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-   -   Ugly Drum Smoker (https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23436)

stglide 11-21-2010 09:02 AM

SmokerKing!! Thanks!! I see it has. Couldn't remember for sure who it was, but I do recognize the design! :-D

I really need to get off here and get some stuff done...

Louisiana Smoker 11-21-2010 09:12 AM

Smokerking do you have a PDF of the defuser? My temps are allover the place inside the drum and this would help stabilize the temps.

3 Bufords? I have seen the orginal one, the camo one, what is the third? Pics please

SmokerKing 11-21-2010 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Louisiana Smoker (Post 1463245)
Smokerking do you have a PDF of the defuser? My temps are allover the place inside the drum and this would help stabilize the temps.

3 Bufords? I have seen the orginal one, the camo one, what is the third? Pics please

pic .pdf? or are you asking for dims., etc.?

Revision #2 worked well, got the center and outside within 20-25 degrees of each other under 300 degrees. BUFORD got up to temp, used the same amount of fuel, no unusual side effects by using the diffuser.

On Revision #3 I eliminated another ventilation ring that was closest to the center.

Not sure if a diffuser like this will stabilize your temps on your drum. My drums all work and respond well too valve and exhaust adjustments and temps stabilize for long cooks. You may have other problems with your drum if your temps are all over the place?

My goal with this diffuser is to reduce the temp difference from the center of the drum to the outside of the drum.

I've actually built 4) BUFORD's, this is #4. I never posted pictures of #2, "Scrapyard Dog".

The fabrication of BUFORD #4 is being completed today, painting this week. It's a very simple design, much less eccentric than #1 & #2.

Smokin' D 11-21-2010 09:33 AM

Yep, SmokerKing, that looks like the ticket. Larger openings toward the outer edge to move that heat out. Good job. Let us know the outcome.

Louisiana Smoker 11-21-2010 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmokerKing (Post 1463256)
pic .pdf? or are you asking for dims., etc.?

Revision #2 worked well, got the center and outside within 20-25 degrees of each other under 300 degrees. BUFORD got up to temp, used the same amount of fuel, no unusual side effects by using the diffuser.

On Revision #3 I eliminated another ventilation ring that was closest to the center.

Not sure if a diffuser like this will stabilize your temps on your drum. My drums all work and respond well too valve and exhaust adjustments and temps stabilize for long cooks. You may have other problems with your drum if your temps are all over the place?

My goal with this diffuser is to reduce the temp difference from the center of the drum to the outside of the drum.

I've actually built 4) BUFORD's, this is #4. I never posted pictures of #2, "Scrapyard Dog".

The fabrication of BUFORD #4 is being completed today, painting this week. It's a very simple design, much less eccentric than #1 & #2.

I have the same reason as you for wanting a diffuser. I can control the temperature inside the UDS but within the interior the temps fluctuate. Looking for a way to lower the hot spots and raise the cold spots.

If you had a PDF I could print it out and take it to the metal shop. If not I can work with the picture you provided.

Please post photos of Scrapyard Dog. That sounds interesting and fun, as yours are always unique and awesome

SmokerKing 11-21-2010 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Louisiana Smoker (Post 1463276)
I have the same reason as you for wanting a diffuser. I can control the temperature inside the UDS but within the interior the temps fluctuate. Looking for a way to lower the hot spots and raise the cold spots.

If you had a PDF I could print it out and take it to the metal shop. If not I can work with the picture you provided.

Please post photos of Scrapyard Dog. That sounds interesting and fun, as yours are always unique and awesome

I want to test this design before I release dims. etc. This one is already Revision #3 and I've spent a lot of time and a few bucks to get to this point. Wouldn't want to see anyone else go through my learning curve.

"Scrapyard Dog" was built for a friend, he didn't want any of it painted and no cart. He uses it all the time but now want to bring it by for the "cone top" upgrade. I'll take some pics. then.....:thumb:

Dr_KY 11-21-2010 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unfathomable Bastid (Post 1463234)
I told Mrs. Bastid to crank the ball valve shut another 25% and choke off the exhaust just a tad. We'll see if that won't calm Black Magic down a tad....

I'll keep ya posted.

-Bastid

Never choke the exhaust. You will get stale smoke and just cause the thing to rally get out of wack with the temps.

jeffsee 11-21-2010 02:11 PM

UDS in Progress
 
So far, so good. The worst part was that red liner. I'm painted, curing and seasoning. I will probably run one additional burn-in with PAM for grills after I get the Charbroil dome installed this week.

Unfathomable Bastid 11-22-2010 10:00 AM

My FIRST smoke on a UDS
 
Well folks, my journey to building my UDS (Black Magic) and smoking my first brisket was a long and arduous one. But allow me to report the good and bad findings derived from my first smoking experience.

First the good.

Building the UDS was easy. The hardest part, by far, was the construction of the fire basket. I ended up just paying a local metal shop to weld it for me. They also welded an axle on which I attached replacement lawnmower wheels. That worked great.

The smoking experience worked flawlessly. I loaded 15 lbs of charcoal and lit her with the minion method easily. She settled at 225 after capping two of the three nipples and choking down the ball valve. She stayed at 225 all day -- which is simply amazing. I used three chunks of hickory for the smoke. My UDS poured smoke out the chimney all day. Perfect.

Now the not so good.

This first experience was an 11-pound center-cut brisket. Probably not smart to start with such an intimidating piece of meat. Everything I've read indicated that at 225, I can expect an hour or so per pound to get to my desired temp (which was 180-190 range). Sooooo -- 11-pounds = approximately 11 hours of smoking. Right?

Dinner was called for 6pm (I had family coming over). I woke up at 5:30am (Yes, on a Sunday). Got Black Magic chugging along. By 6am, she was settling nicely around 240 on her way back down to 225. I put my room-temperature brisket on at 6:15, and went back to bed for a few hours. My thinking -- 11 hours of smoking will get me to roughly 5pm. I'll have an hour to let the meat rest, and then on with the festivities.

Well folks, at 1pm I went to turn the brisket and decided to start taking meat-temps. I inserted the probe, and was shiocked to see an internal temp of 165! What??? I was planning on taking the meat off at 175 around 5pm-- but how could this be? At 1pm I was almost done cooking an 11 pound brisket! I double checked the UDS temp at grate level, and sure enough she's reading 225. What in holy hell was happening here?

By 2pm it was official. I had to get the brisket off the smoker. She was at 180 and I did NOT want to overcook this succulent morsel. I took it off, wrapped tightly in foil, and fretted about what to do -- it was still 4 hours til dinner! I remembered a post on here where someone suggested wrapping the foiled brisket in towels and sticking in a cooler in this situation -- which is exactly what I did. I don't like the idea of meat being off the heat for hours, lest it go bad, but I was in a pinch!

Well, the brisket was still warm when I started cutting it at 6pm. And while it was ok, it was NOT the succulent delight I had expected. It didn't have the bark I was looking for. And the meat was dry in parts. Aghast!! It was tasty -- but not "BBQ Brethren" caliber.

So, I'm left wondering how my UDS somehow defied the laws of Physics by cooking so quickly even at low temps. I don't believe the temp probe is broken because I know what 225 feels like, and it seemed right on. :confused:

Any thoughts on how you can talk me off the UDS cliff would be appreciated.

-Bastid

Bman62526 11-22-2010 10:25 AM

Because of a more direct heat method, rather than the indirect heat from a standard offset or a 'water pan' smoker like the Weber Smokey Mountain, everything cooks faster on a UDS. You'll get used to that eventually, but I could see how you must have been surprised.

Regarding the bark - of course you won't get the crispy/crunchy bark when you have to foil that long, because it softens the bark. However, if everything else is done correctly, most folks will tell you they'll give up the bark texture in exchange for how incredibly moist a brisket will turn out after doing the foil method.

Since yours wasn't as moist as you thought it should be, I'm wondering if you were cooking at a higher temp than what you thought you were??

From what I recall reading, you took the internal temp to 180 and then foiled. That is just about perfect for slicing, IMO. Meaning - when you remove it at 180 and foil, then it should continue to climb to 185 or so, which is right in that range you want to be in for slicing

However, one thing that even foiling cannot fix - is meat that dries out because it's cooked at too hign of a smoker temp. Were you relying only on your UDS gauge, or did you have something digital inside, like a Maverick ET-73 for example?

My thought is that you were cooking at a higher temp that what you thought, but even then - it sometimes is ok to cook a brisket at higher temps, like around 275 or even 300.

My thought would be - just try it again and enjoy the practice! :-)
It could have been the quality of the cut of meat too....it's not always the chef's fault, right?!?

tburda 11-22-2010 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unfathomable Bastid (Post 1463992)
I don't believe the temp probe is broken because I know what 225 feels like, and it seemed right on. :confused:

-Bastid

You may know, but boiling water knows absolutely. Why don't you give it a run and be sure, you may have a defective or just inaccurate gauge. Also, is this a probe thermometer, because I'm sure you know, temps are higher at the center of the grate than they are at the drum wall. Just suggestions to check, maybe save yourself a lot of headache.

SmokerKing 11-22-2010 12:02 PM

UB, your analog gauge on the outside edge of the drum that you had at grate level doesn't see the same heat as the center of the barrel. Your gauge is probably just fine.

That's why several on here use or are experimenting with diffusers. The center to outside edge heat differential is very common on UDS style smokers.

I always use a Maverick digital thermo to monitor the center of the drum heat and the meat. I rarely even pay attention to the analog gauges on the outside edge anymore as mine have only 2.5" probes. Once my drum hits 300 degrees, the center digital thermo and the analog are within a few degrees of each other.

Unfathomable Bastid 11-22-2010 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmokerKing (Post 1464084)
UB, your analog gauge on the outside edge of the drum that you had at grate level doesn't see the same heat as the center of the barrel. Your gauge is probably just fine.

That's why several on here use or are experimenting with diffusers. The center to outside edge heat differential is very common on UDS style smokers.

I always use a Maverick digital thermo to monitor the center of the drum heat and the meat. I rarely even pay attention to the analog gauges on the outside edge anymore as mine have only 2.5" probes. Once my drum hits 300 degrees, the center digital thermo and the analog are within a few degrees of each other.

That's interesting, SmokerKing. My grate-level gauge is only 2.5 inches (just as you suspected). So if the grate level gauge is reading 225 -- what, in your experience, is the center of the drum reading?

SmokerKing 11-22-2010 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unfathomable Bastid (Post 1464144)
That's interesting, SmokerKing. My grate-level gauge is only 2.5 inches (just as you suspected). So if the grate level gauge is reading 225 -- what, in your experience, is the center of the drum reading?

In the range of 200-300 degrees, my drum can be 30-40 degrees hotter in the center compared to the edge installed analog with the 2.5" probe. I've read where others on this forum have seen as much as 50 degrees.

My drum temps seem to balance out on both the digital and analog around 300 degrees and above.

You may want to also minimize the amount of charcoal you use, 15 lbs. is a lot.

snorulz 11-22-2010 01:12 PM

From what I have read and my limited experience using my UDS most seem to see a 25 to 50°F difference from center to edge.

looks like I should refresh the page prior to posting


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