UDS Question
 

A buddy of mine got himself and I a 55gal drum. so we are about to put a few UDS's together. But here is the delima and question. first the delima, the barrels we got are 34x23. the question is the fire basket is 8" tall and 15" around, we were going to use 1" inlets, How far up from the bottom should the inlets go and how far above that should the bottom of the fire basket be. And do you measure the 24" from the charcoal grate or the top of the fire basket to the cooking grate? or what can we do.
If anyone can figure this one out it will be yall.

I have mine 3 in. from the bottom, and my bottom grate is 24 in. to "about" where the coals will be... an estimate. I was told 24 in. from the fire.
Hope this helps...

What he said works for mine...:-D

Mine is different because my charcoal basket is shorter and wider. Therefore I get two grates in mine and the bottom one is still 24" above the fire.

Same here!!!

I used the Danny Gaulden review of the Big Drum Smoker for dimensions and used 24 inches from the bottom of the charcoal basket tothe cooking grate. However, My basket is only 6 inches high (13 inch diameter). I just finished it last week and will do my second cook today (2 picnics). The first cook came out well but it did spike on me to 300 at one point. My inlet holes are about 2 inches from the bottom(a 1/4 inch less than bottom of charcoal grate) and seemed to work well. Only needed one plus open for most of the cook and at one point only one was open. There is still some lump in there but it was heaping full when I started. I have some more drums sitting here and I intend to move them along to friends and relatives as I learn from earlier designs.
Good luck - enjoy.

Picture
 

This drum I drew to demention the poblem is the grilling rack is only 1 inch from the lid If I go 24" from fire We may have to short of drums Im thinking. any thoughts

That's the same height as my drum....I went with 25" from top of the charcoal grate itself to the grilling grate position, not top of fire basket. My charcoal grate sits 2.25" from the drum floor and I drilled my air intake holes centered @1.75" from the drum bottom. Hope this helps you...
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...6&postcount=24

Yes It does thanks a lot N8Man much appreciated.

If you want to do a BDS clone, take a look at the last one I built. A 34" drum
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...&postcount=630

The Danny Gaulden review is a first generation BDS, I built one following his lead, the intakes were too low, got some specs from an owner and went with this design and it ROCKS!
Three vents, 2.5" from bottom, grate sits an inch on center above vents. Measure 24" from bottom of coal basket.

Another link with a 38" drum and two cooking grates
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...&postcount=211

Seeing the huge success I'm going to give it a try. i've got the reclaimed drum, got the expanded metal for the basket, got the grates, got L hooks I'm going to cut off and use for the grates.

I understand everything and I think I'm ready to go. I'm taking a variation -
I'm using the exhast and the drain valves from my spicewine. They are two inch valves and an 1 1/2 inch. I want to use 1 2" valve on the bottom on one side and the 1 1/2" valve on the other. The other 2" on the lid.

Lot of you have 3 holes so wasn't sure if you saw an issue with this?

I watched Mista/Pista's video on cooking on a UDS and he put in an ash pan. I like that but will the disrupt air flow at all?

Using bolts drilled in through the side to hold the grates - do you notice any smoke loss?

I'm doing a burn in tomorrow with pics tomorrow. The barrel was already cleaned and reconditioned when I bought it. Paid a little more but still not bad. Saves me the worry of what was used in it before.

2 inch from bottom for intake, grate sits on 3 bricks and 24 inch from bottom of grate sits cooking grate. (4) 1/2 inch holes for intake, usually only use 2 open. good luck with your UDS, smoke on.:-D:cool:

ok, last question and then I'm building mine tomorrow. What's the difference between using galvanized, brass, or iron for your air pipes?

Galvanized is poison.....................don't fark with it in any cooking unit. Better safe than sorry!!

Don't use galvanized for anything anywhere on anything on any smoker. That plating is not compatible with cooking food. Some of the other brothers will chime in here on specifics about galvanized and smokin.