Stainless Steal Vertical Drum Build

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

pbcone

Newbie
Original poster
Jun 8, 2011
17
11
jacksonville FL
Well this will be my first post for the forum. I have enjoyed the past couple months reading every ones build and recipes preparing myself for this project and I want to thank everyone alot. Could not have done it without everyone else sharing their ideas. My build is a 30" diameter 3' tall Stainless steal barrel. I'm mounting this on a fire box that i made out of the bed of a Kawi TERYX. The fire box is 3'x3' and a foot tall. Inside the box i will mount a charcoal basket on a slide out rail that will be 2'x2' 8" deep. Rack are going to be 3- 29" diameter circles mounted on a roller system so they will act more or less like over sized lazy susans. insulation is 1" thick Kaowool that i picked up off ebay.

bd25e4af_P1020635.jpg


This is insulating the bottom of the firebox. I welded a sheet of 20ga steel to cover it.

dec0e34d_P1020636.jpg


This is the outer wall assembly on the fire box. 20ga steel sheet and 1" angle iron for the frame.

47c7da04_P1020637.jpg


insulating the walls on the firebox. Worked out the spacing by using the same 1" angle for the depth on the kaowool

20d8a8a0_P1020638.jpg


fire box just about finished... just have to add the insulation and top cover piece ( its going to be 1/8" steel)

7e749bf1_P1020640.jpg


This is about what it will look like when its all said and done. I will insulate the cooking chamber before i'm finished. My door is going to be 18-20" wide 3' tall and will hinge up and be held shut assisted by gas shocks. (stole that idea from a gentleman who did an insulated vertical build with the nicest glass stove door on his firebox). i will have a 15" square water box between the fire and smoke box, Also my exhaust is going to be 5" diameter mounted on the top. It will be controlled by a butterfly valve and i'm not sure how long it will be yet. I bought a chrome stack off of a semi truck for 25$ and its 6' long, but i will probably cut the stack down to 4'
 
Last edited:
Welcome to SMF looks like your a racer. You will have lots of good smokes at the races with that real nice rig...looking forward to the progress !!!!!
 
HOLY SMOKES !!!!!! 
super.gif


 Welcome to the SMF. Glad to have you here. Lots of good folks, great recipes and knowledge. Looking forward to  your first qview. 
icon14.gif
 
Wow! 
icon_eek.gif
You gonna mount that thing on wheels, a trailer, or will it be stationary?


it will be on a base about 2ft off the ground on 4" swivel casters. i would like to be able to load it into a trailer and possibly do a couple bbq competitions
 
Week Update. So i finished the fire box. here is what it's looking like so far. Had to do alot of welding. If i did this all over i would spend the extra $$ on 18ga steel vice 20 for the walls it would make the welding go alot faster. Welding the thin metal just took some patients, but it worked and is sound. The basket is on a rail system similar like racks in an oven. I might put a tray underneath the basket to catch ashes. I'm going to try it like this and see if the ash build up during long smokes becomes a problem or if i can just push it to the side and keep burning. If i have to clean out ash during a long smoke i will add the tray or possibly an ash dump because i would rather not drag the ashes out the door.

This design was intended to burn charcoal only, but could anyone shine light on the ability to burn wood in my fire box??? not sure if it would work but the box seems like it is big enough. I stick to charcoal mainly because the temp control is easier. This build will also have a water box in the bottom of the smoke chamber just haven't built that yet.

d81a34db_P1020641.jpg
c2b45b66_P1020643.jpg
b4abacab_P1020645.jpg
e26c1316_P1020650.jpg
6cfeb79d_P1020651.jpg
f409a46f_P1020652.jpg
 
So I cut the door in the smoke chamber. Cutting Stainless wasn't hard, i used an angle grinder with a 4 in metal cut wheel, the stainless will definatly eat through drill bits and cutting wheels twice as fast as cold rolled steel.

 
f46eb67b_P1020653.jpg


bd2550ce_P1020654.jpg


Build the butterfly valve for the exhaust. I will add a control arm that will operate the damper from the edge of the top of the smoker. The stack i picked up off craigs list for 25 buck (steal!!) and was 6 ft tall 5" diameter. Now the smoker sits 6 ft alone, so adding another 6 ft of chrome was a little too much i would only be able to roll this thing around on sundays and i would have to have permission from the local airports to violate their airspace. So i cut it down to a more reasonable  4'.

1e869228_P1020661.jpg


2462cf0d_P1020658.jpg


40442b3d_P1020660.jpg


Cutting the hold in the top of the cooking chamber was easy, i used cut off wheels to get the rough shape and then grind down the edges to make it round. Here is what it looked like before the final grinding. It would be alot easier to do with a hole saw or a plasma cutter, but shows that you can make just about anything work even without having all the fancy machinery to do it like the pros. But then as well this is just a smoker, it doesn't have to be perfect. Anyone looked at "The Beast" yet??? i love that build. i used RVT to make a gasket for the exhaust flange

3c11eae6_P1020659.jpg


Finished up the seal for the door. Its just offset 2" steel flatbar. Again it would be nice to weld stainless but i do not have the setup and i really like how the button head bolts look. the door will hinge up and be supported by 2 gas shocks.

8f9e6356_P1020663.jpg


57184895_P1020662.jpg
 
Thank you all. Tonight i finished the 3 circle racks. I cut them out of expanded #9 sheet and then wrapped them with 1" by 1/8" flatbar to made the grates rigid. I was quite impressed with the how they turned out. I drew my circle using a screw as a piviot point and a sharpee on the end of a string, and then cut them with an angle grinder. I also ordered a set (2)  Maverick OT3 BBQ thermometers. These will be monitor the temp at the top and bottom of the smoking chamber and i will have a good idea of the temps inside. My backup will be a little 2" temp gauge mounted in the the center of the door, not extremely accurate but it will never rely on batteries. Can anyone tell me were i can order small quantity of ceramic rope for my door seal??  Well that's it for now off to bed i will post up the new pics tomorrow.

F96lt9RETy0VXemK4cCupn0l5Tiv54n3952PjywV3JCMJeXvWw.jpg
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky