First time posting but have been lurking for some time. I have been wanting to get into smoking meats and fish and was looking at buying a smoker. I have read numerous threads where people suggest building one. What are the pros and cons of a drum built smoker compared to a store purchased smoker? What is the advantage of a horizontal vs vertical smoker? If I was to build one I like the idea of a stainless drum. Is stainless a better option than a painted steel drum? Also, does the stainless drum require any painting at all? Sorry for all the questions and any recommendations are greatly appreciated!
Questions/recommendations
- Thread starter ObeRON
- Start date
OK first off if you are smoking food you are on the right track...The stuff you buy at the big boxes...they just arent very good and wont last...I can tell you that with a drum you can cook in your backyard or compete in the American Royal...it is the least expensive most capable cooker there is....second is the WSM another fine choice
jetmek
New member
Well first off, welcome to this forum. I have owned both offset and vertical smokers and I have to say they are both great. I believe the key is airflow control. My offset smoker cost me about $500 dollars and that really speaks to the quality of the smoker. It was very leaky air wise and it was very hard to control the temperature. It would produce really good food, but I had to "chase" my temperature all day to keep it from getting too hot, or keep the fire from dying down. I did some modifications to it and they helped, but I couldn't leave it alone for very long at all.
My cheapo vertical smokers were a little better, but I could not cook very much food at once because it was very small. It was better, but I still had to babysit it.
You can spend more money and buy better offsets and vertical smokers, but I think for the money you can't beat a drum smoker! They are very efficient and the air flow is very controllable. To get a smoker that would perform any better, you would have to spend hundreds more. I think if you are on any sort of budget, this is the best way to go.
Stainless steel is probably the better choice for building your drum, but I don't think it will cook better I it's not. Stainless is highly corrosion resistant, easier to clean and durable. The regular drums made out of carbon steel are not corrosion resistant therefore they require that they be painted on the outside. Mine is not currently painted. I liked the way it looked when I assembled my drum and I am keeping my drum rubbed down with a light coating of vegetable oil. I thought if I kept it clean and oiled, I could keep it from rusting. It turns out it is more work than it is worth, so I will be painting mine soon. It was worth a try!
I hope this answers most of your questions. I say to go ahead and buy the kit. The shipping is free and after assembly you will have a versatile, highly controllable, fuel efficient smoker and grill for less than $200.00. It turns out the best BBQ you will ever taste and its something that YOU made yourself! As you can tell, I can't say enough good things about it!
Sorry for the long post, but I'm kind of on a BPS drum smoker high!
My cheapo vertical smokers were a little better, but I could not cook very much food at once because it was very small. It was better, but I still had to babysit it.
You can spend more money and buy better offsets and vertical smokers, but I think for the money you can't beat a drum smoker! They are very efficient and the air flow is very controllable. To get a smoker that would perform any better, you would have to spend hundreds more. I think if you are on any sort of budget, this is the best way to go.
Stainless steel is probably the better choice for building your drum, but I don't think it will cook better I it's not. Stainless is highly corrosion resistant, easier to clean and durable. The regular drums made out of carbon steel are not corrosion resistant therefore they require that they be painted on the outside. Mine is not currently painted. I liked the way it looked when I assembled my drum and I am keeping my drum rubbed down with a light coating of vegetable oil. I thought if I kept it clean and oiled, I could keep it from rusting. It turns out it is more work than it is worth, so I will be painting mine soon. It was worth a try!
I hope this answers most of your questions. I say to go ahead and buy the kit. The shipping is free and after assembly you will have a versatile, highly controllable, fuel efficient smoker and grill for less than $200.00. It turns out the best BBQ you will ever taste and its something that YOU made yourself! As you can tell, I can't say enough good things about it!
Sorry for the long post, but I'm kind of on a BPS drum smoker high!
MrAdam
New member
Weber Smoky Mountain. It's a bullet type water smoker. The drum beats it hands down. Check out the engineered drum smoker kit at bigpoppasmokers.com. Most of us here are running it, and it takes all off the guesswork out of building a great smoker.
Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Will the Grill
New member
Welcome to the forum. Hands down you cant beat the efficiency and consistency of a drum. If you can get your hands a on a stainless drum that's the way to go. I built on my drum out of stainless this winter and it was pretty simple and inexpensive. I was going to use the BPS Kit but I wanted my 1st one to be my own design. If you decide not to use the kit there is all kinds of info on Youtube on how to get started. It all depends on how handy you are and what kind of tools you have. I built mine with nothing more than a cordless drill, a 4 1/2" angle grinder 2 cutting wheels and a step drill bit I got at harbor freight for $15. I would say after everything was done I didn't spend more than $80 for everything including the drill bit. If you decide to not use the kit I'd be happy to help if you have any questions.
I own a WSM a pellet grill and a BPS drum smoker. All have their place. A drum is the best cost effective approach . I Highly recommend the BPS kit as he had it engineered and cook and tweaked on it to be the product it is. Both our drums have the BPS kit
Will stop by in the morning at Fillmore
Looking to use my drum smoker(Made it with Pappas kit.) for the 1st time this weekend to slow cook St. Louis style spare ribs Using lump charcoal. Any recommendations on keeping a 225° constant temperature for 3 or 4 hours. I know to close the vents to lower temp with the coals low in the drum. But should I be concerned on the amount of charcoal I use in the basket? And is it ok to add unlit coals to hot coals during the process?