Oil Drum BBQ.......... Delivered ..... Let The Party Start!!

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
Now don't try to talk me out of this, it is NOT for me, but for my deer hunting buddy, Kajimoto san.

He bought a used oil drum, well actually it held red wine from Oz :rolleyes: a while ago, he said he wanted to make a large oil drum type BBQ, for the occasional time he has large parties, and for when he wants to cook something big like a haunch of venison, or a small pig.

My basic idea is to slice it in half, some hinges on it to open and close like a clamshell. I'll put an ash pan in the bottom, using thin steel and some expanded mesh, then I'll put a large grill on it, made up of 1/4" cold rolled steel, as I know this will out last the expanded mesh grills, which usually sag after a few uses. Good large handles on the grill is another idea, to make it easy to lift off.

I'll be making a frame on the inside of the lid and the bottom of the grill, to help the grill hold it's shape.

What about vents? I'm thinking that two holes drilled in each side, with a corresponding set of holes on a plate that can be rotated to cover or open the vents would work....?

large handle on the top, and a large rack on the front to hang tools from. I'm also thinking a grease pot on the bottom, hung under a grease hole might be a good idea....?

The whole thing would be on a stand, with two wheels on the one side and two legs on the other.

Well, what do you think?

I've got a few Sundays to build this thing......:rolleyes:

Anyone here built one?

Any links to plans?

I've seen a few on the net, smokers as well as BBQs, but nothing very well done in the way of a step by step, dos and don'ts.

Cheers!
 
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I built one like that years ago and it was basicly what you discribed. I recenly wet to my nieces wedding in N. Cal and the folks from my Brother in laws church were using oil drums that just had a few holes poked in them around the bottom and then somemore near the top. They would take the meat on hooks and hang it from rods inside the drum and put the lid back on. They had several of them and cooked ribs, tri tip roasts and chicked this way. I asked thrm how they kept the fire from burning a hole through the botom of the drum and they said they got the old discs from plows from farmer when they replace them, and put that iin the bottom to keep the wood off of the bottom. These worked realy well and the meal was delishous. They cooked enough to serve 300 people end had left overs.
 
That is correct these drum stood on end. They told me that this style of cooking had it's origins in WW II. It seems that as we took back the islands in the pacific the field kitchens were not keeping up with the troops so the cooks developed this method in order to feed the troops.They alway had empty fuel drums laying around.
 
Hi Stu

That is the standard BBQ in SA. All we used to do is cut the drum in half, take some pressed diamond mesh (mild steel) heavy gauge and bend it over the edges. piece a few big holes in the bottom, throw the bag of charcoal in the drum light up put the grid back and presto you have a BBQ. The frame we made from 20mm square tubing. Nothing fancy just a H frame connected together with some cross bars. Mount the drum in the top of the H. Cut the H height to suit yourself.

These things last a long time but ....with the heat and all they eventually rust and burn out the bottom. Thats why we never got fancy with them.

I dont know why if you are going to use charcoal do you want to have clamshell design. Open top grilling allows access all round and if he is a hunter and wants to do things with his mates this allows everyone to stand around the fire so to speak.

Good luck.:thumb:
 
Stu, the guys a www.thesmokering.com/forum may have some ideas. I mostly see upright drum smoker being made there, but I'm sure there have been some charcoal grills built over there, too. When you have a BBQ question, go to the BBQ guys. :D
 
BTW, this article is great for building one of these, too bad I did not see it until AFTER I got started :doh: :rolleyes: :D
http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/articles/content/bbq.asp

OK, this is what I got done today.......


Here is the drum, it has a removable cap, which I'll have to weld on later.
The drum is painted inside, which is going to smoke like heck the first time it's fired up, not something I'll be doing, as I live in the downtown area of Tokyo. My buddy, who lives by the sea, he will get to fire it up, and smoke out his neighbours, maybe we will do it at night, sneak down to the beach and let it rip :) He'll be painting it too, after the first time it is fired up.


I used the seam on the drum as my front cutting line, easy, as it was nice a square, to cut the lid into the drum, I used a 5cm block of wood and a marker to keep things consistent on both sides.......


To easily measure my top cutting line, equal distance from the seam, I put a piece of duct tape on the drum, and marked the seam, and where I wanted the top cut, I just eyeballed it. I then ripped the piece of duct tape in half, and now I have consistent measurements on both sides.....


..... then a piece of steel to mark the top cut and I cut the lid out of the drum.


Next I put a piece of angle iron in to make the top edge more solid, and along the front edge as well, to make it more solid and to make a place for the grill to sit on. I also put another grill holding angle iron on the opposite side, and used some sticks to hold it in place, with a clamp, and I could set my level on the sticks to make sure things were level.



Because of the ribs in the drum, I could not just simply hinge the lid to the drum, the ribs would have been in the way, so I made some stand off hinges, so the lid lifts up and out. I also put some flat bar on the top and will also do so on the rest of the bottom, to close the gaps in the lid as much as I can, this will not be as tight as some of the very nice other units I'm seeing, but it should help.

The hinges need some refining, I'll at the very least round everything over, but I'm thinking to also put a stop on the lid, so it does not go all the way back. A lock out for the lid might be in order as well, as this BBQ is slated for beach work, and beaches can get windy. :D

I'm going to use square tubing for the grill outer edges and supports, but I'm thinking the expanded metal mesh stuff would sure be easy to make the grills.

I'll have to see what they have at the home center.

I need to pick up some more steel, for the base, as well as a couple of big wheels, and something to make a chimney and other bits and bobs.

Not a bad first day's work............?

Cheers!
 
...The drum is painted inside, which is going to smoke like heck the first time it's fired up, not something I'll be doing, as I live in the downtown area of Tokyo. My buddy, who lives by the sea, he will get to fire it up, and smoke out his neighbours, maybe we will do it at night, sneak down to the beach and let it rip :) He'll be painting it too, after the first time it is fired up...

Not sure if he's planning on it, but after burning the paint off the inside (build a fire and run the cooker temp to 350º or so for a couple hours) and wire brushing the leftover ash and goop from the inside, he should season the bare metal with oil. Just about any food-based oil will work. A lot of folks use Pam cooking spray, but veggie oil, bacon grease, or lard will also do the trick.

Never mind...I see you jumped into the Smoke Ring. Those guys'll steer you right. :thumb:
 
Rob asked: "I dont know why if you are going to use charcoal do you want to have clamshell design. Open top grilling allows access all round and if he is a hunter and wants to do things with his mates this allows everyone to stand around the fire so to speak."



Basically, the open top you describe is grilling. Closing and capturing the heat and smoke is barbecuing. Some will say (argue) that true bbq is indirect low heat with smoke in a closed unit.
Mostly, the differences are regional or dependant on amount of beer consumed while waiting for the food.
 
I did my trip out to Joyful Honda, my favorite Japanese BORG :thumb:

Looking for some more steel to get this grill done and some bits and bobs to make it better

I've learned from the fellows over at >> The Smoke Ring << that I need to do a few things differently that I was thinking to make this grill work well.

First, the exhaust, it needs to be longer than most store bought units are, OK, how long is long enough? I'm figuring on about 32" or so. I also found out that the exhaust should go right around grill level, not on the top of the unit. It is my understanding that this lets the hot air and smoke stay in the cooking area longer, building up heat, to cook the meat. I'm obviously talking about the smoker aspect of the grill, not the direct cooking over the charcoal aspect.

I'm in Japan, I could NOT get any chimney pipe smaller than 6" and 4' long, and it was EXPENSIVE, so I got something called "Dry Pipe" which is a fairly thin walled steel pipe, maybe 2mm thick steel, but the inside diameter is only 48mm (1 7/8"). I will be able to get two chimneys from the pipe I got, three would have been better, but that is what I have.

OK, on to the coal basket and the removable baffle box inside the grill, this will be used to make the grill into a smoker.


I know that this is not a smoker, or a "BBQ" but I'm hoping that it can be used to do "some" smoking, so I'd like to add the coal basket and the removable baffle similar to this.......
coal_basket_baffle.jpg
I would remove one grill, and put the coal basket and baffle in place, the lump charcoal and some wood chunks would be in the basket, this should work as an OK smoker, or BBQ :dunno: Going to have to find a nice flat piece of steel for the baffle :huh:

Intake vent, the intake vent should be on the opposite end of the grill as the exhaust, and not at the VERY bottom of the drum, as the ash build up can become a problem, so maybe about 3" or 4" off the very bottom of the drum, just above the level of the ash charcoal grate.....
charcoal_grates_done.jpg
... that is what they look like!

I also got the main cooking grills done......
grills_done.jpg
I was wondering how to remove the grates, handles would have been the easy thing to do..... :rolleyes: But I felt like they would be in the way all the time, so instead, I made this nifty grill lifter......
tools.jpg
(the second hook tool I'll explain in a minute)

Here is the grill lifter in action....
grill_lifter1.jpg grill_lifter2.jpg
....works very well, nice and solid, no worries! :thumb:

The hook tool is to open an close the "Charcoal Trapdoor" that I put in the left side grill......
charcoal_trapdoor_open.jpg
.... this will allow charcoal to easily be added to the grill while in use, without lifting off an entire grill, much safer this way I figure.

Next up is the intake, here I am building it......
air_inlet_construction.jpg
... which was not easy, the metal is a bit thin, so welding it caused warpage :doh:

But I did get it done......
SN3D0887.jpg
Opened....

SN3D0888.jpg
.....Closed :D

Cont..........
 
........

I then moved on to the exhaust, or chimneys!

exhaust_inside.jpg
Here is the inside of the grill, with the exhaust in place, well sort of.

I need to add another strut inside, to bolt the exhaust plate to, as the steel in this part of the drum can is really thin and flops around :doh:

Here is the outside.......
exhaust_stacks.jpg
..... you can't see it in the pic, but there is one damper on top of one stack, I need to make another one, these will just simple slide over covers for the top of the exhaust stack.

I'll also be adding two struts between the exhaust pipe and the body of the grill to make things more solid. I will have have to make these parts "Bolt On" as I need the grill to fit into the van to take it to Kajimoto san's place.

Lots of work yet to do, but I'm fitting it in between the aparto work the L shop work and trips to the doctor about my leg, which is healing very nicely thank you.

Cheers!
 
Hey, my slip roller finally arrived! :thumb:

slip_roller1.JPG slip_roller2.JPG
Not bad for about $120 :rolleyes:

Seems to do the trick!

I've wanted one for a while, making tubes and such is easy with one of these, and this one seem to work well. It is a bit of a workout, but hey, that can't hurt either!

Maybe a slightly longer handle would be good?

The two curved pieces of steel are for the seal on the lid.

Cheers! :wave:
 
Hey Stu, the BBQ is looking good or should i say smoker BBQ.:D:thumb: But man can you fit any more tools in that Dungeon.:rofl:

From what i know your space is smaller than mine and i got frustrated at the weekend moving things about. So much so that i had to do some changing.

But i cannot imagine all the setup and knock down you gave to do when you are doing a project. :( Getting organized is a huge asset though that i have learnt.:)

Anyhow good luck with the new tool, did you get that from ebay? How when you buy a tool like that do you decide on the choice of size. I always imagine the need for a bigger one yet the projects are never there for the utilization. Take clamps for example. Buying these 48 to 50 inch clamps and yet most of the stuff i end up clamping is under 30 inches.:rofl:

With hindsite i think your decision not to cover the floor in wood was a good one. I too would like to do a bit of welding in my shop, have my choice of welder all lined up but just grinding some steel on an old bench taught me about the burn marks from the filings and potential hazards of metal working in a woodworking environment.

As always you make the projects seem so easy and they are good to follow. All the best with the leg.
 
Looking Good, Stu.:thumb:

One thing I might mention though, is that when we used to build them, we did add one thing to add to the longevity of the Barrel, (learned from experience on how quickly the bottom of the Barrel would burn out).:rolleyes:

We made and installed a "Bottom Liner" that had was just a curved piece of sheet metal that hung from two long rods installed on the inside of the barrel running lengthwise from end to end, (one along the front edge and one along the back side). We curved the sheet metal on a radius that would give approx a 3/4 to 1" air gap clearance from the skin of the barrel and then curved the front and back edges of the sheet metal into sort of a hook to hang over the rods. This little mod really "extended" the useful life of the barrel. The liner came up to 1 to 2" below the Grill Rack. To make the liner easy to remove if it needed to be replaced, we only mounted angle iron inside the "ends" of the barrel to set the charcoal tray on and sized the charcoal tray accordingly to fit inside the liner.
 
Thanks guys!

Norman, I've been thinking of something along those lines, now that I have the slip roller, I could make a liner like that, in 12" pieces:rolleyes:

Some of the guys on the Smoke Ring recommend putting fire brick in the bottom, it helps hold the heat in as well, but the only fire brick I can find here is the full thickness stuff, and that is too thick, the half bricks would be better.

I also read that the biggest thing that rusts out the bottoms of these drum grills is that people leave the ashes in them, then it rains, and the water and ash combine to make "Lye" (also known as NaOH, sodium hydroxide, or caustic soda) and say bye bye bottom of the grill :eek:

I think this BBQ will only be used a handful of times a year, so I don't think I need to worry about a liner, I will be putting a drain in the bottom and an ash clean out too.

I got a lot done today, for once! :D

I used my new slip roller to make the curved lips for the lid, and welded them in place............

lid_lips_done.jpg
.......some grinding yet to do but that is the basic idea.

lip_lips_gaps1.jpg lid_lip_gaps2.jpg
Next I used a strap to hold the lid in place and found the gaps were not as tight as I would have liked, but I think they are OK.

To make the lid nice and solid, I put in a couple of struts.........

under_lid_struts.jpg
....Oh yeah, that lid is solid now!

While I'm showing off struts, here is the extra one I put on the inside of the grill on the exhaust side, now the exhaust is rock solid, no moving around.
exhaust_extra_support_struts.jpg

I then futzed around for a few house making these lid latches.......

lid_latches.jpg
....I'll add some wooden handles to them later, and I need to put a nice big handle on the center of the lid to make it easier to lift as well as a main handle on the lid, again with a turned handle.

Now to build the stand, I hope I have enough steel left over, I think I do........ :huh:

Here is the grill just about ready for it's first burn...........

almost_ready_for_1st_burn.jpg
.........I can smell the paint now hear the firetrucks :eek: :eek:

:rofl::rofl::rofl: :wave:

Cheers!
 
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