Help on vertical smoker?

[porco]

well I have decided to build a vertical smoker (drum smoker) and I have done some homework and still I am am not clear on a few things. My question are.

1. When I build my charcoal basket how large will I have to built it in order to have a enough fuel to smoke for at least 6-8 hours?

2. When placing the wood chips/chunks in the smoker do I place them directly on top of the charcoal or should I build another basket to hold the wood and then put the basket on top of the charcoal?

3.with this type of smoker, will I have to pull everything out of the drum to replenish the charcoal?

4. Set up properly, how long should one load of charcoal last me?

This weekend I'm having some friends over to try out some of my creations and I want to make shire I have everything down pat so we can have some good eats. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Danny

 

[richtee]

There are plans for the UDS here somewhere, and I'm sure BBQBubba can help...but if yer planning on using it this weekend hmmm... AND get it's use down? I'd delay a couple weeks, man.

 

[va_connoisseur]

^^^^^^^^^

What he said. It will take you some time to get it set up and practice with it.

 

[pigcicles]

My answers are in red within the quote. Here's a link to a build of one of my drums. Hope this helps.

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t...moker%20Build/

 

[bbq bubba]

Joe beat me to all the good answers.