Ugly Drum Smoker

[weekend warrior]

Thats awsome!!!

[Rodney]

Originally Posted by michaelp

Heres how you get rid of the dreaded liner.
Yes, thats a leaf blower, and yes, the fire dept. responded.

That, my friend, is a beautiful thing.

[Rodney]

Hey guys-

I have an idea to improve manageability of the fire in a UDS, and I've started a thread here:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=81126

I'd like to know what you guys think...

Thanks!

-Rodney

[michaelp]

Originally Posted by Rodney

That, my friend, is a beautiful thing.

Lol, dont think the neighbors think so.

[smellysockalarmclock]

Did you really resort to burning your wheelbarrow lumber?

Originally Posted by michaelp

Heres how you get rid of the dreaded liner.
Yes, thats a leaf blower, and yes, the fire dept. responded.

[Yleekyoti]

Ok I read it all...... now what to do? Guess Ill start over!!!!!

[Boshizzle]

I put on some ribs, a chucky, and some sausages in my UDS at 9:30 AM. Fuel is K with some hickory and apple. It has been running between 250 - 275 degrees all morning. Temps dropped just under 250 so I gave the basket a little shake and the temps came right back.

So much easier and hands off than my Chargriller with SFB.

[Boshizzle]

Some UDS Pron -



I used a Brinkman water pan sitting on top of a 15" clay tray for this cook. The water pan prevented the grease from burning. Previously, I used a 19" pizza pan as a diffuser. The grease falling on it and burning gave a flavor that my wife complained about. This time, NO complaints from anyone.

The chuck is still on the cooker. The UDS stayed between 250 - 275 the entire cook. I only had to shake the charcoal basket twice.

[Yleekyoti]

Things I did today

[Yleekyoti]

Almost got this pic thing figured out. cooked some babybacks in the twins.
Cut an extension ring for one of my other drums.
Gonna finish it tomorrow , clean . paint. grate pins. probe ports.
Also putting probe ports in the rest of the fleet. Put thermo ports under the grates on the twins and found that there was 40 degrees hotter at the grate than at the lid thermo.
Many thanks to this thread and to the guys who hammered out the finer points of a barrel extension.

[mykeystoy]

Mykeys UDS

Well I felt inspired so I went shopping and got a few things.

Along the way I found that the pipe nipples needed just a touch more than 7/8" holes, The lock nuts work better on the outside of the drum, and having your friend use the saws all on the lip was ok till the line wasn't so straight anymore.. about a 1/2" gap in two spots.. Is that going to be a problem?
It really didn't seem like it when I lit it up last night for seasoning purposes and because I really wanted to.
After lighting and getting it to 250 for an hour ( whoo hoo ) I opened the other two vents and watched and waited.. It took a while Like a half hour or so to get up to 500 but it was cool. Then I corked them again and throttled back on the valve.. I didnt check again till this morning and still even though pretty much out of coals, was sitting @ just under a 100.

I think I am in love..now for the pics.. BTW the artwork was done by my son for me.. You would realize why if you saw me.



I should have studied the firebaskets a little better before building but it seams to do the job thus far.






Mike

[Mirage_Man]

For those of you that use a BGE draft door for your intake... what size do you use/recommend? I'm in the process of building a SS UDS and need a draft door ASAP as I'm planning on a smoke this coming Sunday for Easter.


OK guys I finally got around to starting my SS UDS. I have a bunch of people coming over next Sunday for Easter. That lit a fire under my butt to get the UDS done. I want to do some baby backs and a few other things for the get together.

I decided that I was going to follow in the footsteps of "HeSmellsLikeSmoke"'s UDS and utilize some parts from a Weber kettle grill. I've been checking Craigslist every day for quite awhile now hoping to score a Weber grill to use for parts. I just missed one last weekend! So I decided WTH I'll just buy a new one. So that's what I did today. I was unable to get the oven/fireplace gasket where I got the grill so I'll have to source that this coming week.

First was to cut out the top of the drum. I ended up using a jigsaw with fine metal blade. It cut like butter and left a nice edge. I tried my sawzall but I didn't have the right blade.

Next I sanded down the edge left by the jigsaw with a rough grit roloc disc on my air powered angle grinder. I didn't have a stone so it was real slow going with the roloc disc but I got it done.

The next step was to cut a band from the bottom of the kettle grill to use as the lid seat. I needed to do this because the SS drum's diameter is too large for the lid to fit and I really didn't want to beat the crap out of the lid to get a not so good fit. Instead the idea as represented by HSLS's pictures is to glue a piece of oven/fireplace gasket around the outside edge of the band cut from the kettle bottom. This is thick enough to center and seat the band inside the edge of the drum. Then the lid seats on it's original lip of the band. I think it should work out pretty well. Anyway, I cut the band easy enough again with the jigsaw and cleaned up the sharp edge with some sandpaper.

That's as far as I got today.

I plan to use the charcoal grate that came with the grill as the bottom of my charcoal basket. I just need to pick up some expanded metal for it. As to the grate supports? I may have a buddy weld some SS angled pieces inside for supports rather than use bolts but I may not have time, we'll see. Now as to air intake? If I can get a BGE vent before this coming weekend that's what I plan to use.

Here's a couple pictures of where I'm at now.













Oh and BTW... I picked up a new 22" Weber replacement rack to use and the second rack when I bought the grill. To my surprise the replacement grate/rack is much more substantial that the original. I weighs noticeably more and uses much thicker material. Here's a couple pictures. I hope you can make out what I mean.

[Yleekyoti]

Extension ring cut from donor barrel 3/4 inch down from center of rib

Hammered out to fit barrel. left it a really tight fit. it snaps into place.

Hardware installed and seasoning in progress. Temps the same both grates!!

Thermo &temp probe ports. Lamp tubing and big flat brass nuts.1 inch long tube for thermo. 1/2 in long tube for probe.
Thanks N8man for cutting measurements!!

[wayner123]

Guys I am having the hardest time keeping the temps low in my UDS. I have a weber lid that I had to beat the lip flat and reshape around the barrel top, but I am not sure if that is the problem. The reason I say that is because I can close all intakes and the fire chokes out in about an hour or two.

Could it be that I am not burning my lump correctly? I think I may be using too much in the charcoal starter and then spreading it out too much as well. What I do is take about a half a chimney of lump, get it red, then spread on top of my lump already in the UDS. Any advice?

Here are some pics of my build:

[Mirage_Man]

Originally Posted by wayner123

Guys I am having the hardest time keeping the temps low in my UDS. I have a weber lid that I had to beat the lip flat and reshape around the barrel top, but I am not sure if that is the problem. The reason I say that is because I can close all intakes and the fire chokes out in about an hour or two.

Could it be that I am not burning my lump correctly? I think I may be using too much in the charcoal starter and then spreading it out too much as well. What I do is take about a half a chimney of lump, get it red, then spread on top of my lump already in the UDS. Any advice?

Here are some pics of my build:

I have yet to complete my UDS but I have read that when using briquettes it only take about 10 of them to get it started. I don't know exactly what that translates to in terms of lump but it seems like it would be less than half a chimney?