpg

got the intake holes drilled out today and burn baby burn

http://i39.tinypic.com/mhu39i.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/333lt7t.jpg

tomorrow i will be making a trip to my local scrap/junk yard to see what i can scrounge up. i will be making the charcoal basket tomorrow as well.

hopefully i will be done by sunday.

Nice burn Bro!
Write down the stamped code on the side showing in photo #2.
I'd be interested to see if any one here could decode it.

Weiser

all i know is it was a remanufactured drum...there was still cooking grease in it...lol