food-bev One of my old USD builds...thought I would share.

[Sizzle Lips]

Built this UDS back a few years ago and it turned out great...It has since been retired....It cooked great but did have a few little problems.
I am now thinking of building a new and improved Barrel cooker....they do look nice all dolled up.
The biggest problem was keeping the wood hydrated ...after every cook you had to fill it with water to tighten up the staves of wood....other wise it would take on too much air and run hot.....this time I am thinking of using a smaller steel barrel inside as an insert and that would solve a lot of problems.
It did cook awesome and held temps great when hydrated....that thick wood worked well in the winter to hold the heat.
 
Anyways was just going through some old pics and thought I would share them with THP.
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

[karoo]

Thanks for sharing.!
Really good looking. That should be a proud piece of BBQ furniture even when not in use.

 

[MikeUSMC]

Thanks for sharing, Sizzle Lips! Your UDS gave me lots of inspiration when I was building mine, man! I couldn't really find a tutorial on a wine/whiskey barrel build online, so I did a lot of searching images. Pics of yours came up more than a few times, and helped me out a lot with my build

I'm having a lot of the same problems with mine; staves shrinking and temps running too hot. After my first cook, I just couldn't bring myself to soak the barrel, and risk getting all of that cooking grease all over the wood stain on the outside. That's why I opted to use high temp, food grade caulk on the inside of the staves. The longer I've had (and use) my barrel, the more babysitting it needs: leaks lead to high temps, plus the smoke streams (leaks) have discolored the backside of mine and it won't scrub off

Yours still looks brand new! Nicely done!

Thanks again for sharing!

Now, let's see some grub!!!!!

 

[Sizzle Lips]

Thanks for sharing.!
Really good looking. That should be a proud piece of BBQ furniture even when not in use.

 

Thanks for looking karoo....but like I said it has been retired and the bottom got recycled into a flower planter.

 

[Sizzle Lips]

Thanks for sharing, Sizzle Lips! Your UDS gave me lots of inspiration when I was building mine, man! I couldn't really find a tutorial on a wine/whiskey barrel build online, so I did a lot of searching images. Pics of yours came up more than a few times, and helped me out a lot with my build

I'm having a lot of the same problems with mine; staves shrinking and temps running too hot. After my first cook, I just couldn't bring myself to soak the barrel, and risk getting all of that cooking grease all over the wood stain on the outside. That's why I opted to use high temp, food grade caulk on the inside of the staves. The longer I've had (and use) my barrel, the more babysitting it needs: leaks lead to high temps, plus the smoke streams (leaks) have discolored the backside of mine and it won't scrub off

Yours still looks brand new! Nicely done!

Thanks again for sharing!

Now, let's see some grub!!!!!

 
Thanks Mike....I thought about using high temp silicone inside but ended up backing away from that....this is why I am thinking about getting an insert made of sheet metal that would be just slightly smaller than the barrel....one other thing I would change is the intake vent system....I would like some kind of adjustable sliders.

 

[MikeUSMC]

....one other thing I would change is the vent system....I would like some kind of adjustable sliders.

Same here, man. It's a total PITA to clean out my exhaust pipes, and I'm starting to have problems with built up grease in there, dripping down onto the food

I'm gonna have to do something about that, haha