As some of you know, a while back I built a drum, but that was for my neighbor. Well I finally did it. Built my OWN drum. Been using the one I made for the neighbor a few times and had to get going on my own.
Started out with a food grade drum, straight sides, no rings. Slightly larger diameter than a standard drum. 23”. Contained Cocanut oil.
Marked the holes and drilled. This one will have 2 racks for smoking and a third for either beans, water pan or whatever on the bottom.
Inside view.
Was going to go with the lid that came with it, but a few weeks back, my neighbor found a Weber kettle. He kept the lid and I took the bottom.
Didn't much care for the holes that were there so I took some steel discs, sorta like the knock outs that are on electrical boxes and tacked them over the holed. Used a carbide cutter bit, like the one used for porting engine heads to remove the enamel coating. What it looks like from the outside.
Inside view.
What to do with that unsightly mess? Well thought about using bondo, but didn't know if the high heat would mess with it so I went with Welder in a tube, AKA, Liquid Steel. A little harder to work with than bondo and you have to wait longer for it to set up, but it worked well.
All smoothed out, ready for a coat of paint. Going with a 2" ID PVC for the chimney.
The bottom was smaller than the diameter of the drum, so I took a hammer, flatted the rolled lip flat, and sat that inside the lid that came with the drum so I could use that lip. Perfect fit. Welded the Weber bottom to the drum lid then I cut the bottom of the lid out.
Bad pic, sorry.
Here is a pic of the Weber bottom sitting inside the original drum lid but before welding.
Here you can see the lid welded to it before I cut out the center.
Lids after I cut the center out.
Kinda hard to see the 2 lids, but if you look just below the blue area, that is the lip on the kettle bottom that I flattened out. The blue area and the area just above it are the original drum lid. The weld is on the other side.
Installed the gasket.
My firebasket.
Feet. Just some round stock I bent in a V shape.
My idea of a heat sink. This is a heavy 5/8" plate a bit larger diameter than the basket. I figure this will absorb and hold a good amount of heat to help in recover when the lid is removed or help maintain even temps if windy or cold. Also, the heat goes thru the center as well as around the sides. We'll see how well it works.
I wanted some sort of table for this drum as there never seems to be enough room to set the meat down, your beer, the therms, so I built a cart for it. However, this one the drum is not welded to the cart, but mounted on some carriage bolts that come from the bottom with a few nuts on them so the drum is actually bolted down. Drilled holes in the bottom of the drum and sat it over the bolts. The drum is approx 1/4" from the framework. If the drum ever burns or rusts away, I can simply remove it and set a different drum on it. Also, it made for easier painting as it would be hard to get paint in those tight areas and I didn't want any rust to start forming.
And now, (start drum roll, no pun intended), I give you the finished UDS.
AND, as an option on this particular model, I came up with this.
I like to do Turkeys and would like to do some hams, but don't want them on the racks. I would prefer to have them in those netted stockings. So I made this dome shaped rack. Pretty much follows the contours of the lid. Simply hang whatever it is your smoking from the center. We'll see how well that works too, but I think it should. At least is sound good in theory
Well that's it. Hope you enjoyed my build as much as I did. The paint was still drying as I posted this and I will be firing it up here in about 15 minutes to cure the stove paint as well as season the inside.
Started out with a food grade drum, straight sides, no rings. Slightly larger diameter than a standard drum. 23”. Contained Cocanut oil.
Marked the holes and drilled. This one will have 2 racks for smoking and a third for either beans, water pan or whatever on the bottom.
Inside view.
Was going to go with the lid that came with it, but a few weeks back, my neighbor found a Weber kettle. He kept the lid and I took the bottom.
Didn't much care for the holes that were there so I took some steel discs, sorta like the knock outs that are on electrical boxes and tacked them over the holed. Used a carbide cutter bit, like the one used for porting engine heads to remove the enamel coating. What it looks like from the outside.
Inside view.
What to do with that unsightly mess? Well thought about using bondo, but didn't know if the high heat would mess with it so I went with Welder in a tube, AKA, Liquid Steel. A little harder to work with than bondo and you have to wait longer for it to set up, but it worked well.
All smoothed out, ready for a coat of paint. Going with a 2" ID PVC for the chimney.
The bottom was smaller than the diameter of the drum, so I took a hammer, flatted the rolled lip flat, and sat that inside the lid that came with the drum so I could use that lip. Perfect fit. Welded the Weber bottom to the drum lid then I cut the bottom of the lid out.
Bad pic, sorry.
Here is a pic of the Weber bottom sitting inside the original drum lid but before welding.
Here you can see the lid welded to it before I cut out the center.
Lids after I cut the center out.
Kinda hard to see the 2 lids, but if you look just below the blue area, that is the lip on the kettle bottom that I flattened out. The blue area and the area just above it are the original drum lid. The weld is on the other side.
Installed the gasket.
My firebasket.
Feet. Just some round stock I bent in a V shape.
My idea of a heat sink. This is a heavy 5/8" plate a bit larger diameter than the basket. I figure this will absorb and hold a good amount of heat to help in recover when the lid is removed or help maintain even temps if windy or cold. Also, the heat goes thru the center as well as around the sides. We'll see how well it works.
I wanted some sort of table for this drum as there never seems to be enough room to set the meat down, your beer, the therms, so I built a cart for it. However, this one the drum is not welded to the cart, but mounted on some carriage bolts that come from the bottom with a few nuts on them so the drum is actually bolted down. Drilled holes in the bottom of the drum and sat it over the bolts. The drum is approx 1/4" from the framework. If the drum ever burns or rusts away, I can simply remove it and set a different drum on it. Also, it made for easier painting as it would be hard to get paint in those tight areas and I didn't want any rust to start forming.
And now, (start drum roll, no pun intended), I give you the finished UDS.
AND, as an option on this particular model, I came up with this.
I like to do Turkeys and would like to do some hams, but don't want them on the racks. I would prefer to have them in those netted stockings. So I made this dome shaped rack. Pretty much follows the contours of the lid. Simply hang whatever it is your smoking from the center. We'll see how well that works too, but I think it should. At least is sound good in theory
Well that's it. Hope you enjoyed my build as much as I did. The paint was still drying as I posted this and I will be firing it up here in about 15 minutes to cure the stove paint as well as season the inside.
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