1st UDS Help!!! Giving off a funky whiff on test burn

[steveheyes]

Hi all,

I need some help with my first UDS.

I started off with a drum that had the horrible liner in it. The drum had been used for orange juice transportation.

On Friday I burned out the drum with a good hot fire of mixed hardwood and some scrap soft wood. The majority of the liner burned off leaving some flaky bits up the sides but the liner was still quite well preserved on the bottom. Also the paint remained largely intact on the outside of the bottom of the drum.

I used an angle grinder with a cup brush on and a drill with a cup brush to remove the rest of the liner. I'm pretty sure it was all gone, the inside of the drum still had an orange tint but I'm positive this was just surface rust. I used the pressure washer on the inside and when I wiped the rusty bits the orange cam away and smelled of metal as rust does.

I spent a lot of time on the bottom of the drum and got it shiny silver I ground it that much :-D The only place I would even suspect some liner was left would be right in the bottom corner between the base and the sides of the drum although I think I got it all.

The drum was painted yesterday with VHT engine paint (outside only of course) and we set it up to burn this morning, a good 14 hours after it was painted.

I noticed a bit of a funky whiff when I sniffed at the exhausts, so after a couple of hours I took the lid off and the smell was present inside the drum. It's not overly strong but it's there and it's a bit chemically. It doesn't smell like the odour that was coming off when I burned the liner which was a lot stronger and very plasticy.

The drum played very nice in terms of temperature and I'm really excited about cooking on it but I can't put food on there with that smell going on. I've just opened up all three intakes to get the temp up to see if that helps but I'm at a loss at the moment.

Any of you UDS experts have any ideas of what the smell is or some advice on what I should do to try to get rid of it?

Thanks


Steve

 

[Boshizzle]

Don't burn with the lid on. Make sure you are using hardwoord too. You have to get the fire really hot. The sides of the barrel need to be hot enough to turn water to steam when you splatter some on the sides. You may need to pump some air into the inlet holes using an air compressor, leaf blower, or fans. And don't burn it with the lid on it. Let the fire get big and hot. Heat the lid last.

 

[Smokin' D]

If the liner is all gone that should not be the problem with an off odor. Couple of questions for you. What type of oil did you use as a seasoning agent on the inside and what type of fuel Briquettes or lump charcoal? In my experience briquettes give off an unpleasant smell when lighting off minion style. Lump just smells good and smoky. Also the new paint could simply be gassing off from the heat. The paint on my drums said to go 24 hours before submitting the paint to any heat.

 

[steveheyes]

I'm pretty sure the liner is all gone. The fire was big and hot and I'm confident it got rid of all the liner.

I'm using vegetable oil as it was all I could get locally this morning. I'd have used ground nut oil but the local supermarket didn't have any.

I was using restaurant grade lump charcoal. I don't use briquettes for minion method anymore for the reasons you mentioned.

I thought the same about the paint, the tin said leave 12 hours (which I did) and also when I had a sniff of the painted surface there was a light odour but it was different to what I could smell from the exhaust.

I'm starting to wonder if it's the oil.

 

[hath]

if you still see an orange tint then the liner is not gone, especially if you used a cup brush... there should be nothing but shiny metal. No rust no color of any kind. The liner is harder than you think to remove.

 

[ComputerMike]

My liner took 3 burns and the better part of a morning with my head inside the drum with a wire brush/anngle grinder to get it down to shiny metal.

When you do the burn it should be hot enough to burn the paint off the outside of the drum.

 

[steveheyes]

Ok there was an orange tint left in the drum, we assumed it was just oxidisation as when we hit it with a pressure washer then wiped it, orange came away on my finger like rust would.

But now I'm clear, get it back to shiny metal, looks like I'm going to have another busy day of grinding :evil:

 

[steveheyes]

Thanks for your advice guys. I'll get to sorting this UDS out as soon as I can and I'll make sure I post some pron from the first cook :-D