Tried my hand at building one...

[mytmouz]

Been seeing these things elsewhere, and decided if I ran across an aprropriate drum, I would fab...

10 bucks...



And of course, my kettle lid would not fit. I did not want to use just the flat top, since I plan on doing turkeys as well and needed the top room, so I welded a piece of flat stock around the top of the drum for the kettle top to fit...



I had an old gas grille I won years ago that I no longer used since I got a larger one, so it donated its grate to be the bottom of the charcoal basket, and the sides were used as well, along with the thermometer in the lid. I also got fancy and used pipe nipples and street ells for my ball valve intakes. I had 2 different size ball valves on hand, so I have 2 different sized intakes, lol... And the reason for the aluminum paint job is I already had some left over high temp from painting a grungy aluminum intake. I paid $15.00 for another grille grate for the food to sit on, so I got $25.00 in it.



Once it got rolling I had one ball valve barely cracked...



I used my own rub blend on a pork loin for a test q. I rubbed my meat last night :yikes:, then I wrapped in in plastic and fridged it...



I injected it with apple juice and wrapped it in baconny goodness...



4 hours later after a 250 degree hickory smoke, I foiled it and let it rest for 30 minutes, which darn near killed me...



All in all, I am satisfied, next item up will be a brisket...

[Vonrow]

mmm bacon! awesome fab-work too

[themidniteryder]

If I didn't know better I would say that was one of my pork loins. Only difference is I use Orange wood. THAT is some good eatin there brudah!

[nkaust]

i like the idea but i have a couple questions. did your pipes clog from ashes? and how much wood do you put in? and how do you add wood during the cook?

[mytmouz]

Originally Posted by nkaust

i like the idea but i have a couple questions. did your pipes clog from ashes? and how much wood do you put in? and how do you add wood during the cook?

About 2 inches above the pipes are some eyebolts that a grille sits on. There is a pan on it to hold the ashes, and the wood is in an expanded metal basket I made to hold the charcoal. I used some natural wood charcoal and lit approximately a double handful in a chimney starter and after they ashed over I dumped them in the center of the basket along with 4 small pieces of soaked hickory, about 10 inches long and 3 inches in diameter. It was a 10 lb bag of the natural wood charcoal. (looked liked burnt bits of 1 x 4's, not the briquettes). After 30 minutes, I placed the meat on, and monitored the temp. After 4 hours at 250, I removed the food, and cut the one ball valve I was using for an air intake off, and shut the top vent. The fire smothered out, and the next day when I checked it, it had used approximately 3 double hand fulls of the charcoal and about a third of the soaked hickory.

On a couple of bbq boards I haunt for inspiration now, the good sealed drums run 10-12 hours on a load of charcoal, if it starts to smother, you tap lightly on the barrel to shake the ash out of the basket and into the ash pan. I haven't made it that far yet, but I plan to see soon...

[hankll]

Not to hi-jack this thread, but I wanted to just add that with these type of smokers you will have a large amount of charcoal. I mix wood chunks, maybe 2-4 or a good handful of chips mixed in with the charcoal. The idea, as I've observed others, with way more experience, is to get the charcoal going for about a half hour. That gives the charcoal a chance to start lighting the adjoining briquettes, also known as the "minion method" of lighting. The controlled air intakes, allows for a very low burn of the charcoal. The heat is controlled by the intake. The exhaust is always wide open. This allows the flow of smoke and keeps from snuffing the burn in the charcoal. My basket will hold a 16# bag of charcoal. When I'm done smoking, I just shut all the intakes and shut the exhaust and the burn stops in usually less than 15 minutes. I just use some of the unburned charcoal in my charcoal chimney to light the charcoal and transfer it to the top of the charcoal in the basket and start again the next time I want to do a smoke. These smokers are not fuel hogs at all. I did 3 smokes on one basket fill. My first smoke was ribs, and then I did a Boston butt, then a beef briskett, each burn was about 4-5 hour time.....each, so, you can see the time involved with a full basket is quite a long time.

[nkaust]

thanks for the info

[SCCC]

I have a similar smoker that I made out of a stainless steel drum and I've run it 20 hours without adding to the fire or wood. There was still some left!

[PigBear]

Nice build. Built a smoker myself out of a couple of 55 gallon drums. It's big, ugly, and makes great food.

Other reason I know of to keep the exhaust wide open is to avoid getting creosote on the food - bleh.

[18 pointer]

i built one Ugly drum...building another this week---good job on your build.

[mytmouz]

[mytmouz]

And my first big smoke just went off this weekend...

First up is a 14 lb packer brisket...



Next is a rack of wild piglet ribs...



Then, a front shoulder from the same little piggy...



A Boston Butt to be sure I had enough pulled pork...



And last, but not least. A bacon wrapped stuffed sausage roll...

[themidniteryder]

Those sausage fatties are GREAT. Hope you had lot's of folks over or you will be eating Q for at least a couple weeks.

[mytmouz]

Originally Posted by themidniteryder

Those sausage fatties are GREAT. Hope you had lot's of folks over or you will be eating Q for at least a couple weeks.

I did ,and I will, lol... All the last pics were one cook, and 9 guests total...

[Team_Green]

After drooling over all these pictures and those in other threads.. yall are making me want to build a smoker.. ohhh baby that all looks fantastic..