I could use some advice.

I'm preparing to build a vertical "drum" smoker from an old piece of (unlined, well-burnt-out, never-used) natural gas pipeline that I - um - acquired about ten years ago when Atmos was putting a pipeline across my property.

The smoker will be 30" in diameter and roughly 36" tall. The wall will be about 1/4" thick.

I've Googled a ton of links about building vertical smokers, pretty much all "Ugly Drum Smokers" made from 55 gallon drums. Mine will be a little bigger, with thicker walls, so I'm not sure how things translate.

Current plans are for four 1" air inlets near the base (with caps/valves so I can control airflow), a 16 gauge steel lid, a basket for charcoal/wood, and two racks for meat.

Things I'm unsure about include:
- optimal charcoal basket size/construction (I've seen a lot of expanded metal with bolts for legs)
- relative height of air inlets to charcoal basket
- cooking grate heights relative to charcoal basket/lid
- chimney (multiple 1" tubes? One big central chimney?)
- heat deflector construction/size/placement (big pizza pan?)
- any particular tricks about cooking on this type of smoker
- probably lots of stuff that I've overlooked

I've never built a smoker before. My goal is to be able to smoke four 15 lb. briskets at once, for our annual church Independence Day party. I have a standard horizontal/offset smoker that will cook two briskets, but I've always had to borrow a second one. I thought it'd be a fun challenge to build one.

Any thoughts welcome.

What type of coating is on the pipe? I'm assuming it's the old coal tar but it could also be the old red "paint". Make sure ya get rid of any coating as it will stink awful and you won't wanna be anywhere near it. Second, before you start much work on it you should have a few really really hot fires in it to get rid of the old odorant that soaked into the metal.

As for the design questions, I got nothing. I'd love to see it come together tho, a lot of smokers and tailgate grills are being hauled around the ROW's

The irony of good old fashioned church BBQ being prepared on a pit constructed from stolen materials was not lost on me.

@Tim Taylor: good advice. I've had it sitting with a bunch of wood in it for the last two weeks hoping for a little rain before I light it. (And yes, I live outside the city limits in an area where I won't get any unfriendly visits from local law enforcement for having an open fire.)

@Aggie Chemist: lol - let's just say they they seemed to need help cleaning up the mess they left in my pasture, so I was just doing my good Christian duty by pitching in.

Rule 1 on the pipe so I know what you're dealing with

for charcoal basket, just buy one of the appropriate size from weber.com. they sell them in various sizes for the smokey mountain. good luck. take pics.

Theft

I built a smoker from a 55 gallon drum that I currently use.

two things I did that you want to consider:

1. started several hellacious fires in the drum to burn up any residual chemicals and remove the inside paint

2. bought a few pounds of beef fat and had several cooks with just the fat to season the inside of it

And there is no way i would try to smoke that much meat in mine. Too much heat loss, time and material handling.

I generally smoke chickens and pork butts.

For a 3-4 lb butt, it takes 7-8 hours at 225-250.

And I have to add coal 3-4 times during the cook, which means the lid comes off, meat rack comes out, etc...

It's a project that has to be tended to all day.

There is a forum called The Smoke Ring and there is a whole cooker build thread where you can get some specific information. I have followed some of the build and there are some guys over there that seem to know their stuff.

Here is a smoker that I have. Works great.

A big reason UDS are made from 55 gallon barrels is because the 21" weber grates fit perfectly inside. And typically a used barrel is cheap to get, and easy to find. So you'll have to either find some 29.5" grates or fabricate your own for our 30" pipe.

For the charcoal basket I would fabricate one 18" diameter and 12" tall made from expanded metal.

As for a chimney, I think a single 3" hole in the lid with some piping attached should be fine. Or just a hole in the lid with a way to cover it.

Thanks all for the advice!

Rule #1 on the pipe:

Cool! Good luck on the project!