Thanks guys, I'll probably use the 13" dia cylinder that I'd started to cut up any way and give away the big one on Freecycle.
Tonight's job'll be to flush out the oil drum & start cutting it (hopefully).

Personally, My charcoal ring is wide and flat. I guess that's why I can run two grates with no problem.http://www.thesurvivalgourmet.com/images/newsmoker3.jpg

http://www.thesurvivalgourmet.com/images/newsmoker4.jpg

http://www.thesurvivalgourmet.com/images/newsmoker8.jpg

Neil,

What's the distance/height between your upper & lower grates?

Burn Time?
 

Bigmista, what kind of burn time can you get out of that ring, being it's
lower and bigger diameter?

Bout 6 inches

Never needed to cook longer than 16 hours. Butts are usually done in 8 hours. Briskets in 10 to 12. Only time I cooked longer was because I cooked something else after the big cuts were done.

I agree with Bigmista. 8-)

OK, design rethink number 1, following Bigmista's lead I'm going to use the bottom of the propane cylinder as the ash catcher and have obtained a 66" length of 6" wide by approx 1/8" thick steel bar which I'll have someone roll round into a circle to form the charcoal basket sides. This'll give me a 21" diameter basket which hopefully shouldn't be too much of a fiddle to get in and out.

Okay Big Mista, how much to make me one of these?:-D

How many inches is between the lower pan and the metal ring? The air gap I guess is what it is. Where did you get that bottom pan?

Thanks,
Brian

UDS - midget mod
 

(No offense to the little brethren and sisteren):wink:

I cook on Big Mista's team and his UDS kicks booty. But I can't use it. I'm too short to reach my stubby little arms all the way to the bottom to lift out the firebox without sticking my head into the thing and looking like a chimneysweep when I came out.

If I were to make a mod, I'd cut around the circumference of the drum just above the firebox so I can lift the cooking section off, like on a WSM.

Can anyone suggest a way to cut clean and "square" around an empty, flexy drum, then figure out a good way to flange the new joint so it's not all leaky?

Hey! I REPRESENT that remark! :-P I'm short too, my drum is 35in high,on cinder blocks, I put some stainles wire, like a bucket handle, and let it hand, it gets a little dirty, but its easy to get out! My basket though is 9in and 12 in. high.

Heh! That makes at least two of us undersized brethren.

I thought about a taller firebox handle mod, but the other reason I want to do this is to let me replenish firewood or shovel around the coals without kicking ash onto the food. Yes, I mess around with my cooker far more than I need to. My team gives me a hard time about that. :rolleyes:

Salt, maybe you and Keale can get Norco to hack one of them drums in half for you guys.
OR, can a fire box be built to slide in and out of the bottom, on a roller or something like that? I mean, tall or short your still gonna have to reach in there to that second level to get to your meats and get dirty. Hence the name....ugly drum.

Shoot, Country can reach in and out of his double barrel wearing a white tuxedo on his wedding day without getting dirty.

Hmmmmmm, a question arises. Should you some sort of water pan in a UDS, like in a WSM?

Sorry if its a dumb question........I come from the ecb school of thought...

Man, you're going to get hammered for that question....I can't wait!:-P :-P

Professor, ask Modelmaker, he did a door/sliding out basket for his E.D.S, (ed drum smoker) His is too pretty to be called a U.D.S

The UDS is set and forget, I'm sure bigmista, told you that a few times!??

Prof. Salt- When I was experimenting with my first drum, I took an extra one I had and cut it below the ribs, so I had a ring that I could slide into the top of a 35" barrel (like a rotisserie ring), figuring I needed the extra space for more racks, but when I put the drum on the dolly I needed a step stool to work with it, so I scrapped that idea (I'm 6' 2") I since found two 38" drums and have 2 racks in them if I need quantity.

But if you had 2 drums, you could hack them up and do a pseudo WSM/UDS hybrid. Use a cut off wheel or better yet a Plasma if you have access.
You could also put a bail or handle on the charcoal ring, I use a "wiggle rod" to shake the coal basket on long cooks-especially if I use lump.

I toyed with the idea of doing a mini UDS with a 15 gallon drum and using an ECB or Smokey Joe for a lid.

I'm going to do my first comp and will use my Drums and a WSM, but I feel more confident using the UDS.

Brian