Built a UDS! Cooked things! Can't control temps! PRON!

A few weeks ago I just finished building a UDS after reading approximately 1 ba-zillion articles and posts (including the entire 'big' thread). I've done approximately 7 or so cooks and test burns on it to try to get a feel for it, but I still haven't achieved what I would like to think of as "UDS Zen." To me, my vision of UDS Zen would look something like this: I do anything other than stare at the thermometer for a period of approximately 30 mins and when I come back, the temperature is somewhat the same as when I left. OK, so maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but I've been cooking on a Silver Smoker with a few of the typical mods for a number of years, and have grown quite used to nearly constant fiddling and monitoring. I expect that. I expected to be able to control my UDS temps better than I have. I've still been able to turn out a few tasty things in the process:

Some Ribs.

Some More Ribs.

A Chicken.

Oh yeah, and here's the UDS:




So I've gotten a few theories as to why my temps are so out of control and feel free to offer any feedback, or not, as I know these very questions have been addressed in the past. I guess I'm just looking for some clairvoyant UDS insight:

1. Wind- It's windy here in Charleston. Perhaps adding a chimney would help with the ups and downs?
2. Patience- Some people have suggested that it takes a while for the temps to "settle in." I'm not sure how long I'll need to keep messin' with it, but I don't seem to be recognizing any patterns yet. I have 3 1" pipe nipples for intakes, 2 with caps, 1 with a ball valve. I have been adjusting them in the typical fashion (capping and adjusting with valve), but it seems to only wnat to climb or fall no matter what I set it on. Maybe I'm just not being patient enough for the temps to stabilize, I've waited up to an hour between adjustments.
3. Leaks- I don't think this is a big issue, but it could be. I'm able to shut the thing completely down if I close off the air intakes and the damper, so I don't think it leaks too much. Only faint wisps of smoke come from around the rim (the lid fits pretty durn well).
4. Ashes- I built my basket out of expando and a weber charcoal grate from an 18 incher. Standard stuff. It's 3 inches off the bottom of the drum. I've been simply lighting about 1/4 of a chimney of kingsford blue and putting them in the center of the basket filled about 1/2 way... Not using the coffee can method, perhaps this may help?

So I wasn't planning on writing a novella for my first "real" post to the forums, but I guess y'all seem like a nice enough crowd, I'm frustrated and full of chicken, so why not?

Thanks, I will drop by Lowes and pick up some pipe tomorrow for a chimney. I haven't used the damper for anything other than shutting it down so far, don't suppose I will ever need to based on what I've gathered here.

Thanks for all the awesome comments and advice.

To answer the questions posed:
I'm cooking on Kingsford Blue. I have used lump before in my offset and like it, but think that while learning how my new baby runs, I'll be sticking with it for consistency's sake.

The temperature variations I was getting were between 250-315 in the span of 15 mins, and 325-385 in 20 mins or so. I wasn't happy with that. I think I know why now though...

Long term I'm primarily going to be trying to cruise around 225. I built this UDS mostly with dreams of delicious shoulders dancing through my head. They were just a royal pain to do on my silver smoker, though I've done it for years. Usually do whole hogs on rebar over makeshift cinder block pits with roofing metal as a lid... So don't get me wrong, this is a major improvement :grin: I think I'm going to keep cooking the chickens on my offset in the long run, but I digress.


So I went to the local hardware store tonight and picked up some 2 inch pipe and devised an experiment.
First I added a smokestack: 12" of 2" pipe. I know this is probably too long, but my plan was to start long and just shorten as necessary.
Then I lit 12 briquettes of Kingsford blue, put in about 8 pounds more into my basket, a few lumps of hickory and then added the lit coals to the center of the basket. I got out a pen and paper and began to systematically record the temp and valve settings at 10 minute intervals. Into the drum the basket then went with one intake uncapped and the ball valve open. I capped at 200, then throttled it back to 1/2 on the ball valve at 200. It climbed to 225 and dropped to 213, where it stayed rock solid for 30 mins. What I learned was that with some very fine adjustments between 75% open on the ball valve and 90% will vary my temp from 215-240, but it seems to be leveling out, and is certainly much easier to control. I've been holding between 220-230 for two hours now though, with only extremely small adjustments to the valve. I'm going to just let it go all night at this point and see where I am first thing in the AM.

What I've learned:
1. Patience is key- I think I was overreacting to changes
2. The chimney seems to help a lot. I mean it was dramatic. I may shorten it from 12 inches, many people recommend shorter, but I may just roll with this, it seems to work
3. There's a sweet spot between 75% and 90% on the ball valve, the temp will vary between 210 at 75% and 250 at 90%. Extremely small adjustments in there let me dial the temp in.
4. The brethren are AWESOME. Thanks for all your input. And to think I've been doing this alone for all these years...

Also after reading back over some of the other earlier comments, I found that adding the stack pretty much eliminated any of the remaining wisps of smoke that came from around the rim of the lid. Better draft I suppose.

JustBS:
I will definitely try out the "1 cap off- see where it lands" experiment. I think it would be good to know "terminal velocity" with one open cap. I agree that it would be good to know a "baseline" of sorts.