Ugly Drum Smoker

Well life has been busy the last few weeks.

I decided that I needed to build a UDS (Ugly Drum Smoker) since my previous smoking attempt on the Char-Broil left much to be desired. I have been reading on various forums the success that people were having with the UDS and since I knew we were going to be having a party, I needed to try it out.

The Basic concept of a UDS is a 55 gallon steel drum. Many people find them used on craigslist or through recycle centers. They then have to put some labor of love into them to get the drum ready for cooking uses. Since I was short on time, and was unable to find a used drum locally, I decided to just order a brand new drum in order to save a few steps in the building process.

My new drum arrived safe and sound.

In order for the drum to work as a smoker, I needed to drill some ventilation holes, construct a charcoal basket and mount a cooking grate. Anything else beyond that is not required to operate a drum smoker, but can certainly enhance the features and look of the drum. Since I was short on time, I went as basic as I could. Down the road I plan on adding some modifications to the drum to make it more efficient.

The first thing I needed to do was mark my intake holes on the drum, about 2 inches above the bottom. I made 4 x 1" intake holes. These holes will allow me to control the air intake of the drum and therefore control my fire and temperature...which is the most important feature of a good smoker.

Once the intakes holes were done, I needed to drill some venting holes in the top lid. Based on what I researched online, I needed to drill 8 x half inch holes. My friend Eric helped me with that.

We then built a hot fire to let it burn off any chemicals or residue in the drum that would be unsafe. Big Fire!

Next I constructed my charcoal basket. I used 18 gauge expanded steel (stainless steel only....never use galvanized or zinc coated). The steel came in 2 sheets 12 x 24. I took the charcoal grate from a Weber 18" grill and wrapped the expanded steel around that. I used stainless bolts to keep the steel formed and used stainless steel wire to tie the steel to the coal grate.

I used 3" bolts to life the coal grate up off the floor of the drum. This allows air to come up underneath the fire as well as allows room for the charcoal ash to fall through the grate and not block the air flow.

I then drilled some holes for the cooking grate. I wanted to use U-bolts to hold up the grate for a future plan of mine, but a standard bolt will do just fine as well. The last thing I did was mount a handle on the lid. I do not have any pictures of the handle at this time.

So that was my quick UDS build.

Enjoy,
Jared