I am about 3 hours into seasoning UDS 1.0a and so far I like it!! Have a fair bit of learning to do I think but I like what I see so far.
Had a surprise to start. I dumped a 9 lb bag of Kingsford into the charcoal basket and it was only half full. So off to 7-11 I go for another bag. The charcoal basket holds 18 lbs quite nicely.
Filled the chimney about half full and lit it, then proceeded to get the Maverick thermo probes routed and into blocks. Took a little too long I suppose as the chimney was flaming when I added the charcoal to the basket. Was a little interesting lowering it into the drum.
Temp shot up pretty quick at that point. I was going by Bubba's instructions of put one cap on at 200, close valve 2/3 at 225. Well, it hit 200 in about 3 minutes and 225 about 1 minute later. About 5 minutes later it was 265 so I put a cap back on. Messed around with the valve and ended up leaving it with 2 caps and valve about 1/2 open and went to take a shower.
About 20 minutes later, it was at 206. Opened everything up, including the lid for a short time. Got back up to 225 and left it at 1 cap on and valve half open. Cruised along at 235ish for but was creeping up slowly.
At about 8, I took off the lid and made sure the probes were not touching the grates. Noticed some gooey condensation on the lid and in the bottom of the drum. Creosote I think. Put the lid back on and the temp rocketed up to 334 at the center and 259 at the side. (Perhaps I should have closed the valve and put on the caps before I lifted the lid)
It is sitting at 332/260 now but I don't mind because I want to get rid of the gooey stuff and I won't be putting any food on for awhile anyway. Seems like an awfully wide range. Makes me wonder if I have a bad probe.
Shortly I am going to ease it up to wide open and see what she'll do. Hopefully it will get a good seasoning this way.
Dave
Had a surprise to start. I dumped a 9 lb bag of Kingsford into the charcoal basket and it was only half full. So off to 7-11 I go for another bag. The charcoal basket holds 18 lbs quite nicely.
Filled the chimney about half full and lit it, then proceeded to get the Maverick thermo probes routed and into blocks. Took a little too long I suppose as the chimney was flaming when I added the charcoal to the basket. Was a little interesting lowering it into the drum.
Temp shot up pretty quick at that point. I was going by Bubba's instructions of put one cap on at 200, close valve 2/3 at 225. Well, it hit 200 in about 3 minutes and 225 about 1 minute later. About 5 minutes later it was 265 so I put a cap back on. Messed around with the valve and ended up leaving it with 2 caps and valve about 1/2 open and went to take a shower.
About 20 minutes later, it was at 206. Opened everything up, including the lid for a short time. Got back up to 225 and left it at 1 cap on and valve half open. Cruised along at 235ish for but was creeping up slowly.
At about 8, I took off the lid and made sure the probes were not touching the grates. Noticed some gooey condensation on the lid and in the bottom of the drum. Creosote I think. Put the lid back on and the temp rocketed up to 334 at the center and 259 at the side. (Perhaps I should have closed the valve and put on the caps before I lifted the lid)
It is sitting at 332/260 now but I don't mind because I want to get rid of the gooey stuff and I won't be putting any food on for awhile anyway. Seems like an awfully wide range. Makes me wonder if I have a bad probe.
Shortly I am going to ease it up to wide open and see what she'll do. Hopefully it will get a good seasoning this way.
Dave
At 1:05 I went to the store to get a cheapo table top bbq to use as an ash pan so I don't have to deal with that mess again. :biggrin:
