Plastic barrel wind break


 
Mine being broken in tonight. Worked like a charm!
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Was also thing it would be good for storing the WSM, just without the lid on. Just put the lid in the garage and drop a piece of wood on top to cover it up. Quick and easy and not putting the Weber condom on.

 
Nice job Milt,
I was thinking this week that I had to make a wind break since it's cold now. After seeing your post I remembered I have a plastic barrell at my parents house doing nothing (perfect situation). A couple of questions please. I see you have a couple of bricks at the bottom, is that to let air in? Note that I just bought my WSM about 5 months ago and am still learning. If you didn't lift the barrell with the bricks would there be enough air coming from the open top of the barrell or is it the way the air has to flow? One more thing does the WSM get hot enough to do damage to the barrell? I know it's cold now but am wondering with people with enclosures is that a concern with any wind break build. Thanks again for your idea.
Pat
 
Thanks for the idea, Milt! I got a blue one off Craigslist locally for $10 and already cut it out.

BTW, what's up with putting it up on bricks like Pat pointed out?
 
Can of Plastic Krylon works wonders on it.

I'd assume the bricks would be for better air flow. My meatloaf only cooked for 1.5 hours and i didn't use any bricks. Heat wise at the end of my first cook (1.5 hr) inside of the barrel was just warm to the touch
 
The bricks are for draft purposes. With the barrel sitting on a flat surface there was not enough draft to sustain combustion. After four uses I have not seen any effect of temperature on the inside of the barrel.
Stefan,
After being refridgerated for an hour, the meatloaf can be placed directly on the grill and it will hold its' shape during the cook.
 
Originally posted by Milt DuCharme:
The bricks are for draft purposes. With the barrel sitting on a flat surface there was not enough draft to sustain combustion.
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I'm no expert in thermodynamics, but as surprised as I am that the drum can't be flush with the ground and still get enough air for the vents to work as normal, I'd just use a few thin pieces of plywood or even shims to give just a crack under the drum. It seems like you're kind of defeating the purpose by putting such a big gap underneath.
 
Hey Stefan, quick question for you...I am also in Calgary, wondering if you got your barrel from Calgary Plastic Container link you posted on the previous page? I am thinking this would be handy to have around as I dont have a lot of wind protection in my backyard.
Cheers,
Jason
 
Originally posted by Jason de Weerd:
Hey Stefan, quick question for you...I am also in Calgary, wondering if you got your barrel from Calgary Plastic Container link you posted on the previous page? I am thinking this would be handy to have around as I dont have a lot of wind protection in my backyard.
Cheers,
Jason
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Hey Jason,
I ended up getting mine off Kijiji. Try calling Dirk @ <# removed> and see if he has any left. He was charging $40 & they are new. Calgary Plastic's only had new ones that were $$$$.

Let me know how it works out.
 
Milt, first cook with the blue plastic barrel, and I thought I'd try it with no gap at the bottom, first.

I'm smoking some spares today, and the lid vent temp is 293* steady, with all vents wide open, just about what my wsm would do in the summertime! Actually, I believe it's creeping up still, so I better shut my vents a little.

This is a GREAT idea for a wind break, and will be even MORE effiecient with a wool blanket bungeed over the dome, cut out for the vent, of course.

Thanks, Milt!
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Mine warped some, but I can still use it. You could minimize warping by leaving a lip when you cut out the bottom, but then you couldn't take the dome off.
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Technically, Stefan's barrel isn't sitting flat with "no gap at the bottom" as air is coming up between the deck boards.
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Originally posted by TravisH:
Technically, Stefan's barrel isn't sitting flat with "no gap at the bottom" as air is coming up between the deck boards.
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True, but you don't need any air coming under the drum. Lots of guys make their UDS with an "old man intake", which is an elevated pipe intake that runs down to the bottom of the drum. The idea is that you don't have to bend over to adjust the vent, and more importantly, you don't spill your beer. They commonly use a ball valve, and I hear it works great as long as the pipe is sufficient in diameter (about 2") and doesn't run all the way to the top of the drum.

More importantly though, I wish I would've left my plastic drum the way I originally cut the bottom out with the wide lip left, cut around where there would be just a little room between the dome and edge of the lip after putting the drum back over the cooker ( barrel upside down). Sure, I couldn't lift the dome off, but I couldn't open the door or adjust the vents very easily without lifting the drum off, anyway.

I did a rib cook like this and was very impressed. Couldn't leave well enough alone though, and I cut the lip off and the drum lost all rigidity, warping real bad after my butt cook last week. Now, I plan on buying another one and just cut the inside of the bottom out like the first one. It really helped save fuel, and the wind was no issue, so taking the barrel off to adjust the vents wasn't needed once I got my temp where I wanted it.
 
Originally posted by JSMcdowell:
Dave,

Could you put some sort of band around the barrel to get the rigid back yet still be able to take off the dome ?
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Maybe so, but I'd think it would have to be fairly substantial, thus adding to the weight. It might work, though. It's just not my area of expertise. It's kind of a pain adjusting the vents with the drum on anyway, so I'm just gonna pick up another one and cut the bottom out like I originally did.
 
Originally posted by Dave Russell:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by JSMcdowell:
Dave,

Could you put some sort of band around the barrel to get the rigid back yet still be able to take off the dome ?
Click to expand...

Maybe so, but I'd think it would have to be fairly substantial, thus adding to the weight. It might work, though. It's just not my area of expertise. It's kind of a pain adjusting the vents with the drum on anyway, so I'm just gonna pick up another one and cut the bottom out like I originally did. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Dave,

One of my clients ship the steel 55 gal drums and something occurred to me. They use a bracket to hold the lids on. These hatchet down. They could tighten your plastic barrel up and don't weight that much.
 
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