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uds question

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cinmur

Knows what a fatty is.
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I have a 30 and 55 gal drums ...is it necessary with a 30 gal drum to have a water pan as a heat buffer due to size of drum....what happen if you put heat buffer...water or sand in the 55 gal drum. I have not started anything yet.Thanks
 
Don't think the buffer is necessary in either case but you could certainly use in either. Don't think it'll affect your build so you can get the drums fired up and going then decide when you want to use a defuser.
 
You will find that a water pan is not needed in either. A UDS hold moisture so well just from the meat you are cooking. A lot of guys just use a pizza pan as a heat deflector. I just buy mine at good will for a buck. Get nasty/dirty throw away and buy another.
 
I would build a Pit barrel cooker out of the 30 and a UDS out of the 55 no water pan needed.
 
Pit Barrel Cooker

Unless I am missing some major point, it looks like most drum smokers could easily become a pit barrel cooker by just adding the hooks.
 
cinmur said:
Unless I am missing some major point, it looks like most drum smokers could easily become a pit barrel cooker by just adding the hooks.
Click to expand...

I agree it the again I don't have. Pit barrel cooker so I don't know
 
cinmur said:
I have a 30 and 55 gal drums ...is it necessary with a 30 gal drum to have a water pan as a heat buffer due to size of drum....what happen if you put heat buffer...water or sand in the 55 gal drum. I have not started anything yet.Thanks
Click to expand...

Its unnecessary in both of them. You can do it if you want but a UDS is so efficient that it retains a lot of moisture to begin with. My suggestion, add the option when you build it, that way if you need to keep temps low add the water pan, and if you need to get up around 300-325 for chicken or turkey you can take it out and get higher temps without having to heat up a gallon of water first. Doing that just wastes charcoal.

For the record I don't ever use a water on vertical cookers. My offset I do but only to help even out temps.
 
cinmur said:
Unless I am missing some major point, it looks like most drum smokers could easily become a pit barrel cooker by just adding the hooks.
Click to expand...

Sorta. You could add rebar and hooks to a 55gal UDS but the a PBC is preset from the factory to run in the 300-325 range. A UDS would require you to adjust dampers and intakes to hit that range but a Pit Barrel is basically set and forget from the minute you put the meat on. I also think of the PBC as being better for a "hot and fast" smoke while the UDS is more for true 225-250 "low and slow".
 
flyingbassman5 said:
Sorta. You could add rebar and hooks to a 55gal UDS but the a PBC is preset from the factory to run in the 300-325 range. A UDS would require you to adjust dampers and intakes to hit that range but a Pit Barrel is basically set and forget from the minute you put the meat on. I also think of the PBC as being better for a "hot and fast" smoke while the UDS is more for true 225-250 "low and slow".
Click to expand...

I have to agree with you in regards to the UDS running easier at 225-250. Every time I try to run it higher my firebox seems to get choked up after some time. Too much ash is what I'm thinking. I'm forced to poke a stick in there to loosen up the ashes to allow air to get in. My next mod will be fixing my ash pan/firebox clearance.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I put a door in the side of my UDS, not sure why folks don't do it more often. I can reach in and lift the heat deflector and add chunk wood or lump quite easily. Once warmer weather gets there I plan on just doing a little gasket of felt around the door seam and lid edge to further tighten up the cooker. She loves to run at 230
 
At 230 my (and I would imagine most) UDS can burn all night long. But seems when I'm try'n to get it higher that door sure would come in handy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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