Building a Homemade smoker (UDS)

BuckSnort

Long Time Member
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LAST EDITED ON Jan-06-10 AT 03:10AM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Jan-06-10 AT 03:03?AM (MST)

UDS's (Ugly Drum Smoker's) Work awesome and are cheap to build and produce some great smoked food....For those who are interested I will give step by step instructions on building one....

ITEMS NEEDED

55 gallon drum with lid (not one that had any toxic chemicals or petroleum oil)
(4) 1/2 x 2" black pipe nipples (no galvanized metals with food)
(3) 1/2" pipe caps
(1) 1/2" Ball valve
(4) 3/8 x 2" stainless bolts (with thread entire length of bolt)
(4) 3/8" flat washers
(4) 3/8" lock washers
(1) 12" long thermometer

TOOLS NEEDED

3/4" drill bit
3/8" drill bit
MIG welder (if you don't have access to one you can use JB weld)
Jigsaw or Sawzall with metal blades
Tape measure
Pencil or chaulk


OK...first thing you will need to do is find a drum that has not had any toxic chemicals or oil in it.... Once you get one it is time to drill 4 evenly spaced 3/4" holes 3" from the bottom of the drum....

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Now get a good hot fire in it and stuff it full of wood so it will burn off anything inside of it...I drilled the holes first so it can breath when while it's burning out...Don't forget about the lid ...Be carefull not to get the lid to hot or it could warp..

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During the burn out you can start to build the coal basket...You will want it to be plenty wide and tall enough so that it will hold a large bag of charcoal....I used expanded metal and a small grill I had lying around for the bottom...Space the bottom part of the grate about 3" from the sides so that the coals will be elevated off the bottom, this way they will get enough air...You can bolt the expanded metal together or weld it..I did both...

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Once the fire dies down in the drum you can check to see if the burn was hot enough to remove any paint or liner from the inside of the drum...You may need to have another burnout if that is the case...

Ok..now it it time to weld the nipples into place..give yourself enough nipple on the outside so you can screw the caps on easily....(Don't laugh at my welds)

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This Ball valve is the fine tuning control of heat.

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Now you will want to drill (4) 3/8" holes evenly spaced 24" from the bottom of the drum...And install the bolts and washers..This is whats going to support the grill...

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Drill a hole about 1" under the grill just big enough for the thermometer to slide in and insert clip to see if it holds tight and doesn't slop around...

Now drill a 2" hole in the center of the lid for the exhaust...

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Now you can paint the drum with high temp paint or just leave it ugly like I did...Some folks go as far as painting them up all fancy and welding nice shiny exhaust tips on the lid like a smoke stack...For now the only thing I care about is the good tasting food that comes out...

Your all done and it's time to cook....Depending on what your going to cook you will need to plan on how much charcoal you will need to use....When doing pulled pork I cook at 225 for 10-15 hrs depending on how big the shoulders are...Burning charcoal these smokers can hold a temp of 225 for 20 hours...you might just have to shake it every 5-7 hours to let the ash fall through the grate..The smoke comes from what ever hardwood you want to use ...you will only use anywhere from 3-5 3x3" pieces per cook...Oak and Almond work good for about everything..but you may find a specific wood that you like most...Fruit woods are more mild and work good with poultry...

Basic instructions for smoking....

Take coal grate out of drum and pour charcoal inside of grate...take coals from center and create a void of charcoal in the center..Now take your wood and lay a few pieces in there spaced out so that it will be consumed evenly throughout the cook..In a charcoal chimney get a full stack lit and hot then dump into the void you created in the grate..Now lower the coal grate back into the smoker, install the thermometer and the grill and put the lid on...open vents and stabilize your temperature before adding the meat...

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Most of these smokers will run 225-250 with one cap off and the valve half shut.....



So far I have done Ribs, Pork Butts (pulled pork), Tri-Tip, Whole chicken and turkey, chuck roast, ...with Ribs and Pork Butt being every ones favorite....

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Pork Butts on...

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All done with a good bark..

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Pulled...

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Turkey..

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Ribs and a Tri-Tip..

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ABT's (Atomic Buffalo Turds)

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VERY cool BuckSnort, Thanks for the post!

____________________________________________________________________
Success is failure that tried one more time
 
Damn Snort....were gonna have to have a Ca MM bbq over there:)

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
 
BUCK that was awesome. Your post is very informative. Thank you very much for that. This post will need to be dug out of the archives at least once a year. It's things like this that will make this forum the best outdoor cooking & game care forum in the world.


"Vegetarians are cool. All I eat are vegetarians - except for the occasional mountain lion steak."
-Ted Nugent-
 
My brother built one in my parents backyard. His burn box was set aside from the can. We used to smoke fish and sausage in it. It's still there I might have to fire it up to see if it still works. Snort, sausage making is nit that hard. You should try it. There is an online source to all the spices and cures you need called "The Sausage Maker". You should check it out.
 
That's awesome! Very well presented BS!

Eel

Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.
 
Hey BUCKSNORT I just built one and used it. It works like a champ. Thanx again.

"Vegetarians are cool. All I eat are vegetarians - except for the occasional mountain lion steak."
-Ted Nugent-
 
>Hey BUCKSNORT I just built one
>and used it. It
>works like a champ.
>Thanx again.


Cool...They work awesome once you figure out the temps and getting it going...You can make some killer ribs and pulled pork on these things...I made a great rub for ribs and pork buts if your interested in the recipe...

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ABT's... Core some Jalepenos and Stuff your cheese of choice (I have used cheddar,pepper jack and cream cheese) most people prefer the cream cheese) inside then wrap with bacon...smoke for about an hour at 250..

Rub.. 8 parts Brown sugar
3 parts Kosher salt
1 part chili powder

+1 part what ever spice you want...I mix granulated garlic,cayenne,ect...

This rub works awesome with pork


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I've been keeping an eye out for a barrel and am not having any luck...anyone in or near SLC want to sell me one or know where to get one?? I really wanna make one of these for my cabin this spring!!

~Z~
 
Hey Snort, I just made some ABTs. Even my wife,(who refuses to eat jalapenos) said they were great. I will make them again.
 
Never Catch, SLC is big, their there somewhere.. Maybe search the yellow pages for Barrels or Drums or containers? If all else fails I believe there is a few folks selling them on e-bay...But then you gotta pay the shipping..

Trix4me, That's good..I have made them before by grinding up Lil' Smokies and mixing into the cream cheese then stuffing the pepper...Good as well..


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I finally got around to buildin my smoker. It kicks ass. Anybody needin a barrel in cache valley get ahold of me i've got a bunch of them. They had one component of our bedliner material in them but with a good cleanin and a raging fire they work just great!
 
Hey Snort got my raging fire going right know will have it done tomorrow. Looking to try it on the 4th, what recipe temps ect did you like for whole chicken and can you do pork butts and chicken at same time? thanks in advance Sarg
 
Yes you can do them the same time...what you are gonna want to do is cook at or just below 300 deg...Dont go above 300 if your pork rub has sugar in it...Pull the chicken off when it's 180 in the thigh...The pork comes off at 200 then into foil to rest an hour before being pulled...

For poultry you may want to brine it overnight...You can google a simple brine recipe...Then wipe dry, rub a little EVOO on it and sprinkle garlic salt season salt and pepper...

At 300 deg your pork may be done in 5-6 hours...I would start the bird an hour or so into the cook...then when the but reaches 200 take it off and foil it and set it into a cooler to stay hot and rest for an hour...then open the air vents on the smoker to get the temps up to 350 to finish the bird while the pork is resting...

Hope this helps let me know how it turned out...

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I forgot one thing...You may want a lighter smoking wood to add to the coals...Apple or cherry goes good for both pork and poultry...I smoked a small turkey once with oak and it was a bit to much smoke flavor for some of my guests...

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Sarg, try smoking a pork butt sometime. I just did one at my home in Tempe, AZ for Independence Day, it was only about 105 degrees today so it was quite comfortable for smoking meat. It turned out scrumptious.

Buck you need to patent this smoker before somebody else does.

http://img1.jurko.net/avatar_13010.jpg[/img][/url]
 
Smoked up a batch of ribs this weekend turned out great. Used olive oil, garlic salt, onion salt, pepper, and brown sugar to marinade them in in. Then I used hickory wood and kept the heat at around 240. YUM
 
Hey Snort,
Here is a smoker my buddy built complete with smoke stack! He smoked some pork on it on the 4th of July it turned out great. I am just now getting around to posting a picture.

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^^^ Nice !

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I have a question what are the extra holes in the bottom for if they are just getting capped off I understand the ball valves purpose but not the other ones. Thanks for the great idea.
 
>I have a question what are
>the extra holes in the
>bottom for if they are
>just getting capped off I
>understand the ball valves purpose
>but not the other ones.
>Thanks for the great idea.
>

The extra holes provide the use of more air needed to get it up to temp...Once there they can be capped off...Also depending on what the goal smoke temp is you may have to take off one or two caps and use the valve to fine tune to desired temp..

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So couldnt a guy put 4 ball valves on it so you dont have to take off the caps. But than that would put the cost up a little bit more. Thanks Bucksnort you have been very helpful.
 
No problem...Yes you could put 4 ball valves on it if you want,just more money...Part of the fun for me is building something that works so good yet is super cheap to build...I guess I'm weird like that..lol

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