Ugly Drum Smoker

Although you probably cant tell from the recipes listed here, but I love to cook outdoors. I bought a cheap smoker but wasn't happy with having to babysit it to keep the temperatures steady.

Thats when I heard about Ugly Drum Smokers (UDS). I decided to go ahead and build one to try it out. I'm so glad that I did. The smoker is great. I have had it lit and maintained 225° to 250° for over 24 hours and never added or stoked coals. Here is the way that I built the smoker. Feel free to make any changes that you see fit.


Parts/Hardware list:

Smoker:
55 Gallon Drum
8 - 3/4" Pipe Nipples
1 - 3/4" Ball Valve
3 - 3/4" Pipe Caps
4 - 3/4" 90° Elbows
18 - 3/4" Conduit Nuts
3 - 4" Eye Bolts
3 - 6" (or 8") Eye Bolts
12 - Nuts (for the eye bolts)
6 - Acorn Nuts (for the eye bolts)
12 - Fender Washers (for the eye bolts)
3 - Handles (with mounting hardware)
1 - 22" Round Cooking Grate
1 - Thermometer

Fire Ring:
1 - 17" Round Charcoal Grate
8 - Fender Washers (in addition to above)
8 - 1/4" X 1/2" bolts and nuts
1 - 12" X 24" sheet expanded metal

I bought the drum at my local feed store for $15 with a good lid. It has Olive Oil in it so it was food grade and it was unlined. The Thermometer ($8) and the two grates ($3 and $5) I found at Academy. The ball valve and step drill came from Harbor Freight but can be bought at Home Depot or Lowes. The rest of the hardware came from Home Depot.

I started by doing a small burn in my drum. I didn't do a large burn because we were in a burn ban in our community at the time. Be sure to remove any gasket that is in the lid.

Using the step drill four 1" holes even spaced and about 2" to 2 1/2" from the bottom of the drum. Insert a pipe nipple in each hole with a conduit nut on each side. Place a cap on three nipples and the ball valve on the fourth nipple.

Drill three holes evenly spaced for the eye bolts (you determine the size according to the eye bolts that you purchase). Place one of the longer eye bolts in each hole along with a fender washer on each side, a nut on each side and the acorn nut on the outside of each eye bolt.

Now do the same thing with the shorter eye bolts measuring 6" from the top lip of the drum.

Now drill four 1" holes spaced evenly apart in the lid. Put a pipe nipple with a conduit nut on both sides in each hole. Put a 90° elbow on each pipe nipple.

Drill holes and mount one handle in the center of the lid. Also find a good place to mount two handles on the drum so that you can easily move the drum.

Mount the thermometer 3" below the cooking grate. This should get the thermometer probe far enough below the grate that nothing should hit it.

Now build the fire ring.

Using a Dremel tool, I cut the expanded metal in half to make two 6" x 24" pieces. Set them next to each other making them into one long piece. Use two bolts, fender washers on each side and a nut to secure the two pieces. Now bring the two outside edges together to make a circular piece. Place two bolts, fender washers and nuts there as well.

Place the charcoal grate on top of the bottom eyebolts and set the fire ring on the grate. Now place the cooking grate on the top eyebolts and your done.

You might want to buy some high temp spray paint and paint the drum, but they dont call the Ugly Drum Smokers for nothing!

Spray everything inside including the barrel and lid itself with PAM Cooking Spray, place some charcoal in the fire ring and light it. This will season it.

Personally, I would do one or two dry runs to make sure that your temperaures will get where you want them and hold steady. Once you have the drum lit and up to temperature, adjust the ball valve in small incriments to adjust the temperature.

If the temperature just doesnt get up high enough, remove one of them caps on the pipe nipples on the bottom. This shouldn't be a problem though, but better to have the option and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Optional - If you wish, drill four more holes evenly spaced 6 " below the top set of eye bolts and buy another cooking grate. I wouldn't recommend this grate for cooking, but it will serve well to place a deflector or a water pan on if desired.


This picture was taken before a cook while the temperature was stabilizing. This temperature shown here is way to high to smoke with. 225° to 250° is the range that I prefer.


The next two pictures were taken before I installed the second grate just below the top grate and before I added two more exhaust outlets in the lid.