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Ugly Drum Smoker

Leave it. On mine, when I close off all the bottom intakes, and close the spinner exhaust, my fire goes out. Saves fuel for next time.

check the temp inside the drum, in the center of the drum right under the cooking grate with a long stem dial "turkey fryer" thermometer. if you can get 300-350F there and can also adjust down your intakes and get any lower temp that you want, even so far as killing your fire, you have all the control you need in a UDS IMHO.
 
There is an equation for intake size to exhaust size and I believe if these two factors are applied then it should not matter, unless it got ridicules.
Dave
 
I have gotten a lot of good info out of this thread so here is my $.02 worth. Hopefully it'll help someone out. When I built my UDS I couldn't find a fire grate for 18" grill, so I used one for the 22.5" grill which makes my fire basket 18" in diameter. The problem was that I couldn't find anything that size to use for an ash pan, untill this afternoon. I was at the Dollar General Store down the road and spotted this 18" throwaway grill. It was marked $12.00, not too bad, so I grabbed one. When I checked out it was on end of summer clearance for $3.60!!! SWEET!! I grabbed another for a spare. It fits my oversized charcoal basket perfect!! If anybody else has had this problem I hope this helps.
 

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Got 'r did!!!! Ol Norski's UDS

I greased down the innards and did a seasoning smoke yesterday. Loaded up the fire basket and smoked a 1/2 pork butt and a coupla venison/beef meatloafs today.

I went with the basic build for my first one. Everything worked as y'all said it would. Fire control was excellent. Temps were steady and I could adjust from 225 up to 450 no problem.

Many thanks to all who contribute to this "Mother Of All UDS Threads" (yeah, I read the whole farkin' thing!!!:shock:).



TresParrillas.jpg


meatloaf_butt_meatloaf.jpg


pulledpork.jpg


sliced_meatloaf.jpg
 
Great idea DRIFTER...I had the same problem and did the same thing you did. The only thing I did was I drilled some holes on the sides of the ash pan for airflow cause I thought it was a little tight.
 
biggs98 said:
Great idea DRIFTER...I had the same problem and did the same thing you did. The only thing I did was I drilled some holes on the sides of the ash pan for airflow cause I thought it was a little tight.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it needs holes for airflow, but I was trying to get the picture made before it got completly dark on me! It will have more holes before I fire it up again.
 
Hey I've been reading and i'm up to 160's. I'm building one right now and just have a quick ? is it ok for the in take pipes to be glav. metal?? What I've seen so far is your worried it will get too hot on the inside but mine isn't in the drum and shouldn't get hot enough right???

Thats the only threaded pipe i could get from the hardware store.

Thanks for all the info and all the great pics. Can't wait this will be my first smoker.
 
its only 88 pages if you put it to 50 posts per page :D
 
Uncle Buds BBQ said:
galvanized=death


:mrgreen:
Click to expand...
It is has been discussed. Many would prefer to avoid the question by avoiding galvanized. If you don't avoid it - then the question becomes at what temp does Galvanized become dangerous. please do the research yourself, but 30 seconds on the web showed that the coating will flake at about 400 degrees, and possibly out-gas at 800. Nipples being below the fire and being connected to a big heat sink will probably not even get over 400. Likewise, except in a possible burnout - the top will not get above 800. The only place that you might have problems is if you used it for your firebox.

fwiw, brass also has toxic fume issues - but you have to get pretty hot first. I really like my shinny bass nipples.
---
that said, I am serious considering using a fan based system (such as a BBQ Guru). If I go that route - I will probably set it up with a forced draft over ride to start the coals. I might also plumb that for propane (so I can get a one match start). If I do this I will effectively have a blast furnace hitting the fire box - so much for keeping it under 400 degrees. I would not be comfortable with those parts being galvanized.
 
Last edited:
Drifter said:
I have gotten a lot of good info out of this thread so here is my $.02 worth. Hopefully it'll help someone out. When I built my UDS I couldn't find a fire grate for 18" grill, so I used one for the 22.5" grill which makes my fire basket 18" in diameter. The problem was that I couldn't find anything that size to use for an ash pan, untill this afternoon. I was at the Dollar General Store down the road and spotted this 18" throwaway grill. It was marked $12.00, not too bad, so I grabbed one. When I checked out it was on end of summer clearance for $3.60!!! SWEET!! I grabbed another for a spare. It fits my oversized charcoal basket perfect!! If anybody else has had this problem I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I used a similar setup for mine.

uds02.jpg
 
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