There is an equation for intake size to exhaust size and I believe if these two factors are applied then it should not matter, unless it got ridicules.
Dave

I have gotten a lot of good info out of this thread so here is my $.02 worth. Hopefully it'll help someone out. When I built my UDS I couldn't find a fire grate for 18" grill, so I used one for the 22.5" grill which makes my fire basket 18" in diameter. The problem was that I couldn't find anything that size to use for an ash pan, untill this afternoon. I was at the Dollar General Store down the road and spotted this 18" throwaway grill. It was marked $12.00, not too bad, so I grabbed one. When I checked out it was on end of summer clearance for $3.60!!! SWEET!! I grabbed another for a spare. It fits my oversized charcoal basket perfect!! If anybody else has had this problem I hope this helps.

Got 'r did!!!! Ol Norski's UDS
 

I greased down the innards and did a seasoning smoke yesterday. Loaded up the fire basket and smoked a 1/2 pork butt and a coupla venison/beef meatloafs today.

I went with the basic build for my first one. Everything worked as y'all said it would. Fire control was excellent. Temps were steady and I could adjust from 225 up to 450 no problem.

Many thanks to all who contribute to this "Mother Of All UDS Threads" (yeah, I read the whole farkin' thing!!!:shock:).



http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...sParrillas.jpg

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...t_meatloaf.jpg

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...pulledpork.jpg

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...d_meatloaf.jpg

Great idea DRIFTER...I had the same problem and did the same thing you did. The only thing I did was I drilled some holes on the sides of the ash pan for airflow cause I thought it was a little tight.

Congratsz!
Nice looking drum.

Yeah, it needs holes for airflow, but I was trying to get the picture made before it got completly dark on me! It will have more holes before I fire it up again.

Hey I've been reading and i'm up to 160's. I'm building one right now and just have a quick ? is it ok for the in take pipes to be glav. metal?? What I've seen so far is your worried it will get too hot on the inside but mine isn't in the drum and shouldn't get hot enough right???

Thats the only threaded pipe i could get from the hardware store.

Thanks for all the info and all the great pics. Can't wait this will be my first smoker.

galvanized=death


:mrgreen:

Yep. It'll start with things falling off. :eek:

damn

Been through that, 214 pages ago.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...postcount=1168

Sorry about the repost, I was just trying to help. While I have gotten a lot of good info from this thread, and this site since I found it, I did not read EVERY page of a 250+ page thread.

its only 88 pages if you put it to 50 posts per page :D

It is has been discussed. Many would prefer to avoid the question by avoiding galvanized. If you don't avoid it - then the question becomes at what temp does Galvanized become dangerous. please do the research yourself, but 30 seconds on the web showed that the coating will flake at about 400 degrees, and possibly out-gas at 800. Nipples being below the fire and being connected to a big heat sink will probably not even get over 400. Likewise, except in a possible burnout - the top will not get above 800. The only place that you might have problems is if you used it for your firebox.

fwiw, brass also has toxic fume issues - but you have to get pretty hot first. I really like my shinny bass nipples.
---
that said, I am serious considering using a fan based system (such as a BBQ Guru). If I go that route - I will probably set it up with a forced draft over ride to start the coals. I might also plumb that for propane (so I can get a one match start). If I do this I will effectively have a blast furnace hitting the fire box - so much for keeping it under 400 degrees. I would not be comfortable with those parts being galvanized.

I used a similar setup for mine.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/MK-Ul.../UDS/uds02.jpg