Nice cook but question on UDS draft

[Skidkid]

On Sunday I did a tritip in the UDS. It was cold and a bit windy. That is cold for here, so 40's most of the day. When the air is calm, I had no problem maintaining temp. When the wind would kick up, temps would plummet. I would open things way up to keep it going and try to maintain temp. Wind would die down and the temp would rise and try to run away. SO, I spent a ton of time fiddling with the cooker. At times, the air flow would even reverse and the smoke would come out the intake stack. SO, do you guys have this kind of issue?

I am thinking I could make a baffle around the intake to control it.

On the plus side, I managed to keep it stable to within about 50-60 degree span during 9 hours of the cook. By then, I had stalled and wrapped in paper so I finally bailed and moved it to the oven to finish. Once it is wrapped it isn't getting any more smoke so it ran a couple more hours. So it did come out amazing.

[JS-TX]

Swinging temps is usually the result of air blowing into your intake, try to face them opposite of the wind. Got any pics of your drum?

[Nuco59]

Swirling winds and fiddling with intakes to chase temps? Kill 2 birds with one stone- shield your whole drum- take the wind out of the equation.

I suggest some sort of wind block - sheet of plywood - thick cardboard- the leeward side of your house - a snow bank -something taller/wider than your drum. Some people smoking on wsm's have made hinged /folding 3 sided screens to go around their cookers- they can even cook in winter months- no problem. You will burn more fuel because of the ambient but your temps will be easier to control.

[Skidkid]

Yes, I posted photos in my build thread but here they are again. In this photo I had just started it so it wasn't up to temp yet but you get the idea. And yes, I think it is airflow. The flow even reversed at times. I may have to build a nice area to have my drum.

[patrickd26]

Great post. This is just a classic example on a drum, or probably any wood fired smoker. But, your comment about seeing smoke out of the intakes hits the nail on the head. I've seen it a few times. It happens when it's very windy for sure, but I think cold temps even more. I've alway adjusted by opening up the intakes to get a draw going, but I'm not sure that's the right answer.

ANYWAY... I've been through this!!! I'm just not sure what the right answer is!

[michiana mark]

Swirling winds and fiddling with intakes to chase temps? Kill 2 birds with one stone- shield your whole drum- take the wind out of the equation.

I suggest some sort of wind block - sheet of plywood - thick cardboard- the leeward side of your house - a snow bank -something taller/wider than your drum. Some people smoking on wsm's have made hinged /folding 3 sided screens to go around their cookers- they can even cook in winter months- no problem. You will burn more fuel because of the ambient but your temps will be easier to control.


Good advice. As wind blows over your intake opening, it creates suction, causing air flow to reverse. A simple wind block of some sort should help. You may also want to try a longer exhaust. You can just set an extra piece of the material that you used on top of the existing exhaust flange. If that works, then you can fab a permanent one.