Paint is done, new UDS ready for smoke!

[Grillatarian]

Finally! Finished up my new drum, '55 Mag'. Paint is cured and interior has been seasoned. Weather permitting I will feed it on Saturday!

[Big Ed]

Man that's real nice, can't wait to see some meat coming off it!!

[Sailor Kenshin]

Sweeeeet!

You have a hinged lid? Superb.

[Swamp Donkeyz BBQ]

Great Job!! Looks really good!

[Grillatarian]

Sweeeeet!

You have a hinged lid? Superb.

Yessir, I do! The bottom half of kettle was a bit hefty for winging around, plus it will help me keep the time of 'open drum' down during meat exchanges, checks and tweaks.

I used two horseshoes along with some pre-fab hinges I found at a local metal yard for $4. I bolted uan old shovel head to the drum to give it support and make a decent welding platform. The large (tossing style) shoe is stationary, the real horseshoe is just a stop.




On the other end I made a heavy duty handle out of some blackjack oak.

[Grillatarian]

Man that's real nice, can't wait to see some meat coming off it!!

Thanks! It was a fun build but like you say, it needs meat! If the weather forecast stays true it will be rolling smoke over ribs and a butt by tomorrow morning!

[jayzi]

How did you get the bottom of the kettle to fit the drum?

[Sailor Kenshin]

Can't wait to see!

[Grillatarian]

How did you get the bottom of the kettle to fit the drum?

If you look at the pic of the handle you will see where I tack welded the kettle to the original steel lid. I hit it with short welds every 6 to 8in. all around the outside, then use a cut off disc to cut the interior of the steel lid out. Once I smooth that sharp edge down with a file I shoot a bead of fire retardant sealer all around the interior kettle to steel lid seam.

I'll be honest, this drum was one of the old ones that I had stashed back. It came with the dreaded red liner and some doinks in the side and on the lid. Took a lot of time to get it burned out, cleaned up and straightened out to form a good lid to drum fit. When I found the Dallas drum supplier that sells clean drums I quit buying the beat up ones with the red liners. I can buy a clean as a whistle and perfectly round drum for ~$40. Worth it to me, but I am also just 25m north of Dallas.

In any event, the old rusty drum had been burmed out and setting at the back of the shop for almost 6 months when I got to thinking about the kettle bottoms I had laying around. I knew they would make an awesome dome if I could only figure out the hinge part. Finding steel hinges already punched out at metal shop solved my problem. The dolly platform is from an old paint spray rig that was in the trash, old scrap rebar, plumbing, old horseshoes and paint. I did have to buy about $35 in hardware to do the fire basket, rack holders and 1" air intakes with one throttle valve, another $5 worth of scrap expansion.

TT&L out of pocket was around $110. But I do tend to collect junk and strip parts off of any and everything before it hits the trash. Having the free 'wheels' certainly saved some bucks. Plus, I found the paint on sale, 2 fer 1, at a local auto parts store.

[ChileFarmer]

Super nice, watching for smoke. CF

[Grillatarian]

First smoke rolling out around 8 A.M. Easy to start up with the 1" intakes. When it climbed to 200 I shut down the front one. It went to 225 and I closed down the valve about half way. Still climbed over 250 so I shut it down completely. It stayed there and never dropped.

Apparently the lid to drum seal is drafting enough to keep the fire basket going. I put a couple of small C-clamps on it finally began to drop back to 225. Looks like I will be putting a bead of RTV on the lid....after the cook.

[Grillatarian]

Ribs came out awesome!


Small rack of baby backs with loin meat up front.



Just pulled the pork butt- tenderlicious! Bone slipped right out!

[Sailor Kenshin]

Superb!

Kinda like the chair, too.

[Big Ed]

Man that's some fine grub!! That's awesome how you mounted the lid, Thanks for sharing brutha!!!

[ChileFarmer]

I see smoke and meat, and it is looking good. Nice. CF