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85 gallon UDS?

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foam2

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Curious to hear if anyone here with a uds or 22 wsm (I have both) feels like they need more room. I like the flavor from the uds/wsm just feel crowded at times. Alternative is a bigger drum possibility 85 gallon but looking for input.
 
I can do 4 14# briskets on my UDS... I don't feel the need for more space but that's just me. I'm not sure what you would be cooking that you can't bang it out on a UDS plus a 22 WSM- but I guess if you cater, cook for the neighborhood, charity events, 4 or more teen age boys...
 
Build another 55 gallon drum.

I have two and it works great for large amounts of meat to smoke, Set up one for ribs, another for brisket, etc. or both for ribs, etc.
 
I had a double decker 22" WSM and I upgraded it with a 110 gallon UDS. That's a 30" diameter grate. I can use the WSM as a heat shield in my drum. No more rotating items. An 85 gallon drum is 26" in diameter so you gain some wiggle room.
 
I had the boys from Shirley Fabrication create me some racks. I have 6 total but I’ve only ever used two at a time. That’s 1340 square inches for just 2.

I bought the rack holders from Hunsaker Smokers and the top grate will be cooler where the exhaust is located. Just natural with the draw through the smoker.

75a6fd7c7063e69aba6985778c925012.jpg
 
You have to decide what your requirement is for grate space. 85 gal would be nice. But like mentioned. It uses weber 26" grates.
So some more room, but not all the much more room in the end.
A lot heavier to move/store. Could be the reasons weber doesn't make 26" wsm.
Besides my UDS, I built a horizontal drum with 2- 20X30" grates and a drip pan grate.
Which is only one grate smaller(total cooking space) than my tall vertical cabinet.
To get a bit more room, you are into xlarge cabinet or trailer smoker room.
 
While my upgrade to the 110 gallon smoker gave me a lot more real estate, I found I split the cooks between the drum and the Bandera. This was all before I got my big black cabinet.

The main reason was it became too cumbersome to use it for some ribs or sausage. More prep and clean up wasn’t worth it for a cook less than 4 hours. Also, the drum is 43” tall, then add the 6” casters and it’s a little over 4 feet tall. I’m Asian so it made reaching in to the drum a very dirty job. All things I didn’t think would be a factor into my cooks.
 
SmokerKing said:
Build another 55 gallon drum.

I have two and it works great for large amounts of meat to smoke, Set up one for ribs, another for brisket, etc. or both for ribs, etc.
Click to expand...

This would be the route I'd go, you'd get an increase in grate space that you can also operate at a different temperature. Unless you were talking about keeping both drums, in which case, you'd get that same benefit from an 85. I believe Hunsaker did or had planned to do 85 gal drums at one point.
 
Czarbecue said:
While my upgrade to the 110 gallon smoker gave me a lot more real estate, I found I split the cooks between the drum and the Bandera. This was all before I got my big black cabinet.
The main reason was it became too cumbersome to use it for some ribs or sausage. More prep and clean up wasn’t worth it for a cook less than 4 hours. Also, the drum is 43” tall, then add the 6” casters and it’s a little over 4 feet tall. I’m Asian so it made reaching in to the drum a very dirty job. All things I didn’t think would be a factor into my cooks.
Click to expand...
You might think about turning your 110 into a stubby UDS. After building one for a friend. I turned my 55 UDS into a "stubby". I removed 9" from the top of the drum and put 7.5" legs with casters. Puts the top grate level right at 32", same as a weber.
I still have 2 cooking grates and one drip pan grate. Sooo much easier to move around, just like a weber. Short reach into the drum for the coal basket. No more greasy clothing from having to reach down in.
The only thing it can not do anymore is hang 12+ racks of ribs. But I do those on another smoker now.


2 racks of BB on my hump grate



It still goes 17+ hrs on one bag of coal/wood at 275*

I wouldn't go back to a full drum. I'll build another stubby. And bonus, weber and knock off dome lids fit great after cutting.
 
I helped Bigmista at a comp once and he did it all on an 85 gallon UDS. I was very impressed with it. He did all 4 meats on it and took 8th in ribs. I turned my UDS into a burn barrel, but next UDS I build will probably be an 85.

I love my 22.5" Weber grill, but the 26 is my go-to for grilling. Sometimes I need a little extra room but don't want to fire up another cooker. What's goofy is now that I have a chitload of smokers and grills, when I do a cook I try to fire up only one cooker, or as few as possible. :crazy:
 
The appeal of the 85 is again large enough and convenient to build given you can pick up a 26" weber grate and much of the off the shelf parts from hunsaker or uds parts. I bought the stainless smoke stack and floating hinge and thermometer from hunsaker and have a hunsaker vortex in my SS 55 gallon drum which i will use here. I plan to use a single 3" stainless intake similar to the gateway but again 1 larger intake compared to two smaller ones. My only thing now is seeing if I can find a cheaper stainless 85 gallon drum.


https://www.hunsakersmokers.com/products/smoke-stack-floating-hinge-assembly
 
Last edited:
I opened the package from Hunsaker and the stainless smoke stack, hinge and thermometer is very impressive, very robust. I have to go with a ss drum for sure.
 
I have an 85 gallon UDS and love it. I have two racks and a weber lid. It'll easily fit 6, 14-16 lb turkeys.

I've had 55-gallon drums for years but always wanted something larger. This solved that problem.
 
Google will find you one pretty easily. You will find it to be way more expensive tho- definitely.

Amazon will sell you a brand new stainless open head 85 gallon Skolnik for $2400.00 At least the shipping is free.

Stainless is nice... but dayum. There's a ton of things I could do with that money...if I had it - that is.
 
Tempting as all get out, ain't it? :grin:

Some would "go for it"

Some would "flip a coin"

Some would say "honey....?"

me? I'd just hear "card declined". Sucky as it it, it make a lot of decisions easy as eating flapjacks.
 
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