My UDS and I are complete failures!!!

[huskerfan1200]

Originally Posted by Dr. Endo

yes, yes, temp had to be too high. I wish I knew exactly how high. I had a PVS pipe exhaust that looked cool, and the bottom part attached to the barrel was melted. How much heat does it take to melt PVS pipe?

Between 100* - 260* C will melt PVC. That pipe is/was at the top where the temp was the highest.

I'm thinking El Ropo has it...how much lit charcoal did you start with?

[El Ropo]

Originally Posted by huskerfan1200

26.5" from the 'bottom' of the basket to the cooking grate? To me this seems a bit close.

Is this a 55-gallon drum? How far from the top of the drum is the cooking grate?

I don't think that is the issue. The general consensus is 24" from bottom of charcoal basket to lowest cooking grate. A 55 gallon drum is only ~34.5 " high to start with:

[pwa]

Pics would be a big help, I run lump exclusively and like others have said you at 225 you should beable to go all day. I highly suspect the thermometer is giving you false reading whether this is due to bad thermometer or placement don't know. 2 1/2 vents open bet your pushing 450, I would be on mine, I cook at 330-350 with 1 1/2 vents.

Hope we can get this problem figured with you
pwa

[Dr. Endo]

sorry guys, I don't know how to attach pictures here.... It's asking for my URL.. can't I just attach a file?

[Dr. Endo]

Ok, Here are your pictures you requested. Where am I wrong?

[pitbossJB]

Go advanced and add an attachment.

[pitbossJB]

How does your lid fit?

[Dr. Endo]

my lid fits ok... It leaks becuase my barrel is out of round... But I don't think that it leaks so much as to make a difference. After all. the top vent holes on a weber lid are not exactly as big as a hole with 2" diameter like on the traditional UDS lid. right?

[razrbakcrzy]

Ok, it has to be running too hot. The thermometer your using has to be off. Fire it up exaclty like before, Get a digital thermometer lay the probe on the grate nothing in there. No meat at all, I bet you get over 350° with 2-1/2 open. I have cooked for more than 14 hours and never made that kind of charcoal out of a butt...

[landarc]

Your arrangement of vents looks fine, quite normal, the thermoemeter is about right for a side reading setup, bear in mind, it will read different from the center of the grate. The basket looks okay as well, I see nothing wrong with the UDS itself. I am gonna guess you are not managing the fire right.

I do use lump in my UDS, it can burn out funny if not stacked right, you can't just dump it in. Some guys do, my UDS doesn't like that. It likes the lump stacked in sort of flat and tightish. I light 8 to 10 medium sized lump chunks until fully lit, dump on top and set two vents open. As the UDS approaches my goal heat, I shut one vent down by half and wait an hour to see what happens. Once stable, 1 to 2 hours later, add the meat, the temp will drop. I leave the vents alone for an hour, then adjust if temperature has not come back up. Small adjustments.

[razrbakcrzy]

If your trying to use that side mounted therm. to regulate your heat, I can guarantee your center of grate temp. is atleast 50-100° hotter. Get a digital from wal-mart about $12-$18. It will save you alot of meat cost.. How much have you already lost in meat?

[SuperQue]

Way too hot. That therm has to be way off. I can get mine to cruise around 225 with only one bottom vent open. Test that therm in some boiling water.

[El Ropo]

Yep, it looks like you fired up all of the lump at the same time.

Minion method is your friend. Once mastered, that huge arse basket should burn for over 24 hours.

When using a UDS, fill up the basket with unlit coals (well maybe in your basket's case, 2/3 full) with your wood chunks buried at varying depths within the unlit coals.

Start 10-12 briqs, or briq sized pieces of lump in your chimney starter. When they are completely ashed over, dump them on top of the basket of unlit coals/chunks. Wait for cooker to stabilize at desired temp. I like to start cooking @ 250. And when I say stabilize, I mean thin blue to invisible smoke.

It usually takes 15-30 minutes max for this to happen. LEAVE ALL intakes open till 25 degrees below target cooking temp, then close off all except one. When target temp is reached, close off the remaining open intake to 1/2 to 3/4. This should get you close to what you are seeking.

If you do that, your problems will be solved.

BTW, if your PVC exhaust pipe melted, it must have been raging. Possibly raging enough to kill your thermometer.

[pitbossJB]

Also, do a test run ( no meat) and see if you can put out the fire by closing all of your vents. If not, you have a leak.

[pwa]

Thats it, the therm is not going far enough in the drum to give you a useable temp reading. Other then that, that's a nice and clean looking setup.

pwa