- Aug 28, 2016
- 51
- 24
About a month ago, I built an Ugly Drum Smoker. Great experience and I have been able to produce some amazing BBQ. One of the challenges of a UDS is that it's hard to add any extra smoke once you have started cooking. I should mention that I use a diffuser plate, which essentially blocks any access to the charcoal basket.
I know that there are cold smoke generators on the market, but I really didn't want to spend that much money. Plus, I don't own an air compressor. So I decided to try and make the equivalent of a mini fire box. Inside the can is a tin can from something I bought at the grocery store. I'll place a couple of hot coals in the tin can and throw in some wood chips or chunks. I drilled some holes near the bottom of the bucket to ensure enough oxygen. When the lid is sealed tightly, almost 100 percent of the smoke goes into the smoker. Here, there was no heat source inside of the drum. It was room temperature and all of the smoke was coming from inside the bucket. Sorry, I should have taken a picture from the top to show how much smoke was coming out.
Even without the law of thermodynamics working for me to create a vacuum, I had no problem getting at least 2 hours of good smoke. I could have gone longer, but decided to shut it down. The great thing is that everything inside the tin can was hot enough that I could have added some more chips/chunks and easily gotten another 2-3 hours of smoke.
I know it's kind of lowbrow, but it only set me back about $6!
I know that there are cold smoke generators on the market, but I really didn't want to spend that much money. Plus, I don't own an air compressor. So I decided to try and make the equivalent of a mini fire box. Inside the can is a tin can from something I bought at the grocery store. I'll place a couple of hot coals in the tin can and throw in some wood chips or chunks. I drilled some holes near the bottom of the bucket to ensure enough oxygen. When the lid is sealed tightly, almost 100 percent of the smoke goes into the smoker. Here, there was no heat source inside of the drum. It was room temperature and all of the smoke was coming from inside the bucket. Sorry, I should have taken a picture from the top to show how much smoke was coming out.
Even without the law of thermodynamics working for me to create a vacuum, I had no problem getting at least 2 hours of good smoke. I could have gone longer, but decided to shut it down. The great thing is that everything inside the tin can was hot enough that I could have added some more chips/chunks and easily gotten another 2-3 hours of smoke.
I know it's kind of lowbrow, but it only set me back about $6!
