Ugly Drum Smoker

willbird said:

To those that have a weber lid they use sometimes, does the UDS behave differently with the weber lid ?? IE run hotter with a given number of intakes open ?

Bill

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Mine cooks at the exact temp I set I at, and I mean right on the money
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Both levels

jmoney7269 said:

Mine cooks at the exact temp I set I at, and I mean right on the money

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Well what I'm getting at is..............if you were running manual natural draft, and set the UDS all up to run 225, then switched from a flat to the weber lid, would the temp change ?

I put a uniflame lid on mine briefly and the temp went from 225 with the controller to around 300, and did not drop, put the flat lid back on, and the controller could again easily keep it at 225. Now the uniflame lid did not seal up as nicely as it should...some smoke was leaking around the rim of the drum. I have (8) 1/2" holes in the flat lid, and the uniflame lid I had the vent wide open.

Still looking for a weber lid which will fit better, the Uniflame is 22" not 22-1/2. But if they in general run hotter, well maybe I will not look as hard .

Bill

done

I have read...and read....read....all 655 pages...and i think i can build a UDS......thanks to all the brothers..last weekend i got a weber grill for $25 from craigslist.....now all i need is a drum.....i'm think a closed end drum.....pray for me .....

willbird said:

Well what I'm getting at is..............if you were running manual natural draft, and set the UDS all up to run 225, then switched from a flat to the weber lid, would the temp change ?

I put a uniflame lid on mine briefly and the temp went from 225 with the controller to around 300, and did not drop

Click to expand...

I had the same problem with the Uniflame lid. The Weber performs MUCH better. I have found the WalMart and Lowe's lids to be terrible. The Home Depot and Sears/KMart lids are pretty good, especially with a gasket. You can get gasket material at www.bbqgaskets.com

Paul Worth said:

I had the same problem with the Uniflame lid. The Weber performs MUCH better. I have found the WalMart and Lowe's lids to be terrible. The Home Depot and Sears/KMart lids are pretty good, especially with a gasket. You can get gasket material at www.bbqgaskets.com

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So Weber lid bought at Walmart/Lowes is different than one bought at Sears/Home Despot ??


Bill

keepQn said:

Briquette ! Briquette ! Now repeat 100 times Keep....
Today I am doing a rack of pork spare ribs using the 3-2-1 method ....the missus usually does the BBQ'n but she's tickled with my progress sofar

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Good luck, Neighbor!

fastfleet.... you should check out craiglist, like everyday, for people getting rid of drums

if you don't mind doing a little work to clean out, but i imagine if you are building a UDS you don't mind getting your hands dirty

here in brooklyn i found a guy selling drums that formerly held perfume at 20 bucks a pop not sure if he's still around... we shall see

last week i got INSANELY lucky and found a guy moving out of his apartment and sold me his basically brand new UDS for 65 bucks with a cover and some free cherry wood.

i've never had one before, and havent had a chance to cook on it yet (busy prepping for last weekends Smokin at the Maples). Set up a basket, bag of kingsford, with a lit chimney stack atop it a la minon method. got my valves straight. it held at 250 for 16 hours then i doused is because i had to get out to long island... still some unlit coals in there. man these things are great.. can't wait for my first butts over brisket

But getting back to the point... check craigslist once a day when u can and you may be able to find a drum. search terms can be tricky because of people selling music drum kits. "gallon drum" "55 Gallon" and "steel drum" are what i usually use

willbird said:

So Weber lid bought at Walmart/Lowes is different than one bought at Sears/Home Despot ??


Bill

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Sorry I wasn't clear on that. The Weber lids are the same everywhere. The Weber clones at Walmart (Uniflame) and Lowes (Master Forge) don't control air flow as well as the Sears/KMart (BBQ Pro) or the Home Depot (Masterbuilt) versions, in my opinion. The Stok grill at Home Depot is awesome but Weber is still the king of kettle grills.

Paul Worth said:

Sorry I wasn't clear on that. The Weber lids are the same everywhere. The Weber clones at Walmart (Uniflame) and Lowes (Master Forge) don't control air flow as well as the Sears/KMart (BBQ Pro) or the Home Depot (Masterbuilt) versions, in my opinion. The Stok grill at Home Depot is awesome but Weber is still the king of kettle grills.

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More understanding is good . Local store is closing down, sort of a mini walmart. Pamida, they have a couple Char-broil 22.5" but they are holding at $55 and that is just too much for just the lid, which is all I want . Lots chintzier than a Weber too. I kind of wanted to get a weber lid (searching the craigs daily) and add two more vents to avoid the hot spot near the vent....save the bottom to make another top. need to break wifey into the idea of a SECOND UDS gently ;-). The char broil lid does not look like it is as well suited to adding more vents.

The ribs turned out very well ! The brisket part of the ribs(separated at the butcher shop) had a hard chewy crust...not too sure what I did wrong .
The missus was very pleased with me ....Ho Ho more brownie points for me ....thanks guys .
Taking the UDS out camping so she can use it for grilling steaks , chops and whatever...better than taking out the old charcoal grill .

Paul Worth said:

I had the same problem with the Uniflame lid. The Weber performs MUCH better. I have found the WalMart and Lowe's lids to be terrible. The Home Depot and Sears/KMart lids are pretty good, especially with a gasket. You can get gasket material at www.bbqgaskets.com

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I believe from my experience that its not the lid its the fit. The magic to a UDS is air flow control. The lid you used must leak a lot more than the old one.
Look under neith for any gaps, does the lid slide side to side? Is it sung but still gaps? Prolly a bent lid.

A very quick way to fix it is to take aluminum foil and lay all over the rim. Then push your lid down, The foil will fill in the gaps.

A way to permanently fix your lid is lay shop rags all around the perimeter of the drum rim a couple layers thick.

Then take a soft face heavy mallet and pound the lid onto the drum. The rags will cause the lid to swell and bend naturally over your drum, making a perfect fit.

Made a couple of mods to my UDS today. I got my welder from the race shop and fabbed up a charcoal basket. Then I revised my ball valve setup to accommodate a PartyQ.

More pics of the MOD!, love the PartyQ mod.

Hello ... a newbie here.

I have a question that has prob been answered in here somewhere as I have read 500 pages of the 600 plus so far.

Everyone says to remove the tan liner...no one says exactly why. Is it one of the things that is like you can't fish in a crawdad hole or what is exactly the reason. Not trying to be a smart a** just want to know the reason behind it ... Is it just being overly cautious?

Thanks for any answers.

Jim

Peddler said:

Hello ... a newbie here.

I have a question that has prob been answered in here somewhere as I have read 500 pages of the 600 plus so far.

Everyone says to remove the tan liner...no one says exactly why. Is it one of the things that is like you can't fish in a crawdad hole or what is exactly the reason. Not trying to be a smart a** just want to know the reason behind it ... Is it just being overly cautious?

Thanks for any answers.

Jim

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As the liner heats up, especially at the bottom where the charcoal burns, it could off-gas some nasty components. It is a food safety issue.

Teamfour said:

As the liner heats up, especially at the bottom where the charcoal burns, it could off-gas some nasty components. It is a food safety issue.

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This is what I'm curious about ... Is it that someone said or is it fact ... what is the liner composed of? If it's Teflon, we cook everyday with Teflon lined pans.
Inquiring Minds Want to Know.

Thanks again.

epoxy paint

Peddler said:

This is what I'm curious about ... Is it that someone said or is it fact ... what is the liner composed of? If it's Teflon, we cook everyday with Teflon lined pans.
Inquiring Minds Want to Know.

Thanks again.

Click to expand...

I don't cook everyday with teflon pans ......I would, but I do not really have any I use anymore. BUT parts of a UDS can sometimes get hotter than your average teflon pan, and I read somewhere that PTFE (teflon) when heated hot enough to start to vaporize, is one of the most deadly things you can come up with easily. Using a weed burner to light charcoal is one example of how parts of a UDS can get pretty hot, and another way I know if first hand is if some guy blows in there with a small shop vac set to blow not suck ;-).

Bill

OK Thanks ... I'll see what I can do about removing the liner ... Not one unlined drum open top in this one horse burg ... Thanks for all the previous posts and instructions. I'm starting on UDS as well as a regular horizontal pit.

Thanks again.
Jim

Greetings Bretheren,

I originally posted this on the pickled pigs forum, but it is tumbleweed over there, so thought I'd give it another go. I admit I havent got through all 656 pages of this thread (There are only so many hours in the day) so hopefully I'm not wasting anybodies time.

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Don't really have a smoking culture over in Europe (I'm living in UK but originally from Ireland), definitely want to make a UDS.

A few q's.
1) Would having an access door for the fire basket take away from the consistency of the smoker? Without an access door, do you have to remove the food in order to refill the fire basket (assuming you had to adjust temperature etc.) Any links to tutorials which include an access door would be great.
I was also thinking about a pull out drawer at the bottom of the Drum for ease of cleaning. Maybe I'm over thinking this.

2) I work for a Food ingredients company, so i'm sure I can come across a few 55gallon drums, are there any of these that wouldn't need to be burned out etc. I'd imagine the drums I could get a hold of would of contained various oils (veg/pam etc) - it just seems like it would be a lot less hassle not to have to burn off the inside of the drum, sand it etc.

3) Could somebody explain to me what exactly the water pan some people have been talking about, where does it go? What does it do?


Thanks again for everyone who has posted in this thread, great information and when I get my build up and running i'll certainly post some pictures.

Also: Reconditioned Drums Sales would any of these be recommended?
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Thanks in advance, and once I get it done I'll certainly put a picture in the picture thread and spread the good word of smoking throughout Ireland and the UK.