“I’m worried I might run out fuel during my cook, and won’t be able to access the coal basket again without having to pull everything out.”

There’s no need for refueling a fire when it comes to drums.  You won’t need to continuously add fuel as you go.  As long as you set your fire up right in the beginning you’ll be able to easily go for 15+ hours on one load.  The charcoal basket can hold quite a bit of fuel for its size.  And, when using a higher quality lump for example, that just extends the amount of time it will be able to go.  We recommend using high quality lump for all your cooks.

Since drums aren’t designed to run exclusively on wood that burns out relatively quickly you for sure won’t need to have access to the fire basket.  Instead what you do is add some wood chunks to your lit coals in the beginning before the grates and meat go on.  Meats take on their smoke flavor in the beginning phase of their cooks.  With brisket for example, this happens in the first 3 or 4 hours.  Since cooking spaces are much smaller and more concentrated with drums it’s not necessary to get anymore smoke on the meat beyond those 4 hours, otherwise you stand the chance at over-smoking.  Once you get to the “wrap” phase adding more wood would then be a waste, as none of its smoke would be penetrating the meat at that point.  There’s nothing “offset” on a drum.  Therefore, you won’t have to sacrifice losing any heat trying to get it to move across a cook chamber like you would with an offset type smoker.  That’s the beauty of a drum.  Heat & smoke rises, and it’s mostly set and forget.

With that being said, the only real reason you would possibly need to refuel would be if you’re doing hotter and faster cooks like for grilling, where you would be running a hotter fire and burning through fuel faster.  That’s about it.  If that’s the case, then what you would do is simply remove the grate(s) and baffle between rounds and add more fuel/wood.  Then replace and continue (Note: high quality lump charcoal gives the best results all around in terms of heat and time duration).

In all our years of using drums for various different cooks we’ve never once had to refuel on any of them.  We’ve done many 2 round pork rib cooks back to back, as well as 2 and 3 round chicken cooks, also back to back on the same fuel we started out with.  The beauty behind drums is that they run so efficiently you won’t ever need to refuel on a long cook like brisket for example.  It would seem scary to a novice when it comes to doing a long cook like brisket using a drum, as some drum designs don’t offer access doors of any kind other than their lids.  All you need to be concerned with is making sure to set the fire up right in the beginning, and your lump fuel will carry you through.

Don’t worry about wasting fuel.  When it comes to lump you can always “carry over” the unused portion that didn’t get lit for your next cook.  You can’t do that with your chimney starter coals like we show you in our “how to light a fire in your drum smoker” video, but that’s okay.  That’s the reason why we only light off a small amount, because we know we won’t be able to use those again.

Not at all.  There is a tiny learning curve, but once you get past that it’s so simple.  All you have to do is this:

Step 1: Light a fire using a charcoal chimney.  Once the coals have been ashed over a little dump them on the lump charcoal inside the charcoal basket at the bottom of the interior of the drum.  Leaving the lid completely open for at least 5 minutes will help your lump get lit and get a good fire going.  After that just close the lid, open up your intake dampers a certain amount, and let the drum come up and settle in at whatever your designated temp is, which will be much faster at that point.  Refer to the “how to light a fire in your drum smoker” video above.

Step 2: Once your drum has gotten up to the cooking temperature you want make sure you’ve thrown whatever wood chunks you’re planning on using onto the coals before placing your baffle plate on top.  Then just place your meat on the grate(s), or the meat hanger.  If you want to use a water pan make sure you place it inside first before grate(s) & meat.

Step 3: Close the lid and just let it operate.  Your dial thermometer(s) and any other type of digital equipment you’re using will let you monitor how the cook is going.

It’s that easy.  There is nothing to fear or worry about.  Remember, controlling temperature is all just a matter of opening and closing your intake dampers until you get it set just right.  Or if you’re using a temperature controller like the DigiQ all you have to do is set it and forget it while it does its thing for you.

Some barrels have what’s known as a phenolic lining inside them.  It’s a type of resin that when combined with an epoxy resin is used for food grade applications.  Epoxy phenolic coatings are FDA compliant for storing food and pharmaceuticals.  Heat cured linings are used for direct food contact.  Their colors are usually gold, light brown, red, and olive green.  If left in not only will there be a chance of fumes of some kind, but the liner will usually begin to peel due to the exposure to heat.

You’re eventually going to have to take it off completely, because you don’t want any of that flaking to get in/on your food.  Regardless of whether they are food grade or not, they should be removed.  We do that with all of the used food grade drums we aquire from our trusted source.  We know exactly what was stored in them before purchase.  And, since steel isn’t permeable there are no residues or smells left behind once we remove the liners.  You should never do any type of cooking in a barrel that still has a liner in it just to be on the safe side.

The paint is relatively durable.  But, like with anything if you mistreat it you can’t expect it not to take on any sort of nicks, scratches, or scrapes.  If you’re a caterer for example, and plan on moving your drum around a lot from place to place, then a recommendation would be to either have us build you an unpainted one that you could paint/coat however you want, or one that we give a special clear coating to.  Those 2 are great options for situations that will likely be rough & messy.  When you’re hustling and moving to fulfill orders it will be hard to avoid drippage from grease, sauces, marinades, rotating & moving meat in and out, basting, mopping, etc.  Those things on hot painted surfaces will most likely create permanent greasy stains on the paint.  But, if you’re unit will be stationary in a home backyard setting, where you can be neater with your cooks, then it won’t be a problem for a nicely painted rig.

In terms of heat resistance the general paint applications we use can withstand higher temps without flaking and fading.  We’ve tested painted drums before, taking them up to about 650°F for a few hours and the paint was fine.  You’re never going to need those higher temperatures for this application anyway.  You can take the drum to 400°-450° intermittently for cooking & grilling items that cook faster & better at higher temperatures, like steaks and chicken and be fine.  With basic powder coating for example, that coating is not so good in terms of higher heat tolerances.  Going beyond 400°F with powder coat can result in the beginning stages of dulling, fading and possibly flaking/chipping.  However, powder coating is more durable when it comes to bumps & scratches (but, more expensive).

This is very true, anyone can make their own BBQ barrel.  But, do you understand the SCIENCE behind what makes these cookers so effective?  Remember, these aren’t basic big box store grills for doing just burgers and dogs even though you still can, as well as searing steaks and other meats.  Many have tried building their own over the years that “looked cool” only to find out they couldn’t perform very well.  Couldn’t get hot enough, got too hot, not enough combustion so ended up “dirty smoking” their meat, turned out to be a grease leaker permanently ruining the paint, leaked a lot of smoke, etc.

Aside from making mistakes by drilling holes in the wrong spots, the real important question is will your build be able to “draft” correctly in order to work right after it’s all finished?  What if you load your newly built DIY drum up with meat, but can’t get the temp you want?  What if it gets too hot, can’t control the temp, and dries it out or ends up burning it all?  You want to sacrifice all that expensive protein?  What if you try mounting a meat hanger accessory and mount it wrong, and now the lid to your drum won’t close?  Or maybe you mounted it too low and your meat is sitting right on the fire?  Worse yet, what if you miscalculate & don’t mount your grate holders right, and now your grates aren’t level?  What about the drill holes you made by mistake?  Know how to patch them?  How many barrels will you sacrifice before finally getting it right or calling it quits?

We can go on and on about other important things to consider before attempting to “do it yourself” completely from scratch so that it works right.  The fact is we’ve already taken care of all that for you.  It’s not just a matter of slapping something together that “looks” like something you saw on tv.  What’s important here is the “SCIENCE” behind what makes these upright smokers work flawlessly.  Supreme draft control makes it easy to control steady temps.  Multiple grate levels spaced perfectly for loading with maximum amount of meat.  Perfect positioning for rib/meat hangers utilizing the full cooking space available.  Ability to use your drum with other top grade accessories on the market outside of ours, etc.  Trust us, we’ve designed our drums for all of that.  So, why put yourself through the headaches of trying to figure all that out just to waste time, money, and have to experience disappointment?  Plus, we can customize them for you with various different paint colors, personalized emblems, stickers, etc.

Aside from being able to hold & cook a good amount of meat, ribs and chicken for example, the charcoal baskets in our vertical barrel smokers are designed to hold more charcoal and will run longer with no adjustments. The drums seal very tight, and that’s what helps them run as long as they do.  Fuel burning times have been reported at 20+ hours before.  You won’t really ever need to go that long for any type of meat, but it’s possible if necessary.  They hold temps real steady throughout cooks.  This means no wild temperature swings.  Wild temperature swings will ruin the meat being cooked.  When that happens it usually results in meat that is dry and overdone.  Once you get the air intakes dialed in it’s pretty much set and forget.  Meat cooks so good and much faster than with other types of equipment.  The meat is so amazingly juicy and tender.  Another cool feature of drums as smokers is the flavor infusion from the drippings dropping onto the coals.  Their fat and juices drip onto the hot coals and evaporate causing that steam to come back up and infuse added flavor.  Also, if you hang cook, your meat self-bastes first as it’s hanging before those juices hit the coals or baffle, then re-infuses the meat!  You don’t get this type of tastiness with non-direct heat cookers.  They’re lightweight enough to pick up, portable, versatile, and are an eye catcher!  More on the awesome vertical smokers

Barbecue barrels have evolved considerably since their inception.  However, that’s not to say that a fire still can’t get away from you.  The most common way a drum can catch fire is by leaving the lid open for too long.  Barrel cookers are relatively new to a lot of people, and sometimes don’t understand the nature of air flow and combustion.  Their upright design is created for direct upwards heat and smoke, which is their natural direction.  By leaving the lid open for too long, and not closing off the air intake dampers you could introduce too much unwanted air to your fire.  Large “out of control” fires have greatly been diminished through the introduction of baffle plates or heat/flame diffusers.  It’s harder now for a giant unwanted rocket stove to get roaring.  But, it’s still good practice to keep your lid closed while your fire is going even after taking meat off your pit.

The 2nd way a drum can catch fire is from grease.  Although a grease fire in a drum seems to be a rarity it can still happen.  It all depends on how much grease is built up inside.  Grease has a tendency to pool inside at the bottom.  Now, the fire in the coal box doesn’t generally make contact with this pooling.  However, the introduction of new grease spillage from, let’s say poking through a foil wrapped brisket by mistake can set it off.  All that grease can fuel a fire kind of quick, and without a heat shield you could easily burn off the paint at the bottom of your drum if it gets way too hot!  As far as the fire goes in this case all you have to do is close the lid and dampers to starve the fire of oxygen till it dies a little bit.  Then resume.  Cleaning out your drum as part of a regular maintenance routine is recommended.  A drain system is included standard with all of our premium and customized drums making them really easy to clean, and eliminating the need to turn them over and risk messing up the paint job.

Don’t be alarmed by this bit of information.  You just need to understand some things.  First off, a smoker drum is a serious piece of pro equipment.  These things are designed to cook fantastic BBQ.  All you really have to do is remember not to walk away from it while the lid is open with the air intakes continuing to draw in air feeding the live fire in your coal basket.  It’s common sense really.  Can barbecue smoker drums catch fire easily? Find out more.

Yes, apart from being food safe steel drums they have been thoroughly sanitized by us during the building process before becoming smokers.  We never use barrels that have previously been used for holding or storing anything toxic like hazardous chemicals for example.  We never use “reconditioned” drums either.  Always food safe drums regardless of whether acquired brand new or used.  More information about the safety of steel drums used for smokers