Frequently
Asked Questions

Vertical barrel smokers excel for many reasons. Aside from being able to hold and cook a large amount of meat, ribs, and chicken, the charcoal baskets are designed to hold more fuel and run longer without adjustments. The drums seal very tight — that's what helps them run as long as they do. Fuel burning times have been reported at 20+ hours.

They hold temps real steady throughout cooks, meaning no wild temperature swings. Wild swings ruin meat — resulting in dry, overdone barbecue. Once you dial in the air intakes, it's pretty much set and forget.

Another cool feature: flavor infusion from drippings falling onto the coals. Fat and juices drip onto the hot coals, evaporate, and come back up to infuse added flavor into the meat. If you hang cook, your meat self-bastes as it hangs before those juices hit the coals — then re-infuses! You don't get this with non-direct heat cookers.

Draft is the way a smoker pulls or draws air into the firebox for combustion. While that's happening, the chimney helps heat and smoke move through the cook chamber as it exits — air gets sucked in, and heat and smoke get pushed through and out through the chimney.

Other drum designs suffer with this. They leave the operator waiting 10–15 minutes each time just to see if they set the right temperature. Our design not only delivers the right airflow directly where it's needed, but keeps heat and smoke moving properly — producing a much cleaner combustion with thin blue smoke. Clean-tasting food is a definite indicator of great airflow.

No. Direct heat drum smokers are designed to be used with both charcoal and wood. In fact, the wood is where your smoke flavor comes from. A high quality lump charcoal is preferred. A winning pitmaster method is to toss 1 or 2 medium-sized wood chunks in with your lump — the type of wood you use depends on the meat and flavor profile you're going for.

Not at all. There is a tiny learning curve, but once you get past that it's wonderfully simple. Here's the basic process:

• Light a fire using a charcoal chimney. Once coals have ashed over a little, dump them onto the lump charcoal inside the charcoal basket at the bottom.
• Leave the lid completely open for at least 5 minutes to help your lump get lit and build a good fire.
• Close the lid, open your intake dampers a certain amount, and let the drum come up to your designated cooking temperature.
• Throw your wood chunks onto the coals before placing the baffle plate on top. Then place your meat on the grates or meat hanger.
• Close the lid and let it operate. Your thermometers will let you monitor the cook. That's it.

Controlling temperature is all a matter of opening and closing your intake dampers until you dial it in. Or, use a temperature controller and it does all that for you automatically.

There's no need to refuel during a cook with a drum smoker. As long as you set up your fire right at the beginning, you can easily go for 15+ hours on one load. The charcoal basket holds a lot of fuel for its size, and high-quality lump extends the duration even further.

Meats take on their smoke flavor in the beginning phase of their cook. With brisket, for example, this happens in the first 3–4 hours. Since cooking spaces are smaller and more concentrated in drums, it's not necessary to get more smoke on the meat beyond those initial hours — otherwise you risk over-smoking.

In all our years of using drums for various cooks, we've never once had to refuel on any long cook. We've done many 2-round pork rib cooks back to back on the same fuel load we started with.

A heat deflector — sometimes called a heat diffuser or baffle plate — is a steel plate with holes or spaces cut into it. It sits between the charcoal basket and the cooking grates.

It serves two purposes:

• Even heat distribution: Distributes heat more evenly throughout the cook chamber, eliminating hot spots that would otherwise overcook sections of your meat.
• Flame protection: Helps prevent direct flames from shooting up from the charcoal basket, protecting your food from sudden flare-ups.

Absolutely yes. In fact, pairing a drum smoker with a pro digital temp controller gives you a serious, almost unfair advantage. You now have a better ability to produce unbeatable competition-level barbecue — granted your flavor profile is on point!

When paired with a wireless meat thermometer and an automatic temperature controller, the drum essentially runs itself. Set your target temperature and walk away. The controller manages the airflow fan automatically to hold your exact set temp for the entire cook.

Steel 55-gallon drums used as smokers can really go the distance if cared for properly. Keeping them covered when not in use prevents rust and corrosion. The paint or coating does a great job preventing overall rust — one of our fully-built drums was left uncovered in the rain for 2–3 days by accident and was found completely fine with no rust.

Steel is relatively difficult to dent with normal usage. You have to literally crash it into something hard to put a dent in it. And if that were to happen, you could probably hammer the dent out and touch up the paint. They won't crack like ceramic cookers if dropped.

The interior bottom is largely protected by the ash catcher built into the charcoal basket, preventing hot coals and ash from sitting directly on the metal and causing corrosion.

The paint is relatively durable — but like anything, mistreatment will result in nicks and scratches. For catering situations where you're moving the drum frequently and cooks get messy, we recommend either an unpainted drum you coat yourself, or one with a special clear coating.

For a home backyard setting where you're neater with your cooks, painted rigs hold up beautifully. Powder coating is more durable against bumps and scratches but is less heat-tolerant above 400°F and more expensive. Our standard paint applications offer the best balance of heat resistance and durability for this application.

The recommended cleaning maintenance cycle for a drum smoker is once every 4 cooks or so. It's really the soot leftover from smoking that you're after — your food will begin to take on a bitter flavor from the soot if you don't maintain cleaning. Grease buildup is also a concern. Neglecting regular cleaning can ruin subsequent cooks.

All of our drums come with a drain system that makes them easy to clean out, eliminating the need to tip them over and risk messing up the paint job.

Heat is lost when you open the lid, yes — but cooks using our drums have been clocked getting back up to temperature within 3–4 minutes after closing the lid. Sometimes less. That's the design and operator experience at work.

Be aware that opening the lid essentially stokes the fire, so avoid leaving it open longer than necessary or you may temporarily overshoot your target temperature.

Plenty — and there are different ways to make them fit inside. It all depends on how you set up the cooking space:

• Rib hanger (hook hang): Up to 24 racks of baby back ribs. This is the maximum capacity method.
• Rib rack (standing upright): 6–8+ racks depending on the rack system.
• Flat on the grate: 3–4 racks comfortably. More if you use multiple grate levels.

For competitions, smoke 3–4 racks. For a family meal, 1–2. For a large crowd or catering event, load it up using the hanger for maximum output.

It depends on the type of meat and how you arrange it. Here's a practical breakdown using grill grates:

• Brisket: Fits up to a 17–21 lb brisket on a single grate. That size feeds a lot of people, especially with sides.
• Pork butts: 4 butts on a single grate.
• St. Louis ribs (flat): 3–4 racks on a grate. More with a rib rack or hanger.
• Whole chickens: 2–3 depending on size. More if spatchcocked or split and hung.
• Chicken pieces: Can fill 2 grates with leg quarters, drums, thighs, and wings simultaneously.

Anyone can build their own BBQ barrel — but do you understand the engineering behind what makes these cookers so effective? Many have tried building their own over the years that "looked cool" only to find they couldn't perform. Common DIY failures:

• Couldn't get hot enough, or got way too hot
• "Dirty smoking" due to poor combustion and airflow
• Permanent grease leaks ruining the paint
• Excessive smoke leakage
• Meat hangers mounted wrong — lid won't close, or meat sits right on the fire
• Grate holders not level after miscalculating mounting

The real question: will your build draft correctly so it actually works after it's finished? Supreme draft control is what makes these smokers work flawlessly. Multiple perfectly spaced grate levels. Perfect hanger positioning for maximum meat capacity. We've already figured all of this out so you don't have to sacrifice expensive protein learning through trial and error.

Absolutely. Barbecue drum pits are easily transportable. Internal parts are all removable, so one person can pick it up after removing them. With all parts intact, two people can pick it up and move it using the installed handles.

Take them anywhere — family gatherings at the park, BBQ contests, neighborhood cookouts, pop-up locations, food trucks, or catering trailers. Some designs come with wheels installed standard; others can be upgraded with wheels as an option.

Barrel cookers have evolved considerably since their inception. The most common ways a drum can catch fire are:

• Leaving the lid open too long: Introducing too much air to the fire with the intake dampers still open can cause an uncontrolled flare-up. By leaving the lid open without closing off the air intakes, you're essentially creating a rocket stove. Always keep your lid closed while your fire is going, even after removing meat.
• Grease fire: Although rare in drums, grease that pools at the bottom can ignite if new grease drips suddenly hit it (like from accidentally puncturing a foil-wrapped brisket). Close the lid and dampers to starve the fire of oxygen until it settles.

A drum smoker is serious pro equipment. All you really need to remember: don't walk away from it with the lid open and air intakes drawing in full draft. Common sense.

Both new and used. Brand new low-cost steel barrels are extremely difficult to find nowadays and are usually expensive when available. To keep things cost-effective for both customers and us, we locate suppliers of used food-grade drums when we can't get a good deal on new.

All used drums have a specialized FDA-approved polyethylene liner (also known as phenolic coating or phenolic resin) on the inside — a food-grade safe coating. Since drums can't be used until this lining is removed, we always fully remove it before building. Our removal method completely sanitizes them. Used lined 55-gallon food-grade drums are totally safe.

Yes. Apart from being food-safe steel drums, they are thoroughly sanitized by us during the building process before becoming smokers. We never use barrels that previously held or stored anything toxic — no hazardous chemicals, no industrial solvents, nothing of that nature.

We never use "reconditioned" drums either. Always food-safe drums, whether acquired brand new or used.

No, never. "Reconditioned" drums go through a sanitizing process at industrial locations. Although they are safe for use, we don't know what they were previously used for before reconditioning. They also usually come dented and slightly warped from the reconditioning process — cosmetic imperfections we don't want to pass on to our customers.

We have access to reconditioned drums locally and they would save money, but we choose not to use them for these reasons — primarily because of their cosmetic imperfections.

Some barrels have what's known as a phenolic lining inside them. It's a type of resin — when combined with an epoxy resin — used for food-grade applications. Epoxy phenolic coatings are FDA-compliant for storing food and pharmaceuticals. Their colors are usually gold, light brown, red, or olive green.

If left in during a cook, the liner will begin to peel and flake from heat exposure — and you don't want any of that getting onto your food. Regardless of whether the liner is food-grade, it must be completely removed before the drum is used as a smoker.

We do this with every used food-grade drum we acquire. Since steel isn't permeable, there are no residues or smells left behind once the liners are properly removed. Never do any cooking in a barrel that still has a liner in it — just to be completely safe.

Yes. The paint we use is durable and can withstand the recommended maximum temperatures our drums are designed for — for both low and slow smoking and hot and fast grilling. We've tested painted drums taken up to approximately 650°F for several hours and the paint held up without issue.

You'll never need temperatures anywhere near that for smoking anyway. For grilling steaks or chicken at 400–450°F intermittently, the paint handles it without problem. Basic powder coating, by comparison, can begin dulling and fading beyond 400°F — though it's more resistant to physical bumps and scratches.

A barrel smoker can definitely be used on a wood deck — you just have to do it with safety and responsibility in mind. Think of it like operating a fire pit, except without the open flames. Some safe options for creating a barrier:

• A fire pit pad placed underneath creates a proper barrier between the drum and the wood deck.
• Wheels added to your drum purchase elevate it off the surface.
• Placing bricks or firestone underneath is also a good method.

Because the heat source is at the bottom of the drum, a simple barrier provides adequate protection. Being fire-conscious is always a good thing — responsible use is all that's required.

Your safest bet is to check with your HOA and/or property manager first. To be honest, if you live in a condo or apartment complex with units above and beside yours, the smoke involved will likely disqualify you from using a drum in that setting — it's usually too close for comfort.

However, if you have a top floor unit, you just might be able to make it happen. In terms of radiated heat, these cookers don't get hotter than a standard big-brand gas or charcoal grill when used as intended.

If you do get clearance for balcony use, ensure the surface is non-flammable (stone or concrete), create a heat barrier underneath, and make sure your neighbors are aware and comfortable with it.

Yes — this is one of the standout advantages of drum smokers. They're portable enough to take anywhere:

• BBQ competitions and KCBS events
• Family gatherings at parks or beaches
• Neighborhood cookouts and block parties
• Tailgating and sporting events
• Food truck and catering trailer setups
• Pop-up BBQ locations
• Mountain, desert, or beach camping

Internal parts are removable for one-person carrying. With all parts in, two people can move it using the mounted handles. Most models offer wheel options for easy rolling. Year-round use without fail — through rain, sleet, and cold — these things cook on demand wherever you take them.

Currently we sell locally to customers in San Diego County and the greater Southern California area. Our primary location is in San Diego, California. Here's how to purchase:

• Call us at 619.494.6954 to schedule an appointment to pick up a drum marked "currently available."
• If coming from outside San Diego County, call to arrange a hold with a deposit — we can hold your drum for up to 2 weeks.
• Passing through from out of state? Let us know ahead of time and we'll have your drum ready for pickup.
• We may be able to arrange delivery halfway toward Los Angeles for a minimal travel fee. Same for Nevada and Arizona.

Custom drum interests should be discussed by phone, text, email, or in person if you're local to us. This way we can walk you through the full range of customizable options and modifications available:

• Paint colors and types (single color, multi-color, specialty finishes)
• Personalized emblems and custom sticker designs
• Your name or your BBQ competition team name
• Quick-access doors
• Customized steel logo emblems
• Specialized artwork and designs
• Sports team themed wraps and colors

Reach out to us at 619.494.6954 or via our contact page to start the conversation.

We offer three tiers to fit different needs and budgets:

• Basic & Standard Drums: Great for backyard cooks looking to get more of a feel for how drum smokers work without breaking the bank. They don't come with all the amenities of premium options but can still produce excellent BBQ. A great starting point to learn with.
• Premium Drums: Full combat-loaded and ready for battle. Whether it's an upcoming BBQ contest or family gathering, these provide all the tools necessary for a winning outcome of epic BBQ excellence. Our most popular tier.
• Custom Drums: Need a more personalized touch? Want multiple paint colors, your competition team name, a quick-access door, or specialized artwork? Let's make an in-person appointment and design your dream drum.