Ugly Drum Smoker

Did a tritip on my UDS today, another great cook! I'm havin a small issue with temp control tho.

I have the three 3/4" intakes, that last two cooks I did I would start my basket by dumping 15 lit coals on top of my full basket and dropping it in the drum. All three vents open to bring it up to temp then cap the two and run the one with the ball valve all the way open. With the valve open my temp gauge says 275, if I close the valve halfway the thing will damn near burn itself out. I'm trying to get the lower temps for the longer cooks but it just won't happen. Any tips?

Time_1 said:

Did a tritip on my UDS today, another great cook! I'm havin a small issue with temp control tho.

I have the three 3/4" intakes, that last two cooks I did I would start my basket by dumping 15 lit coals on top of my full basket and dropping it in the drum. All three vents open to bring it up to temp then cap the two and run the one with the ball valve all the way open. With the valve open my temp gauge says 275, if I close the valve halfway the thing will damn near burn itself out. I'm trying to get the lower temps for the longer cooks but it just won't happen. Any tips?

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Guessing you checked your exhaust vent to make sure it was open enough to create a draft. Anything physically blocking the intake? Ash? junk in an intake nipple?

Just some pics of my UDS. Cost me about £25 in total. Thanks to everyone in this thread who helped. I only read about 250 pages and by then all my questions were answered.


Oil drum free from local garage, contained motor oil and had a sealed lid.


Used an angle grinder to cut the lid off so it can still be used.


The finished UDS. Had a good burn out and rub down. Painted with a rattle can. Taylor thermometer from ebay for about £12. Had to buy some stailless nuts and bolts, again from fleabay.




Used magnets to control air intake. I will probably go to a ballvalve setup when i find one for free.


Used an old cast BBQ grill, and old matress springs for the charcoal bucket.


The webber lid fits a treat.

Not had a chance to fire her up yet, but hoping to soon.

Foxfire said:

Guessing you checked your exhaust vent to make sure it was open enough to create a draft. Anything physically blocking the intake? Ash? junk in an intake nipple?

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Exhaust is 2" pipe about 6" tall with an elbow at the end. Nothing blockin the intake. I have a tractor disc setup for my ash pan that sits right on the bottom of the barrel and my basket sits about 2-3" above that.

ed., Just curious how you cut your lid off, did you just grind the edge until you saw the seam between the rim and lid? I destroyed my lid I cut from the inside of the lip on top but I used a Weber lid so it didn't matter.

krshome said:

ed., Just curious how you cut your lid off, did you just grind the edge until you saw the seam between the rim and lid? I destroyed my lid I cut from the inside of the lip on top but I used a Weber lid so it didn't matter.

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Yes that's how i did it

Rmhardie said:

I used the Permatex Red Hi Temp red RTV sealant to mod my UDS to add a domed lid and seal up around the air intakes at the bottom. On the first trial run, I built a small fire to test the temp performance, etc. I noticed a chemical type smell coming through the exhaust vents. I've seen plenty of posts using this product and would assume that if its not safe for a UDS, that would be well documented here. However, I'm really concerned about off gassing during the cook. I don't want my guests getting ill from my modded rig! Any input would be appreciated

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We're gonna need more info.

How did you clean out your drum liner?

Did you burn it out? If so, how long?

Additional build specs too....

ed. said:

Just some pics of my UDS. Cost me about £25 in total. Thanks to everyone in this thread who helped. I only read about 250 pages and by then all my questions were answered.


Not had a chance to fire her up yet, but hoping to soon.

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Job well done. :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Time 1, If that was my smoker, I'd take the elbow off the exhaust.
My thinking is that could limit the draft.
My UDS uses just the bung hole with a plate on a pivot bolt.
I can do low an slow, hot an fast.
I hope this helps.

rondini said:

Time 1, If that was my smoker, I'd take the elbow off the exhaust.
My thinking is that could limit the draft.
My UDS uses just the bung hole with a plate on a pivot bolt.
I can do low an slow, hot an fast.
I hope this helps.

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Thats what I was thinking. Im gonna take it off and go buy a cap for it when im not using it. Im trying to get it dialed in so I can cook low and slow and it just wont dont that right now.

Rmhardie said:

I used the Permatex Red Hi Temp red RTV sealant to mod my UDS to add a domed lid and seal up around the air intakes at the bottom. On the first trial run, I built a small fire to test the temp performance, etc. I noticed a chemical type smell coming through the exhaust vents. I've seen plenty of posts using this product and would assume that if its not safe for a UDS, that would be well documented here. However, I'm really concerned about off gassing during the cook. I don't want my guests getting ill from my modded rig! Any input would be appreciated

Click to expand...

I pulled this from another post here on the BBQB: The Permetex site said this:
" When heated to temperatures above 300 degrees F. in the presence of air, this product can form formaldehyde vapors. Formaldehyde is a potential cancer hazard and a known skin and respiratorysensitizer. Safe handling conditions may be maintained by keeping vapor concentrations below the OSHA permissible limit for formaldehyde"

Dr_KY said:

Job well done. :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

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Thank Doc, this forum is insane.

Blokes. I've build my UDS and have done a few good smokes in it. Couple of questions that I have for the more experienced:

1. My lid (dome weber) isn't airtight. It's not too bad, but there is airflow there. How important is a seal on the lid to maintaining temp? Mine seems to hold a steady temp ok - do I need to make sure that lid is 100% airtight? I'm using the normal Weber airflow adjuster in the lid as a chimney.

2. The chimney - or lack of.. would it be better for the smoker to have a proper chimney, rather than the weber opening in the lid? Ie... that would help convection and airflow, no?

3. My firepit has two rings for different charcoal loads - a very large one which sits about 1.5" off the side of the barrel (so around 18-19" in diameter) and a smaller one which sits inside this and is around 10". The 10" ring will take 8-9# of fuel, the large one will take 30#. This happened because the first firebox I built was way too big for the UDS, the coals were too spread out. I've so far used a max of around 8# in my UDS and got a steady 120degC for around 8 hours of burn time. Does this sound about right? I need to get this bit right for planning a long burn - how much fuel do you guys need for a 13 hour butt smoke?

I'll get some pics up soon - thanks for your help here!

Cheers - Mike

mvzoom, My Weber lid is not perfect either. I found it had smoke billowing out in one spot say 12:00 and at say 6:00, I found a squeeze of the lid fix it. If its your barrel use a aluminum foil as a gasket for the lid. A little air leak shouldn't make to much of a difference on a smoke but will make it hard to shut down. Over time the smoke will seal a lot of the leaks.

I read this thread front to back loved the idea and everybodies' imput and designs so i took the plunge and built one myself, here is what I ended up with. Doesn't have all the bells and whistles yet...

Very nice paint Chad

krshome said:

mvzoom, My Weber lid is not perfect either. I found it had smoke billowing out in one spot say 12:00 and at say 6:00, I found a squeeze of the lid fix it. If its your barrel use a aluminum foil as a gasket for the lid. A little air leak shouldn't make to much of a difference on a smoke but will make it hard to shut down. Over time the smoke will seal a lot of the leaks.

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Yeah thanks - I didnt think it'd make much of a difference assuming the temp was stable and in the range that I wanted.

Any feedback on the fuel quantities?

ed. said:

Thank Doc, this forum is insane.

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We are glad you found us.

mvzoom said:

Yeah thanks - I didnt think it'd make much of a difference assuming the temp was stable and in the range that I wanted.

Any feedback on the fuel quantities?

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I fill my basket full every smoke (16.6 lb. bag & 3-4 fist size chunks of white oak using the minion method). When I done cooking I close off the intakes and exhaust and snuff it out. Usually within an hour its out. On my next cook I shake the ash out of the basket then reuse what is left. I then add wood chunks and top off with more charcoal or lump. I usually only use 1/4 -1/2 of the fuel for a cook (8-10 hours). I have let it go just to see how long it would last on a full basket and lasted over 24 hours. I have thought about making a smaller basket for things like fish and chicken for faster cooks but I use so little fuel with a big basket I haven't bothered.

I get the same results. 20# of B & B Lump will burn 24 hrs. 275deg. One cap off of lid with no chimney, one 3/4 open, one 3/4 half closed on the intake
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