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Learning a UDS, can't get my temps up

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CErnst

Knows what a fatty is.
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I've inherited a UDS from a friend who's team member had to move across the country for a job. They used a bunch of these in competitions, and supposedly won a competition or two with this UDS...so I'm assuming I'm not using it right! :-D

I have bear paws for hands and I put about two double-handed grabs of charcoal briquettes (Kingsford) in the basket. End pile is about 5-6" high and maybe 8" wide. I start it with fluid (I know, I know...but I can't taste it) and put it in the barrel to warm everything up. There are three 1" holes, two are threaded/capped and the third is a ball valve....I open all of them and let the coals get white. I'll throw my wood on the coals (mulberry and cherry), meat goes on top grill, and I put the lid on. The barrel had a threaded hole, maybe 3" or so that they fashioned a electrical box cover to regulate the exiting smoke. The gauge is on the lid a few inches from the hole in the lid.

Leaving it like that, it'll last about 2-3 hours and will only get up to 220-230. The last time I played with it, I got it up to 260 by cracking the lid a 1/2". Talking to my friend, he keeps giving me funny looks when I tell him my temp woes...saying they all have multiple barrels and never had this problem. My last attempt, I smoked a 2lb boston butt for 4 hours with temps fluctuating between 210 and 260...mostly around 220. I had to finish in the oven. :frusty:

So I'm left wondering if I'm not using enough charcoal. If I'm not using the right charcoal. Or if I need to add more intakes and another exit. I'm going to have another round of boston butt this weekend with my parents and would like to get closer to solving my problem.
 
I am not finished with my UDS yet, but I have read that huge 11 million post thread, and IMO you need to fill the charcoal basket and light 8-15 bricketts from the top and replace when fully lit. Also KBB creates a lot of ash and you need to "kick the can" once in a while to let the ash drop to the bottom. hope this helps.
 
I have 3 intakes on my UDS also; 2 are elbowed with an 18 in vertical pipe and each have ball valves at the top. I usually keep the 3rd one uncapped and throttle my temps with the ball valves. I have seen mine go as high as 330F when testing it out. I usually fill my basket with lump and use briquettes from the chimney to start it up. I've maintained temps of 225-260 for maybe 16-20 hrs tops. I think I would try more fuel in your basket first...
 
More air and more charcoAl burning = more temp -- mine spiked to 400*'last Sunday mid cook when I had lid off to wrap meat and took an hour to bring back down to 300*

I'm kinda dumb so I'll need pics of ur setup -- charcoal basket loaded n all - to make any usefull suggestions.....


Get ur buddy over there to help ........?
 
You'll hear a thousand different answers but it comes down to AIR....Top vent stays open all the way and the intakes need open all the way for the most heat. I'm a fan for more intakes than less because you can always close what you don't need.

I'd have a total of at least 4 "'s of intake for super high heat cooks of poultry.
 
fill that basket 3/4 full of unlit charcoal, get yourself a chimney starter and get about 1/4 of that going and then dump it on top of the unlit stuff. give it about 1/2 hour to settle in where ever you need it to be by adjusting as the temp rises. i usually start with all 3 open and close them down depending on how fast the temp rises, but mine with 3-3/4 openings is usually about 1 to 1.5 open for 260.
 
Sounds like you just need to fill the charcoal basket with UNLIT coals then dump 15-20 piping hot coals on top, throw the basket in the drum and let it run with all vents open and the lid on till you get close to your desired cooking temp. If you are just placing charcoal in the basket, hosing it down with fluid and getting it all burning at once thats going to be your problem.
 
Fill the basket with un lit coals and 4-5 man fist sized chunks of wood light up 10-12 For L&S or 25 -40 for H&F drop the Hot on the Not and let it sit for 15 min with the intakes open and the lid off. Put the lid on exhaust wide open and close 1 nipple drop the valve to 1/2 and let it settle out for 30 min that should get you close to 250 ish adj the valve to dial it in. remember a UDS with no diffuser will be 50 Deg hotter in the middle than it is on the outside edge where your thermo is located( I split the difference). you should be able to get at least 14 hrs min on a load of charcoal depending on the size of the basket
 
don't worry about filling the basket - when you shut all the vents, the fire will die and you can re-use the remaining charcoal, no problem. fill that sucker!
 
all right guys, I think I get the point... more charcoal it is. I am a stingy, penny pinching SOB...but I'll work on filling that basket. I'll start at 3/4, smother when done, refill back to 3/4 next go around. I doubt I'll go lump any time soon, but one day. I've got a while to play.

Every time I mess with charcoal and anyone gives advice (for a weber type), they always say wait till all the charcoal is white. No one ever explained why, so I assumed there were some less than desirable flavors on un-whitened charcoal.

I really appreciate the help guys. I'm sure this has been a topic asked a few times a month since we crawled out of the caves.
 
Bludawg nailed it and N8s tutorial covers the basics. Thanks to both!
 
CErnst said:
all right guys, I think I get the point... more charcoal it is. I am a stingy, penny pinching SOB...
Click to expand...

May be hard to learn to Q then, you gotta farkup Hundreds and Hundreds of $ of meat just to start getting Decent. :shock: :mrgreen:

Fri nite you spend $60 between Brisket, Rub, Charcoal, Foil pan etc then invest 12-14 hrs of your time Sat Smoking, Wrapping and Resting the Brisket to wind up feeding that nasty thing to your Dog then head back the store and spend another $35-$40 to do it all over on Sunday.........:evil: ............. :sad: ..............:mmph: ...........:loco: ..............:becky:
 
Looks like you should have the info you need to get it cooking right.
 
Okay, yesterday I had the parents over and we gave it our best. We decided to do some boston butts, bone in, one for each of us. I got some lump charcoal and put a good mix of charcoal/lump and added some cherry/mulberry...filled the basket this time. I started some in a chimney and put the started coals in the basket. Basket went in and opened up all three intakes and opened the exhaust. It got up to 260 in about 45 min and stayed. At 1hr I found a small project fan I had and put a gentle breeze into one of the 3/4" inlets. The fan got me up to 290 and I stopped the fan and shut the ball valve, running on 2 open inlets. She stayed that way for about 3hrs and stayed at a nice 280. Temps started to fall again, so I turned the fan back on to get my temps up. I kept fiddling with air for the rest of the cook, but it seemed like with a full basket, it liked 275-280. I used 3/4 of my basket. After about 5.5 hrs, IT was 185 and we wrapped them up in foil and let it go for another 1/2 hour. We let them sit for a bit while we cleaned up and they had to take off. My hunk was very moist, the bone just slid out, it was some of the softest pork I've experienced...no effort at all to shred.

Couple of ideas going through my head. Since I had to put a fan on one of the inlets, I'm guessing my basket is still not getting enough air. Would a kinda dirty/crudded-up basket restrict airflow that much? I think the basket is standing off of the ash tray by about 2" or so...should that be more?
 
Sounds like there is a draw issue, or the thermometer you are using isn't accurate.

Possibly too little intake, too little exhaust, or a combination of both. Or just a bad thermo. I can get my UDS up to 300 in 15 minutes after adding the lit coals, and do nothing special to get there.

Pics of the UDS might help us figure it out.
 
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