Ugly Drum Smoker

Gents,

I did my second run on the UDS yesterday. Being Colorado, the wind was blowing 20-25 all afternoon. To get to 250* I had to have the ball valve open all the way and at times I had to take two caps off. All my openings are 1/2 " (soon to change.... I'm goin got put 3/4 in openings in). At times, smoke would come out the air intakes as the wind would cause reverse air flow.

My question has to do with my exhaust. I'm using the bung, with a threaded 5" pipe on it, and I leave the small bung open as well. Do I need more exhaust openings? Is there somethign else I'm going to need to add seeing that it's windy here all the time? The airflow was sufficient the first smoke, but a little weak, that's why I'm going to change the 1/2 " openings out for 3/4", but there was no wind. Yesterday, it just never seemed to get rocking.

Thanks. I tried searching for this but couldn't come up with the answers.

Keith

AJP said:

To clean mine I have a pan under my charcoal basket so that brings up most of the ash. If I really need to get in there and clean I use a ho to scrape around and get things out.

I have never wished I could take the bottom off and get in it. Just seems like more trouble than it is worth and air leakage.

Click to expand...

Personally, I prefer the Shop-Vac-mod

fat_bastard said:

Personally, I prefer the Shop-Vac-mod

Click to expand...

I would to if I owned a shop-vac :becky:

AJP said:

I would to if I owned a shop-vac :becky:

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Lowes has a 6(?) gallon 3HP one for $45 right now

The ho was $3 at Wal-Mart. Can't think of what else I would use a shop-vac for.

True, I have other uses for it as well.

TalonBrew said:

Gents,

I did my second run on the UDS yesterday. Being Colorado, the wind was blowing 20-25 all afternoon. To get to 250* I had to have the ball valve open all the way and at times I had to take two caps off. All my openings are 1/2 " (soon to change.... I'm goin got put 3/4 in openings in). At times, smoke would come out the air intakes as the wind would cause reverse air flow.

My question has to do with my exhaust. I'm using the bung, with a threaded 5" pipe on it, and I leave the small bung open as well. Do I need more exhaust openings? Is there somethign else I'm going to need to add seeing that it's windy here all the time? The airflow was sufficient the first smoke, but a little weak, that's why I'm going to change the 1/2 " openings out for 3/4", but there was no wind. Yesterday, it just never seemed to get rocking.

Thanks. I tried searching for this but couldn't come up with the answers.

Keith

Click to expand...

i am no expert, but 5" exhaust seems way too big.. plus a small hole as well.

i run a simple 2" exhaust on mine, and runs sweet. i think you are tking in too much air in the exhaust as opposed to the intake.

Yeah I run a 2" exhaust and 1 3/4" ball valve 3/4 open to get 235ish.

Gonesledn said:

i am no expert, but 5" exhaust seems way too big.. plus a small hole as well.

i run a simple 2" exhaust on mine, and runs sweet. i think you are tking in too much air in the exhaust as opposed to the intake.

Click to expand...

I think he means 5" long...if he had a 5" piece of pipe on the lid, that would be like taking the lid off. I think you need 3/4" intakes with a full port valve on at least one to dial it in.

NASCARican said:

I think he means 5" long...if he had a 5" piece of pipe on the lid, that would be like taking the lid off. I think you need 3/4" intakes with a full port valve on at least one to dial it in.

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Yeah.... sorry. That's what i meant.

OK... I'll drill out the 1/2" nipples and put in two or three 3/4" ones.


Thanks guys. Ribs this weekend....:-D

AJP said:

The ho was $3 at Wal-Mart. Can't think of what else I would use a shop-vac for.

Click to expand...

Forget the ho, it blows. The Shop-vac sucks. :icon_blush:

*rubs eyes after reading 418 pages*

Greetings from Down Under ...

Such a wealth of information in this thread, that I am going to have to make a new smoker with quite a few ideas from this thread.

So set your clocks back to November last year, just after a heatwave of 110*F days in October ...

Initially I was going to make a horizontal grill, got me a food grade drum ($15AU) (had OJ concentrate in it), burnt the sucker. Outside paint came off ... inside ? Nope ... It's what you call a red-liner. So took a cup brush on an angle grinder, and set to work. About 6 hours later (of not really hard work, just awkward), got a nice clean drum. Cut it in half, get everything ready to weld, and the arc welder eats away at the drum. Don't have access to a tig or mig welder, so that idea became a bust.

Did some research quickly on drum smokers, and decided to go with it. Got me another drum (red liner), and said stuff it, not going to burn it. Just took the cup brush on the angle grinder again, and again, 6 hours later, I got a nice clean drum. Cleaned out the drum, made up my basket, which was made of expanded steel, about 12" wide, about 9", sits about 2-3" off the bottom, cut out my grills which was also expanded mesh, put in my bolts to hold the grills, threw in some coals and let it season (used olive oil). Painted the outside with high temp paint after it had cooled, and away I went.

It's been quite good being able to throw some meat on, and come back a few hours later to it being cooked. Wish I had seen this thread before I made the smoker though, I wouldn't have a few of the problems I had. My exhaust is a square cut in the lid about 4" x 4", which I quickly worked out was way too large, so its generally covered so its about 1" x 4". My intakes are 4 x ¾" holes that I cover with magnets (although I am going to have to get some new ones, these ones are starting to melt and get sticky). I find that with my exhaust as 1" x 4", and 1½ intakes open, i'm sitting on 300*F all the time when cooking. I put it down to possibly an air leak on the lid rim, but very rarely fluctuates. Rock solid.

Unfortunately here in Australia, buying a Weber grill isn't an option for me, not at $50AU just for the grill (a simple Weber Kettle is $200AU!! ). Alot of places I've looked also don't sell cheap kettle barbies either, but I still have a few places to look to try and find that domed lid and grill that I want.

I am thinking I'll have to make a new smoker with all the extra knowledge i've gained reading this thread. Until I put some plans in to action, here's a few images of some feed ...

Leg of Lamb ...









And some RIBS!

Looks like you got it dialed in Moe. Bet your friends want one now.

kwas68 said:

My plan is to use open both sides of the drum. I will use a lid on the bottom and a Weber lid on the top. From reading through the thread, it seems like having both ends open will help with cleaning.

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I have an ash pan attached to the bottom of my basket and that works great.

I also installed a standard 3/4" gate valve in the bottom of my drum. If I need to clean the inside, I just hit it with the hose and open up the valve to drain it. Easy peasy!

Heh, not really, they just come round my place, for good food, and good booze.

I do have some questions though for the experts. More out of interest than anything ...

Kept reading that the grate should be 24" from the bottom of the basket ... why so ?

Also, kept reading that people's exhaust are too big here and there, and also found out the hard way aswell. Why should the exhaust be approximately the same size as intake ?

Just a little less U........

I have a question for those people that have UDS with flat lids and the 8 holes. When you are done with a cook, are you able to kill the fire by just shutting off the intake valve(s)? My concern here is a waste of fuel that is unburned durning the actual cook. Or, do you have another method to salvage any fuel that is left.

colonel00 said:

I have a question for those people that have UDS with flat lids and the 8 holes. When you are done with a cook, are you able to kill the fire by just shutting off the intake valve(s)? My concern here is a waste of fuel that is unburned durning the actual cook. Or, do you have another method to salvage any fuel that is left.

Click to expand...

If you close the holes in the lid with balls of foil or magnets you should able to kill the fire. (along with closing the intakes) It works for me anyway.

Hot UDS

I've had my UDS for a few weeks now and have done a couple cooks, I've also just run the UDS dry (sans meat) a number of times just so I can try to get a hang of controlling the heat...which I'm still doing a pretty poor job of (too hot). So, I thought I'd ask some questions to try to solve some of the problems that I'm having. (Note: I have read this entire thread, but it's been a while and in trying to go back and find specific answers, I'm getting lost in the hundreds of pages)

First, the specs of my drum:
Standard 55 gal drum w/ weber lid. 2 grates at 1.5" and 8" below lip.
4-3/4" intakes. 1 of those has ball valve the rest are just capped.
13" diameter round fire box (weber charcoal grate at bottom and expanded steel)
Generally using RO Lump

Here is my general procedure and problem. I light about a 1/3 of a chimney of lump and let it sit for a half hour or so in the chimney until it's ashed over. Add that to my 5 pounds or so of lump in the firebox (plus a half dozen or so chunks of hardwood) and I add the lit stuff to the top middle of unlit stuff. I open my ball valve to 90% open and leave the other 3 capped. The next hour and a half I wait for my UDS to get up to temp and level out around 220. Then I put the meat on. The temp soon starts to rise (I assume from the air getting in with the lid off). So I close my ball valve some and I close the exhaust in the weber lid a bit, but generally the temp keeps rising. Usually I can get it to settle down around 275 and I wrestle it the rest of the day to get below and stay below 250.

Finally, my questions:
1. How much charcoal should I be putting in my fire box? I feel like I might be using too much.
2. How much should I be lighting in my chimney to add to the fire box? And how should it be placed in the fire box? Also, how long should I be letting my lump sit in the chimney?
3. It seems insane to me that my UDS gets as hot as it does with only my ball valve open...so does this mean that air is probably leaking in from elsewhere?

First Cook pics

After hours of reading this forum, and hours working on my own drum. I'm in business. Enjoy the pron.

Also, quick question on salvaged charcoal (ie unburned after a cook). Will it re light the same way? Do I need to mix it with new briquettes? I have about half and half salvaged and new Kingsford briquettes. I want to get one more burn at least out of what I have. I light with a chimney. Suggestions?

Nothing better than a hand built smoker, pork butt, home made rub, home made sauce. And 8 hours at a steady 220* to 245*, love this smoker. If I can make Q anybody can.

Sorry had to pull the pic of butt after rub...