Ugly Drum Smoker

[ceyko]

Fat cap up.

IMHO, whatever your traditions and beliefs are - is exactly what you should do. This assumes your food comes out the way you LOVE it. If hopping to/from the smoker on one leg works....do it.

Remember, you'll never please everyone and you'll often just f it up. What matters though is when you get it right that you and your immediate family have a great experience after all your effort.

[momo]

I'm a brisket smoking SOB... In fact it's the only thing I smoke.

[01svtboy]

I'm a brisket smoking SOB... In fact it's the only thing I smoke.

smoked brisket at momos house sat evening! EVERYONE IS INVITED!!!





















jk lol

[01svtboy]

i think this design is superior!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX6ogR_03jM&feature=related

[stevo]

I have used the homemade barrel types and my bitch, along with the direct heat issue, is that they will rust out quickly. The new smoker I am building uses 3/8 steel for the burn-box and the actual pit. It will outlive me.

Stevo

[Trick Pony]

My brisket is forgettable. Its better than your average backyard bbq'r, but I've had a lot better. My pulled pork is almost lethal though. I've found a solid foundation, but I still think there is more in it.

I actually used your recommendations on smoking butts from the thread a while back as far as using mustard and injecting with beer, temps, and resting for a while before pulling, and mine came out better than it ever has so I can vouch for your technique.

[futant]

my brother is also totally sold on these things and built a few
he gave me one, but I don't really have much input since I've only grilled on it for quite a while

all i have to say , is bolt some damn wings on it so you can set a plate / utensils down. I did this with some spare wood and it's a lot easier to use now.
I've used a crap load of grills and smokers though, and I can say it does everything perfectly fine.
It seals up nicely so no rain water gets in.
it can hold a ton of ash
it's easy to use and seals well enough the air holes/ control covers work as expected (wouldn't you know how many commericial ones suck balls at sealing whatso ever)

he has me pretty sold on the FACT that countless people have come up with a method where you can start X number of coals, put them on a pile of coals/wood and it will smoke unmonitored all night without issues.
To me that is a huge selling point over all the other ones ive used. Idon't like spending all day monitoring a fucking fire. I want to have good meat, not be a cave man all day looking a guage tending a fire. I have fucking shit to do!
all the other smokers ive used piss me off to no end. they don't seal, they don't heat evenly , the smoke just all comes out (indirect pos ones) , they rust the fuck out, they get water in them then grow mold.

It's amazing it took the internet to make this happen, it's so simple in design / construction. Simple is better
they aren't the most pretty things, but oh well. We call it the HOBO GRILL.
kinda fits the way it looks.

I'm just glad I didn't even have to build mine, I just keep improving on it's design here and there if I think of something later. FREE, how do you beat that.
I got another free indirect one , lasted less than a year rusted out .
Total bitch to smoke on too. im never going to go back to that.

Eventually if I get around to testing the method they use of lighting like 12 briquets and setting them on the pile to smoke unmonitored - I'll post how my experiment worked.
My brother says he just lights 12, puts it on a pile of I guess about 25 more, then a log or two for smoke. Unfortunately I don't have whole logs, so I'll have to use something else for smoke. point is it should go for like 10-12 hours without doing shit.

[Trick Pony]

Eventually if I get around to testing the method they use of lighting like 12 briquets and setting them on the pile to smoke unmonitored - I'll post how my experiment worked.
My brother says he just lights 12, puts it on a pile of I guess about 25 more, then a log or two for smoke. Unfortunately I don't have whole logs, so I'll have to use something else for smoke. point is it should go for like 10-12 hours without doing shit.

As mentioned in my previous post, that's how I do it and it works great. It's called the 'Minion' method.

[futant]

hmmm kinda funny , my brother got bored and started blogging about his UDS.
Can't believe they've made like 20 of these things.
no wonder i got one for free already completed!

http://disorganizedsports.blogspot.com/

he mentions the minion method there...

[futant]

well I smoked a 12lb brisket on Easter and was very , very impressed with how the UDS did.

By far the easiest smoking ever done to date.
makes me actually want to do it again!

I only checked it 3 times over a 7 hour period, and found very little needed.

did the minion method. about half a bag of charcoal (8-9lbs i think), + a dozen fist sized mequite chunks intermixed.
made it kind of concave shaped in the firering.
lit about 18 coals and got them going about half way and dumped on top.
opened bottom vents on drum (4 1" holes) and top on weber vent

about 3 hours later it looked too high on my temp gauge 300degrees, so I stuck the foil under the fatty side, closed the vents all half way.
That worked perfect , it stayed at 200 degrees the last 4 hours and i could have probably gone longer on the fuel.
Internal temp was 200 on my brisket though, so I took it off.

tasted awesome.
I actually marinated it this time over night , and I would definitely say it was worth it compared to dry rub..... which doesn't seem to do much except for the outside surface mainly.

very impressed , very easy. managed to nap my ass off, while the rest of you would have been working that smoker like a fat, sweaty , hungry, train conductor, tossing logs in there and screwing with vents, etc

[bcoop]

I have a hard time believeing that your internal temp on the brisket reached 300 degrees, and was edible. That's a charred fucking hockey puck at that point.

[mstng86]

I have a hard time believeing that your internal temp on the brisket reached 300 degrees, and was edible. That's a charred fucking hockey puck at that point.

I was thinking the same thing. But I wasn't going to be an asshole and point it out.

[bcoop]

I was thinking the same thing. But I wasn't going to be an asshole and point it out.

That's what I do best.

[mstng86]

That's what I do best.

So you're the other man my mom keeps telling my dad about!

[GrayStangGT]

If we would ever get some rain I would build me one of these, but with the current conditions out here I'm afraid to get a big enough fire going to burn one out good.