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Ugly Drum Smoker

Firebox size and burn time

Hi all,

Thought I would chime in on the firebox size and burn time discussion. I build 12" tall by 14" diameter fireboxes for my UDS's. I did two 9 lbs. pork shoulders last weekend, and I started the UDS at 4:00pm.....it was still at temp (245 degrees F)at 7:00am the next morning. So, that's 15 hours. I pulled the pork, and let the cooker go for another hour, and then shut it down. So, that was 16 hours.

When I opened it up the next day to do a little cleanout.....I still had 3-4 inches of unburnt coals in the firebox.

I usually fill it up to about an inch from the top, and then make a small well in the middle. I usually put 12-15 glowing coals right in the center in about an 8-inch circle, with a couple 2-3 diameter wood chunks on the edge for smoke.
 
grills gone wild said:
I have been using fire basket a little different on the last few cooks. I saw one of the bigboy smokers use a basket that was like a maze, i guess because it only allowed a limited amount of charcoal to burn as it went around the maze.

I put a couple of firebricks in like this, and use a small piece of grate to make a compartment to put the lit coal in, it seems to be working, using my stoker, i did two burns over the weekend, one with out meat on sat, that went 13 hours. I firebricks holding a little heat doesn't hurt either.

On Sunday i did a 13 lb brisket and the fire went 14 hours.

Seems to work, the best i could do before was around 10, maybe 11 hours

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Click to expand...
I like your firebrick idea! I'll have to give that a try next time. :thumb:
 
wow, 535 pages?!?!?

This weekend I'm planning on turning an old drum that's been in my parents' garage for 35 years (I have no idea where it even came from) to a smoker using all the knowledge I learned on this site (and mainly this thread!)

Thanks for all the knowledge!
 
woodbutcher1 said:
BBQpower said:
Now I got the 30Gal drum for free and was Clean inside, to small for a UDS, someone suggested I do a mini but I was thinking of just using it as a firebox and putting a 55gal drum horizontally but then it won't be a UDS anymore Time to go find 2 55Gals.

First of all : Your 30 gallon drum is best suited to go with a 18 1/2 " Weber or similar Kettles for lids.

Where as the 22 1/2" is used for the 55 gallon drums.

For the Mini drum, 10 to 16 gallon size using the Weber SJ @ 14" dia. or similar made grills of the same.
Click to expand...

Thanks I just figured most of it and look what I found for it!
A LID!! I just remembered picking this up on the side of the road!
It's cool when you find a clean drum one day and a lid another then pull the junk out and they go together!
To MINI UDS or not? I keep wanting to make a separate chamber smoker and wait for a 55gal drum. I may just throw this 22.5" weber on top of the 18" 30gal drum and make a separate chamber smoker.
Sorry to steer it away from a UDS but it may not become that.:redface: still no idea, ADD sucks.
IMG_0810.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Im about to build a UDS and I'm looking at drum options. I can get a used food grade drum with lining for $15 or I can buy a new unused unlined drum for $68? Which should I buy? Is it worth it to buy the new unlined drum to save the trouble of burning out the paint?
 
Would you pay someone else $53 to burn out the liner? If not, go with the cheap one.
Or use it as a bargaining chip To talk the price down a bit
 
webegrubbin said:
Im about to build a UDS and I'm looking at drum options. I can get a used food grade drum with lining for $15 or I can buy a new unused unlined drum for $68? Which should I buy? Is it worth it to buy the new unlined drum to save the trouble of burning out the paint?
Click to expand...

I am a firm believer that removing a liner is a rite of passage when building a UDS...at least once.
 
Finally finished reading the thread.....boy that took a while.

Happy I found it and now I know all the information I need to build my own.

THANK YOU EVERYONE for the details, the pics, and all the knowledge you have put into this thread.
 
Tomorrow I am going to get my nipples welded to the drum then I am going to burn it out. My drum is unlined so I am just going to throw on a few pallets. Once I am done doing the burn do I take it to the car wash and hose out the inside then dry it then apply the Crisco to the inside? What is the normal process after the final burn out? I assume after I Crisco the inside I paint the outside and I am ready for the first season cook. Thanks for your help.
 
Beware! DO NOT wear loose fitting shirt while using wire wheel to clean drum! It's amazing how fast a T-shirt can get wound up on a wire wheel at full rpm!!
 
BTW......Many TY to all who have posted on this thread! Soooo many great tips and ideas to ponder and sort through on my way to Q perfection!
 
my uds

Hi all, just thought i'd chuck a couple of pics of my uds....I have both flat lid and a knockoff weber type lid.....constantly improving....this thread is awesome have read 100 odd pages and not even scratched the surface...

photo1.jpg


photo.jpg


cheers

and thanks for all the info

Mick
 
Pics look good Mick.

So...I finally finished my UDS yesterday...let me tell you, it embraces the "U" in UDS :p
Pics coming soon.

Did a test burn last night, took it up to 300 for a while, held it relatively constant (first time ever with anything like this) and kept 300-320 for about 45 minutes. I thought, "Let's see if I can do 225..." Well, didn't quite work out like I planned. My rig has four 1" inlets, one of them comes up the side to a ball valve like many others have on here. In the effort to get it to come down, I think I ended up putting the fire out. I did make a few mistakes in the process, I managed to fluctuate the temps 100+ a couple of times doing things I knew better, but sometimes you just have to experience it to get the feel. I did get a few hours of burn out of it, but I think I read in a few other threads that I need to start with just a couple of inlets, and catch the temp on the way up, not down.

Otherwise...during the burn at 300, there was a nice blue smoke from the one small hickory chunk I put in, and had the neighbors out of their house, sniffing - "What's that I smell...??"

Thanks to all for the help so far!!! :thumb:

Jalon
 
Spicy-Meat said:
Tomorrow I am going to get my nipples welded to the drum then I am going to burn it out. My drum is unlined so I am just going to throw on a few pallets. Once I am done doing the burn do I take it to the car wash and hose out the inside then dry it then apply the Crisco to the inside? What is the normal process after the final burn out? I assume after I Crisco the inside I paint the outside and I am ready for the first season cook. Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

Crisco to prevent rusting till you season. Then I cooked a couple fatties and some moinks. Felt like an initiation. :wink:
 
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