UDS / Homemade Barrel Cookers

wlfpkrcn wrote:

I have it welded together. I'll get pics up soon. Don't critcize the welds too much. I haven't welded in over a year and Expanded steel is not easy to weld... The bright side is I have a functional charcoal basket

Edit- Just scored a Weber Kettle for $25 off craigslist. Now I have the rest of my parts

I hear ya. I used to weld for a living, but that was about 15 years ago. I'm afraid to see what one of my welds would look like now I'm doing a no-weld version with my drum.

Your gonna love the drums. I tried an experiment this past weekend with a packer brisket on my drum. Point of reference; the Mrs. does not like brisket, but agreed to the test. I bought a packer brisket in the late morning. I brought it home, washed it and rubbed it with what I had on hand. I put it in the fridge in a plastic bag to wait.

Later in the evening I started and stabilized the drum at 225°F. At 8 p.m. I put the brisket in the drum with the fat side down. Two hours later I flipped the brisket. At three hours into the cook I flipped the brisket again, fat side down, in a disposible aluminum roasting pan and went to bed. At 7 a.m. the following morning I checked the brisket temperature; 200° F. I pulled the brisket and rested it 30 minutes and sliced it up for lunch. I put it back in the roasting pan, foiled the top and put it in the oven at a low temperature to hold it until lunch. The Mrs. said it was my best work yet. I have tried dozens of methods and recipes for brisket with no success. The brisket cooked eleven hours with no adjustments to the drum. The temperature was at 225°F when I pulled the brisket out of the drum. There we have Lazy Man's Brisket! I started with 10# of oak lump charcoal and 5 pieces of oak for smoke. I still had approximately 5# of charcoal left and three of the pieces of oak had not burned yet. That was an eleven hour smoke for under $3! I just continue to be amazed with the drum.

Kenny 13 wrote:

wlfpkrcn wrote:

Stopped my buddys fabrication shop last night. We stamped out an expanded steel charcoal basket. I'll weld it durung lunch and try toget soime pics up

Must be nice

I was hoping to have mine done by now. Had some bad weather the other day, and really busy with other things. Looks like I'm gonna finish it Saturday. I bought a 16" grate for $4 at Academy and I'm making a ring of expanded metal to attach to it for the charcoal basket. I'm going to try out a 16" terra cotta saucer (the kind you put under the large terra cotta flower pots) as an ash pan and I can just sit the charcoal basket on top of it.

BTW, I gotta give props to Gaudet - he pm'd me the other night to let me know he had a Weber kettle lid he no longer needed and was going out in the trash. Turns out he lives about a 15 minute drive from me, so I passed by his house last night & picked it up for use on my drum. Nice to put a face to the typing Good guy, and I appreciate the lid!

I knew it was going to a good home. There was no helping the belly...... It was beyond repair. I've had that grill outdoors for 7 years with no cover and the elements took their toll. I hope that it last you a long time. I'm sure you'll get some more good use out of it.

It was nice meeting you too Kenny........

Here's the pics...

Basket looks great to me! Besides, sometimes functional is better than pretty anyway.

Mike, I haven't cleaned up that lid yet, but it actually fits my drum with a slightly tighter seal than the lid for my kettle does. Thanks again!

TexaQ, sounds like you're getting some good use out of yours. Can't wait to try mine out. If I do get to finish it on Saturday like I'm hoping, I may give it a run with some ribs on Sunday.

Kenny 13 wrote:

Basket looks great to me! Besides, sometimes functional is better than pretty anyway.

Mike, I haven't cleaned up that lid yet, but it actually fits my drum with a slightly tighter seal than the lid for my kettle does. Thanks again!

TexaQ, sounds like you're getting some good use out of yours. Can't wait to try mine out. If I do get to finish it on Saturday like I'm hoping, I may give it a run with some ribs on Sunday.

I get to sample some of the maiden voyage cooking. I'll bring some beer.

gaudet wrote:

Kenny 13 wrote:

Basket looks great to me! Besides, sometimes functional is better than pretty anyway.

Mike, I haven't cleaned up that lid yet, but it actually fits my drum with a slightly tighter seal than the lid for my kettle does. Thanks again!

TexaQ, sounds like you're getting some good use out of yours. Can't wait to try mine out. If I do get to finish it on Saturday like I'm hoping, I may give it a run with some ribs on Sunday.

I get to sample some of the maiden voyage cooking. I'll bring some beer.

I'll let you know if I do. Going out with some friends Saturday night, so Sunday might be a real late sleeping day

I'm still doing those steaks on the kettle for my daughter's birthday tomorrow though. Picked up some beautiful ribeyes at Sam's tonight - 1.5" thick, and 3 steaks were a little over 3 pounds total. I called her a few minutes ago and told her to make sure she brings her apetite

I hear ya..

Enjoy those steaks and Happy B'Day to your daughter.


The wife and I are involved in home improvement project. We want to pour a new slab for a patio and cover in the back yard. Along with a grilling area for bad weather and entertaining outside. The patio is going to have a roughly 28'x20' footprint and covered area of 20'x20'. Not looking forward to those estimates, but it may not be as bad as I think.

gaudet wrote:

I hear ya..

Enjoy those steaks and Happy B'Day to your daughter.


The wife and I are involved in home improvement project. We want to pour a new slab for a patio and cover in the back yard. Along with a grilling area for bad weather and entertaining outside. The patio is going to have a roughly 28'x20' footprint and covered area of 20'x20'. Not looking forward to those estimates, but it may not be as bad as I think.

Last fall my parents had a patio done in their backyard. They live in Hammond and they had a guy come in and do it with the paving stones like you can get at Home Depot or Lowes. Considerably cheaper than pouring concrete and it really looks great. The guy who did it really did a first class job - did the edge around it with concrete to make it look nice and neat. He even did it with a slight slope away from the house so it wouldn't hold water from a heavy rainfall, which we've been getting a lot lately. They plan on adding a cover sometime this spring, then of course I'll have to add a BBQ pit (as has already been requested ).

If your son wasn't asleep in the truck I'd have asked you to come out back for a beer. I figured you had to get home after a long day at work. You could have seen the deck as it existed before I took Mr. Crowbar to it today. I gave thought to the pavers, but I would still need a ton of backfill to level it off. I have a friend that does decorative concrete and stamping, and he's going to help us put the finishing touches on it. Plan to make it look like a large tiled patio. Stain it like the tiles in our foyer, and seal it.

PROGRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got the top cut, grate and thermo installed, oxygen holes are drilled. I'll season it on sunday/monday. good to go for the party!!! I'll try to get som pics up

gaudet wrote:

If your son wasn't asleep in the truck I'd have asked you to come out back for a beer. I figured you had to get home after a long day at work. You could have seen the deck as it existed before I took Mr. Crowbar to it today. I gave thought to the pavers, but I would still need a ton of backfill to level it off. I have a friend that does decorative concrete and stamping, and he's going to help us put the finishing touches on it. Plan to make it look like a large tiled patio. Stain it like the tiles in our foyer, and seal it.

Yeah, well about 3/4 of the way home he woke up and said he was hungry so we had to turn around and go get something to eat Nothing like a growing 13 year old.

That patio should look great. And, of course, it's always nice to have friends who can help and keep the cost down.

wlfpkrcn wrote:

PROGRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got the top cut, grate and thermo installed, oxygen holes are drilled. I'll season it on sunday/monday. good to go for the party!!! I'll try to get som pics up

Sounds good. If I can get myself moving this morning I should have mine finished this afternoon - at least for the most part anyway. I want to put a small shelf on the side where I can stand my ET-73 and set a bowl of sauce, etc. That's gonna come a little later.

OK, for an update, I finally got left alone long enough to get this thing finished I should have pics posted later tonight. Anxious to try it out, but I'm booked up next weekend so it will be 2 weeks before I get a chance.

Here is a few pics