After much delay (about a year), I finally finished my first UDS last weekend.
The unit was assembled from a free drum donated by a friend, some canibalized parts from 2 CL 22.5 OTS's, and a few other donated and purchased parts. It features 2 cooking grates, a 14" X 9" charcoal basket no-weld basket with attached pizza pan ash catcher, and for now a turkey thero fitted into a 1/8" X 1/4" brass hose barb. I'm planning on mounting a second turkey thermo probably next week, as well as investing in an ET 732 Digital with some anniversary money from my wife, part of which paid for my newly minted Brethren subscription.
Shown are: the finished UDS, the basket in progress and the aluminum rim added for seating the Weber lid.
Thanks to all the many Brethren for their insipring tips and recipes and the community attitude that makes this forum such a great place to be.
Matt Allen
Huntsville, Ontario, Canada
Oh my....Nice build! You gave me an idea to finish my UDS.
I like the no weld option on your basket. I have a question for you: Are you going to connect the expanded metal assembly to the grate and catcher or is this bad boy ready to go?
Here is mine. I suck at painting, but it's supposed to be a UGLY Drum Smoker.
My UDS
Was just browsing through the homedepot website and found something that non-welder types can use to connect the charcoal basket rims to their base:
(The one pictured aboved is zinc coated but you get the idea.)
Or maybe get a smaller chain and weave it through the expanded metal, this way you will have a handle as well?
just got the front wheels on it last night....
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Finally gonna start building my UDS. Scored a brand new unlined drum with lid that is completely clean bare metal inside. Couple questions tho...
Do I need to do a burn in the drum before I build or am I good to go since I have a clean drum already?
Do I need to burn the paint off the outside of the drum for any reason?