Hi All. I recently built a drum smoker and have been devouring the articles on Amazingribs.com in anticipation of smoking my first meat (just waiting for my digital thermometer to arrive in the mail). Im sure this is a newbie question but I’ve been reading a lot on Amazingribs about cooking with indirect vs direct heat and how important both of these are when cooking many different kinds of meat. For example chicken requires indirect heat for most of the cook but then direct heat near the end to crisp up the skin. With the drum smoker direct heat is a given but how do you switch between indirect and direct heat using a drum smoker or can you? I know you can add something like pizza stone or pizza pan to provide indirect heat but then it seems like you would need to remove it somehow to get direct heat. Maybe I am making this more complicated than it needs to be but any help would be appreciated.
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Indirect Heat in a Drum Smoker
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Welcome to The Pit.
Drum smokers are not really designed for indirect heat. I don't have one, so I'll let others comment on if/how it can be done.
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The big advantage of a drum smoker is the distance between coals and meat, IMO. The distance is the indirect, except you get the positive of the drippings on the coals. You could always cook food on a rack in a pan. That'd be indirect.
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There's a lot of unprovided info that would make a specific recommendation easier, but I'll give you a couple examples from my Bronco drum. While it may differ somewhat from your exact build, it's the concept that is the point.
This is with the fuel bin at the bottom zone which is typical for drums in smoking mode. This first is the diffuser plate that comes with the Bronco, and even though it has an array of small holes it good protection from direct heat.
Then there is one made by Hunsaker that they use in their drums and sell separately as well. They refer to it as a vortex claiming it uses that angled fin design to improve convection action. It sits on top of the fuel containment bin/pan.
Various other options are sold by most UDS parts sellers that have similar configurations that block the direct heat with slots, holes or fins. Lots of options.
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Skipper Smith short answer is, yes, if you want direct heat/fire you remove the diffuser. But I'm struggling a small bit to understand when smoking there would be a need/benefit to that. Now, if you're thinking/talking about using the drum as a grill for "hot and fast" cooking, say as you'd typically do with a steak/chop, then yes, start with a diffuser and then remove for direct (or vice versa if you prefer). Personally I have a divider panel for my fuel bin to load on half of it with fuel and then just move the food product from one side to the other as desired.
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I have a Pit Barrel Cooker and can speak to that. The drum is a de facto indirect cooker for two reasons. First, the grill grate is high enough above the coal basket that the temperatures one associates with direct grilling are not there (unless one lets one's fire get out of control, of course).
Secondly, if you hang your meat, consider the profile of the meat relative to the coals. The way it was explained to me is this way: hold your hand palm-out towards the sun. Now rotate it 90 degrees....it will feel cooler. The heat energy hasn't changed.
Drum smokers, of course, can direct grill. Keeping the lid off can get that fire silly hot. Also some people will raise the coal basket to be closer to the grill grate, increasing temps significantly.
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Instead of worrying about your chicken skin getting crispy in a drum smoker, forget about it. Guys will tell you to crank the heat up to 350*F + at the end, but what you end up with not crispy but burnt skin. Even if you do get it crispy after you rest it for 15 minutes or so it goes soft on you anyway. Forget about it.
My suggestion is to hang those chicks in your smoker. Throw away the diffuser plates and the fancy smancy vortex bladed fan gismo and the water pan that fills up with greasy water, forget about it.
What I think you need is to shoot for bite through skin instead. Keep you temps low enough, say 275-300*F, hang those birds directly over your fire below and slow roast those babies to perfection. Here's a suggested way I do mine....
Who doesn't love a properly smoked chicken? Last year I began to develop what I consider (at least for my tastes) the perfect smoked chicken. My usual rotation has grown quit large over the past 5 years, so its unusual for me to prepare the same recipe more then a couple of times a year by default. But smoked (and sometimes
Good luck with learning how to cook on you new toy !! I love smoked chicken cooked in a drum. Some of my very favorite !!
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Just hang it and get a reasonably hot fire. The skin will do it’s thing. If you want crisper skin, you use some technique, like air drying in the fridge for a day or venting the skin to allow the rendered fat to leak out. A drum is pretty much all indirect cooking until you move the grate close to the coals or vise versa.
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Skipper Smith , Welcome from Minnesota. You're getting lots of good advice already. Have fun learning your Drum Cooker.
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Thanks all for the wonderful and helpful advice. I have been working my way through some pork belly as I learn how to use the drum smoker. I am impressed with the results so far. One modification I made to the smoker was the addition of a second valve to help control the vent. When I originally built it I had three vents (two with caps to close them and one with a ball valve). I found this was not adequate to get the temperature dialed in right. I added another ball valve to one of other vents and I was able to dial in the temperature perfect. Now on to chicken (thanks again everyone for all the help with this) and ribs.
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As to the distance of the coal bed from the target defining whether it is indirect or direct, we are one astronomical unit from the sun and it radiantly heats the earth unless an atmospheric condition or celestial object interrupts the transmission of that form of energy.
A diffuser plate in a cooker will acclimate to the internal temperature of the cooker and then will in turn radiate the excess accumulated energy until it is in equilibrium with its environment.
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