I only added wood at the begining. For the pork I used 2 chuncks of hickory wood, and for the chicken I only used 1 1/2 cups of apple wood chips. Both worked well.

mix in wood chunks amongst the coals. distributed evenly, it should smoke as long as there's fire, which will be a while. I have coals left over after 10-12 lbs for 10 hrs.

Thanks ya'll! I can't wait to finish this thing. The only thing is...I might not be able to stop making them. =) My wife thinks I'm crazy.

My wife knows I'm crazy, she saw me reading this thread and decided the UDS was too ugly and that I needed a BGE. That worked for me.

The drum I have is painted on the inside not really a "Liner"! Can Just put a basket of charcoal in it and burn it out that way ? Its been very very dry Here in the Dallas area and I don't feel comfortable loading a bunch of junk wood in my UDS and catching something on fire !!

liners are always painted on. There is a ton of useful info on how to burn them out. You can search the thread or do as I did and read the entire thread and you will find that you know everything you need to know about building a big and maybe beautiful UDS!:-D!:-D! As for burning out the liner in Texas....you may have to wait until the dry spell is over. I did mine with a weed burner.

It's dry everywhere bro. Just be careful.

Do any of you turn your meat or leave it like it is? I am sure this has been covered, but I get a sensory overload after 500+ pages.

mounting the thermometer to the UDS
 

I remember seeing a post somewhere amongst the 500+ pages where someone used an attachment that would allow you to push and pull the thermometer out of the smoker. Where can I buy one and what is it called. I feel stupid, hopefully someone knows what I'm talking about.
Thanks!

I just have a bolt that I drilled a 5/32" hole down the middle of. A cheap Wal-Mart thermo slides in and out of that- is that what you mean?

There are several ways you can do this. I used a brass nipple and cap. See posting #8311

chimney
 

quesiton about the exhaust (chimney) ports... i know some people just drill 1/2" holes evenly spaced in the lid.. but my lid already has the bung hole so i was just going to thread a short pipe into it.. also i like how it looks..

question is though.. when people do this.. are they just using the black plumbing pipe used same as used the intake ports?.. i would be wanting something that woudl thread into the existing bung hole.

thanks,

soapy, like this?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2435/...8b7cb2fb_z.jpg
the bung is 2" pipe thread. black pipe is heavy, I used 2" electrical conduit much lighter and cheaper

this is the fourth drum i've made and the best so far thanks to insights from this thread.

inaugural run today started with MOINKS then a rack of st louis spares. chugged along at 230 without budging. splendid!

Very cool setup. I wish I could find performer/older platinum carts like that