whats the chemical composition. I would be afraid of fumes from that getting on my food.

I had the same concern, I checked the MSDS. It appears to be 100% diatomaceous earth, so no problem. Here is a link to the msds (Manufacturers Safety Data Sheet, or something like that).

https://www.msdsdigital.com/floor-dry-msds

Just use the ashes from your cook to soak up any grease in the bottom.

My ashes only fall in my ash pan, i'm talking about when you have meat like multiple rack of ribs or 4 butts at one time that will drip where my ash pan is not. I will look into the floor dry stuff. Do you think cleaning that stuff out is any easier than just reaching down and balling up used foil?

I got rid of my ash pan years ago. Much easier to just sweep up the ashes and grease.
This has ALOT of grease to manage
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...923/jVIsAt.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/6...922/5XXMUu.jpg

Before I had my ash pan I did what you do but then I'd let the clean up window close b/c of procrastination and then my ash and grease will harden to concrete.

contains less than 1% Crystalline Silica -Quartz
-May cause cancer by inhalation.

I personally wouldn't use that. just mho

So does cooking on a UDS in general, so if you’re worried about a SLIGHTLY increased chance of cancer, what are you doing cooking on one?
https://m.phys.org/news/2017-07-anti...eciphered.html

“Antibody against carcinogenic substance deciphered
When fat reacts with glowing coal at a barbecue, a substance chemists call benzopyrene is created. It is a widespread environmental toxin that can cause cancer in humans.”

So I should increase my chances of cancer by adding another carcinogenic?

Ok makes sense

If you read your link, it referred to inhaling large quantities, such as when mechanics pour a bunch on the floor to clean up large spills several times a day without masks. You’re not doing that here whereas if you’re cooking on a UDS regularly without a deflector and so the fat is dripping on the coals, you are exposing yourself to cancer causing substances every time you cook.

Bottom line: It’s such a SLIGHT increase in cancer risk as to be almost neglible in either case above, much as the overblown studies a few months ago that screamed “red meat causes cancer” (further in-depth reading revealed less than a 0.5% increased risk, as I recall). You’re in the wrong hobby if you worry about that kind of stuff.

Sheesh, anything and everything may cause cancer if inhaled. Or ingested, bathed in, walked by...
Life causes cancer.

Organic gardeners use DE for bug control, works great for snails and slugs.

I understand well the supposed risks of eating meat and the risk of cooking meat on coals. That doesn't mean because I'm taking some risk that all risk becomes ok.

Yeah, we all got different risk perception and tolerances. As mentioned above, hippy dippy organic farmers are just fine with being exposed to DE on their crops and you don’t want it around your cooker that has red meat dripping fat on hot coals. Alrighty then. Different strokes for different folks.

For those interested in hanging and doors, check out this thread.
https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/s...=1#post3970125

Took about a week to read this whole topic . Just wanted to thank everyone for all the information. New to smoking. Started on a pellet, then to a pitbarrel and now just made UDS with my father. Figure i would post it here.

Beautiful!

And you made it yourself. How can you beat that

Attachment 156898

Attachment 156899

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I am going to name it ElmerJ.

Nothing ugly about that. Nice work.

+1 I don’t think any drum smoker is ugly!

Very nice! Gorgeous drum! just ordered some of the p ipe intakes for my drum. Hopefully they will get here before the weekend and I can get them on it. Where did you order your's from? Ordered mine from uds parts .com but they have yet to be shipped.

All of the parts we ordered from udsparts. It took about 1 week to reach California. Did The first seasoning today. Sits nicely at 280 with 1/4 open on each pipe. Will post first food pics this weekend.

Yes. Not ugly. Wrong thread.
Seriously looks very nice. Some good food in your future.:clap2:

First cook. 3 1/2 hrs, fall off the bone tender, I prefer a little bite but the ms had other plans. Tomorrow 2 tritip, 2 chickens and pork butt. More to come.

Finally got it finished. Want to let it set a couple of days for the paint to cure a bit before the first fire.

Good looking uds

Nice! Got my pipes yesterday gonna paint them at least today. If my dad can find his hole saws I hopefully can get them on today.

Can’t wait to see how it looks. We used a step drill for the holes. Made it super easy.

Got them painted but will try and install them later. Nothing fancy about the paint , just doing flat black high temp on this drum. Gonna make 2 more this year for competing and will probably make them pretty! Looking at the VHT line of paint. Like that anodized look!

UDS overhaul
 

My UDS needed some work. I built it about a year ago and made some beginner mistakes.
Since I don't have any welding skills I tried to keep it as simple as possible. So my lid handle was too small. Even for my small hands. Especially with gloves on.

https://i.imgur.com/iZwkRd8m.jpg

I found this thing in my shed under "things I should have thrown out but I thought they might be useful some day and what do you know I found a use for it". Anyone care to guess what that used to be?

https://i.imgur.com/irv9aDAl.jpg

Then I added some probe holes. I recently bought a six probe thermometer. Six holes now. Covered with magnets.

https://i.imgur.com/hnPArR3l.jpg

You might notice I had some rust. I didn't cover the barrel until mid winter. By then it was wet for weeks. So my not perfect paint job didn't hold.

https://i.imgur.com/ckK7f6Nl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/wB8n4Ecl.jpg

I bought this rust removal thing for my angle grinder.

http://i.imgur.com/SJYmZ0ll.jpg

And I started to work.

https://i.imgur.com/QnFhKCbl.jpg

I didn't realize the barrel was... Barrel shaped. Round with curves. This was not easy. Two hours later I was exhausted but I got all the rust I could see.
Next was the paint.

https://i.imgur.com/3fefOdul.jpg

And the next day it's ready to cook.

https://i.imgur.com/0EmPz8Vl.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/Ty56wnLl.jpg

But did you guess the handle's origin?:twisted:

TP Holder.
I'm trying so hard to make a Beavis & Butthead reference to the barrel's bung hole, but it's early and I haven't had my full cup of coffee yet.

@oferL

congratulations on the build.

you just built a great inexpensive cooker for great inexpensive meats.

way to go

The interesting thing, to me, is that barrels had them first. Guess I'm old.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunghole
The metal thing looks like a paper towel holder to me.

Correct!

on a quest to find the easiest simplest charcoal box for a UDS

CLAY BASKET FOR UDS
prep time :2-3 minutes
work involved: drill a few holes
level of effort: 1/10
cost $15
source: lowes
size :15" diameter x 6" height
burn time: unknown. guessing 10-12 hours if loaded, maybe more.

pros. good burn profile. heat stayed stable
cons: cracked on first use.but I have a feeling that was a one time thing and will be fine going forward.burn pic is after 4 hours at 275 degreeshttps://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/a...1&d=1523416482

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/a...1&d=1523416482

I also noticed something - wanting to see if anyone has come to the same conclusion.

I moved the charcoal basket UP to where it was only 15" from the meat as opposed about 30" before.

I noticed the meat came out more moist. My thinking is that getting the coals closer to the meat while keeping the same temperature means the fire is not burning as hot, and not as many air exchanges in the smoker, which leads to a more humid cooking chamber?

Placebo.

Do these type of baskets several times and you’ll have enough for a Hunsaker basket.

could be but the science supports my finding

true. if they don't last.
either way I personally would never do a hunsaker though as I like to cook over infrared.

Finally finished up the wife's friend's drum. Simple flat top with intakes, exhaust, and fire basket from udsparts.com. Seems to run pretty steady around 275- 280. Lid has a small leak but will seal itself after a few uses. Will let the whole basket run and season it up good. The drum was what I was using for my Octoforks Rotisserie so need to get it re seasoned for a smoker. Tomorrow I hope to take my absolutely perfectly running domed uds and add intake pipes. I don't think it will hurt it's performance at all the way this one is running. Just tired of bending over and working the fridge magnets.

Looks great. Your wife's friend should be thankful that she knows someone like you who can build a smoker that wins competitions, for cheap.

What's the total cost of that build?

Well the drum was purchased new from grainer a couple of years ago brand new unlined I think it was 125 to 150. Basket was 40 but they upgraded me to the 12x12x12 basket free since they were out of the 40 dollar one. 25 for intakes and 13 for the exhaust. Total would be a little over 200. Mine I'm modifying tomorrow I got the drum for free. Sandblasting was 25 maybe 40 for the basket I built and 80 bucks for the tubes. Also got a Akron side table to mount on it for 25 bucks.

Boy that was an adventure. Got the pipes mounted, akorn side table mounted, and installed a probe port for the therm cables. The side table is kinda flimsy, but it will hold a dot and beer. Not going to set a huge pile of meat on it. Was exciting due to a squall line moving through. Will get some pictures later this week after a fresh spray of paint. Under a tornado watch right now but things are quiet so I'm going to grab a shower and run to the store.

I gave away my first uds. I had some ideas on how to improve the uds and wanted to try them out

I borrowed the exhaust idea from the pbc.
1. Makes for a better sealed unit
2. Works the same in rain
3. Doubles as the inlet for the probe wires
4. Triples as the holes for the rod for hanging
5. It's also the handles for the drum.

I made it sealable so you can easily kill the charcoals once the cook is over



I used three bolts per grate instead of the standard four. Each one is 24" apart. Makes it a little easier to get grates out, saves on drilling and bolts.

I have the coals sitting on a grate 15" from the bottom cooking grate and 7" from bottom of the drum. Bottom of drum stays cool.
Being so close to the coals makes for a bloody efficient cooker.

I splurged on a drum dolly to keep the bottom of the drum dry when it rains. I could have used cinder blocks but what the hey it wasn't that expensive

I thought of a shelf but even if it's steady I think it would cause an imbalance to the whole drum.

What kind of probe port did you get?

I used a conduit fitting like this one. Burned the coating off with my weed burner. Going to make a plug out of rtv and get rid of the rubber insert it came with. The shelf is really lightweight so it doesn't have any affect on the balance of the drum. I even mashed down on it pretty hard and nothing moved.

I am currently only 181 pages into this but figured I'd share my find. Big R in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado has new 55gal drums for $40. I looked forever for a used one but all the ones I found were closed head and they wanted at least this much for them. If this has already been posted I apologize.
https://bigronline.com/index.php/pri...m-1885710.html

Well here's old faithful gussied up with her pipe intakes, table, thermometer, and fresh coat of paint. Hopefully I can get it lit tomorrow and see how it runs with the pipes. Got alot to do tomorrow to get ready to leave out for the bash midweek and have to work ot Sunday. The table is nice and will be able to hold a dot and beer. It's not really in the way at all extended.

Looks very cool :thumb:

Test run going well. Pipes half open and @275. That is about the same as the old holes half open. They were 1 inch and the pipes are 1.5 inch.