Redbaron's Very First UDS Build

After talking a bit with Charredapron about how to best get lots of food made for my kids' end-of-year school party, he said the best thing to do would just be to spend a bit of cash and build a UDS. So I cruised around on the threads here for a bit while I waited for my three brand-new 55-gallon drums to be delivered. And here they are!

Got really lucky as the insides are completely unlined. These are brand-spankin' new and are the type that come with a side-flip sort of circular lid closure device, so the lid just sits on top and this ring makes sure the barrel and lid stay together. Pretty handy, and no angle grinder required!

Here are pics from the burn-in the other day. Note the "don't breathe this" coming off with the paint.

So the barrels cost me 50 euros (~$55) each not including 12 eur/$15 in shipping. Pretty good price around here.

I went down to the hardware store today to get the bits and pieces necessary. Expanded metal (3 feet x 2 feet) was 20 euros, various plumbing bits were 15 euros, steel abrasive wheel thinger was 10, a small sheet of aluminum (for the top - I'm going to do a daisy-wheel style disk on top of the original lid and attach a small handle (3 euros) to it. I also got three cans of high-temp black spraypaint, 10 eur/$12 each. All told was 100 euros, $110.

Next stop was the BBQ store for grill grates. Grills around here are mostly square or rectangular, and are typically the old 50s-style brick ones you see in some older houses in the US:



And because Weber is (for the most part) made in the USA, the prices on a 22.5" round grate are probably not what you'd pay over there. 25 euros for the un-hinged ones, 30 euros for the hinged ones. I figured hinged might be useful at some point, so I got two of those and one unhinged for setting a water pan on top of as a way to avoid direct heat.

I also got some Lillie's Q Carolina Gold mustard sauce and some Stubbs pork rub to try it out.

After I got the kids to bed I used the abrasive disk to get some more of the paint and some of the rust off the exterior, which was a pretty tedious task.

I then, for the charcoal grate, tried my hand at arc welding, something I had only done one other time. I got out the angle grinder to cut the expanded metal to ~3 feet x 9", formed it into somewhat of a circle and temporarily attached the ends together using expanding drywall anchors.

Then it was welding time, and I think I did an OK job. I only melted through the metal in a few places, and considering how thin this stuff was I feel pretty good about that. Next step is to make the bottom for the charcoal grate and spot weld that on to the circle, and then cut off some angle iron I have sitting around to make some stubby legs.

Last photo, btw, is what we pay for Coors Light around here - $3 a bottle. Thankfully I'm a homebrewer and we have some really great French and other Euro craft beer for about the same price.

Bob C Cue said:

The burn in picture on the right is almost surreal! Good luck with your build. Where did you get your barrels by the way?

Click to expand...

Online - http://www.negomix.fr/fut-metallique/210-fut-metallique-de-213-l-a-couvercle.html

Further work done. Not seen: the two hours I spent with an angle grinder wire brush stripping the whole exterior of rust and leftover paint, then half an hour of spraying several coats of high-temp black matte paint.

First photo, putting up some painter's tape to avoid stray scratches on the paint and to make marking drill locations easier.

Second photo, my super fancy Sapele story pole, perfectly sized scrap from another project.

Third photo, all done with bolts - these are the supports for each level of the grill. First (bottom) is for a grate to hold the water pan, second and third are 7-inch high spaced cooking grates.

Inside:


Nearly done, just need to add the handle for the lid:


Complete and chugging along this morning at 230 f:


And here she is with her sisters:

Yeah, I made a daisy wheel-type thing by threading a few bolts and washers through a small sheet of aluminum and attaching it to the lid and the handle, then drilled holes all around it, it slides open or closed depending on what I need.

Temp performance from yesterday's 14-hour cook:


Bump at noon was due to the sun coming out, bump at around 5:15 or so was opening the lid to add an applewood chunk, which meant I had to remove everything and had the lid open for a long time.

Overall, pretty satisfied with the performance.