4 cooks on my UDS and still feel clueless

[bryguy]

I'm doing my seventh UDS cook of a couple racks of cut St. Louis ribs. First time doing ribs and they seems to be going ok but my UDS is a bear. I'm really new to smoking meats in general

Used this as my base line.
https://smokingmeatgeeks.com/ugly-drum-smoker-plans-uds-build/

with the NORCO thread here as backup if I had exact questions

3 3/4 inch intakes, 2 with ball valves and risers*

4 3/4 inch exhausts on tops with 90 degree bends

Basket is that exact one in the post. Bent expanded sheet metal around a propane tank.

Using Maverick XR pro Thermometer and probes. This thing seems pretty neat.

First Shoulder (8.5#) cook went well enough. 10 hours. Avg temp 265. Tried to keep it around 275. Kingsford Bluebag. Half chimney. Mid summer in Central Ohio for ambient temperature if that matters. Pulled at 198 degrees. Very happy with the end result. Loved the UDS.

Second was 2 chickens. Had to fiddle with it the ENTIRE cook. Adjust wait 20 minutes, now it spiked, adjust down, wait 25 minutes wait why is it at 200 now, etc, etc. Food turned out great but I basically filled up on beer stressing out over this thing since inlaws were here and wanted to make good food. Good food was made and leftovers were great in chicken salad and pasta. Mission accomplished and +5 grey hairs.

Third another chicken, another fiddling around day. Less pressure. Everyone liked it.

Forth was 2 shoulders approx 17lbs of meat. Mix of lump (Frontier lump) and Kingsford blue. This made me want to throw the UDS in the trash. 18 hours of fighting with it always low, didnt want to increase temps at all full open. Didnt wrap since I wanted to be ****ing obstinate. Fire seemed to go out. Had to stop at relight a fire while my shoulders sat in the oven on warm. Then it was hellishly hot. Ash buildup wasn't huge which is what I expected. Eventually got fed up and pulled it at 188 an had mediocre pulled pork and chili with it. Bitter sort of acrid taste. Day was early fall and had a bit of breeze.

Which brings me to todays cook. 2 racks of cut St. Louis Spares squared off. 3-2-1 method as my first time doing ribs. UDS is finally solid at a 240-248. Full open, same mix of lump to use it up. Never completely emptied the charcoal basket but I was hoping to be a consistent 250 and I just wrapped them. So we will see how this goes.

Anything Im missing here? Do I need to remove the risers and just have 3 intakes with nipples and use maybe magnets to control airflow? Is that brand of charcoal just terrible? Am I missing some sort of ancient arcane knowledge here? Food has been ok (chickens were top notch though IMO) most of the time but I wanted something a bit more, set, use time to make sides, maybe make a few minute adjustments and move on.

*Heard these might be problems. They are 18 inches long.

 

[drunkenmeatfist]

What method are you using to start your fire and how long are you letting the smoker stabilize before adding food?

 

[drunkenmeatfist]

Also I just read through the article you posted. Don't get hung up on his advice of not letting the smoker get to 300 degrees. If that is where it settles in then that is fine and it's better than fighting with the thing all day. I believe the Gateway drum guys are always talking about "needles up" which is 300 degrees.

 

[bryguy]

What method are you using to start your fire and how long are you letting the smoker stabilize before adding food?

Between 25 and 35 minutes usually.

 

[thirdeye]

So it sounds like your problem is not locking in a pit temp and/or chasing the pit temp.

I use mostly lump coal, and when I mix in briquettes I use the Kingsford "Long Burning". I light a fire dead center of the basket with a Map Pro or weed burner. About the size of a softball. then wait an hour for the fire to settle in and the smoke to settle down.

During this time, I wait for the pit to reach 200° or 225° and start backing down the intake. I leave the exhaust vents alone. Once I get to 250°, or 275° or whatever my intakes are barely open, I add the meat and let it ride.

For a stubborn fire I use a wiggle rod 24" long with a 3.5" bend.

 

[Nuco59]

Just spit balling. You have 4 x 3/4" holes as the exhaust. A lot of bone stock UDS use the 2" bung as the only exhaust. Your exhaust total = 1.76 sq inches. a 2" bung has an area of 3.142". More exhaust will make the most of your intakes. Up to you, but I'd lose the elbows and risers- the 90's are restrictions. My uds will stabilize temp and run sweet blue at 280-290 with one intake cracked about 3/4 open. I give it an hour to stabilize - catching the temps on the rise-over shooting your temp is not the end of the world - but it seem to take an agonizingly long time to come back down. Mine runs fine for about 4 hours then the basket needs a shake or the drum a kick to settle ashes.

Don't cuss the Kingsford- many, many tons of meat have been smoked in UDSs with the blue bag stuff. Might you get better results with going with lump? Maybe - but why fiddle with what has been proven to work. You need to change one thing at a time. I'd add exhaust and leave the ball valves and risers alone. Then remove the risers. Then change the charcoal. In that order. I'm betting your troubles will end once you add more exhaust.
good luck

 

[bryguy]

Just spit balling. You have 4 x 3/4" holes as the exhaust. A lot of bone stock UDS use the 2" bung as the only exhaust. Your exhaust total = 1.76 sq inches. a 2" bung has an area of 3.142". More exhaust will make the most of your intakes. Up to you, but I'd lose the elbows and risers- the 90's are restrictions. My uds will stabilize temp and run sweet blue at 280-290 with one intake cracked about 3/4 open. I give it an hour to stabilize - catching the temps on the rise-over shooting your temp is not the end of the world - but it seem to take an agonizingly long time to come back down. Mine runs fine for about 4 hours then the basket needs a shake or the drum a kick to settle ashes.

Don't cuss the Kingsford- many, many tons of meat have been smoked in UDSs with the blue bag stuff. Might you get better results with going with lump? Maybe - but why fiddle with what has been proven to work. You need to change one thing at a time. I'd add exhaust and leave the ball valves and risers alone. Then remove the risers. Then change the charcoal. In that order. I'm betting your troubles will end once you add more exhaust.
good luck

Maybe you are on to something about the exhausts. My lid didnt have a bung. I sourced the lid and the drum separate. I definitely and put more holes up top for sure.

Oh im not cursing the blue bag. I have made thousands of lbs of fantastic not smoked foods on it. I don't think it was the problem I think maybe CHEAP lump might be the problem.

 

[bryguy]

What method are you using to start your fire and how long are you letting the smoker stabilize before adding food?

Half a chimney of briquettes. Start with wax cubes. Dump in the middle of my basket after making a little charcoal "well" use 2-3 fist sized chunks (1 for chicken). Usually cherry chunks.

 

[jham0077]

My riser height was my issue. I shorted them to half what I started with, but I also have 4. I agree with Nuco, exhaust, risers, then charcoal.

 

[huskerfan1200]

As mentioned before, the exhaust and air flow would be the first thing to look at. Also think about a weber lid rather than the flat lid.

I was in a similar spot as you on my first UDS with regards to fluctuating temps. On my second build I used four 1" holes at the bottom...3 with caps and only one riser. I also used a weber lid rather than the flat lid. This worked so much better that I modified my first build to match. Now they both run like clockwork. One lower intake fully open and the riser intake at 1/3 way open and they'll sit at 275* for hours.

 

[Bob C Cue]

Unfortunately I am not able to help you since my stock advice is "Build a UDS." But I'm sure the knowledgeable Brethren will have you fixed up in no time. Best of luck!

 

[Nuco59]

I found that I very much prefer the flat lid to a weber dome. The dome does not have enough exhaust (sure- you can add more). Finding a good open head drum that the dome lid will fit can be a chore. (yes, you can "modify" the weber lid to fit in most cases- but it can be a pain)

To me all the dome lid does is to give you more ceiling to use 2 grates without the bottom on being too close to the coals. I rarely elect to use 2 grates- and the flat lid fits like it was made for the drum... 'cause it was. I wish the SS drum I was given had a flat lid with a single bung...I modified a weber lid to fit. I like it ok- now. But if it had the flat lid from the beginning, I would not have had to put so much $$ in the cuss jar.

 

[Paul B]

This is mine.
Big green egg intake for my intake, lid is similar to weber lid with similar exhaust.
I creep up to my desired temp slowly. Meat is on after I light the charcoal and letting the temp cream up.
By that time intake is open about maybe 3/8 inch, exhaust wide open. Temp running at whatever I want, meat will bring temp down, it's cold, no adjustments it will return to my set temp with very minor fiddling
Once you start chasing it won't stop. You have to start slow.
Paul B

As you can see intake closed way down, exhaust wide open, light blue smoke....temp roughly 275 + -.