NFOA MEMBERS FORUM
General Categories => Non Gun Stuff => Topic started by: bkoenig on May 03, 2010, 08:14:13 AM
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I'm pretty excited about this...
I've been cooking on an el cheapo Brinkman smoker for the last 4-5 years and it's ok, but nothing special. It needs the charcoal replaced every 2-3 hours, which makes smoking something like a brisket a real pain, especially if I'm doing it overnight for lunch. It also doesn't hold much meat. I wanted something bigger and more efficient, but I'm cheap, so I decided to build it myself. I found a thread on "Ugly Drum Smokers" here http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23436 (http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23436) and decided to give it a try. It sounds like these things are taking the barbeque world by storm, since they make great Q without having to dump a lot of money into a professional rig.
So, I found a used drum that formerly held soybean oil and went to work. I used a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade to cut the top out, and added a lid from a knock off of a Weber grill. I think it turned out pretty well. On my first test this weekend it ran for 7 hours on a 1/2 load of charcoal, without having to adjust the air vents much. It made the best smoked chicken I've ever had, along with a bunch of sausage too. If you're into barbeque and are competent enough to run a drill and saw you owe it to yourself to build one of these:
(http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg215/bkoenig1975/IMG_1332.jpg)
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Outstanding. I'll email you my address so you can drop off some pork loin, I'm thinking 5lbs. How does Sat morning sound? Great see you then!
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VERY NICE, I too believe in cost efficiency. ;) I may have to build me one of them contraptions,too
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Now I just need to build a cart for it and give it a custom paint job (flames). None of that is necessary, but it would be really cool.
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How do you load the smoker? Is there a firebox door on the bottom?
Where did you find the plans??
Greg58
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The plans are in the link in the original post, but this forum has a more concise description : http://www.thepickledpig.com/forums/general-bbq-grilling/832-our-uds-cooker-how-build-one-part-1-a.html.
To load it you just fill the charcoal basket and put it in the bottom of the barrel. Then you light 10 or so coals in a separate pan, and when they're totally ashed over drop them on top of the unlit coals, and you're ready to go. There's no firebox door because you want it to be as airtight as possible. Temperature is controlled by increasing/decreasing the airflow. I leave the top vent all the way open and just open or shut the bottom as needed.
I did ribs on it yesterday and they turned out incredible.
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Check it out...
http://omaha.craigslist.org/bfs/1776423460.html (http://omaha.craigslist.org/bfs/1776423460.html)
(http://images.craigslist.org/3n93p83o55V35T35S4a65212afb87e7151374.jpg)