My new UDS... with Pron.... finally

So I've been building this UDS for a while. If I wasn't so hard headed, generally speaking, it could have been done in a weekend.... but NO, I had to weld everything!

So here is the soy lecithin drum my friend brought home from work.


And here is the beige paint of doom.


Future UDS builders: Save yourself the headache and get a completely unpainted/lined drum....... or pay someone with blast equipment to remove it.

Here I am after 4.5 hours inside the drum.


I could have bought grates for a 22 1/2 kettle. Nope.... just plain hard headed.


Fire basket components, with restaurant supply pizza pan, I mean professional ash catcher.


I used some angle iron to lift the grate of the fire basket 3" off of the ash pan. I could have used bolt like plenty of other people.... but this will make it more difficult if I ever need to change the height. <complete fire basket>


Here is the whole thing... pre-paint.


The whole thing, post-paint.


Now you may tell yourself, "this is not my beautiful wife." Sorry... I meant to say, "what are all those fittings for?" Well, my dear bretheren, I had plenty of ideas along the way (other thermometers, thermocouples, cigar holders, etc.).... and each idea deserved a fitting... so I put fittings everywhere.

Note to all of you on drilling your holes for the nipples/bushings/whatever: I had read that the best way was with a Unibit like product. So I looked all over and found one that wouldn't break the bank. The Unibit does not even come close to doing the job as well as a hole-saw. The hole saw takes 1/10 of the time, and give a more reliable end product. Maybe the unibit works better in a drill press.... I don't know, I couldn't get my drum into one.

My exhaust outlet. This was not my idea, and I got it from the Mother of All UDS Threads.... I just couldn't figure out which of the 450 pages it was on to give credit.


I added the option of a water pan / flower pot to my UDS. I have been cooking on a WSM, and I liked that abilty. Not sure this is the best way to do it..... but it's what I have for now.


Here is the final, ready for action, pic.... I'll try to keep it G-rated.


Thanks for noticing me.

thirdeye said:

What is the pipe in the center of the charcoal basket for?

Is there a rim on the ash tray? I've thought about adding one to my drums, but I have to tip the whole outfit about 40° when lowering and raising it to get around my thermo stem and grate bolts.

Click to expand...

The pipe in the center of the basket is for raising and lowering the whole assembly. I can also pull the basket off of the ash tray (thanks BigMista).

About the ash pan: I made absolutely certain I did not have to tip the pan and basket to get it in and out. I wanted a pan that did not have much of a lip, so I knew I would not be able to tilt it. Additionally, I didn't want a lip on the pan to impede airflow. Anyhow, it might not collect everything, but I'm hoping it makes ash cleanup easier. I need to go clean it out right now... I did some pork butts on it today.

Thanks everyone.

Inaugural Run:

I got about 1 hr. per pound of competition briquettes out of her. I felt that I should have had less trouble getting hotter than 225 with the 20 lbs of pork in the drum. It was 270 before I put the meat in. After, it stayed down around 200 for quite a while. It was very stable though.

The last time I used the Kingsford comp. briquettes it seemed like they didn't run as hot or as long as Royal Oak. I am going to try lump and see if that is hotter and/or lasts longer.

What kind of fuel consumption are you guys getting?