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-   -   Ugly Drum Smoker (https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23436)

pigwacker 06-26-2011 11:19 PM

I wanna see those hinges!!!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by desert80 (Post 1686836)
Wanted to post a few pics of my UDS. Completed it in April after reading this thread. Now I just have to find the time to use it more and learn to perfect my skills.

For an ash pan I ended up using an outside exhaust fan cover made from aluminum. My brother works for a sheet metal company and got me one for free. Its four inches deep and will hold a A LOT of ash with out clogging the vents. A cheap Wal-Mart kettle lid from a dead BBQ was also used along with the hinges. have almost $100.00 into it so far.


Desert80, I like your hinges and was wondering if those were homemade or something you bought. Could you post a close up them??

thanks

sandiegobbq 06-26-2011 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgh1204 (Post 1686902)
Anytype of sheet magnet is not going to last. Like the freebies you get to put on the refrigerator.

I picked up 2 boxes of these. They seem very strong.

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-piece...cks-98406.html

CenTech 06-27-2011 12:13 AM

coewar,

Thanks for the ideas. I tossed the fatty on while doing an initial seasoning. Sprayed the thing down with pam and filled up the basket with lump and six chunks of hickory. Put the fatty on just for kicks.

Yesterday I did my first real smoke, and I did a brisket. It wasn't the best brisket I've ever had, but I thought it was pretty good for my first time. I just tried to follow a tutorial on here and tried to keep it at 250 all day. Had a few variations....I went to the farmers market and when I got back it had dipped below 200. I opened up all the pipes and it crept up to around 300, but it started smoking the thick white stuff for a while. I let it smoke up closer to 300 for a while and then brought it back to 250. It sat there pretty much all day. Pulled it after being on for 11 hours. I was happy with it and glad to get my first brisket under my belt.

I drilled 3 holes and have the 3/4 inch pipes. My pipes don't fit exactly snug, though. With the ball valve completely open and the other two capped, it runs at 250 degrees.

I'm thinking about trying for the same affect by removing my pipes and getting magnets, but I don't know.

CenTech 06-27-2011 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgh1204 (Post 1686324)
If you are going to use chunks, put a few large ones at the top of your chimney. THat way they get to temp a lot quicker and less white smoke.


I've been using 6 chunks...3 buried halfway into the charcoal, and 3 right on top. Should I just put the 3 on top in the chimney and dump them with the rest? It took a long time to burn off the white smoke. I dumped the chimney in right before 6 am and it was almost 7:30 before I was able to put my brisket on.


Also, whenever I open up more intake to raise the temps, I get a lot of white smoke. Is that normal?

CenTech 06-27-2011 12:21 AM

Another thought on the magnets. It seems like flexible sheet magnets would fit the best, but I would think they could be awfully tough to move around and fine tune once your drum gets hot. I may juts look for some bigger round magnets, as my holes are all just over an inch.

colonel00 06-27-2011 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pigwacker (Post 1687855)
Desert80, I like your hinges and was wondering if those were homemade or something you bought. Could you post a close up them??

thanks

The hinges came with the lid. If you go to Walmart you can usually get a cheap (~$40) grill that has hinges like that. Also, check the thread below. I have not seen those exact ones lately but may places do carry small portable grills that have hinges you can use on a UDS

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ight=uds+hinge

inv3ctiv3 06-27-2011 09:30 AM

Finished mine finally, I have two thermometers that I'm gonna throw on this week:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net..._3593840_n.jpg

jcinadr 06-27-2011 10:30 AM

In the search for a more even burn, I just finally nuked it.

I was running a guru off of one side plug - so that is about as uneven as it gets. Now I am running it off of a centered bottom plug. The air hits a diffuser (a pizza pan ash pan would do), and enters the drum body around the edges. Nice even burn...

Coltrain 06-27-2011 11:52 AM

UDS finished and a little disappointed...
 
I finally got my UDS finished - well minus a handle for the lid. So far I have about $17 into it.

Barrel - Free from work
Stainless hardware - free from work (old stock)
Stainless 3/4" ball valve - free from work (old sample valve)
fire basket - made from free scrap 3/4 expando from work
Easy Off to strip liner - about $5
New cooking grate - $12

Drum was stripped with easy off and wire wheeled, burned with a weed burner, sanded to bare medal on the outside, washed, and painted ultra flat tan (that's what I had on hand.)

Here it is rubbed down with bacon grease and ready to be seasoned.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2.../Photo0956.jpg

Here is my fire basket loaded up and ready to be lit. It was a mix of kingsford and some cheap stuff I had that someone else gave me. It was about a 3 to 1 mix of K to cheap and had some hickory mixed in.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2.../Photo0955.jpg

I lit about 8-10 briquets and dumped them in the center. Left both caps off of the intakes and left the the ball valve all the way open. Once the temp got up to just over 200 I capped 2 of the intakes and left the ball valve fully open. Temp settled in just over 250. Let it ride there for about an hour, then opened it all back up. Temps got up to about 370-375 and I let it go for another hour. Capped the 2 intakes again to bring temps back down. I ended up just shutting it all down though since it was getting late. The entire time it smelled like the charcoal was just lighting off and was white almost the entire time - I never really smelled the sweet smell of the hickory I had in the fire basket.

After the drum cooled I pulled the lid off to take my pit probe (ET-732) out and it smelled like cigarettes. It wasn't good :tsk:. I mean it really smelled like an old dirty ashtray. I've never had this issue my GOSM. I'm glad I didn't put any meat in there as I'm sure it would have ended up in the trash.

I'm hoping it was from the cheap charcoal, so tonight I'll pull the fire basket and sift through the leftover charcoal and pull out all the cheap stuff and top it off with more kingsford.

Any other ideas of what may have caused the cigarette smell?

Coltrain 06-28-2011 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coltrain (Post 1688304)
I finally got my UDS finished - well minus a handle for the lid. So far I have about $17 into it.

Barrel - Free from work
Stainless hardware - free from work (old stock)
Stainless 3/4" ball valve - free from work (old sample valve)
fire basket - made from free scrap 3/4 expando from work
Easy Off to strip liner - about $5
New cooking grate - $12

Drum was stripped with easy off and wire wheeled, burned with a weed burner, sanded to bare medal on the outside, washed, and painted ultra flat tan (that's what I had on hand.)

Here it is rubbed down with bacon grease and ready to be seasoned.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2.../Photo0956.jpg

Here is my fire basket loaded up and ready to be lit. It was a mix of kingsford and some cheap stuff I had that someone else gave me. It was about a 3 to 1 mix of K to cheap and had some hickory mixed in.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2.../Photo0955.jpg

I lit about 8-10 briquets and dumped them in the center. Left both caps off of the intakes and left the the ball valve all the way open. Once the temp got up to just over 200 I capped 2 of the intakes and left the ball valve fully open. Temp settled in just over 250. Let it ride there for about an hour, then opened it all back up. Temps got up to about 370-375 and I let it go for another hour. Capped the 2 intakes again to bring temps back down. I ended up just shutting it all down though since it was getting late. The entire time it smelled like the charcoal was just lighting off and was white almost the entire time - I never really smelled the sweet smell of the hickory I had in the fire basket.

After the drum cooled I pulled the lid off to take my pit probe (ET-732) out and it smelled like cigarettes. It wasn't good :tsk:. I mean it really smelled like an old dirty ashtray. I've never had this issue my GOSM. I'm glad I didn't put any meat in there as I'm sure it would have ended up in the trash.

I'm hoping it was from the cheap charcoal, so tonight I'll pull the fire basket and sift through the leftover charcoal and pull out all the cheap stuff and top it off with more kingsford.

Any other ideas of what may have caused the cigarette smell?

Ok I'm 95% sure it was the cheap charcoal that caused the ashtray smell. I went home the next day, pulled the fire basket out and washed the inside of the drum with hot soapy water. Then I went over it with steal wool. I then proceeded to sort the leftover charcoal and threw out the cheap stuff and any I couldn't identify as kingsford. I loaded it up with more kingsford from a new bag and threw in some hickory and apple. Then I sprayed the inside of the drum with Pam cooking spray. Lit the charcoal and put it in. It was immediately apparent that it smelled much better than the day before. After it came up to 250 I let it sit there for a 30 minutes or so then threw on a fatty and some MOINKs. They turned out pretty good for a first run. By the end of the cook the smoker smelled fantastic - like what I thought it should have smelled like the entire time.

So the moral of this story - DON'T USES CHEAP CHARCOAL! And to be on the safe side, don't use bacon grease to season your drum. :thumb:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2.../Photo0959.jpg

coewar 06-28-2011 02:21 PM

CENTECH and COLTRAIN:

According to that picture, that is WAY too much wood chunks. That basket you took picture of can last a full 24 hours I think. Too much wood chunks may cause for too much smoke causing food to taste more like the ashtray. But I'm sure that you have a point regarding the cheap charcoal.

When I get charcoal, Kingsford is usually fine, but when you buy it make sure to find ones that are all natural; no crap added to them.

Centech, when you were saying about chunks buried in the coals, more on top.. literally dude, just 1 or 2 chunks is all that's needed. Follow what I wrote regarding lighting it:

- pour 1/3 bag of un-lit coals in fire basket.
- fill a chimney about half way with coals.
- light the chimney and let those coals burn for 10-15 minutes so they are not flaming anymore; just turning white or white already.
- pour the coals over the un-lit coals in the basket.
- move them around a little with some long tongs to spread out the lit coals, but not too far from each other.
- place 1 chunk of wood on some of the lit coals.
- for longer smokes, place 1 more chunk near by but on the un-lit coals.

Judging by your description of the temps going nutty, as I learned the hard way and someone else on this board corrected me, it may be a problem with your air flow. Use the math.. how much circular area do you have for your exhaust? If you leave the 2" bung hole open completely, and for the intake 1 and a half of your 3/4 inch pipes should be totally fine.

Maybe clean out the old nasty ash too.

Oh by the way, did you ever do an initial burn-in? Burn a load of coals or bunch of wood logs to really high temp to burn whatever stuff may be inside the barrel. Not quite the "seasoning" of 350 degrees.. if your inside of the barrel has weird stuff in it, it might help.

CenTech 06-28-2011 03:39 PM

Thanks for the help. I'll tone down on the wood. I did do the initial seasoning burn with her sprayed down with Pam.

inv3ctiv3 06-28-2011 08:15 PM

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net..._6909198_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net..._7515424_n.jpg

CenTech 06-28-2011 09:33 PM

Inv3ctiv3,

What kind of thermos are those and where did you get them? I like the way they look.

inv3ctiv3 06-28-2011 11:11 PM

I got them on eBay for like $20, they have a 2.5"'probe


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