First time leaving the UDS unattended, little nervous!

[pokefan]

So I've got a 16lbs of BB on the smoker right now and had to have it done before we leave town tomorrow. Fired up the UDS at lunch and left it unattended the rest of the afternoon. I've got to admit, it makes me a little nervous not being home to watch it. Fingers crossed that it's going to be fine by the time I get home! lol

I'm sure everything will be fine it's been holding temps fine lately. I actually ran to the house to check on it about an hour and a half after I left and it was sitting at 265, made a small adjustment and left it alone.

Actually made some adjustments last night to try and get rid of some of the air leaks and I was pretty impressed. When I went back to check on it this afternoon it had a really faint smoke trail. It's been getting better over time but this was the lightest amount I've seen yet so it looks like I've got a pretty clean burn going.

 

[Bbq Bubba]

Thanks for reminding me!

Mines been runnin about 9 hrs. Still at 240. :thumb:

 

[jetfxr27]

9 out of 10 of my cooks are overnight. 8-10 hours of unattended cook, you'll be fine. Plus butts are forgiving. Just remember to kick off the ash when you et back.

 

[1FUNVET]

Lookin' good so far.Don't foget the finished product pic's.

 

[BigButzBBQ]

Second time I did a cook on my UDS it involved leaving it unattended for over 6 hours, yes SWMBO was home and dutiful in reporting to me the temps but, it still made me nervous as all heck, in the end though, it does the job and just need to put trust in it to do so. :thumb:

 

[pokefan]

9 out of 10 of my cooks are overnight. 8-10 hours of unattended cook, you'll be fine. Plus butts are forgiving. Just remember to kick off the ash when you et back.

last time I did that I got ash all over my chicken! :tsk: Still haven't figured out a good way to do that w/o stirring everything up. I need to run something to the fire pan to make that job easier just haven't figured out what yet.

I feel like I've finally got this one airtight like a normal UDS should be (I tried to get complicated with mine) so I'm not too worried that something will go wrong but there's just that nagging feeling in the back of my mind.

 

[Wampus]

last time I did that I got ash all over my chicken! :tsk: Still haven't figured out a good way to do that w/o stirring everything up. I need to run something to the fire pan to make that job easier just haven't figured out what yet.

I feel like I've finally got this one airtight like a normal UDS should be (I tried to get complicated with mine) so I'm not too worried that something will go wrong but there's just that nagging feeling in the back of my mind.

Thirdeye sells a tool JUST for that. I'm SURE he'd just love to tell you about it. Check out his site.

 

[pokefan]

WEll, just got home and temps were holding strong at 240! :clap2:

I'm a little concerned though, the Bostons have been on for right at 5 hours now and they're already at 170! That just doesn't seem right to me. Any thoughts?

Thanks Wampus! I'll check him out.

Here they are after 5 hours.

 

[Norcoredneck]

Thirdeye sells a tool JUST for that. I'm SURE he'd just love to tell you about it. Check out his site.

Wiggle rod as he calls it.

 

[Rich Parker]

WEll, just got home and temps were holding strong at 240! :clap2:

I'm a little concerned though, the Bostons have been on for right at 5 hours now and they're already at 170! That just doesn't seem right to me. Any thoughts?

Thanks Wampus! I'll check him out.

Here they are after 5 hours.

Don't worry about it they are done when they are done. Nice drum by the way. :thumb:

 

[Chef Jim]

My butts did exactly the same thing this past Sat. 170 in 5 hours. Foiled them at 182 as they were fall apart tender. Temp would not go any higher and they were Delish.:clap2:

Not to worry.

 

[Smokin' D]

The only thing you have to worry about when leaving your UDS unattended is some sorry a$$ making off with your meat!

It looks to me that you are cooking boneless butts and have them splayed out kinda flat. If that's the case, that's the reason they seem to be cooking fast.

 

[Boshizzle]

I know the feeling. After cooking ona CG w/SFB for a couple of years, it can be tough to walk away from it. However, once you get to know your UDS and get it tuned up, you can actually leave it alone for a long while without any worries. It's a great benefit for a BBQ cooker for under $150.00.

 

[UVaJester]

Its also because you're cooking on a UDS. I believe its because its not technically an indirect cook.

Speaking of a story like yours... The first time I cooked a few BBs, I have to start the UDS at 4:00am because my estimate was 12 hours for a full cook. Well I had just got home at 4:00am and could not stay awake, so once the UDS was set and holding solid temps I went to bed for a could of hours. I checked the BBs about 5-6 hours later to find the UDS still at 230 and the BBs were already at 170. It was crazy....

 

[pokefan]

Finished it up about an hour ago and it turned out pretty good. Luckily it's going to sit for about a day so we should get some good flavors out of it when we dig in!

Ended up having to refill once though but I only put in 4 pounds to start so about 6 hours on that. That's not bad but it looks like we've still got some airflow issues to look for.

 

[Darko]

It is & it isn't. Technically, because you're cooking directly over the heat, it isn't indirect cooking. But, because the food is so far above the coals, it is effectively the same as indirect cooking.

 

[KSims1868]

Exactly what Darko said...
Is a UDS technically "indirect" - No
Is it cooking with direct heat - No

 

[tntitan]

your cooking uds style go with it, i did an overnight cook and was going to get up around 3.30 and slept right through that ,got up about 5.45 and it was still chugging away at 250

 

[rw02kr43]

Uds

I start mine and it will hold temp for a little bit, but then my temps either skyrocket or die. I have yet to have it hold a temp like it should for any length of time.

Jason

 

[Derek]

How did it work out Pokefan?