lid
 

Hey everyone. I am building my UDS like a lot of others on this thread. My drum is about ready but my lid has no holes. I am wondering what others have found works the best. I see that many just drill several holes in the lid that remain open all the time, but does this hurt your abitlity to control temps? Is it better the fabricate openings that can be open or closed depending on conditions? just looking for $.02 Thanks
-Jim

I drilled eight 3/4" holes evenly spaced about 2.5-3" in from the lid edge. You control your temps via the fresh air intake, not the exhaust. I've enlarged them to 3/4" since I took this picture; they were probably 1/2" originally.

@alantx: Any issue with extinguishing the coals? Or just closing the intakes takes care of it?

I haven't had any issues, although I did pick up some corks from my local home brew supply store and plug the holes with them. I guess you could use magnets or whatever may be handy, but it may not be necessary at all considering that hot air rises(which should keep any fresh(cooler) air from entering from the lid).

Thanks again. Gonna do my test run in a couple days! Cant wait!

I just push fit my stack in the bung hole and when not in use replace it with the original bung fitting so its water tight :-D
Just got a nice Brisket today ready for a rub Friday and into my UDS for a second test run sat morning, hope its as good a success as last weekend.
A link to Some pics below of my build

G

Click
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...h_100_3894.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e..._3762980_n.jpg

Here is a pic with the corks installed.

Lamb on the New UDS
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/...nUDS/106-1.jpg


Tried injection for the first time....ummmm.. i think something went wrong cause a lot of the injection just ran out. I used a teriyaki glaze then seasoned with garlic blend and seaoning salt

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/...bonUDS/107.jpg

Here she is my new UDS with cherry red paint

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/...bonUDS/108.jpg

Laoded up with 15 lbs of stubbs and and 5 lbs frontier lump and 5 chunks of cherry wood

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/...bonUDS/110.jpg

Here is the inside setup of the UDS

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/...bonUDS/111.jpg

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/...bonUDS/116.jpg

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/...bonUDS/118.jpg

got the temp up to 275 and put the food on. Winds drove the temp up to 350 at one point. I just closed the intakes and after 30minutes it dropped down to 315 degrees. after 3 hours I foiled the lamb shank and let it go for nearly 2 more hours before pulling it. I OVERCOOKED it. the internal temp was 201 degrees when it came off the UDS. Here's what it looks like fresh off the UDS.

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/...bonUDS/119.jpg

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/...bonUDS/120.jpg

Came out not as moist as I wanted it. but the flavor was really good and the smoke was very mild. I thought it would be much heavier with 5 peices of cherry wood. Thank you to all who shared their advice on this thread. I already have two orders for UDS's. Nobody out here hardly knows about these things. When I got the barrels people kept thinking that I would buiild it horizontally not vertically.

I would buy it. I can't do a burn out so I have to take it to the sandblaster who charges 40 dollars.

Kenn, what kind of drum is that you're using for your fire basket? Very interesting. Will have to try lamb myself one day.

brickie

Looks like a drum from a clothes washer?

Hey everyone. Did my "seasoning burn" on the UDS today and it worked flawlessly. Absolutely a joy to use compared to some other smokers I have used in the past. The temp was sooo easy to control (even on a fairly windy day). I got er up to 225 with all three vents open, closed 1 vent and the ball valve half way and she held right there for over 6 hours till I closed er up and shut it down. Tooo easy. Had some family over today as well and they were all having a little "smoker envy!"

It is a washing Machine drum I got4 free at a washing Machine repair place. WARNING. if you use this, install tee hinges instead of the bolts to hold the food grate or else it may not fit or be extremely hard to pull out or place in

Great pics Ken007, Lamb looks nice n juicy. Like you said not many people know about this style of Smoker/BBQ Drum here either, I've had a ton of interest, everyone assumes when your building it that it will be on its side. SleigDoh, have you got any pics please :-) congrats on the seasoning, enjoy. I Did my first Brisket yesterday for my second cook on my UDS, I think it satisfies that primeval urge in us all to light fire and cook meat Grrrrrrrrrr :-) Brisket was juicy,tender and moist despite only being a small joint, cooked it for 6 hours, foil wrapped after 4 hours at 155F and took it up to 190F and let it rest in the cool box for 1.5 hours. Threw a few hot links on just to make use of the smoke.

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...h_100_3902.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...h_100_3914.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...h_100_3915.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...h_100_3935.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...h_100_3938.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...h_100_3921.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...h_100_3933.jpg

yea BigG, I will snap some shots. It is nothing fancy, very similar to others in this link. just went with simple build but it sure worked great. maybe add some extras later, but for now, just looking forward to the weekend and some BBQ!