Drum Smokers / Cookers

Thatgrimguy

Dondgc said:

@Thatgrimguy - when does your new rig come in? Looking forward to pics...

I was promised I would have it in hand before Fat Tuesday which is Feb 9th this year.

marysvilleegger

Would love to see some pics posted!   Am thinking this might be a good winter project!   Maybe a dumb question but how do u clean out ash?

HeavyG

marysvilleegger said:

Would love to see some pics posted!   Am thinking this might be a good winter project!   Maybe a dumb question but how do u clean out ash?

Some UDS designs/builds incorporate an ash catcher tray under the fuel basket so its a simple matter to clean when you lift out the fuel basket the ash tray comes up with it.

If one does not have an ash catcher it is easy to just tilt it over to pour out the ash. Or you could make a long handled scoop or use a vacuum.

blasting

marysvilleegger said:

Would love to see some pics posted!   Am thinking this might be a good winter project!   Maybe a dumb question but how do u clean out ash?

I promised to post pics of my grate / diffuser.  I'll post pics of everything so folks can see what's involved.  Cleaning out ash is quick with a shop vac - 20 seconds.

clintmiller

SoCalTim Sorry for not responding sooner. Somehow I lost track of this thread. I just drilled holes in the drum with a step drill bit maybe an inch or so below the top. I bought small ceramic magnets from Home Depot to cover the holes when I'm shutting the smoker down. You can see the magnets in the first picture I posted.

I learned a lesson on the magnets the hard way, though. When we were at the Alabama beach last summer, I hung some ribs in the UDS at about 250-275. I just stuck the magnets on the top of the lid so that they would be out of the way during the cook. Even at that low a temperature, enough heat built up in the magnets that they melted the paint underneath them and fused themselves to the lid. (The paint is rated as good to 500 degrees.) I literally couldn't remove the magnets until I got back to Austin and could knock them off with a hammer and screw driver.

(As a side note, that means I couldn't cover up the rebar holes after cooking in Alabama. I finished cooking on a Saturday evening. Monday morning---48 hours after lighting the smoker---the fire was still smoldering. So, you definitely want to be able to cover up the holes to shut it down.)

Anyway, now I never cook with the magnets on the UDS. So the rebar holes are open regardless of whether I'm using rebar or not. When I'm done cooking, I close down the air intakes on the bottom and the exhausts on the lid. Then I wait an hour or so for the temperature to drop a bit. Then, only once things have cooled off a bit, I put the magnets on to snuff it out the rest of the way.

clintmiller

marysvilleegger Regarding cleaning out ash... I bought a cheap pizza pan at the grocery store that fits in the bottom underneath the charcoal basket. It catches both ash and drippings. I cover it in aluminum foil to make cleanup easier. Hardly any ash or drippings get on the bottom of the barrel underneath it.

I did have to drill some holes in the pizza pan, though, because of caster bolts I have sticking up through the bottom of the drum. I thought it would be kind of cool to have wheels under the drum, but that does mean the bolts stick up a little into the bottom and up through the pizza pan. The charcoal basket sits on 3 legs a couple inches above the pizza pan.

Hawg Fan

The Weber Smokey Joe  converted to a smoker is an easy build, cooks great and is very portable.  It will smoke two 8 lb. pork butts at a time and you can always use it to grill burgers, steaks etc.  

http://virtualweberbullet.com/miniwsm.html

blasting

My apologies, I said i would post pics but didn't get home during daylight today.

NPHuskerFL

Bump

McStew

when i built mine i went with U bolts that sit about four inches up from the bottom of the drum these hold the fire basket with three legs.  I also went with two racks for more cooking space as this was originally built for a big wing cook.  

clintmiller

McStew I noticed your drum has bungholes on the top. Looks like you capped one off and made the other into an exhaust. I'm building a UDS for my sister-in-law and her husband out of a drum with similar bungholes. Is there a good no-weld solution to cap these off or turn them into exhausts?

I was toying with the idea of riveting a small piece of metal on the bottom of the lid under the bungholes to permanently close them off. Then, I'd drill exhaust holes in the top and attach 90 degree 3/4" elbows and caps. That's what I've done on other UDS's that didn't have bungholes.

But, if there's a good no-weld way to use the bungholes as the exhaust, that would be better.

Thatgrimguy

If you want a great fire basket and don't want to build one. You can get the same one I got, or take pics to a local welder and have it quoted.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0103NYA90?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

McStew

clintmiller said:

McStew I noticed your drum has bungholes on the top. Looks like you capped one off and made the other into an exhaust. I'm building a UDS for my sister-in-law and her husband out of a drum with similar bungholes. Is there a good no-weld solution to cap these off or turn them into exhausts?

I was toying with the idea of riveting a small piece of metal on the bottom of the lid under the bungholes to permanently close them off. Then, I'd drill exhaust holes in the top and attach 90 degree 3/4" elbows and caps. That's what I've done on other UDS's that didn't have bungholes.

But, if there's a good no-weld way to use the bungholes as the exhaust, that would be better.

Yah just take your lid with you to the local Home Depot and head to the plumbing section you will find what you need.  Everything screws into place 

McStew

www.bigpoppasmokers.com has fire baskets for 55.00 bucks I think and any other parts you might need
 

nolaegghead

I have a couple of plasma cutters, a MIG, TIG and oxy/acetylene....I really need to get off my ass. 

blasting

@SoCalTim  sorry for the delay.  fyi, the extra hole to the right of the pig in the first pic is for the probes, and is covered by a magnet.  There are only three support bolts on mine - they support the two levels as well as the diffuser which is all attached.  I didn't go with an ash pan.  I use a drip pan, always, so my ashes are really easy to vacuum up with a shop vac.  Lots of guys don't use a drip pan, so they opt for the ash pan since their ashes are "gummy".

SoCalTim

@Blasting .. that is an awesome set-up. Question, I see how you bolted together the grates and added a diffuser, are all your cooks indirect or do you, can you go direct?

blasting

SoCalTim said:

@Blasting .. that is an awesome set-up. Question, I see how you bolted together the grates and added a diffuser, are all your cooks indirect or do you, can you go direct?

Thanks Tim.  Everything cooked on mine is indirect, low and slow.

It would be simple enough to change the set up if that is what you need.  I've heard of guys who built their fire box to be multi level to accommodate direct grilling.  Generally though, these UDS are used for l&s.

I built this one to take to my folks winter rental so we can low and slows.  The food coming off of it has been terrific, imho.

SoCalTim

@blasting ... PM sent

Hawg Fan

@blasting   Nice UDS buildout.  I like the ability to remove the grilling racks in one step to reload charcoal.

bakoque

There is a local manufacturer here in California who is producing one. Don't have any first hand experience, but their website is: http://barrelhousecooker.com. I thought it looked interesting and that I might check it out.

KiterTodd

clintmiller said:

I built one this summer, mainly just for the experience of building my own smoker. I used a 30-gallon drum with rebar for hanging meat. It's basically a Pit Barrel Cooker clone with better airflow control and the ability to shut it down after cooking to reuse charcoal....

That chicken looks awesome.  Wow.  Some of the best looking slow cooked wings I've seen.
That hanging meat looks like it'll fall in the coals at just the wrong moment!

Thanks for sharing the pics.  Would love to see one in action some time.

Jeepster47

@blasting ... the "bundled" grills and indirect plate is a neat idea.  Love the simplicity of the setup.  Very similar to the functionality of the AR and Woo on the green egg.