Building my BPS and first cook

Jackb

New member
Finally assembled my BPS kit last week, here are some pics.

I picked up a new drum for $50.
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And took off all the paint. At first, with an ox-aceteline torch, but that was slow going. I switched to an angle grinder and made much better progress, but it still took a few hours. The paint was def heavy duty industrial stuff, in hindsight, I wonder if it would have been ok if left on, or if it would have peeled eventually.
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All done stripping the drum, we marked the holes...
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And drilled them.
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Painted it, two coats (used exactly one can of paint for the drum, lid and handles. There was zero paint left in the can after this)
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The next morning, assembly time.
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I missed drilling a hole the night before. It got LOUD in the drum taking off the burs. I also used some red-RTV between the bottom vents and the drum. There didn't appear to be a gap, but I had it sitting there, so why not.
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All Done!
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Jackb

New member
What to do about the ashes? I didn't want to deal with shop-vac-ing them or having to tip over the drum all the time, so I knew I wanted a removeable pan for them. I was looking for a disposable/reusable foil pan, but none were big enough. I found this at ACE hardware by accident. It was only a few bucks.
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I only installed one screw on each handle and bent them inward, it will work perfectly.
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Tri-tip with Money.
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Smoked it with Jack Daniels Pellets, but we put the tri-tip in the drum before the temps stabilized and had some trouble with the temp getting too high, then over-compensated and it got too low... Decided to add some Mesquite pellets for the second attempt.
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Overcompensated again and overcooked it a bit. Didn't have a thermometer probe at the time, so there was some guesswork involved. I'm shopping for a good probe thermometer now.
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It still tasted great. And we had the leftover mixed with scrambled eggs the next day, also very good.
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Big Poppa

Administrator
you wil get it read the tips on drum cooking it will save you busted cooks...Remember a less than perfect cook on a drum is better than a good cook on a gas grill!
 

sheepdad

New member
Congrats and thanks for the build and cook pics. It looks great. you'll get the hang of the drum in no time for sure. Get yourself a pit/food temp setup like a Maverick 732 or something along those lines...very helpful. Do some dry runs on the drum and document times and temps while seasoning the inside of the drum (coat the inside with cooking oil first) and finally get some cheap chicken thighs and get a little practice in. You'll dial in that drum in no time.

Gook Luck and look forward to see more.
 
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