Chris,
It is usually just some ash on the inside. I wash it out and after a good wire brushing and after a test burn it is pretty much smoked up inside. I see no need to scrub it out anymore. One butt cooking and it will have enough grease to seal in any rust and ash that it is never a problem. I have a lot of drums cooking out there and have never had any problems. Now if I could just find a Stainless Steel drum for less than $300!!!!!!! Nothing like the look of stainless. To me there is no better cooker than the UDS. It is extremely fuel efficient and you can cook 3lbs. of chicken or 40 lbs. of butts on the same cooker. I have 4 now so I can go mobile and still cook for 50-100 people.(I have a large stationary cabinet cooker for home cooking!) And did I mention CHEAP! Two of my drums are automated.(temperature control) I was thinking of putting a smoke generator on the side of this one so I could use wood chips more efficiently. Hey, why live if you cannot experiment! Bill |
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PS- when do we get to see some Kamado cooks? Quote:
Brian |
Thanks Napper,
Next one I probably won't spends so much time on. I also won't burn it until I have time to clean it at the same time. |
UDS is online!!
With extension mod
Seasoning her right now. Put a couple thermos in to compare temps at different levels. Top is running a little hotter then bottom, but all are within 10 degrees. My lid doesn't fit real well, I think because where I got the drums stores them stacked on their sides and slightly bent them. http://home.mchsi.com/~rankin/UDS.jpg |
IPLS, Nice looking drum.
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my lid dont fit good either i think mine got warped when i did the inside burn i put the lid on some of the time during the burn my barrel is working great i think when you get use to it ,it cooks real well i need to make another
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BGD=Big Green Drum?
That's pretty cool, Chris. Did you weld the upper part on or is it removable?
How you gonna get the firebox in & out, scaffolding? http://home.mchsi.com/~rankin/UDS.jpg |
Pick these up for $21.86 each at Pavillions on sale. Will be using the lids off of two of them for both UDS. Will use racks also.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m74/bk26bk/weber.jpg |
you gotta be kidding! Thats cheaper than the smokey joes over here!
jealous mod! |
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http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...weber001-1.jpg |
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My first cook is actually gonna be chipotles. I have a bumper crop of jalepenos and want to give them a try. From what I've read, you need to be careful about smoking jalepenos in the same smoker as meat so I'm gonna do them first. |
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Let us know how the Chiles come out. I have a whole bunch also. |
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That is very nice Chris! On my first drum prototype I had cut a section of another drum and it slid into one of the ribs of the main UDS, it was @ 44-45" tall and when I put it on the drum dolly it was just too big for me to work with, then I found the 38" drums-yours look to be about that tall without the sleeve? Nice job! Brian |
Hey Swamprb,
Thanks for all the tips on the UDS, They came in handy. |
This is the mother of all drum smoker threads. Holy cow!! I'll add my meager unit to the mix.
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/807/p8261097qq6.jpg |
Little tip for those that have trouble getting lid to seal. I distorted my drum when dumping it by doing the old trashman slam. I took the band used to seal drum and welded a cheap pair of vice grip clamp pliars and clamp it. Seals great.
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sksmoker, That is nice. What kind of paint did you use?
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The red paint was on the drum already. The white paint for the lid was a high heat tremclad paint, for radiators, bbq's, and stoves. It is rated for 1200F.
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Time to start shopping for parts Thanks guy's :mrgreen:
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I smoked my jalepenos this weekend (sorry no pics). I completely dried them by smoking them at 180° for 24 hrs. Got up this morning and the UDS is still chugging along at 160°. Thats 30 hrs on about 15 lbs of Kingsford.
My concern is airflow. I had two pipes open to keep the temp at 180. I have three 1/2" nipples for intake and four 3/4" holes in the lid for exhast. Does this sound adequate? |
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Actually, it is the mother of all UDS threads. Not all drum smoker threads, but this where the UDS got its name from what I can tell. I don't think anyone was calling them UDS until I started this thread. |
Chris...I've seen other people in this thread talk about 3 1/2 inch holes in the bottom and 8 holes in the top. You might want to try adding a couple more top holes and see what happens.
I'm going to try building one of these myself, which will be a true adventure! Thanks for the update on your jalapenos, I was kind of wandering how that turned out. I think the 180 degree heat level is perfect! Craig |
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^^I said 15 lbs before, but I checked the bag last night and it was close to half full still. |
Thanks Brian. So far, I am using three evenly spaced pavers.
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UDS build question number one (of many I think!) from me, is there an accepted minimum diameter for the charcoal basket? I'm using a standard sized 45 gallon drum and I've got a 13" diameter propane cylinder which I'm thinking of cutting the bottom third off to make the coal ring, is this too small a diameter?
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I believe the standard charcoal ring is 13"D x 6"H. I made mine 15"D x 9"H, but I think it may be too large based on the difficulty of controlling temps later on when the whole pile of charcoal gets going.
I have built another drum for a friend that uses a 12"D x 6"H and that person reports no trouble keeping constant temps. |
Mine is 11"D x 12"H and has a pretty good range of adjustability from 200-350*, but I haven't tried it below that...
I bought a 12" x 48" of expanded steel, cut 12" off for the bottom and used the remaining 36" for the ring. I don't know if the 12" is necessary, but its nice to have the capacity if I want to try 24-hr jerky or chipotles smokes... http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1041/...1658cbed_o.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1052/...557bc91302.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1422/...071d805fe3.jpg |
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? |
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I agree with Bigmista. 8-)
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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.
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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.
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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... |
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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!?? |
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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 |
I know that use of a water pan goes against the methodology and raison d' etre of a UDS i.e. thou shalt abide by the KISS principle of engineering when building one (Keep It Simple, Stupid!:biggrin: ) but why can't one use a water pan with a UDS? My only reason for putting this in was that the UDS is able to function because it uses the 24" air space between the coals and the first grille as a direct heat attenuator/buffer, preventing the meat from burning. The water pan in the WSM is to attenuate the heat from the coals, allowing you to place food on a rack directly above said coals. So in theory you could fit three racks into a UDS if you used a water pan?
Tin hat firmly wedged on head awaiting incoming brickbats:eek: :wink: |
It's Yours
I suppose if you wanted to turn a UDS into a UWSM, you could, it's yours. But that defeats the BBQ Pit effect, of meat juices dripping directly onto hot coals and producing one of a kind, aromatical delights of palate, basted in savory, vaporized, primal invoking excellence....uhhhhh-ghhh!!!..Sorry...... got carried away......need a smoke now..
..and a nap:wink::wink::biggrin: |
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OK, I'll leave that idea on hold for now, but may experiment once I get the damn thing built!!
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