Originally Posted by ncfj40 (Post 3542926)

I've read the first 500 pages of this awesome thread.
Thanks to the "If a redneck wanted to build..." thread and other ideas in this monster thread, I built my first UDS. Obviously I got a little carried away.
All thats left is some wood on the shelf brackets and a bottle opener.

The basket was made by rolling the expanded metal around a propane tank and and welded to a 16" pizza pan. The bottom is a charcoal grate from an smaller kettle.

The wheels, one of the grates, and the lid, all came from a new 22.5" kettle I purchased from Craigslist. I welded top 2" off the bottom of the kettle to the drum for the lid to mate to. I have two grates sitting on three stainless bolts just below the lid and 6" down.

The handle and the hinge where both made from scratch. The Hinge doubles as a handle to lean the drum back on the wheels and move it around.

I used High Temp grommets from Grainger to run the probes from a Maverick ET-73 to the inside. It didn't look like a UDS without the analog temp gauge on the front so I added that just for looks and a back up reference point.

My son gets credit for the awesome paint job.

The first two cooks, ( a Fatty then a Picnic ) turned out good, but the Wife wasn't fond of the taste.

For the third cook I did some ribs but switched from Kingsford briquettes to Royal Oak Lump. Although I had a little more trouble holding a steady temp with the Lump, she liked the taste a lot better. The ribs were about 6 hours with just a few spritzes with apple juice and I did not foil. I think they turned out pretty good.

I may experiment with a diffuser to see how that affects the taste.

My wife thinks its hilarious as I have never cooked more than frozen pizza until now.

Originally Posted by JackMonroe (Post 3562919)

Making my first uds. If I can do it, it will prove that anybody can. Here's my question: I drilled my holes in the barrel and today did a burn out, a raging inferno that lasted about 3 hours. Almost all the paint is off and the inside has a serious char. Tomorrow I plan on cleaning up the outside a bit and painting it. Do I really need to clean up the inside? My barrel didn't have a lining, and although it said the inside was sprayed with a rust inhibiter, it didn't seem to be much of one. A week after I got it some rust started showing up inside the barrel. I just fine it hard to believe that after that kind of burn there could be anything harmful left on the inside. If it's important I'll clean it out, but it seems like an awful lot of work for nothing. Thoughts?

Originally Posted by Novass (Post 3588339)

got to love that red liner!!!! have fun with it.

Originally Posted by Imp81318 (Post 3588356)

I haven't bought the drum yet, that's why I asked. I was hoping that since the contents were in a plastic bag, maybe this drum was just painted inside rather than having a liner...

Oh well, I'll just keep looking for a better drum. I can find plenty of drums that had motor oil in them, but I live in a development and can not imagine my neighbors being ok with me burning motor oil in my back yard...