Indirect Heat in a Drum Smoker

[bmillin]

I did my first UDS on the cheap. Most expensive part would have been a ball valve but had one laying around.

Put 3 evenly spaced 1” holes around the bottom, used an old Weber lid on top. Ball valve in one hole, aluminum foil cone-shaped plugs for the other two after it got warmed up. I found it would run well with the ball valve open / adjusted and the other two plugged, if that wasn’t enough pull one of the plugs, shut the ball valve down then open it up until I got the right temp. All three open would get it running pretty hot.

[Chiller Phil]

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.

[Skipper Smith]

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.

[Skip]

Skipper Smith , Welcome from Minnesota. You're getting lots of good advice already. Have fun learning your Drum Cooker.

[FireMan]

Yup, with the PBC style the skin’ll take care of itself & as far as the chicken goes, well it will cook properly cuz of the tubular effect of the cooker. Welcome, eat good & especially have fun with the tubular effect of things. Yessir. 🕶

[Potkettleblack]

Lost the right leg to the diffuser but it was not ruined. OJB! OJB!

[Potkettleblack]

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.

[Potkettleblack]

This is the correct answer. The distance from the coals is what provides the direct/indirect. Move the coals up: direct.

[7pigfeathers7]

The Pit Barrel Cooker (and their ugly step-sister) is appropriately called a cooker, not a smoker. Light your coals, hang your meats and let it do its thing, Save the money on the blue tooth gizmos and temp controllers and buy good meats.

[Uncle Bob]

Stevie, Stevie, Stevie.......as a Texan you should know that "cleanliness is next to godliness"...........................oh, wait, you're from Chicago...............never mind.

[Troutman]

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....

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/recipes-technique-food-cooking/poultry-chicken-turkey-and-duck-recipes/964383-asado-de-pollo-ahumado

Good luck with learning how to cook on you new toy !! I love smoked chicken cooked in a drum. Some of my very favorite !!

[Troutman]

There's a correlation between the cleanliness of a smoker and the fact that it's never used (or something like that). You putting for dough or for show?

[Brisket Syndicate]

Pizza pan, with holes in it, works great for a diffuser.

[Michael_in_TX]

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.

[bbqLuv]

Hello from NW Oregon,