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Ugly Drum Smoker

Just got off the phone with a guy that has 38" tall 55 gallon food grade unlined drums that he imports bee pollen from Australia in and he will deliver to me for $20 each. My nipples are hard.
 
i have a couple ?'s does anyone know where i could possible find a drum cheap delivered to kentucky and how does the weber kettle grill cover fit the 55 gallon drum and is there a tight fit i see most drums are 25 in diameter and kettle cover is 24.5 in diameter any info would greatly appreciated thanks birdman
 
I got my drum yesterday. I picked it up at a place that rebuilds industrial machines. The get mineral oil in them and gave it to me for free. I got the top cut off inside the top roll, got a fire grate and ring at a machine shop. I picked up a Weber Kettle lid out of a trash pile and it fits perfectly... nice and snug but goes on without any coaxing.

I burned it out tonight and bought all of my hardware. For now I am just going to use the cooking grate out of my Weber. I will try to get it all done this weekend and post pictures.

Including the machine shop costs and the hardware it looks like I will have about $50 in mine. I am stoked!!!!
 
I installed all my hardware except for my side and lid handles. I cut 4 -3/4 inch holes around the bottom. The bottom cooking rack is 24.5 inches from the charcoal grate. The top rack is 5 inches from the bottom rack.

Did a second burn yesteray and noticed what a difference the air intake holes make. I knew they would it was just interesting seeing how much easier the fire was to start and the difference in the smoke/heat.

Today I am going to step the bottom holes out to 7/8 and screw in the pipe nipples. I hope to get it brushed, sanded, and painted as well.

One kind of disappointment... After putting the bottom cooking grate at 24.5 inches I had to put the top cooking grate right at the top of the drum (my drum is only 35 inches high). I don't think it will be a huge deal as I will do most of the cooking on only one rack anyway. Plus with having the Weber Kettle grill lid I will still have some capacity on the top rack... just not what I was hoping for.

Already looking for a taller drum... This was a pretty easy project!!

I'll post pics after painting and after the first cook tomorrow!
 
Got the 2 38" drums last night and will make one with 2 cooking racks. I took the bottom of a kettle and cut the top 2" off of it so I have a ring and I'll slip it in the top of the barrel if I want to use the Weber lid. I'm going to take one of the proto drums and cut a 13" section out of it so I can use it for an expander ring and get more heighth if needed. Keep 'em coming!
 
OK gentlemen... here she is...

IMG_0931.jpg
Original condition of lid and drum...

IMG_0932.jpg
Fire grate and ring...

IMG_0933.jpg
1/2 inch black iron nipples for air intake and to hold fire grate...

IMG_0934.jpg
Charcoal grate and ring in place...

IMG_0935.jpg
Bottom cooking grate in place...

IMG_0936.jpg
Here she sits ready for action.

I will write up what I did later...

I will post pictures and recount the experience of her first cook tomorrow.
 
iceboxbbq said:
Well found me a 55gal juice drum need to burn off tan coating on the inside so I can build one of these too I think somebody started something here
Click to expand...

Yea Rocky at BDS :)
 
Gator,

I have built 6 different drums to date and I still picked up a couple of pointers from your project!

When I build number 7 (next weekend) I will have revision 2.01!!!!!!!
A guy gave me 10 great looking drums last week. All he wanted was for me to build him a drum smoker. Got his done and have 9 more drums to play with!
 
Napper said:
Gator,

I have built 6 different drums to date and I still picked up a couple of pointers from your project!

When I build number 7 (next weekend) I will have revision 2.01!!!!!!!
A guy gave me 10 great looking drums last week. All he wanted was for me to build him a drum smoker. Got his done and have 9 more drums to play with!
Click to expand...

Still waitin to see pics of those barrels
 
ThomEmery said:
Yea Rocky at BDS :)
Click to expand...

Nothing against Rocky, but this form of cooker has been around mucho longer than the BDS.. I know I built mine a good 2 years before the BDS came to be... It is a good/cheap cooker design tho.

James.
 
Here's what's leftover after cooking a few slabs of ribs...

leftovercoal.jpg
 
i just found a used drum on ebay that i can get delivered for $32, or i can drive 45 minutes and get a new one for $38. who cares, the used one had carrot juice in it. not worth the time/gas for the new one
 
thirdeye said:
I'm sure excited to see so much interest in drum smokers ... I can hardly wait for more DrumPorn to show up. Wait hell....here is some right now. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


thirdeye, you are the absofarkinglutely best food pornographer. I'm lazy and just take pics at the lowest resolution my camera will allow. Don't have to resize that way. I said I'm lazy.

On topic. I think I may have to build one of those drum smokers. An industrial sized WSM (as far as temperature stability, fuel consumption, and sleepy time goes) for about 25% of the cost. Actually it would cost me nothing to build one. Have the tools, metal, and access to free barrels.
 
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