New UDS with mods (Pron)

I think it's contagious, you can't build just one.

Built my 1st UDS a few months ago and have made some pretty good grub to share with friends and family.

Anyway to make a long story short one of my Buddie's daughter's called and asked if I would make one for him for his birthday. Here are the results.

I used a new drum and made the air intake directly below the coal basket, so far it seems to be less reactive to the wind and holds the temperature well. Also thought the idea of drilling out a 1" bolt to hold a 12" fryer thermometer at center grate was a great idea so I added that mod to this drum as well.

He cooked a nice butt Saturday night to break her in and now I've got him lurking around the forum. Give him a few days and he'll be a BBQ farker for sure!

Thanks for all the compliments. Who knew this could be so much fun.

The idea for the vent came after having problems keeping temperatures stable in the wind. I figured put them on the bottom to keep wind from blowing directly in the intake.

Also this puts the air right under the fire allowing me to open the intake less than if having to draw air from the side of the drum to the center of the basket where the fire is. It's only been cooked on once bus it looks like it is going to work better in the wind than the ball valve on the side, I'll keep you posted as we learn more.

The one on this drum is made of a 8" cake pan with (4) 1" holes and the adjusting lever is 1/4" round rod from Home Depot. I started painting the rod florescent yellow but ended up putting shrink tube over the end and a end cap, I just thought it looked better. The gauge is a piece cut off of an aluminum ruler, edges rounded and vinyl letters applied, we'll see how they hold up when cooking.

It works well, is easy to adjust from just one lever and holds steady temps and burns evenly but the cake pan is a little thin and did not like being welded on. Next one will be made of stronger material and will either use smaller holes or 3 holes so that you can fine tune the air even more.

David

that's looks too good to be on a drum.you might want to look into a patent for that thang!that's professional!

Now that is a good looking drum. Nothing ugly about it !!!!!!!!

WOW! Too cool for words.

So far ash has not been a problem plugging holes as it seems to fall through. The next one will have an ash catcher below so it can be used on a deck or something other than concrete.

thats just a DS its not ugly at all!