Thanks so much for the encouraging words. I hope the video was helpful and enjoyable. Thanks again for your comment and for watching! Have a great day and God bless!

Hey thanks so much for your encouraging words! I really appreciate it and thanks so much for watching! God bless

Thank you so much for your kind words! I glad the video was helpful to you and I'm sure your smoker project will turn out great! Thanks for watching and God bless you as well!

Thanks so much! As you said the hunt isn't always at the end of the muzzle! The outdoors is one of the places where I feel God's presence the most! Sharing it with friends and family is just a plus! Thanks for watching and sharing and my God bless you richly!

Thank you and I'm sure yours will turn out great. I really love mine and it does a great job of smoking everything from jerky to ribs. Thanks too for watching and may God bless you!

I'm going to try to make a big bunch of Jerky. Thanks 😊​@@thefrugalsportsman

Thank you for your kind words! Good luck with youf smoker build and I hope this video was helpful! Blessings!

Thank you so much for your kind words Bryan! I really appreciate it! Thanks too for watching and may God bless you!

Thanks so much! Thanks too for watching and my God bless you!

So glad the video helped you out! Thanks for the encouraging words as well and for watching. God bless!

God bless you as well! I find building and making stuff to be so rewarding and in many cases save you money. I use this smoker all the time and it work great! Thanks for watching the video and for sharing. I really appreciate it!

Thanks so much! I appreciate it! Thanks for watching and God bless!

Thanks so much for the encouraging words! I appreciate it! Thanks too for watching and my God bless you and your family as well!

Awesome and well done! Sounds like you have a super capacity smoker to do tons of meat with! Thanks for watching and sharing and God bless you!

Great idea CJ. My grates were a little rusty because I hadn't used the smoker in a while. I found that after the first use they blackened back up and got a nice coating on them from the smoke. Seasoning them like a skillet would probably be a better idea thought. Good luck on the build and enjoy it. Thanks too for watching and God bless you and all you do!

Thanks so much! Adding a hatch is certainly something that could be done. I've only every needed to open the side plugs one time if I remember to really heat up the smoker. Most times the ball valve is more than adequate to regulate the air for the temperatures I smoke at. Thanks for the tip and for sharing! Thanks too for watching and God bless!

Thanks so much for the encouragement! I really appreciate it! Thanks too for watching and God bless you!

Thanks so much and thanks too for watching! God bless you!

Thanks so much for watching and your positive feedback! I appreciate it! Hope you found the video a help and may God bless you!

Thanks and God bless you too!

Thank you so much. I appreciate your kind words! Thanks for watching and God bless!

Thanks so much and thanks too for watching and sharing. God bless!

Hey thanks so much. I really appreciate the positive feedback and your kind words and so glad you found the video helpful. My smoker has been working great and I'm sure you will love yours as well. You might want to check out my channel with some of the videos I did showing some of the ways I've used the smoker as well. Thanks so much for watching and God bless!

@@thefrugalsportsman i liked and subbed to your channel. Also love that you support God. Absolutely the world needs to keep people like you around. God bless you my friend

@@outtanowhere3599 Thank you so much for you subbing and your support! It means a lot! Your gracious words were a blessing as well! Thanks again and my God bless you!

Thanks much! It works great and I use it all the time! Thanks for watching and God bless!

The drum hasn't shown any signs of wear that I can see and looks like it did when I built it. So I believe it should last for many years. If you want to go with stainless for the grills (which is a good idea) you can buy them for around $25 each on Amazon that will fit the drum. I haven't had any issues from the ones I built. I just clean them before use, but as I said the stainless would probably be better. I've owned one other smoker and this one is by far so much better. I can load it with quite a bit of meat product and it holds more charcoal than the old one so it can go for hours. Thanks for you encouraging words and may God bless your day!

I think you will like it. It works wonderfully for me! Thanks for watching and may God bless you richly and Amen!

@@thefrugalsportsman Thank You.

Thank you! Thanks too for watching and God bless!

I haven't had any issues really with the steel grates. I just clean and sometimes oil them with vegetable oil before use. But looking back it probably would have been a better choice to build them out of stainless steel. Thanks for watching and God bless!

Thanks for the compliment about the video, I appreciate it! I did want to share one thing with you. I know many people might feel similar about how you view God, and many people pick and choose how they want to believe or not believe when it comes to God, but the truth is that where spend eternity is reflective on what we do with Jesus Christ. The Bible say that the wages of sin is death (Roman 6:23) and that sin separates us from God and the only way for us to be reconciled back to God is by repenting, believing in what Jesus did on the cross in paying the penalty for our sins and putting our faith in him to save us. Some people might think that that is narrow minded, but it is the truth as Jesus himself said: "I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the father except through me!" (John 14:6). When we put our trust in Christ and receive him as our savior the Bible says that we become children of God. (John 1:12). From that point forward we become a new creation and restored back to a right relationship with God (2 Corinthians 5:17) I'm not here to convince people what and how to believe, only God can do that. But I would encourage you to look through the Bible and to ask God to open your heart to the truth about who he is and what he requires of us. No matter how hard we believe in something, if it isn't true to begin with it never will be. I only share this message of God's love with you and everyone on my channel not to discourage you, but because I deeply care about you and want you and them to experience the love and forgiveness God has shown me and offers to you as well! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and for watching and may God bless you richly as you seek after him.

@@thefrugalsportsman thank you. Im well versed in the Bible and many other religions. And one thing i know for sure, i will share this with You, Jesus that John wrote about was in protest to the whole narrative of the New Testament. "We Are No born Sinners" Glad to hear you beat your cancer. Congradulations on your books very inspired i see.

Thank you and God bless you!

I'm not really sure of your question, but if you mean the air ports on the lower sides of the drum you just grab the round stock I welded on for a handle on each and screw them out. I welded a pipe bushing on each side which are threaded and the plugs just screw into those. If that doesn't answer your question just reply back with more clarification and I'll try to help! Thanks for watching and God bless!

I normally smoke the meats around 225 F. I memory serves my right (because I haven't done it on a while) I have keep the temperature well below that say around 150 F by using a minimal amount of charcoal and doing the "U" shape in the fire cage so you are only burning a small amount of charcoal at a time as it works it's way around to the end. I also don't use the side drafts and close the ball valve draft almost or all the way off. It's something you have to play with as it also depends on how leaky your drum is, the outside temperature is and other variables you might run into. If you do cold smoke make sure you use a curing salt as cold smoke temperature is idea for bacteria growth and the salt will help prevent sickness. I hope that helps some. Thanks so much for watching and God bless you!

Yeah, I'd stick to the metal drum for sure. Thanks for watching and God bless!

You could make them out of stainless but it would be cheaper to just by the 21 1/2" grates from Amazon for $22. I've never had a problem. They rust some between uses. I usually only start smoking in the fall so they lay idle for some time. I just wire brush them really well and that seems to take care of it. It's good to give them a light coat of vegetable oil with a wad of paper towel before use too. I know many commercial grill have cast iron on them (mine does). So I have to brush that too, but it gets used all the time so it isn't as noticeable.

You have to start with a food grade drum. In other words one that did not store chemicals or other toxic material. You don't want the risk of contaminating your food or you. Then I just burn out the inside to clean it with a fire for added protection as I talk about in the video. Hope that helps. Thanks for watching and God bless!

@@thefrugalsportsman thanks brother

@@putihputih173 No problem. I hope that helped.

Love you too my brother from a different mother. Thanks so much for the blessing you all were these last two weeks and may God bless you and the family so richly! You are in my prayers!

Hi Ron, Thanks for your insight. You are so right that it would be easier and cheaper to just buy a smoker if someone had to include those items you listed above. And you have to figure the labor and time too, right! But for me, the items you listed are things I already had and my thought was that many others may have them as well or know a friend that does. My goal was to share ideas and help others see the satisfaction in building something of their own that they could enjoy and how I built it in the cheapest way for me. Thanks again for sharing as we can all learn from others and need to look at every view. Have a great day and God bless!

Great video boss i have a cheap welder from a fence i repaired for a neighbor. Just need to pick up a barrel. Question doesn't the lump charcoal burn to hot? As for Ron... jump on Google maps and look for your nearest Harbor Freight tools. Get a 20% coupon and get a free flashlight COME ON MAN!!!!

@@panchovillasmith8218 Hey thanks so much for watching. I think you are good to go now that you have that welder. I'm sure you'll use it for a lot of thinks too. As far as the lump charcoal I've use both lump and the molded briquettes and prefer the lump charcoal. I've learned to regulate the temperature pretty well and if I need to get a fire going quick I can use the smaller pieces to get things started. I don't like using lighter fluid to light the charcoal because I feel it may make the meat taste funny at the low temperature it burns so the smaller pieces are helpful to start the fire. It just takes some trial and error, but I'm sure you will pick it up quick! Hope that was helpful. I've got a couple of other videos out on just how I use the smoker and that may as well! Thanks again for watching and God bless!

@@thefrugalsportsman I with you 100% on the lighter fluid. I have always used weber kettle thats running about 18 years now. They fancy and expensive contraptions like the slow and sear are nice but not needed. Thanks for the quick reply

@@panchovillasmith8218 No problem. Hope it helps! Blessings!

Smoke is a natural effect of nature and in God's design the rain grabs and pulls natural impurities in the air back to the ground where they become part of the non toxic make up of the soil. The rain water is purified as it filters through the ground and the bedrock where we then drink it. Wood fires are about as natural as you can get it, so I can agree with your comment that wood is dirty, but to each his own. Thanks so much for watching and may God bless you!