Playing with my new UDS! Pr0n!

I built my UDS a few weeks ago and have been playing her with every weekend. We had a party coming up with potentially 18-20 teenaged Boy Scouts and their families, so I needed to have the UDS working and ready for a load of meat. Managed to smoke 6 butts pretty easily. Here's some pics of the action.

Here's the smoker:


The maiden voyage was a simple pork butt and some ABTs (in our house, they are called Dragon Turds). I was very happy with how well the smoker held temps:







The next smoke was a couple of spatchcocked birds. Seeing how she did at higher temps. I got the startup a little wrong (closed down the vents a little quickly, I think), so it took longer than I think it should have to get up to 280-300*. Still, It turned out tasty, if a little slow:



The came the big cook. 6 butts for a 4pm dinner. I was up a at 3am to get the smoker running and loaded. It all worked out OK, but the smoker was a mess to clean with all of the drippings around the outside of the fire basket. I was planning to not foil, but after 9 or so hours, I think the drippings were overwhelming the fire and the smoke started to get nasty and white, so I foiled and it all came out really great.

I had read about the unique flavors from a UDS due to the drippings, and it turns out they are pretty tasty. I don't taste a huge difference, but I figured this smoke would have had a very pronounced flavor difference due to all of the drippings. We turned out not to get the full number of families, so we have tons of pork frozen after this cook!

Here are the butts loaded into the smoker:


And after 6 hours when i was switching the top and bottom rack (quite an exercise!):


That 3am start was no fun, so I convinced myself (and the missus) that a pit controller would be great for overnight and less worrying. I ordered the Pitmaster iQue 120, built the rainbox that they show on their website and yesterday was the first robo-smoke!



Inside the rain box:


Spares!


And some western ribs on the top rack. I pulled them after about 3 hours and did a modified burnt ends treatment, wrapped in foil with rub and sauce. They came out very tasty (but alas, not photographed).


Money Shots!




Thanks for looking!

Rock

Fwismoker said:

Nice spread! I got my IQ in a rain box also..it has come in handy! How do you like the 120 so far?

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Never having used any kind of temp control, I didn't have any great expectations. It held temps very well and was easy to set up and use. I would like a slightly longer hose, but I may add a riser above the ball valve to allow the IQ unit to sit on a higher table, and then remove it for non-controlled use.

Positioning the temperature probe will likely be the most challenging part. I have a remote probe that I kept near the IQ probe so that I could monitor the cook from inside. When the remote probe was near the meat, it showed lower temps, so I can see that being something to keep an eye out for.

I am not sure how often I plan to use the fancy features (temp changes, temp changes based on meat temp, etc.), and almost got the 110, but i figured I would get the newest one and have the option.

I will definitely enjoy the sleep I am more likely to get!

Rock

LMAJ said:

Looks like you have it down!
Great pic of the rain box.

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That's what I love about forums like this. I never would have thought of it and would have worried incessantly if it ever rained during a smoke. Seeing that project on the IQ site, and it all seems so obvious. $15-$20 worth of stuff, 15 minutes with a Dremel and I am set!

Seeing how others have solved problems and developed solutions is just like magic!

Rock

c farmer said:

AWESOME food.


I am thinking about getting a IQ too.

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Planning food for 4pm made me realize that I am way too old to be farking around at 3am. Get the IQ and don't look back.

I am sure I will still enjoy tending a fire now and again, but this will allow me to even consider Brisket for lunch!

Rock

loco_engr said:

I'll be the 1st to acknowledge that I don't know squat
about a UDS! I have to ask though because I noticed
that your UDS is on a wood deck. Can't tell what the
separator is, but I have seen pic's of BGE's on just a paver
on a wood table. The wood was scorched on account the
heat transferred through the pavers in to the wood table.
I would suggest that you keep an eye on this.
Good Luck!

HTH

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It is sitting on a 4x8 sheet of Durock cement board. I bought it when I moved the offset there and it has handled some coals dropped directly onto it. I do plan to add three pavers to get some air under there.

Thanks for the concern and comments. Friendly advice is never out of place as far as I am concerned.

Rock