Digiq on uds

TomO

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Hey everyone - hope you are all doing well.

I have seen several conversations about the bbq guru products and mixed opinions. My question is just about installation.

I was wondering if anyone can tell me at what height should the 3/4" valve for the pit viper fan be installed (in relation to the charcoal basket) to avoid blowing ash/be most effiecent? Has anyone had an issue with ash getting blown around?
 
Hey Tom - Typically I don't run a guru on my drum, but I did a few times just to try it out.

The center of my intakes are 2" from the bottom of the drum. My fire basket sits up from the bottom about 3 or 4 inches inches. As long as bottom of the basket is slightly above your intake, you will be good.
 
I've done this upon peoples requests when I build drums for them. 2 of the intakes I use a 90 St. El and come up with the ball valve and on the 3rd one I add a 3/4" tee, valve on top and plug on the outside. If I ever want to run a guru, all I do is unplug it, screw in 3/4" Guru adapter, close all valves, and set-it and forget it. I mount these roughly 2 to 2-1/2" from the bottom of the INSIDE of the barrel. Kind of nice feature when you have kids that your running around with, gives you piece of mind.

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Cmohr that is a great looking smoker.

Thanks for the advice. My UDS like most is one of a kind (my dad and I just started welding). We have a 22" disk (for a plow) to catch the ash it has legs on it and is probably 2-3" off the bottom of the barrel. Then on top of that we have a charcoal grate made of 3/8" rebar with about 3-4" sides - sets on top of the disk with about 3" legs. I probably should have included this info from the beginning - should the pit viper be pointed between the grate and disk or slightly above/below?

Thank you all for the advice - just want to get it right the first time.
 
Drums are great smokers, you're going to love it. Every UDS is unique in it's own way, as long as you can control the heat and cook on it, you're golden. Doesn't matter how it goes together, just that you cross that finish line and celebrate by cooking up some great food.

Thanks, it's been my goal to make an all Stainless Steel UDS for a couple years. This is compliments of Oifmarine2003 on the Brethren who used to own a scrapyard around here. I told him I was looking for one and after a couple years, he came across one and was willing to part with it. He also let me scrounge though the Stainless Steel Scrap which is where 90% of this smoker set-up came from. Someone else's garbage is another man's dream smoker. For Christmas I asked Santa for a S/S lid hinge and S/S Handles to complete it.
 
Mine is an 85 gallon drum - I've smoked a couple pork butts, a brisket & a couple turkey breasts so far everything has turned out great. I decided to get the digiq because we have a new baby and I want great food but don't want to spend 1/2 the weekend watching the smoker (not smoking is not an option!) & bbq guru has a sale going on. I also like that I'll be able to smoke at lower temps - hope to try some jerky soon.

I really like the idea of a stainless drum - I might try that out next time.

Here's mine
 

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I run a digiq on my UDS all the time and will use it again this afternoon for our Christmas Eve dinner. I have been using it for a couple of years now and love it. I have no problem with ash getting blown around any more than would happen without the digiq. My fan sits about halfway up my barrel, similar to the pictures in the previous posts.
 
I've got a couple drums set up for ATC fans.

One is kind of a Hunsaker/Gateway hybrid with Smokerbuilder.com tear drop vents on the bottom of the can. Running a 10cfm Guru with an old Pitmaker adapter.

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The other is a BPS can with a BBQ Guru Universal mount.

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They are pretty freakin' tight! No blowing ash problem from mine. Run them with the fan open 50%.

They really aren't necessary for the majority of my cooks.

I am using an interior heat shield on the hybrid can along with Hunsaker Smokers Vortex firebaskets in both, and I would suggest one for your 85 gallon can to funnel the heat up from the basket.
I plan on cutting a 55 gallon drum and set it inside my 85. Look at the Iron Man Cans and Gateways to get an idea of the heat shield.

Good smokin'!
 
Cmohr that is a great looking smoker.

Thanks for the advice. My UDS like most is one of a kind (my dad and I just started welding). We have a 22" disk (for a plow) to catch the ash it has legs on it and is probably 2-3" off the bottom of the barrel. Then on top of that we have a charcoal grate made of 3/8" rebar with about 3-4" sides - sets on top of the disk with about 3" legs. I probably should have included this info from the beginning - should the pit viper be pointed between the grate and disk or slightly above/below?

Thank you all for the advice - just want to get it right the first time.

With the description listed above should the pit viper be pointed between the charcoal grate and disk (ash collector) or slightly above/below? Does the fan get pointed at the charcoal to stoak the fire of just add oxygen to the drum - I believe it is the latter but would like to confirm? Thank you all for the info.
 
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