How to use a Drum Smoker – Light & Fire Management

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Using a drum smoker really isn’t too difficult once you know what you’re doing. I’m going to break it down into 4 simple steps to make it easy to remember. The 4 steps to properly using a drum smoker are:

1. Lighting the smoker
2. Setting the temperature
3. Managing the fire
4. Cool down & ash disposal

Lighting a smoker is the first step in using it (assuming it’s assembled/cleaned/etc.). That’s where we are going to start our journey is with lighting her up. To get started, you’re going to need 4 things:

• charcoal chimney
• lighter
• fire starters
• charcoal/wood chunks

Start the process by accessing the burn basket of your smoker. For a Drum Smoker, this will be in the very bottom of the vertical drum. Usually you can take the top half off or pull the grates out and take the basket out from the top.

Next, place 4 – 5 wood chunks in the bottom of the basket and add charcoal on top. Decide the amount of charcoal and wood to use based off of how hot & long you’d like to cook. The hotter or longer you cook, the more charcoal you need.

Now, fill a chimney up with charcoal. Again you’re going to use more charcoal for a hotter or longer burn so plan accordingly. I like to use a half a chimney for a low or fast smoke and a full chimney for a hotter or longer smoke. Once you’re ready, pour the chimney of lit coals directly on top of the wood and charcoal that’s already in the burn basket.

There are 2 common ways of setting the temperature on a drum smoker. Both have their advantages and disadvantages and I’ll cover them both below. For now, all you need to know is that temperature is based on air flow. The more air going into your fire, the hotter it will be.

Two types of temperature control:

• Use the vents to manually control air flow
• Use a blower fan and temperature controller to automatically control air flow

This is the simplest and most common way to control the temperature on your smoker. It’s going to require a feel that you’ll build up through practice and knowledge of your smoker. The general tenant here is the same as above: more air = more heat.

Steps for manual temperature control:

1. Reassemble your smoker after the fire is lit in the bottom.
2. Open up the exhaust vent fully, we can adjust this later.
3. Use the intake vent to control the temperature of your grill, allowing 10 – 20 minutes for everything to adjust.
4. If your smoker is too hot, close the intake vents more. If your smoker is too cool, open the vents a bit and blow air into them.
5. Repeat steps 3 & 4 every 30 minutes to an hour checking your grill temperature along the way.

Pros of manual temperature control:

• Doesn’t require additional equipment.
• Feels cool to be in control of the smoker.
• More street cred for perfecting your smoking skills.

Cons of manual temperature control:

• Can lead to wild temperature swings.
• Have to watch the smoker much more closely.

A digital smoker controller is going to take a lot of the work and control out of your hands. Basically you end up shutting down all of the intake vents except for one. Then you connect a fan and controller to the single intake vent and let the fan control how much air gets to the fire. Again, more air = hotter fire. It’s just with a controller you are letting a computer do the work of figuring out how much air to give.

Steps for automatic temperature control:

1. Reassemble your smoker after the fire is lit in the bottom.
2. Open up the exhaust vent fully, we can adjust this later.
3. Connect your blower fan and digital controller to your smoker.
4. Set a temperature that you’d like to smoke at and give the controller 10 – 20 minutes to get there.

Pros of automatic temperature control:

• Keeps temperature within 15F of desired temperature.
• Allows you to have ‘remote control’ through bluetooth or wifi connectivity.
• Requires less personal oversight, allowing you to roam.

Cons of automatic temperature control:

• Requires additional equipment (~$300 or more)
• Relies on batteries/power making it difficult to use in remote locations.

Cooling down the grill is fairly easy. Just close off all the vents and wait for the smoker to cool down to the touch. Once your sure it’s completely out, dump the charcoals out and you’re good to go.

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