Necessity is the mother of invention, fast and cheap UDS build

Hi all, just wanted to share my first UDS build and cook with you. This was the situation. It was Friday evening and I was due to serve 20 people pulled pork sandwiches Sunday late afternoon. I had 2 full pork shoulders prepped and rubbed in the fridge but all I had to cook them on was my weber kettle which wasnt quite big enough and also I didnt fancy attending it through Saturday night. I already had my barrel and decided to build my UDS the next day and cook on it the same night. The problem was I didnt have the air intake conduit etc or a basket and they would take at least a week to sort out. After brain storming with Steve my friend this is what we did. Drilled 4* 22mm holes 2" from bottom of drum did the burnout and clean. For air intake control I used a 4*2p coins (I am in the UK) with small magnets stuck to them which in turn stick to the barrel. for the charcoal basket I used a 20l cooking oil drum from local takeaway cut off the top and drilled holes in sides and bottom and stood it on two bricks. I drilled six bolt holes three, 8" from top and three 13" form the top to use the grill grate and heat diffuser from my old gas kettle ( not used since i got my weber) It was all together and ready for test run by 6pm. I did a two hour burn which was dialed in at 225 after 30 mins then closed my coin air vents to put out charcoal. By 9.30 pm I had refilled with charcoal and wood chips placed some lit charcoal on top and had it once again dialed in at 225. Time for the pork. went to bed at midnight and got up to check on the cook at 7.30am Sunday (my first look) temp had dropped to 215 but weather a wind direction were variable. by 12 and 1.30 pm respectively (one shoulder was bigger than the other) I had 195 internal temps. wrapped in foil and towels, put in coolbox and we were off to the party. At 6pm the pork was pulled and served still piping hot. It went down a storm. Total time for build to serving was 28hrs. Was I lucky? yes. Was I stressed? all the way till I pulled the pork. Did it work? you bet it did. Next cook is this weekend. I will let you know how it goes. Andrew.

Thx guys. I had my weber set up to take over if it failed. I was really worried about the charcoal can. I am going to get a proper basket made as the can is a little tall and not as wide as I want Hence the use of the heat diffuser. I also suspect the drop in temp may be due to ash build up with the can not being open enough, your thoughts please guys.Nice looking drum N8 thanks for the link.I knew I must have seen magnets in use somewhere.

Hi Phubar, High praise indeed from all you guys. Thank you. Luckily I have a couple of stepped drill bits amongst the tools I have acquired over the years which is why I went metric. Should have put that in the post. Apologies. P.S. I have just got what you meant. when I said I didnt have the bits for the air intake I meant the nuts washers nipples etc. I have altered my post to make it clearer.

Thanks Tsevg. I didn't have time to paint it so, in truth isn't quite finished. And yes it is a indeed a Fugly Drum Smoker. although if a woman cooked for me like my drum did, I would marry her no matter what she looked like :-D

oops posted twice