UDS help please!

C

Cutem all Jack

Guest
I was planning on building one tomorrow so I went and got a drum today after looking for a week. The drum I bought is a little heavier than most and it measures 34 inches tall. After doing the measurements that's not tall enough to keep 1 rack much less 2 24 inches above my coals? How high are yalls barrels and at what height are y'all putting your racks? I am planning on building a expanded metal basket for the minion method. So I figure my charcoal basket would be around 8-9 inches and that don't leave much room for meat. Thanks in advance for any help.
 
So you think it is ok to put your rack around 18-19 inches above your coals?
 
34" - 24" for heat and 3 more inches for the legs leaves you 7"?

24" from the charcoal basket grate, not top.
 
Should be good. I have my top rack 2" below the top of the barrell. The 2nd rack is 6" below that. You don't need your fire basket to be very tall. In fact, I made mine wider and shorter. It's about 16" diameter and only 6" tall. I can still put a whole bag of charcoal in it at once.

If you think you're too close to your bottom rack, just add a diffuser.
 
the location of the first shelf depends whether you are using a kettle top or a drum top... The one I built for my son was a flat drum top and I placed the first grate at 5" for top and the second was 5" below that... so i took up the top 10" with grill grates.. the coal basket was 10" tall and 15" Dia. and stood on 2" long bolts.. so it top was 12" off the bottom of the drum.....Im not sure of the exact height of my barrel i just faked this one real fast...the basket could be alot shorter than i have illustrated...
 
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again, the measurement that your shooting for is between the grate and the BOTTOM of your charcoal basket.
 
Bbq Bubba said:
again, the measurement that your shooting for is between the grate and the BOTTOM of your charcoal basket.
Click to expand...

Ok I was thinking 24 from the top and that wouldn't quite be enough. Thanks for clearing that up. I haven't been able to scavenge a weber lid for it yet so I will be using the drum lid.

One more question. If you were gonna run a 2 inch pipe up for your intake would you still recommend putting 2 other 3/4 inch intakes at the bottom with caps or will a 2 inch intake be good? If I run the 2 inch intake up a couple inches shy of the top of the drum would I need to put a higher smoke stack ( say 2 ft) to make it draw better? Thanks for the help guys!
 
Cutem all Jack said:
Ok I was thinking 24 from the top and that wouldn't quite be enough. Thanks for clearing that up. I haven't been able to scavenge a weber lid for it yet so I will be using the drum lid.

One more question. If you were gonna run a 2 inch pipe up for your intake would you still recommend putting 2 other 3/4 inch intakes at the bottom with caps or will a 2 inch intake be good? If I run the 2 inch intake up a couple inches shy of the top of the drum would I need to put a higher smoke stack ( say 2 ft) to make it draw better? Thanks for the help guys!
Click to expand...

That is what I did, but I didn't add the extra inlets on the bottom. I have a 2' stack in the large bung hole at the top and the 2" pipe running down the side. I also used a plastic 2" ball valve for the inlet. I am not worried about melting the valve because it is the cold air inlet.
 

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My main drum is only 34" tall as well. I have a 12" tall basket (rarely full to the top) that sits 2" over the ash catcher. My first rack is 2" below the top and the next one is 6" below that. So, I only have 12" between the bottom rack and the top of the charcoal basket. If the basket is full then it does create some direct heat since I don't use a diffuser. However, I have never had issues with my setup.
 
When y'all say defuser are you just talking about going half way between the charcoal and the meat rack and putting a thin piece of tin with some holes drilled in it?
 
Cutem all Jack said:
When y'all say defuser are you just talking about going half way between the charcoal and the meat rack and putting a thin piece of tin with some holes drilled in it?
Click to expand...

You can do that or use a large terra cota plate. If you use the plate, you could put sand in it to make a heat sink.
 
razrbakcrzy said:
the location of the first shelf depends whether you are using a kettle top or a drum top... The one I built for my son was a .........

Nice sketch on you barrel, i have only seen 55 gallon drums at 33 1/2" to 34" for the overall height. Never seen one at 38 1/2" tall .
Click to expand...
 
i have two grates and mine is 34 inches high. i still use the flat lid. I went the PURE KISS style. i have four 3/4ths inch holes drilled 2 inches above the base of the drum for intakes. i just use plugs or magnets to cover them up. Then the lid has 7 half inch holes that are being drilled this week to 3/4ths inch. haha.My basket is 5 inches high and 16 inch diameter. my basket sits 3 inches from base and my first rack is 22-23 inches from the top of my basket. then 3 inches above that is another rack. i then have some hooks that are levle with the lid for if i need to move the second rack higher, then i use the weber lid.

charcoalgrate.jpg


charcoalringsideshot.jpg
 
The charcoal basket only needs to be 6" deep if it is 15" in diameter, mounted 2" over a 16" pizza pan to catch the ashes... most of the time 3-4" of charcoal is more than you need for a 6 hour smoke...

So the "fire" is only 6" from the bottom, and with a single rack UDS the top rack is about 7" from the lid...

so 34" less 6, less 7, 21" above the fire works like a charm ! 'jus do it!!
 
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