Here are the plans and pictures by request. I hope I didn't ramble on too much.

I found a food grade 55 gallon drum at my local feed store for $15. The barrel was not lined so I just cleaned it out and did a small burn out with some wood that I had laying around. If your barrel is lined, do a good burnout trying to remove the liner.

Measuring about 2" to maybe 3" from the bottom of the barrel, drill two 1" holes opposite each other using a step drill ($15 Harbor Freight). Put a 3/4" pipe nipple in each hole. Put a 3/4" ball valve on one nipple and a cap on the other nipple. On the pipe nipples, put a conduit nut on both sides of the barrel to help secure the nipple.

About 5" from the bottom of the barrel drill three or four holes and put eye bolts 3" or 4" inches in length there. Use fender washers (on all eyebolts) on each side of the barrel. Get a 17" charcoal grate (Academy $3) and it will sit on top of the eye bolts.

I bought a 12X12 sheet of expanded metal at Home Depot and cut it in half making two 6X12 pieces. Bolt these two pieces together making one long piece then bolt the other two ends together making a circle. Secure this to the charcoal grate above to make a charcoal basket.

From the top of the barrel, measure down 6" and place three or four more eyebolts that are about 4" in length. Place a 22" cooking grate (Academy $5) on top of the eyebolts.

I came down 6" from the top grate and put another set of eye bolts and a cooking grate in, but that didn't work well for cooking. I will continue to use the lower cooking grate, but will use it for a water pan or a drip pan.

In the lid of the barrel drill at least four 1" holes with the step drill and put a 90* pipe fitting with conduit nuts in the holes.. Put some type of a handle in the lid as well. You want a minimum of a 2:1 exhaust to intake ratio.

I found a temp gauge at Academy for $8 so I put it in just below the cooking grate.

To cook, I just fill the basket a little less than 1/2 way with good charcoal (Kingsford or Sams Choice) and mix in 2 or 3 small chunks of smoking wood. I dump about 1/2 chimney of lit coals then place a wood log on top of the lit coals. Doing this your fire should last the length of the cook without ever touching the fire.

To make temperature adjustments, just adjust the ball valve and give it time (15 minutes or so) for the temp to adjust. If you cant get it hot enough just remove the cap on the intake pipe nipple and the temp will rise fairly quickly. For smoking you want about 220* to 250*.

I would recommend doing a dry run or two before you put meat on it so that you can see how the temps are gonna react to the adjustments and also to season it. Spray some PAM cooking spray or rub it down good with cooking oil before you light it.

Pretty cool.

I'm thinking about getting another Brinkman electric smoker or a gas one. My last one rusted out from leaving it in the carport. I like the convenience.

Never tried a gas or electric smoker. Guess that they work ok.

Pretty cool idea. Where do you keep the water bowl? I didn't see a door on the side to fill one.

I have both a gas and electric smoker. The gas is nice because you can control the temp and can go anywhere with the unit. Electric is nice because you don't have to buy propane and you can just set it and forget it. Made some awesome pulled pork in the electric over the 4th of July. Came out perfect. Put in there at 10 pm, ready at 8am.

Never used a water bowl in it. I did add a lower grate for more cooking capacity, but that didn't really work out that good. I figure that if I need to use a water bowl, I will just put it on the lower rack.

No doors or access panels either. No need for them.

I'm tellin ya, this thing works great!

Thinking about doing two briskets and 3 racks of baby backs when my sis and her family come into town in a couple of weeks.

I really liked the electric also. Thought I might go with gas this time. The electric one did draw some amps though. I plugged it in to the garage and my wife turned the microwave on and made the kitchen dark..

The gas ones wouldn't use much propane would they? I mean you would barely have to turn it on to keep the heat up.

The gas ones actually don't use much propane at all. I just don't like spending money on propane because I'm cheap! I have a gas grill and always run out of propane and have to rob the tank from the smoker. Then when I want to use the smoker I have to go refill it again because I used up both tanks! As for the electric ones, I will only plug it in overnight. You use much less energy at night since things like the a/c are not running as much, same thing goes for doing laundry, best at night to save a little on the power bill.

I love both. Gas when I need to smoke for many people, electric for just a few or myself. My gas one, I have smoked 4 briskets at one time before for a party. Couldn't do that with the electric.