Theres a bunch of different methods people use to get rid of the liner. The key ingredient is one hot a$$ fire. Drill your intake holes first, and fire her up. Use a leaf blower or shop vac on exhaust to get it real hot. Thats what I can offer as a start.

About the ring, I love mine, because my lid is not exactly the same shape it used to be. It warped a little. So i get a GREAT seal, and when doing a cook with people around, it keeps people from peeking.

Ok so I don't think my drum has a liner. It had a product in it called petrolatum which apparently is a skin product. The inside of the drum is grey and when I get a flat head screw drive I scrape it off and it's bare steel. Thinking it'll be a pretty easy burn out!

So since I just started using my USD and its already winter I'm thinking about getting a 85gal over pack drum... Using it as an outer shell packing the space between UDS and over pack with insulation and running air intake outside over pack. Should give me a insulated UDS. Any thoughts? will this work?

pwa

Rrum over drum is an interesting idea...what are u gonna use as insulation in between? I assume outer drum has top off as it would be a pain to lift outer shell to fire up an load,,,

Im leaning towards a moving blanket and just recently noticed that the blankets they hang in elevators to protect them from movers\construction activity have "fireproof" stamped all over them. Think I might try modifying one of these blankets to a uds "snuggy"...at least it will decrease the "U" factor somewhat.

Last weekend we caught the corner ot the noreasterner that hit new england...Cold temps, mixed precitation (snow) rain, and HOWLIN winds....Im on the 2nd floor and have to run up and down stairs to tend the Q but I can check the temp with a pair of binos out my kitchen window but cant see thu snow...Canceled the cook i had planned and so no good food this week :x

Think in future Ill cook only when 2 out of 3(wind,snow, cold temps) are happenin...at least untill I get a few more cooks under my belt.....
wireless maverick thermo high on list.

r

move it up a little higher no the list!!! I absolutely love being able to monitor temps and watch football or play with my girls without the distraction of wondering what my temps are.

You could always get super lazy like me and put some sort of automatic system on it. I use a BBQ Guru (it is pretty much set and forget). I don't recall if they make one that is wifi - but pretty sure another company does - so you can even monitor it from the internet.

Somebody suggested a turkey fryer basket for my wood basket on my UDS. Found this one at Ace Hardware Web site. http://www.acehardware.com/product/i...ductId=1291443

It's a Bayou Classic 30 QT basket and seems fairly reasonably priced at $25.

Look like you might have problem with ash choaking the coals. Homemade might be better for $25

Paints done :) just a few minor details and its done :)

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/9245/imag0340i.jpg

I did a seasoning burn for like an hour and then, due to my impatience, i bought a chuck roast and a butt and threw it on. This thing has been holding +- 4 degrees of 260 since I started at 10am.
the silver spots are where i started grinding off paint and then realized that it was more work than I had free time.

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/486/smokert.th.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I have that same exact basket that was liberated from my Aunt's garage. Cut the bottom off and wire it to a grate and your good to go. Never have had any problems with cooks up to 6 hours with it so far. I am waiting to see if it will hold up to the brisket I do for Thanksgiving without snuffing itself out. It will hold A LOT of coals though.

Think in future Ill cook only when 2 out of 3(wind,snow, cold temps) are happenin...at least untill I get a few more cooks under my belt.....
wireless maverick thermo high on list.

r[/QUOTE]

I believe that the most important factor is the wind, I've used my UDS @-25, sheltered from the wind.

IS a charcoal box even needed? After my first cook i noted almost a 40 degree difference between the center grate and perimeter temperature. in lieu of a charcoal box, would a piece of expanded metal covered with charcoal work better? Im envisioning a roughly 23"diameter of 1/2" expanded metal with whatever height of charcoal stacked on top of it. Then after lighting a 1/3 of a chimney, use tongs to evenly space them out over the unlit coals in hopes that you get a somewhat even distribution of heat. Does anyone have an idea if this would work?

ok. so I'm trying to add pics from flickr and the site won't show them.

when I check the faq it's says to go to control panel and add a album. There is no button/link in my cp for pics or albums.
whats the issue?

fryer basket used for fire box:

http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...ingj13/148.jpg