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my uds is a pile of s***

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bigiron2

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hey guys Ive done 2 cooks on my uds and the temp allways jumps super high like 400 and i close all the intakes and i dosent go down what the hell did i do wrong or what am i doing wrong im useing the minion smoking method and im just lost
 
i have to to keep the temp down, like 1/2 a bag of kingford
 
Were are you checking the temp? Here's how I do mine. If I'm shooting for 275* and a long cook, I use 1/2 bag of K Blue and about 10 lit in the chimney, minion style. I let the temps start to rise and then close it down at 240 or so. Now my UDS uses the vent from a Large BGE and two 2" exhaust stacks. I close the intakes all but about 1/4" and the exhausts are wide open. I climb to 275*, throw on the meat and she cruises for hours. I take my temps right under the top grate.
 
Bluesman said:
Were are you checking the temp? Here's how I do mine. If I'm shooting for 275* and a long cook, I use 1/2 bag of K Blue and about 10 lit in the chimney, minion style. I let the temps start to rise and then close it down at 240 or so. Now my UDS uses the vent from a Large BGE and two 2" exhaust stacks. I close the intakes all but about 1/4" and the exhausts are wide open. I climb to 275*, throw on the meat and she cruises for hours. I take my temps right under the top grate.
Click to expand...

i did all the and i put the meat on and boom 400-450 and i cant get it back down
 
If you are putting in a half bag of lit charcoal, that is WAY too much. 8 to 10 lit briquettes on top of your fuel in the charcoal basket will be perfect. Leave all vents open until the temp hits 200° and the start closing them down. It is much easier to bring the temp up than it is too cool it down. Sometimes I will just use a plumbers torch on the charcoal in the basket, 90 seconds works well, and then just follow the above procedure.
 
I light robot with a weed burner' using k blue, cowboy, or ,mesquite. I light about a 5x5" area leave the two intakes open (1" pipe and 1" ball valve), put the flat lid on that fits tight with the 2 1/2" exhaust wide open.

I wait for it to hit 200 or so, brush the grill and install food.

Wait again for 200/225 and close the ball valve or cap the pipe nipple depending on what is cooking.

Beef needs ball 1/2 open, pipe capped to hold 225.

Chicken /turkey without skin can need cap off plus 1/2 open ball valve.

Closing exhaust and both intakes will put out the fire in no time.

Air control is the key to holding temp. Cooking is just time / temp balancing.

Check for leaks?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
 
We use 1/2 a chimney of charcoal for 250 and a full chimney for 300. We have 5 intake holes on the bottom. I'll leave two open and if it starts to climb I will take it down to one. Once it jumps up, its doesn't come back down so I just leave it and adjust my time to the new temp.
 
my lid dose not fit tight i think i got it figured out i might be using to much charcoal in mt starter chimney you guy gust through 8-10 lit bricks on a full to half full basket
 
bigiron2 said:
my lid dose not fit tight i think i got it figured out i might be using to much charcoal in mt starter chimney you guy gust through 8-10 lit bricks on a full to half full basket
Click to expand...

Post a pic of your drum so we can see the lid issues
 
Catching temps on the way up is key.

Making sure you only light a few briquettes is also important...I've done 12-15 before (usually do 7-10) to try to speed up the process of getting the drum to temp and all it did was make it difficult to manage temps the whole cook. Now if you want to get 300-350 it's not bad to do a few extra, but even that can be achieved with only a few coals to start. Doesn't seem to make much sense that 5 or 6 more coals would change much but in my experience it does.

Also checking for leaks could solve some problems. I didn't squeeze my lid down tight one time (it was on...just not pressed down and sealed all the way) and the temps started rising real quick. Thankfully I have my digital thermometer and caught it before it got too bad...doesn't take much to mess things up.
 
Minion schminion. If your temps are too high you're getting too much air into the fuel. Period !!! I hope you understand that if the temps get high it'll take a while to get them back down when you shut your valves... it's not like a gas stove.
 
Half a bag? I use 10-12 lit briquettes. If its cold out, I'll use a few more. But I've never used more than 20, regardless of what temp I'm going to be cooking at!
 
Gaps at the lid level will not be a major issue. As other posted, start with fewer lit briqs. You can have a flat top lid with drilled holes and the fire will still die if you shut off the intakes.
 
My Weber lid doesn't fit my drum very tight, and I have no problems with the temp. The key is to catch the temp on the way up. Your drum is not going to draw air from the leaks in the lid if you have a positive air flow coming through the intakes.
 
Normally a ill fitting lid will not affect temps in that manner, Your starting with to large a fire mass to keep the temps down to where you want them 8-10 briquettes will get you where you want to go. If you want to cook a 225( beyond me why I digress) start closing off your intakes at 150, and 200 close the ball valve 1/2 way and let it settle down. Then fine tune to your target with the ball valve adj. Once you learn where the sweet spot is all you will have to do is set the valve and close off the other intakes as I described. Now After trying this If the temp is still unruly I would say you have an air leak around the nipples. Easily fixed with a bead of RTV
 
like others have said, 10 lit briq's max, minion method. not half a bag or even half a chimney.. keep the lid on and catch the temp on the way up.. if you're going to let the temp get up to 400 and then try to get it down to 250, it's going to be a long day..
 
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