weber lid on UDS

Hi brethren,
quick question, do you add any holes to the your weber lid (if you use it with your UDS), or just leave the ones that are already there?

swamprb said:

meats under the vent will cook faster, so rotate the lid during a cook.

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Maybe I'm not observant, but w/ all the three to four butt cooks I did w/ my Weber and Kingsford lids, I never noticed any need to rotate the lid. My top grate was 2.5" below the top of the drum, and the kettle lid fit around the outside of the top of the drum, the Kingsford being the perfect fit.

That being said, on my OTG, when I put my pizza stone up high on an upside down grilling basket to bake at HH, I definately rotate the lid every few minutes. I just haven't needed to do that with the drum at bbq temps.

If you see the need to rotate, why not just knock out a couple of 3/4" holes in the lid on the opposite side of the daisy wheel and use 1" magnets and/or the daisy wheel to restrict the exhaust for low-n-slow?

Old Smoke said:

Leave it "as is".

If you get too much exhaust area (more holes) the fire will draw air in through them and you will have a difficult time with temperature control.

I know this because.......:doh:

I added the 3 daisy wheel vents from the bottom of the donor Weber kettle to the lid. (more is better thinking) It was a lot of extra work that was not needed. I only use 1 daisy wheel vent and generally not fully open BUT every cooker works a bit different.

I have not needed to rotate the lid YET....I am still learning the UDS method (10-15 cooks)

Also check out the UDS thread http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23436 for lots of great info.

Click to expand...

No, you don't want too much exhaust, but letting some more of the fat in the fire vapor out can't hurt, and my Kingsford lid daisy wheel vent seemed to choke my uds when shooting for 350, and I had more intake than most, (5) 3/4" holes, sliding vent.

This morning, I knocked out three 7/8" holes opposite the daisy wheel on my Kingsford lid and have 1" magnets to regulate. I suspect I'll usually close the daisy some and only have the new holes partially open, but it will be nice to be able to open more if needed, and I suspect I'll get more even temps in the top of the drum. I got a lot of work to do on the new drum, but will try to post back on what magnet/daisy wheel positions seem to work best, both for low-n-slow, and HH.