betterthanabox
Senior Cook
Love it!
They're very easy to build. The hardest part is finding an unlined food-safe drum or just buy a re-furbished drum and give it a good initial burn with scrap lumber before you begin your build.
I wanted to season the drum further so I cooked up some chicken thighs last night. Now the drum is nice and greasy inside and the vent door slides smoothly by foot, no squatting down to adjust. I like that.
Fix mate I love it, I want it. Have you named her/him yet?I wanted to season the drum further so I cooked up some chicken thighs last night. Now the drum is nice and greasy inside and the vent door slides smoothly by foot, no squatting down to adjust. I like that.
Yes, I cut a piece of sheet metal, sandwiched 2 strips of metal top and bottom to channel the draft door, riveted them to the drum, then drilled vent holes through the sheet metal and drum at the same time. Then I inserted the draft door.I've been looking at this for a little while now.. how did you do that bottom vent? Did you cut your own sheet metal and bolt it on? I'm kind of confused
Yes, I cut a piece of sheet metal, sandwiched 2 strips of metal top and bottom to channel the draft door, riveted them to the drum, then drilled vent holes through the sheet metal and drum at the same time. Then I inserted the draft door.
The vent holes are 3/4" ea and I left a little space there for a 4th hole just in case 3 were not enough.
The drum will chug along at 250F for hours with only a partial opening of just one vent hole as shown in the previous photo. You would open all three vent holes only during start up to bring drum up to operating temp or if you need to do high temp cooks.
Hope this helps
I did some spatched chicken in the drum last night, brined them overnight, they were pretty juicy.