Rookie Smoker here. I stumbled on this site last Monday when I started making plans to build a smoker. My original plans of building a horizontal offset smoker quickly shifted upon finding this thread. I picked up my first two drums yesterday and I am seasoning my first UDS as I type! I kept it pretty simple so it would be ready for my cookout Sunday, but I have many mods planned for the future!
I only have one question. I have a thermometer in the side of the UDS and one in the lid. They are both pretty cheap. The one in the side is a cheap char-broil unit that screws into the UDS. It is about a half inch below the cooking grate and only sticks out about two inches into the drum. The one in the lid is basically a meat thermometer that I drilled a hole in the lid for it to slide into. It is about two inches above the grate near the center of the lid. Right now the one in the lid reads 250 degrees and the one on the side reads 160 degrees. That's a pretty sizable difference and I'm not entirely sure which one to believe. Thoughts?
Liner burn out.
Ash pan scavenged from a grill I picked up along the road and homemade coal box.
Initial mock up
Spit shined and blinged out!
