Ugly Drum Smoker

inraged2002 said:

I am totally new to this and am getting ready to build my first UDS. I have a question regarding how much charcoal to use. I'm sure it has been asked before but there are soooo many post to look through. How do you know how much charcoal to use? I know it has to be different if you are smoking tri-tips compared to shoulders. From what I have been reading it seems like its about a pound per hour. Would this be a good estimate?

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I just fill my basket which is 13x13x13( scraps leftover from a job). When i am thru cooking,i just shut it down and whatever charcoal is left is used on the next cook.

Thank you gravityguy! Your advice will help me out a lot! I was worried about having to fire it because I've read on here that sometimes it takes multiple firings to get the liner out and I live in a residential neighborhood, so firing it out didn't sound like a good idea to me. Once again, thank you. I'll definitely be posting pictures once we get started!

My first UDS



This is my 1st UDS. I mostly followed the tips in this thread, but added a different fire basket, and cut the barrel in to. A stainless bowl sits on the fire basket for a water pan.

I flanged the cut line on the top half, so it now sits on the bottom. That way i can lift off the food, and easily access the fire, without lifting the water pan too (a la WSM).

Not seen, i added a rain cap to the flue after the first burn, which also chokes down the airflow. 2" is way too big.

I've fired it up twice. It works amazing. The 1-1/2" threads on the bottom are for a future Stoker fan adapter. I also added a couple of 3/4" nipples so i can use it easier without the stoker fan. It's a little hard to throttle with a 1-1/2" inlet valve.

My first UDS

fixed link

Okay, I have another question. If I use a drum that had a plastic bag liner inside and only held stuff like dirt or wood, would I still have to fire it out/sandblast it or could I just wash it out? I'm thinking that I should still get it sandblasted just in case and also so I could get the outside paint off. Once again thank you very much for your help, I really appreciate it!

tonoxtono said:

Okay, I have another question. If I use a drum that had a plastic bag liner inside and only held stuff like dirt or wood, would I still have to fire it out/sandblast it or could I just wash it out? I'm thinking that I should still get it sandblasted just in case and also so I could get the outside paint off. Once again thank you very much for your help, I really appreciate it!

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You don't need to if liner is out. But wouldn't hurt if you want to play it safe. :icon_shy

UDS i built for my sons birthday

Its got 2 cooks racks, ash catcher pan, 15 in fire basket. used a domed lid off of a wally world kettle i got for $29. I could not find a high temp paint i liked for the orange so i used 2 coats high temp primer under regular ol' rustoleum. when i seasoned it i ran it up to 450 degrees and got NO paint dis coloration.

Now making a John Deere themed uds for the son in law using the bottom of the wally world kettle for a domed lid

Thanks everybody with the help from my previous question. Now I have a question regarding the firebasket. I was thinking about using one of those cheap aluminum stock pots like you would steam tamales in. I believe the measurements were right at 11" x 12". I know I would have to drill a bunch of holes in it but would this work?

so i survived the 637 pages of this awesome thread. We bought the a char-broil grill not to long ago and my g/f recently bought me the fire box for it i am returning it and gathering the supplies for a uds.

I've got at least a dozen or more cooks done on my UDS , most of the food that has come off of it has been wonderful. I have read the ENTIRE UDS thread , but I still have a couple of questions for the "pros".
1. My UDS has extreme hot and cold spots , varying as much as 50 degrees over different points on my grates , my charcoal basket is wide and low and I tend to spread my lit coals around on top of my unlit coals. So my question is , will a diffuser of some sort help with this , and will it create any "new" issues od it's own if I did use one.

2. I sprayed down the inside of my drum with PAM before my first cook , and have cooked several fatties , so for the most part the inside of the drum is pretty greasy , but it's still starting to rust on certain spots , is there a need to "re-season" every once in a while , or is this normal?

3. I need suggestions for a thermometer , I started out with one of those turkey fry thermometers , it lasted about 3 cooks. Lately I have been using my digital probe through a block of wood sitting on one of the grates but would prefer a side mounted solution. What would be a good thermometer to use? I don't mind paying a little more for a good one , or two.

4. Where should I be reading temps at? between my two grates? Or should I have one just below each grate? I find that if I get my digital too close to the meat it messes with the reading , so I'd appreciate some suggestions here.

I've sold 2 UDS's for $150 so far, don't really make much off of them but man people love them

TurboDog said:

2. I sprayed down the inside of my drum with PAM before my first cook , and have cooked several fatties , so for the most part the inside of the drum is pretty greasy , but it's still starting to rust on certain spots , is there a need to "re-season" every once in a while , or is this normal?

3. I need suggestions for a thermometer , I started out with one of those turkey fry thermometers , it lasted about 3 cooks. Lately I have been using my digital probe through a block of wood sitting on one of the grates but would prefer a side mounted solution. What would be a good thermometer to use? I don't mind paying a little more for a good one , or two.

4. Where should I be reading temps at? between my two grates? Or should I have one just below each grate? I find that if I get my digital too close to the meat it messes with the reading , so I'd appreciate some suggestions here.

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I have 2 cooks in on my UDS and have the same questions. My turkey fryer thermometer didn't make it this weekend.

TurboDog said:

I've got at least a dozen or more cooks done on my UDS , most of the food that has come off of it has been wonderful. I have read the ENTIRE UDS thread , but I still have a couple of questions for the "pros".
1. My UDS has extreme hot and cold spots , varying as much as 50 degrees over different points on my grates , my charcoal basket is wide and low and I tend to spread my lit coals around on top of my unlit coals. So my question is , will a diffuser of some sort help with this , and will it create any "new" issues od it's own if I did use one.

2. I sprayed down the inside of my drum with PAM before my first cook , and have cooked several fatties , so for the most part the inside of the drum is pretty greasy , but it's still starting to rust on certain spots , is there a need to "re-season" every once in a while , or is this normal?

3. I need suggestions for a thermometer , I started out with one of those turkey fry thermometers , it lasted about 3 cooks. Lately I have been using my digital probe through a block of wood sitting on one of the grates but would prefer a side mounted solution. What would be a good thermometer to use? I don't mind paying a little more for a good one , or two.

4. Where should I be reading temps at? between my two grates? Or should I have one just below each grate? I find that if I get my digital too close to the meat it messes with the reading , so I'd appreciate some suggestions here.

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If you are getting some rust inside, just spray with some more Pam and cook on.

I use a turkey thermo that I bought from Wally World for about $5 and have been using it for about 15 months. It is within about 20 degrees of my Maverick.
I also have a cheap side mounted guage that will be very close to my maverick after my uds has been up and running for 2 or 3 hours.

After you have some experience with your gauges verses the maverick you can pretty much know what your smoker is doing. I would just buy another turkey thermo as they are cheap. I used and depended on mine until l bought my Maverick.

One thing about the turkey thermo is that sometimes while cooking, it will get a build-up of crust on it near the tip and will give low readings. I just pull it out and clean it off and put it back in and it comes right back up to the correct temp. :blah::blah:

retired trucker said:

If you are getting some rust inside, just spray with some more Pam and cook on.

I use a turkey thermo that I bought from Wally World for about $5 and have been using it for about 15 months. It is within about 20 degrees of my Maverick.
I also have a cheap side mounted guage that will be very close to my maverick after my uds has been up and running for 2 or 3 hours.

After you have some experience with your gauges verses the maverick you can pretty much know what your smoker is doing. I would just buy another turkey thermo as they are cheap. I used and depended on mine until l bought my Maverick.

One thing about the turkey thermo is that sometimes while cooking, it will get a build-up of crust on it near the tip and will give low readings. I just pull it out and clean it off and put it back in and it comes right back up to the correct temp. :blah::blah:

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I noticed the meat dripping directly on it a couple of times , which had me questioning if directly under the center of the grate was a good spot for it. I may just pick up another one , I liked being able to check temperature at any point from the center to the sidewall just by sliding it in or out of the fitting , but there was the dripping thing. I think cold weather may have killed my last one, I woke up one morning after a hard freeze and it was pegged all the way to the bottom , and I couldn't get it to move back up , even in boiling water.

Yea, the first time it happened to me, I thought it had gone south. But after pulling it out I noticed some build up on it and after cleaning it off, it continued to work right.

TurboDog said:

I noticed the meat dripping directly on it a couple of times , which had me questioning if directly under the center of the grate was a good spot for it. I may just pick up another one , I liked being able to check temperature at any point from the center to the sidewall just by sliding it in or out of the fitting , but there was the dripping thing. I think cold weather may have killed my last one, I woke up one morning after a hard freeze and it was pegged all the way to the bottom , and I couldn't get it to move back up , even in boiling water.

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Those thermos are designed to be used in hot oil, I can't imagine a little warm juice from meat is gonna kill the probe. I did kill an el cheapo one by getting my uds up around 450 with lump and running wide open for chicken. The next time I tried a cook, it was reading about 100deg. low. Popped in another $5 cheapie of same make and model and never had another problem.

The juice is not killing the probe , it's cooling it off to the point where it reads way off , I'm pretty sure the freezing weather killed the probe though , so the next one I'll take inside in the winter , or just buy another one , the thing was only like 3 bucks.

TurboDog said:

1. My UDS has extreme hot and cold spots , varying as much as 50 degrees over different points on my grates , my charcoal basket is wide and low and I tend to spread my lit coals around on top of my unlit coals. So my question is , will a diffuser of some sort help with this , and will it create any "new" issues od it's own if I did use one.

I use the clay pot base diffuser method. It works great for me. Really evened out the temps for me.

2. I sprayed down the inside of my drum with PAM before my first cook , and have cooked several fatties , so for the most part the inside of the drum is pretty greasy , but it's still starting to rust on certain spots , is there a need to "re-season" every once in a while , or is this normal?

My UDS has too much build up (I think). It it black and hard as glass. I don't have any rust. I have used it about 2 times a month for 1 year.

3. I need suggestions for a thermometer , I started out with one of those turkey fry thermometers , it lasted about 3 cooks. Lately I have been using my digital probe through a block of wood sitting on one of the grates but would prefer a side mounted solution. What would be a good thermometer to use? I don't mind paying a little more for a good one , or two.

I have 2 Old Smoky Joe thermometers from Cabellas. They were in my price range.

4. Where should I be reading temps at? between my two grates? Or should I have one just below each grate? I find that if I get my digital too close to the meat it messes with the reading , so I'd appreciate some suggestions here.

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I mounted them 1/2" below each grate.
I also use the ET732 with the IQ110. These do everything for you.

TurboDog said:

1. My UDS has extreme hot and cold spots , varying as much as 50 degrees over different points on my grates , my charcoal basket is wide and low and I tend to spread my lit coals around on top of my unlit coals. So my question is , will a diffuser of some sort help with this , and will it create any "new" issues od it's own if I did use one.

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Something to diffuse will help dramatically, but you should think about it a little. For quick fix you can put a rack down low and put foil on it and punch holes in it; you still want that meaty goodness to drip down into the fire. But I got some angle iron (or angle aluminum) that were about 1.5 inches on either edge, so that it essentially makes a larger "A" when laying it down on the grate. Have to cut them, but lay them down on that low grate, leaving some space in between. This let's the meaty goodness drip down, but also captures most of that heat and requires it to come out the sides or through the metal itself. Iron works great because it'll stabilize and radiate a lot of heat, but the aluminum will work also and is much lighter.

TurboDog said:

2. I sprayed down the inside of my drum with PAM before my first cook , and have cooked several fatties , so for the most part the inside of the drum is pretty greasy , but it's still starting to rust on certain spots , is there a need to "re-season" every once in a while , or is this normal?

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Are you leaving it out in the rain? I have never seen rust on the inside unless water got in there. But after you smoke with it a few times the inside will be so nasty with smokey goodness, no bare part of the smoker will be visible. Technically to remove rust and prevent it from spreading you have to scrape it off. But even if you don't it ought to last 2-4 years I'd think. I don't see a reason why either of mine won't still be in use 6 years from now. One of them is almost 2 years old. Actually, CLEANING the UDS is in order occasionally. I had to clean out my older one because it was really starting to get nasty.. and the smell wasn't quite so good.. a bit too much creosote.

TurboDog said:

3. I need suggestions for a thermometer , I started out with one of those turkey fry thermometers , it lasted about 3 cooks. Lately I have been using my digital probe through a block of wood sitting on one of the grates but would prefer a side mounted solution. What would be a good thermometer to use? I don't mind paying a little more for a good one , or two.

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Like many others, I got a turkey fryer one, but I got mine from Home Depot and it cost $15 I think. I've had it for some 18 months and it's totally fine. Got wet, got cold, still works. I also use Maverick remote for more accurate readings and to measure food temp. Not that a place like Home Depot is without problems, but I definitely don't care for buying someone else's garbage at WMart just to buy it again 6 months later so they can prevent local businesses from surviving.

TurboDog said:

4. Where should I be reading temps at? between my two grates? Or should I have one just below each grate? I find that if I get my digital too close to the meat it messes with the reading , so I'd appreciate some suggestions here.

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It should be like 2 inches away from the meat, because indeed the temp of the meat will radiate and get picked up by the thermometer. It should be under the meat, but next to it is OK too. Don't put your meat too close to the top because the very top of the smoker will lose a lot of heat. You should have the top of the food sit like maybe 3 inches under the lid.
Remember about the diffusing; if you use something like the angle iron to push the heat along the sides of the barrel, the sides will have more heat than without so the heat will not escape as easily through the metal walls exposed to the outside.

Thank you , for the advice. Yes , I leave my drum out in the rain , and yes it gets water inside it . Unfortunately I have no shelter in my yard , I suppose I need to invest in a cover of sorts to keep the water out when not in use.

My father works in a metal shop , and has access to a CNC plasma table and pretty much any thickness of sheet metal. I may get him to cut me a disc with some holes in it to go on a rack just over the charcoal basket as a diffuser. It should work very much like you described , allowing drippings through but acting as a heat sink/diffuser.