55 gallon drum propane build

Careful, don't blow yourself up... Make sure you have plenty of air flow... Maybe cheaper, safer and easier with better flavor to do charcoal.

I built one for my 55 gallon drum. My UDS BUFORD has a side door where I insert the burner and chip pan. Used it once. I'll probably use it in the future for a "warmer" drum.

It gets up to heat, takes a while. Running full bore on a large burner maintained 275-300. Pop the top, lose the heat.

I think it would work better in the smaller drums.

Here is where I bought my burner, regulator, etc. I bought the biggest cast burner.

https://tejassmokers.com/

I had one that used the burner from a typical side burner on a grill. Brass means no corrosion whatsoever. Plenty od heat available dueinf the summer, even more without the water pan, but challenging during the winter because the chamber was not insulated

Those burners don't throttle down very good. At low settings they tend to blow out very easily. Filling up a large drum with propane and smoldering wood chips can result in a major disaster. I personally wouldn't run any gas burner inside of an enclosure that does not have some sort of flame out safety valve.

Why does it seem like no one ever has anything good to say about a propane powered UDS? I built one and believe that I pretty much have it locked down. First of all I am pretty sure I am not going to blow myself up, because it has a thermocouple shut-off valve courtesy of Mr. Heater. I have a 10 psi adjustable regulator on my tank. It is pretty easy to adjust the flame.

One of the big mistakes that I see people make when thinking about using propane, is putting air (breather) holes on the side. I put a round pan through the bottom of the drum with breather holes drilled into the bottom of the pan. The pan was a galvanized Behrens Hog Pan 3.5 gallons 16" diameter, but I removed the galvanization with Muriatic Acid (see Youtube). I covered the holes in the pan with stainless steel mesh from a range hood filter (tore off the aluminum frame). This helps keep out critters and slows down any possible wind (as if the holes being on bottom weren't enough). The 16.5" charcoal grate from a Weber 22.5" grill just happens to fit perfectly on top of the pan, to hold my wood chip box. I have a small side door to load wood chunks into my chip box. I stole that door from an old ECB (el cheapo Brinkmann).

I didn't put a smoke stack in the lid, I used the design from D-Meat Barrel smoker. The lid can be turned and adjusted to create a gap for the smoke to flow from the smoker. It keeps the heat in and the wind out. The lid gap adjusts from 1/8" to 1/2" to 7/8". A 1/8" gap is equivalent to a 2 3/4" diameter smoke stack. That is what I used for hot smoking.

I put a fully adjustable grate system in it using an adjustable closet shelf rack. I saw this on the internet and would like to give credit for a great idea to whom ever it was that thought of it. I have three racks. The bottom one holds a pizza pan heat deflector/drip tray. the other two are adjustable to hold your food.

It hold temps great and had no problem running in wind gusts up to 20mph here in Ohio on Thanksgiving day. I cooked a brisket on the top grate and used the middle one to place a pan to catch the drippings. All in all I would say it is a success. So what's the problem with a Propane UDS?

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMjusMZdt0E"]Propane Ugly Drum Smoker - YouTube[/ame]

jpbsarris said:

Those burners don't throttle down very good. At low settings they tend to blow out very easily. Filling up a large drum with propane and smoldering wood chips can result in a major disaster. I personally wouldn't run any gas burner inside of an enclosure that does not have some sort of flame out safety valve.

Click to expand...

I beg to differ, mine throttles down very easily and is not affected by the wind because of my design. I can adjust mine way down. Check out my video in my post above.

just off hand, why are you using a high pressure BTU burner instead of a low pressure BTU Burner?

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Camp-Chef-Universal-Output-Single-Burner/1219570.uts?searchPath=%2Fbrowse.cmd%3FcategoryId%3D734095080%26CQ_search%3Dlow%2Bpressure%2Bpropane%2Bburner%26CQ_st%3Db

I was not at all trying to put down propane smokers, just trying to point out some safety considerations. I have two propane smokers myself. I have used a low pressure grill burner to convert a smoker over to propane and it worked very well. Quite stable at all ranges.
As far as the Mr Heater safety valve, I have used that exact same setup with the low pressure burner and feel that is provides a decent safety measure for a low cost. However I was told by the manufacturer that the Mr Heater safety valve was not designed to work with high pressure devices over 1/2 psi. Safety valves designed for high pressure are quite expensive.

This comes straight from the Operating Instructions and Owners Manual for the tank top heater that uses this shut-off valve.

11. Minimum inlet gas pressure is 20 psi.

12. Maximum inlet gas pressure is 120 psi (equivalent to an ambient temperature of 75°F (24°C)).

D_Weezy said:

This comes straight from the Operating Instructions and Owners Manual for the tank top heater that uses this shut-off valve.

11. Minimum inlet gas pressure is 20 psi.

12. Maximum inlet gas pressure is 120 psi (equivalent to an ambient temperature of 75°F (24°C)).

Click to expand...

This appears to me to be specs for the minimum & maximum INLET pressure that is listed for the heater to work with. It would be the pressure coming out of the tank and that is dependent on the boiling point of propane at different ambient temperatures. I don't think that has anything to due with the operating psi that this safety device is designed for. That said it MIGHT work with a high pressure burner but I'd stick with a low pressure burner if I didn't know for sure. Much better to be safe than sorry. Maximum psi for a low pressure safety valve is usually about 14 water column inches (approx 1/2 psi). Most high pressure safety valves can be used up to about 25 psi and some even higher. It would be a lot cheaper to buy a low pressure burner and use the Mr Heater safety valve with a low pressure regulator and needle valve than to buy a high pressure safety valve.

When I built my smoker, all I did was copy the setup that all the turkey fryers companies use. My fish fryer burner is the same as theirs. The adjustable regulator I used is the same (they use either a 5 or 10 psi adjustable regulator). They also use the same thermocouple safety shut-off valve and thermocouple that I bought for my setup (I researched it and they are same). My point is, I assumed if this is what they used and they can sell them to the public, than why wouldn't it work for me? Theirs works and mine works just like theirs. I am not trying to be a smart-$$$, I just don't see any problems. I think the video of my smoker in-use speaks for itself. [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIGiCWXv73U"]Turkey Fryer Lighting Instructions - YouTube[/ame]

That's a cool looking BBQ Pit.

You can buy nomex gasket material on the internets, just google up "BBQ gasket".

If it were me, I wouldn't worry too much about sealing it up. Just run her for a while and get a good smudge of smoke... It might just seal itself up on it's own.

I'm no brainiac BBQ scientist, but I would imagine the temperature disparity would indicate that you need more exhaust. Or leave it be and utilize the different heat zones to your advantage.

What kind of welder are you using? Fluxcore/Mig/Stick?