Just finished building my first UDS! This thread was a wealth of infomation! Will post some pron this week!

LOWES in the plumbing across the aisle from the black and galvanized pipe. They have a display of various brass fittings. Easy to find. Home Depot should have them also.

Good work, cant wait for the pron, always love good pron!!!

I usually only load my cookers with Royal Oak Lump (or Best Choice which is the same product packaged for some grocery stores). Like I was saying, I just load it up and stick a torch in the center for a bit (20 seconds-ish) and let it go for a bit, replace the grate and put the lid on. I load the food AFTER the drum is up to temp and the smoke is nice and clean throughout the session.

I hope this makes sense/helps.

I built my first UDS back in March and haven't been all that thrilled with it. I come from the WSM school of cookers so not having a door was bothering me. I went back and forth with some cool sliding door designs and decided to keep it simple. I used the bottom of the aluminum pot I had removed to make my mini wsm last year. All the hardware was around $8 from Lowes. I used small hinges and tool box type latches. The door seals great and my UDS is now my go to smoker. I also added wheels by attaching 3 all metal casters to the original lid and fitting it to the bottom of the smoker.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...2-2-11/206.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...2-2-11/209.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...2-2-11/211.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...2-2-11/213.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...2-2-11/216.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...2-2-11/215.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...2-2-11/214.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...2-2-11/223.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...2-2-11/246.jpg
The seal is not perfect be good enough. Absolutely zero problems controlling temps. In fact, I think it runs better than it did before.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...2-2-11/302.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...2-2-11/304.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...2-2-11/306.jpg
I love being able to wheel this in and out of the garage.

Nice looking UDS, the door seems to seal nicely. No stains at the edges.

Enjoy!

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

difference in RO or Kingsford
 

I had been using Kingsford, but at the notification of a brethren member, I found some 16# RO bags at Kmart on sale for $2.49 a bag. I grabbed 10.

At about the same time I added ball valves to all my intakes, and on two I installed the ball valves on top of a 2' pipe riser

And at the same time I bought the RO at Kmart, they also had one of the Weber 18" portable grills, which I then converted to used as a ash pan under my charcoal basket. I drilled 1" holes around it

Now my problem was that suddenly I couldn't get anything higher than 275* with all intakes open. Not bad if you wanted to stay below that temp for a good low and slow smoke. I was going to be smoking a Thanksgiving Turkey, and it needed to be smoking at a more like 350* setting in order to have a crisper skin.

I put a bag of apple wood chips in with my RO and managed to get the temps to 325*, so it did finally get there.

Today I did a beef brisket in 5 1/2 hours. I removed the ash pan, and laid a piece of tinfoil under the basket.

Result --- 400* within an hour. shut down one of the ball valves, and it went to 350*, another valve shut off, it down to 310*, so my control of temps was back by removing the ash pan. I will probably re design it so there isn't so much of a wall blocking the air flow. I still need to be able to easily get the ash out of the bottom of the drum with out a mess.

When was that RO on sale? I need me some!

My NEW UDS Pron
 

Well here it is, finally finished it friday night after work. Did a seasoning burn same night held it at 350 for about 3 hours then opened it up and let lit burn all night. Was at 100 next morning almost no charcoal left. It has a nice beautiful black coating on the inside now.

First cook today. 5lb boston butt. Put it on about noon held 275 under center of grate for 7 1/2 hours til meat temp hit 195. Rested 30min and pulled. Man I love this smoker. Only a sandwich bag full of meat left after dinner!

Thanks for all the info Brothers in BBQ.

Now that a UDS. Roll Tide!

Hey guys, I was having trouble for a while getting steady blue smoke output from my smoker and thought I might share a technique I tried recently. In the past I've either found that the fire would burn up my chunks too quickly or would be running too efficiently to get the chunks going properly... so i decided to try this. It burns really hot and blue, with steady smoke output. I've had trouble in the past where the smoke is blue but a little too faint. Does anyone else use a similar technique? I know this is nothing new b/c I stole it from a weber kettle thread.

PS: If anyone has a link to the weber thread I'd love to see it again.

The coffee can is empty.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...nionmethod.png

There is no such thing as too faint of smoke. Your smoke should almost be clear.

O.K. :doh:
Door not necessary.
Door WILL leak therefore defeating the point.
Why would you need a door on a cooker that will run 14+ hrs?

I don't miss the door on my ECB either. My UDS rocks.

If you are using flash photography for a night picture and still have to squint to see the smoke, then its too faint.