Czarbecue
Babbling Farker
Grainger sells unlined drums for $129. Stainless steel for over $700. Unless you’re talking about Craigslist...
Ugly Drum Smoker
- Thread starter jgh1204
- Start date
Grainger sells unlined drums for $129. Stainless steel for over $700. Unless you’re talking about Craigslist...
30 gallon drums are not a common. 30 gallon drums with an open head- less so.
Do the 55 - it's really not that much bigger. They are easier to find, cheaper to buy and you don't have to use the extra grate space if you don't want to.
Don't do "food grade" - go "unlined". If it has a phenolic liner, you'll need 2 or 3 good fires plus some heavy steel brush work OR a friend with a sand blaster to get it all gone.
Do the 55 - it's really not that much bigger. They are easier to find, cheaper to buy and you don't have to use the extra grate space if you don't want to.
Don't do "food grade" - go "unlined". If it has a phenolic liner, you'll need 2 or 3 good fires plus some heavy steel brush work OR a friend with a sand blaster to get it all gone.
el luchador
is Blowin Smoke!
I understand that.
Think about this. The uds cousin the pbc I understand is 30 gallons. They have to hang the larger meats.
The 22" diameter is just about enough to lay the larger cuts of brisket or ribs.
Get the 30 but you may have to hang, fold or bend some longer pieces of meat
Blue Kettle
Full Fledged Farker
That's a good point. Actually, more I think about it maybe the space constraint wouldn't be that bad. I've already got a 22" kettle out on the patio and this would be a similar footprint.
Blue Kettle
Full Fledged Farker
Is a propane weed burner not sufficient to get the job done of removing all of that at once? (Plus some wire brush after the fact to remove the remnants?)
el luchador
is Blowin Smoke!
plus, you can grill on the uds and get rid of the kettle if you wanted to
OR, you could just smoke on the kettle and forego the uds altogether. only thing is you wont get the fat dripping flavor(my favorite) but the kettle still puts out some GREAT Q
Hinds15
Full Fledged Farker
Curious about this also. My drum had coconut oil in it and is unlined. I know a lot of people say it has rust inhibitor but to the touch it feels like metal and even sanding a small part its only metal.
I want to leave the paint that's on the outside too but that seems to be a questionable thing for UDS builds also.
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Hinds15
Full Fledged Farker
Ah so most likely mine wouldn't have had it since the coconut oil would have kept the drum from rusting?
Blue Kettle
Full Fledged Farker
No doubt it makes some great Q. There's a part of me that thinks I'm being silly. That I should just be happy with the kettle and move on. But there's another part that wants a bit better temp stability (set it and forget it). The Kettle has served me well, particularly once I got a slow n sear, but I don't quite have set it and forget it confidence in it.
el luchador
is Blowin Smoke!
correct. the lining is THICK. your barrel should be good to go. if It had coconut oil they already seasoned it for ya :thumb:
el luchador
is Blowin Smoke!
the uds CAN hold more charcoal for longer cooks but I wouldn't be surprised if you could get the kettle to have better temp control.
I think with the coals being so close to the meat you may just be able to close down the bottom vent and just use the top vents for intake and exhaust.
or you could just buy a heatermeter and for $150 you have temp control, awesome thermoworks probe, AND wifi monitoring :biggrin1:
Blue Kettle
Full Fledged Farker
I'm unfamiliar with this product. Where can I go to find more details?
I can't say for certain how well it would work. I have heard that if you are trying to burn out the barrel with a weed burner you need to do it from the outside of the drum. You stick the nozzle inside and it gets O2 starved, your flame goes out and you have raw gas settling inside the barrel.
possible "boomage and loss of eyebrows (or worse) could occur".
Unless you live in an area where you can open burn, I'd forego buying a food safe barrel with a liner. There are too many better options.
el luchador
is Blowin Smoke!
https://github.com/CapnBry/HeaterMeter/wiki
it written by a tech guy so sorry about that in advance (no graphics etc)
it is basically an arduino mated to a raspberry pi and a damper.
here is a cost breakdown
1. heater meter package ($72- takes two hours to solder)
2. box for the hm $20 ( he often has misprints for free - I got a misprint)
3. power supply $15
4. temp probe $15
5. micro damper about $30
6. raspberry pi $35
7. wifi usb $8
total about $175
I thought most people burned theirs out after they've drilled all the holes.
(i didn't burn mine b/c mine was new w/ no liner)
Blue Kettle
Full Fledged Farker
Alright. I just got a quote on a new unlined drum for $68. Its about a 1 and a 1/2 hour drive but thinking that might be better than screwing with the burn out and paint removal b.s. (was going to have to buy a weed burner to do this in the first place so that's $30 right there I won't have to spend if I opt for this).
SmokerKing
is One Chatty Farker
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2010
- Location
- Sunny AZ
Save yourself a lot of grief, make the drive to buy a new unlined drum, you won't be sorry. Granted, you may be looked down upon by the hard core, cheapskate UDS builders for not making the painstaking mistake and paying $68.00, oh well.
Blue Kettle
Full Fledged Farker
Question, if you end up buying a painted but unlined drum, do you have to still strip the outside and re-paint with high temp paint? Or is most of that paint on these drums sufficient to handle average smoking temps (225-325 give or take)? If I could avoid painting altogether that'd be pretty nice.
SmokerKing
is One Chatty Farker
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2010
- Location
- Sunny AZ
The paint on the new drums I have purchased is damn good. If you want to leave it the stock gloss black, you'll be fine.
If you want to change it to a different, non-high heat color, then Scocth-Brite the gloss black, spray high heat flat black as a base and then paint it any non-high heat color.
If you can find the color you want in high heat, just spray it over the scuffed up gloss black.
