So I know I've read a bunch of times of people not sure if their drum is properly burned out. I'm gonna be one of those guys too. If it was just me eating out of it I wouldn't be so paranoid.

The lid is what the liner pretty much looked like. The drum is after I've used like an entire bottle of propane(and very quickly wire brushed) in my newly acquired 500,000 btu weed burner. Theres snow on the ground here so a lot of moisture.. seems to be rusting very quickly? I'm going to get some more propane but not sure what my next step(s) should be.

well finished my UDS and fired it up using Frontier lump lota small pcs 10 briquetsfor start up and temps werte all over from 5 mins stating at almost 400 degrees to all but out I have 1 -2" bunge with 8" stack and 1 -3/4" 6" stack 4 - 3/4 " nipples with a valve (full bore)worked on it for 5 hours before shutting it down.
Will try more briquets tomorrow with a couple of fatties for first cook
any ideal why I am having temp control was easy on adjustment
also I have duel remote temperature gage with prob center of cooking grill under it
thanks still reading and see others with same prob thats why I am using both bunges for exhaust

So after burning the lid and hitting it with the wire wheel(cheapo black and decker from walmart). I've decided I have that piece o' crap red liner. So other than buying that expensive but nice wire wheel, what else can I do to make cleaning this thing easier? Paid $40 for this thing..

Money spent on good tools is rarely regretted

Have it sandblasted.

I live in a small town. Not really options for sandblasting. I did take a shot of Jim Beam Black and plugged in the headphones tuned into Pandora Rob Zombie station though. That helped some. Here's where I'm at now. Does it need to be shiny? If so I'm going to need to buy atleast five more flap discs for my angle grinder..

I think you're ready to rock.

wdpope1
 

finished my UDS cooked yesterday 1- naked 1 -stuffed w/ onions and swiss cheese wrapped in bacon
I kinda like the naked a little better will have to try jimmy deans they had tenn pride on sale
Attachment 105768

Attachment 105769
now my cousin wants to build one too

Fatties Rule

I almost forgot something very important
Thanks to all who have gone before me and told of their journey from first post which I have now read all of the post should have taken notes many, many, many things I now have to re-read but cant smoke everyday I do have to work
thanks again for all the love you have posted
Wayne

Finished my UDS today after 2 years. Yes, I know what you're thinking. 2 years!!!! Well let me explain 2 years ago when I started we were expecting twins. Since then it has been a very slow project. Anyways here is the final product. Roll Tide!!!!!!:-D

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.n...d4a04b8a8a56b1

Hi everyone. Glad to see this forum is still going and nice seeing new people join the UDS family. Building a UDS is with out adout one of the better things you can do. It keeps on giving !!

Anyway I am writting looking for some advice :roll:
I picked my drum up to move it and DROP IT :cry: Now I have a drum that is not so round anymore. Has this happen to anyone and how did you fix it.

Thanks

Well I still have to add some casters to the base but here's my plain and simple UDS. Smoked a fatty and a 20 lb butt on new years eve. Didn't get a picture of the butt when it was done, by the time it was ready I was wasted lol.

smoker
 

Very nice looking drum. I have 3 of them and put them all on 55 gallon dollies to move around. To fit so the valves didn't hit the dolly, I just added and bolted spacers to the dolly since I built the drums before thinking about adding the dollies lol. I have seen wheels added to the drums as well. I also have one dolly that is for 55 gallon drums that has a handle to move the drums around works well but like the round dollies better.

Again nice build and enjoy!!

Jaimehelm
wheres the butt pron ????????
nice smoke ring on the FATTIE

I have really enjoyed reading this thread (only 4000 posts to go!) and putting my UDS together. I went with the simple 3 x 3/4" intakes with one ball valve and just the 2" bung hole for exhaust. Flat top, some handles and a hook for the lid. Still looks pretty much like a regular old drum, kinda stealthy. I like it.

Some things have been running through my mind as I have built this thing, though. To start with, for all their similarities, I've noticed quite difference in performance drum to drum as far as holding temps low or high. Much can be attributed to air management, but fuel choice and lighting techniques also come into play.

One thing I think doesn't get the attention it deserves is thermal mass. The barrel I chose for my build was a very lightweight barrel, open top, no liner. It was so lightweight in fact that I was fearful of denting it while drilling my holes. When I burned the old paint off with a weed burner, I was struck at how quickly the thin gauge sheet metal cooled to ambient temperature, just a minute or two after removing the flame. Now, I'm no rocket scientist, but I know that for a given mass (in our case, metal), it will take a certain amount of BTU's to raise the temperature, and that the more mass you have, the longer it will take to cool. So this got me to thinking, should I have went with a heavier gauge drum? I can see benefits to both. The lightweight drum should, in theory, respond more quickly to changes in airflow, requiring less BTU's to heat the mass and cool more quickly. The flipside would be that a heavier drum, while taking longer to respond to temp changes would hold those temperatures a little more consistently and I'm guessing be a little more fuel efficient. Another factor would be the construction of the fire baskets and grates and their respective mass.

We know from another member who basically insulated his UDS with an 85 gallon drum that the efficiency increased (less fuel usage and more consistent temps) and I would attribute that to the insulating properties of using two drums and the added thermal mass.

I intend to do some experimenting on my next build, using a heavy barrel and as massive fire basket and heavy duty grates as I can manage. I will then be able to compare the performance of the two. If anyone has already thought about this or done a comparison, I would appreciate your thoughts. We already have certain rules of thumb, like intake area being approximately half or slightly more than that of the exhaust I think another good rule of thumb would be for the fire basket height to be approximately half of the diameter. Seems this promotes good steady burns. I'm going to make several in this manner sized for how much burn time I'm shooting for. And maybe we could come up with another rule of thumb as far as the gauge of the barrel is concerned.

Anyway, like I said, I will being doing my own testing, but I would love to hear others thoughts on these things.