Kidcurry73
Knows what a fatty is.
Finished mu UDS this weekend :grin: and cooked on her twice...My problem is I do not think I have enough draw. :eusa_clap
My build: I have eight 3/8 holes in the lid and four 3/4 inch pipe (2 inch long) intakes. The intakes are inserted so that most of the pipe is in the drum no elbows or anything. I had to leave all 4 intakes wide open to get the temps to hit 230-250 and on occasion I had smoke coming out of the the bottom intakes (not being drawn to the top??). And even with one small chunk of wood the smoke was pretty strong (stale smoke not being able to leave the cooker fast enough??)
I had to crack the lid about a inch or more to get close to 300 for the chicken I cooked. Wide open with the lid on it would hold at 250 pretty well but I noticed that with all 4 intakes open like that the wind would really affect the temps and with them all the way open to get to 250 on a 96 degree day I am pretty sure I will have a hard time getting this thing up to temps on a cool day.
So now that Ive rambled on and on here is my question...I believe from my reading that most of the UDSs with eight holes in the lid have 1/2 holes, mine are 3/8, so having holes @ 3/8 inch I have lost 8/8 or 1 inch of air vent. (Correct?). The holes are centered in a circle ala the BDS and I thought about drilling 4 more hole outside of the main circle say one at North, South, East and West so that i would have the 8 main vent hole and four other holes closer to the outer edge of the drum.
Do all you drum gurus think I should punch the existing holes to 1/2 (or larger) or can I add the extra four 3/8 inch holes? Would more holes or bigger holes draw better? Any ideas? To finish off the build My charcoal grate is 2 inches off the bottom the cooking grate is 6 inches from the top, any lower and it would have been closer then 24 inches from the charcoal grate. I con not use the weber kettle lids because the drum is too wide, without the handles and legs the entire kettle will fit inside the drum.
I need to get his figured out so i can do a brisket and a few butts in it on the 4th of July so I can also do some ribs on the Hondo!
Thanks
My build: I have eight 3/8 holes in the lid and four 3/4 inch pipe (2 inch long) intakes. The intakes are inserted so that most of the pipe is in the drum no elbows or anything. I had to leave all 4 intakes wide open to get the temps to hit 230-250 and on occasion I had smoke coming out of the the bottom intakes (not being drawn to the top??). And even with one small chunk of wood the smoke was pretty strong (stale smoke not being able to leave the cooker fast enough??)
I had to crack the lid about a inch or more to get close to 300 for the chicken I cooked. Wide open with the lid on it would hold at 250 pretty well but I noticed that with all 4 intakes open like that the wind would really affect the temps and with them all the way open to get to 250 on a 96 degree day I am pretty sure I will have a hard time getting this thing up to temps on a cool day.
So now that Ive rambled on and on here is my question...I believe from my reading that most of the UDSs with eight holes in the lid have 1/2 holes, mine are 3/8, so having holes @ 3/8 inch I have lost 8/8 or 1 inch of air vent. (Correct?). The holes are centered in a circle ala the BDS and I thought about drilling 4 more hole outside of the main circle say one at North, South, East and West so that i would have the 8 main vent hole and four other holes closer to the outer edge of the drum.
Do all you drum gurus think I should punch the existing holes to 1/2 (or larger) or can I add the extra four 3/8 inch holes? Would more holes or bigger holes draw better? Any ideas? To finish off the build My charcoal grate is 2 inches off the bottom the cooking grate is 6 inches from the top, any lower and it would have been closer then 24 inches from the charcoal grate. I con not use the weber kettle lids because the drum is too wide, without the handles and legs the entire kettle will fit inside the drum.
I need to get his figured out so i can do a brisket and a few butts in it on the 4th of July so I can also do some ribs on the Hondo!
Thanks
and closer to the center of the lid...I can not move the holes but I can/did make them bigger. Also my nipples are longer but I don't think that has much to do with it, but I could be wrong.
