My UDS charcoal basket "breakthrough"

I didn't know about that! I finished a UDS a few weeks ago and have noticed temp variations. That looks like a cool idea - I'm gonna try it! Thanks for posting. BTW I've done the biscuit test in my offset. One thing I learned is biscuits from a smoker taste like chit. :heh:

Hmmmm...I'm building a UDS for one of my sons right now. I ran across this idea as I was reading thru the UDS thread B4 starting my build and I certainly thought the idea has merit. After seeing your biscuit test I just mite give this
charcoal basket doughnut a try myself. After seeing the crap that Lowes sells for expanded wire I went by the local steel supply today and picked up 2 pieces (12"x 96") of 3/4" 9-11 for 12 dollars apiece so I have plenty to work with. Thanks for the post!

There are many good ideas on the Fire Basket setup. One thing I have learned is the heat will take the path of least resistance. Meaning that the exhaust will effect the heat also.

Nice set up!!

I did similar experiments this week by placing an inverted SS bowl in the middle of the charcoal basket and pouring coals over that. My original intention was to use less charcoal for a small cook but that also seemed to tame all that direct heat at the center of the cooking grate.

{Midnight ☼ Smoke};1730535 said:

One thing I have learned is the heat will take the path of least resistance. Meaning that the exhaust will effect the heat also.

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That's true. If I can find another spare lid I'd like to experiment by drilling smaller exhaust vent holes around the perimeter of the lid and not use the daisy wheel. Perhaps the ventless loose fitting lids on ECB's are not a bad design after all....))

Not such a bad dispersion of heat if you ask me. I wonder if it would be even more evenly spread with a diffuser on top of all that?

How did you light it? On one side, multiple sides?

"Just what you need, something else to build or modify!!"...My wife after I told her about this mod!!

Matt

Interesting idea. However, how did you spread the lit coals? More importantly, if you spread out lit coals in the exact same way without the center spacer would it not function the same? Also, how long was the UDS running before you put on the biscuits? I can see the coals burning nice and spread out at first but usually in a long burn the fire tends to wander. Definitely keep us updated on how this works out for you.

enasnidx said:

It probably would, but again, my goal was to avoid a diffuser as I've heard the barrel burns through a lot more fuel.

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It does burn more fuel, it's only logical that it does. I'm not sure I'd call it "a lot more fuel." Whether you're willing to sacrifice burning more fuel to even out the heat is a situational decision.

It's easy to comprehend that it would take less fuel to heat a 9" diameter circle to 250 deg than it would to heat an 18" or even a 22" diameter circle to 250 degrees. There is more area to heat up with the larger circles.

Do you want a hot, small circle to cook in or do you want a large circle to cook in? The answer depends on what you're cooking.

If you're only cooking a single butt or a couple of fatties or some item that would basically fit into the smaller area, having no diffuser would be the most efficient way to go.

If you're cooking a large assortment of items such as 50 chicken wings, or 4 racks of ribs it could be easier to spread out your heat and bite the more fuel bullet, unless you want to keep rotating your items.

Mutiple diffusers seem the best option for me. Right now I have a 10" diameter diffuser and a 16" diffuser. The amount of food I'm cooking will decide which diffuser I choose. The larger diffuser will create a larger area with the even temperature cooking area and will require more fuel to keep that larger area hot.

Having the grate down below that allows the option of a diffuser of choice or even no diffuser seems best to me. Personally I'd prefer to not have to rotate the food I'm cooking. I prefer to keep the lid on and prevent temp changes.

C'mon, it's barbecue... a UDS, it's the simplicity that makes it great. Do we really need to over analyze every aspect of it?

expatpig said:

C'mon, it's barbecue... a UDS, it's the simplicity that makes it great. Do we really need to over analyze every aspect of it?

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I respect your opinion.


In my opinion what makes it great is knowing I built it with minimal resources, it's efficiency and most of all, the quality of the food.

One man's "over analyze" is another man's toy.

And I respect your opinion as well, I can appreciate mods and tweaking, I've done a few myself, but sometimes I believe it's just splitting hairs.

Just came across this thread during a search.

Can you tell me the measurements of your final basket? Is it 18" diameter x 8" high with a 5" dia center ring? Or did you modify it at some point?

I'd like to try this as I like the idea of a more even dispersion of heat.

Do you think it is worth having several exhaust vents around the perimeter of the lid as opposed to one bigger single exhaust? Or does it not matter as much in your opinion? (I do prefer the appearance of a single pipe exhaust as opposed to several holes drilled in the lid).


Thanks

expatpig said:

C'mon, it's barbecue... a UDS, it's the simplicity that makes it great. Do we really need to over analyze every aspect of it?

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I didm3'racks of baby backs the other day one rack finished in 5.5 hours and the others took another 2 hours once they were moved to the center!

I took a slightly different route to try and even out temperatures, and I think it has worked well. I know because some people use the Weber lids and such, this may not work well. My drum lid did not have any bungs in it. I drilled eight 1/2" holes evenly spread across the top to even out airflow through the drum, rather than one exhaust drawing the heat to it.