That was so Awsome been wanting to do something like this for a long time ! Now thanks to your video and very cool ideas I'm going to give it a shot going to be a nice winter project me thinks ! Bravo guys on a job well done thanks again This will be my tutorial video.

Great video! It's a little easier to access the inside off the barrel for wire brushing after cutting the lid hole. Good job men.

That was awesome guys. Keep the videos coming.

This is my first time watching your channel and you gave me some Great idea's, Firstly, the bed frames and using that metal,Secondly, using a Mig Welder and getting the right wire from the Welding shop that won't burn through the drum. I was also wondering if you could have used rebarb? The way you used the metal for the hinges was a great idea, I've seen that done before

Great video. Thanks for sharing. For future reference it is called expanded metal not perforated mesh.

Awesome. Do more DIY stuff like this. It seems you always try to repurpose things and that's great to see.

I think the craziest part is that they took not one but two of the best, nearly ready UDS smokers and turned them into a moderately ok offset smoker. But, I guess whatever gets them smoking and makes them happy. Nice effort fellas.

Nice build. I also used food grade barrels to make my smoker. You can check out my page to see the documentation of the build.

Well done lads. Looks awesome

My grandfather used a wood burning stove and a long metal flex pipe to a 55 gallon drum. Making his homemade smoker. Thanks for sharing

Nice video, but honestly i would have made two UDSs, they take no time hardly to build and work great. I like where you went and you did great work.

What a cool project. Looks like a lot of fun.

Quick tip for next time, to remove the paint use a propane tank with a torch attachment and burn off the paint like that.

Nice build, it looks sturdy like my Char Griller. I suggest you line it with pizza stones or bricks for even heat retention, try it. Thumbs up.

Add hinge before cutting the lid loose. Much easier.

Nice job ! Im telling you , anything you smoke in this unit will be amazing ! Theres something about it being your own home made smoker that makes the food even better. Pro unit vs home made ? I would go for homemade anyday ! Liked your bender , trailer hitch bender. Keep on smoking boys ! Cheers from canada

Was super pumped to see this being done by guys in my state.

If you need to clean the inside of a drum after burning just fill with a bit of sand and small stone, cap end and take for a roll.. Sandblasting on the cheap :)

Very nice, I´ve done something very similar a couple of years ago. And while mine works just fine it doesnt look anywhere as nice as this one, I gotta step up my game.

That's a damn good looking pit. Great job man! 🔥🐮🐷🐔🔥

I love this channel, because it's like everything I'd do if I had the skills, money and time!

Cc'd

A project like this would go so much faster with a powerplasma cutter. Excellent job cutting straight lines with the angle grinder though.

Love the mindset going in. Just made adjustments and had fun with it. Nice job!

Hey guys good video, But you can lay the barrel on its side and rolled the barrel around WITH THE FIRE IN IT, so it will burn off the paint on the sides. it will burn under the wood and above the fire so dont let it lay in one spot for very long because it will warp the metal, so " SO KEEP IT MOVIN MOVIN " not critiazing just commenting and sharing the knowhow. Love the project.

thank you for the video.hope you guys have kept at the BBQ journey,also there are tons of great Youtube BBQ channels and the community vibe there is amazing.i have been BBQin here in SoCal for about 20 years,and it is one of the more fulfilling things you could do.Besides your projects on your channel of course.btw you kinda sound like Mark Wiens fyi

I plan to make a few of these once I get the barrels. Luckily I've got a powerplasma cutter. It sure will make the cutting easier.

Great job guys but as a lot told you cut the barrel do what ever you want to do with it and finally sent it for a sand bluster and its ready to rock

Great Idea and an amazing build.....BUT I see one small problem with your design!! The Chimney should be, HAS TO BE placed higher up on the barrel side and then it should be aimed UP above your lid height!! The reason this is done on professionally built smokers is to "direct" the air flow (and smoke" from top to bottom and thus allow the heat and smoke to be pulled THROUGH the smoker and across your cooking food! Think about it like making a ditch so water flows DOWN HILL, but instead you want the smoke to work in your favor, and run "uphill", fire at the bottom, smoke out of the top!!!!

Excellent job guys.

The chimney should be on top. It would not require a wind cover in that position either

Good job! Not sure what your time is worth, but fabricating is hard work and time consuming. After watching, I think I'd spend the $300 at Lowes and get one that comes in a box. Can't even imagine how much beer this project took. Thanks for sharing the video.

@Alex Duke I enjoy seeing Men build things...even overly time consuming things. This would not work in my life. I have no man.

Lol I don't get it I see all these diy vids on the internet and they spend 50-100hrs building apiece of shit and are all proud of it when you can go buy it for 100-300$ and it looks a hell of a lot better. IDK me? I'll go work a few hours and buy one. If I'm going to build something I'm going all out on it and it will be something that goes fast! When I was younger I did all the welding on a guys he was fabing everything and had me lay all the bead on it. it was one of those oval 200 gal house tanks built a trailer and everything turned out a really good smoker/grill! He spent a lot of time on it but he was retired and bored!

Even nicer video after watching a few months later. I have the same mig welder as well.

That's awesome guys ! Keep it up

These are the kind of projects I love doing....

I had my barrel blasted clean by a powder coat company for $50, I think. Well worth it.

You want a ripping flame going in your burn out. You should be able to see a large plume over the top of the edge. That way it burns off what can be burnt and creates your initial char layer in the smoker (kind of like a dutch oven with seasoning them). Each additional cook after that adds to it and provides somewhat of an insulation to keep the smoker at temp. Also, you want it running for at least 8 hours, but usually around 12. You don't want to stop that fire from going. Let it work. However, because you choked it out, you got a mild burn out, but also made some charcoal, that if you still have, should use for smokes. You want a way smaller exhaust and intake from the fire box. Like 2" diameter max.

Thanks for the info! We quickly learned that the firebox intake was too big when using it lol

I take it that you didn't notice the threaded bung holes that could've been used for the chimney and air intakes

To keep the rust off the barrel you can always coat it in a food grade epoxy

Lmao

Nice job guys going to build one this week end. Great and easy. Thanks!!! Now me and my boys have some time to hang have fun . No phones lol just men face to face .

Good job guys. I give you a E (A) for Effort.

Good job guys. Looks pretty good fellas

Enjoyed this video very much. Now is it possible to make a longer smoker or griller.

Awesome good job guys

Awesome build cheers Jeff

I use a 12 gauge deer slug to vent my burn barrels. Way more fun👍

When using a hole saw that is for wood on metal, run it in reverse, it will cut thin steel like that like a charm without damaging the bit. Obviously set the guide drill bit like normal, then reverse your drill when starting with the hole saw. I actually only buy the cheap wood hole saws because you can buy a dozen of them for a price of a quality metal hole saw.

Awesome tip. Thanks!

Scalawag . I feel like getting a quality diamond hole saw would be better in general no?

That is awesome. Good work

Something you guys could have done to remove the paint quickly was to sandblast it either commercially or with a power washer sandblaster attachment

Much props guys!

you can use lacquer thinner to melt down paint coating inside of the drum

WoW 😱 That's a Amazing smoker there i would love one of those..

I built one of these a few years ago. Mainly just because I had a drum laying around, and its good practice welding and cutting. Its one of those things you would build different the second time around. Mine works...but haven't really used it...takes ALOT of charcoal to keep the heat in a big drum.

Yes, we went through multiple large bags of charcoal on that first use. The volume of the drum, air leaks, and thickness of the sheet metal all play a role in that I assume.

Great job!

Would love to know total price spent for drums, grates, fans. Could have just bought a smoker at Lowe's

Great job. I need to find a drum to take my powerplasma cutter and everlast welder to.

Great job!

the easiest way to do this is to get empty oil (or Waste oil) barrels, they are usually not coated on the inside and a fire or some break cleaner easily gets rid of the leftover oil.

Nice, cool project!

I shot mine with a shot gun instead of the angle grinder for an air hole . It worked great

6 weeks, $800 in material and consumables, we made a $50 smoker

Great looking smoker

A nice Everlast plasma cutter would have made the cutting process so much faster.

Can you guys continue to put out content.

awesome job dudes.

could have made the grill removal-able for easy cleaning, and sealed the lid with scrap piece of metal along the hinges but good job as it is with smoke box

added wheels to mine also to move around

Recently i went to a buddy's house for the first time in a while to watch golf and cook out and was surprised what he had turned into his smoaker. He had several different meats in 3 drawers of a 4 drawer fireproof tall file cabinet. Maybe some of ya'll have seen this but i hadn't. Maybe i can get him to do a how to build video on it. Oh, the first time i met him in college he had something else just as cool that he built sitting on his bar. It was a working guillotine about a foot tall! I asked what he used it for and was told, "mice, dummy, isn't it obviously a mousetrap"?

Awesome video! Not worth the time for it will only last about two years if your lucky!

I have made several cookers/grills/smokers whatever you want to call them out of 55 gallon drums that contained paint. The best thing to do is wash all the contents out then grind where you are going to weld. Cleaner and not as much time lost. In the past I used a skil jigsaw which has a laser to cut the hood and side opening but now I have a plasma cutter. I'd strongly recommend a jigsaw since it makes a cleaner cut than an angle grinder.

Seems like a wire wheel brush would have got that paint removed pretty easily..

Just FYI and I know not everyone can just go out and get this but sand blaster works great for this type of stuff

I'm just wondering if anyone might know this question? Can I use the charcoal from the wood for a filter for dirty water. Like in a survival situation. I know I have to boil it to purify it. I'm just wandering if charcoal would help filter the water.

High temp engineers silicon covers a lot of sins when needing air titghtness on things like this.

I did the same thing but used plastic ones. Much easier to cut

Nice,good job!

i used a food grade coconut oil drum, it was bare metal inside.

This is ART!

"As usual, the project is much more complicated than it initially seemed" HAH! Spoken by a man who is always doing something for the first time....and being heard by a man just like him. :-)

Concerned about paint coatings in drum then welds all day with no respirator or supplied air system. You guys should check out what welding fume and particulate can do to you.

Should have cut door before grinding the inside.

You know, they sell brand new unused barrels, might be a little more cost effective in the end run.

U should make a little sliding box underneath where the wood burns. To make for even easier cleaning, that way you dont need a shopvac to suck out old burnt coals. 👍👍 seems like you guys could make that happen pretty easily

Using a tape measure to hold up the metal handle as you cut it... looks like when I’m working. Cutting stuff on top of the garbage can... 😂

"it's ok to breathe, it's food grade" LOL. Nice build, gave me a couple of ideas. Did you make anyother moderfiications to it? Stay well, Joe Z

The rust may be a problem. Keep us posted if you find a way to control it.

Haven't actually used it since the last-minute BBQ in this video, since we didn't have time to paint it it needs some... rust removal before we spruce it up and use it again. Plan to seal the weld holes/panel gaps up with food-safe sealant, and probably make a vertical chimney with a hat to prevent the wind issues we had. Most likely add a better door for the side as well that is easier to adjust and add charcoal into.

Hell Yeah! You guys are cool!  Great camera work and instructions.  I'm a subscriber.  God Bless.

I liked your design and video. But I don’t understand why it would be necessary to remove a food grade finish when it is going to be repurposed into a smoker.

Great video!! What video editing software do you use?

I am on Vegas 14 right now, used older versions of Vegas and Movie Studio in the past, whatever I could get a good deal on. Works well for 4k video editing!

“And we used a hammer to “persuade” the metal to fall into place” 🤣

Very thin wont last unless you maintain it very very well and keep it out of rain. Basically it's not for amateurs you guys look like you know what your doing so it should last a bit longer.

Id suggest using aircraft paint stripper to remove epoxy on the inside.

I was going to make a smoker until I found out I could buy one brand new for under $100.

Good job 👍

My granddaddy made his when I was a little girl ! This ain't nothing new!

Now I’m looking for a good safe barrel lol. + side I’m also in md - side it’s been two years since this video was posted lol

I understand they (smokers) cost $1000.00 new. What a great savings.

Sandblasting would've took 10min per drum

Do you guys sell the grills? Or can you make a grill like that for me?

Cool video, but that does seem like a whole lotta work for just a smoker.

Good job guys

So instead of using a food grade barrel can I use a non food grade barrel?

In Australia we call them 44 gallon drum even though they are 55 gallons