Hey all. I've been hard at work both reading a ton of stuff on here trying to learn about smoking meats and stuff, as well as building myself a UDS. I got lucky and had one of the warehouse guys at work give me a BRAND NEW/NEVER USED 55 gallon drum. It has a removable lid but no bungholes. After reading about and watching a ton of these builds online, I decided to get started. Let me know if I did anything wrong. Pics will come as soon as I can.
I started by deciding how exactly I wanted to build mine. I changed a few things up for convenience as well as looks. I also had some materials(carriage bolts) that could be used for the build already so I used them instead of buying new. I decided to use three ball valves instead of nipples for maximum adjustability as well. These three valves are all mounted on 24" nipples that run up the side of the drum instead of being at the bottom where i'd have to bend over.
So after deciding on a layout, I drilled three 1" holes two inches up from the bottom of the drum. Then drilled three holes directly inline with those holes for my grill grate bolts and my bolts for the mounting hardware and handles. Once all the holes were drilled, I took that sucker outside and burned all the paint off with my weed burner. Sanded it down with my grinder and slapped some high temp black grill paint on it.
Then the other night I started putting all the hardware on and she started to look like a smoker. Almost done now but still need to get some of the stuff to make the charcoal basket. Can't wait to finish this project and start smoking. Thanks for all the info y'all put on this site. A new guy like me needs all the help I can get.
I started by deciding how exactly I wanted to build mine. I changed a few things up for convenience as well as looks. I also had some materials(carriage bolts) that could be used for the build already so I used them instead of buying new. I decided to use three ball valves instead of nipples for maximum adjustability as well. These three valves are all mounted on 24" nipples that run up the side of the drum instead of being at the bottom where i'd have to bend over.
So after deciding on a layout, I drilled three 1" holes two inches up from the bottom of the drum. Then drilled three holes directly inline with those holes for my grill grate bolts and my bolts for the mounting hardware and handles. Once all the holes were drilled, I took that sucker outside and burned all the paint off with my weed burner. Sanded it down with my grinder and slapped some high temp black grill paint on it.
Then the other night I started putting all the hardware on and she started to look like a smoker. Almost done now but still need to get some of the stuff to make the charcoal basket. Can't wait to finish this project and start smoking. Thanks for all the info y'all put on this site. A new guy like me needs all the help I can get.
