My UDS is ready to smoke

[Skidkid]

I got pulled onto several other projects but I finally finished my UDS. I will fire it up tonight for a burn in/seasoning run. Then I am anxious to smoke something this weekend.

OK, it isn't exactly ugly. It is all painted in high temp paint good to 550 degrees. I made stencils and painted those then clear coat over that to blend the edges. The grill racks are welded in and there are square posts welded below that to hold a heat diffuser. All of the casters are locking and they are 5" so they roll over bumps pretty easily. The piece on front is to hold my Smoke or later a Fireboard. The air inlet is 2" square and has a 2" hole into the drum, so does the exhaust stack. That gives it more area than using 3/4" inlets so it should work well.

I will post pics when I get some heat on this thing.


I would have posted to my old thread but apparently you can not post to a thread more than 60 days old. SO, I will add a few pics and update on how it all works out on a new thread. Old thread: https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=282979

 

[michiana mark]

Nice. Get it seasoned and producing some great que

 

[jzadski]

I remember your original post, thanks for following up. That really came out nice. Not to mention that those casters really have some gripping power :laugh:

 

[Skidkid]

I had oiled the whole thing except for the SS bolts from final assembly. So I oiled up the bolts and area around them (holes were masked when I was painting so didn't have oil on them) and set up the fire basket. I used flax seed oil because it polymerizes very well so is great to cure woks and such so should be perfect to cure the cooker.

It only took 10 min to make 200, the photo is 170 so still smoky. It is now about 25 min and setting at 243. :clap:

Can't wait for the cure to get done so I can cook something in this thing. I also bought a bag of B&B from Ace so I have that for a cook. 20lb was $16 for the lump.

 

[Skidkid]

Over 50 min in and sitting at a stable 249. It has been within 3 degrees of that for the past 20 min or so. I peaked about 260 before the throttling it back took hold. So far, I am very happy with this setup. Thank you all for the kind words and encouragement.

 

[Garyclaw]

Nice job!!

 

[creek bottom]

Good looking drum! Get'er dirty!!!

 

[ModelMaker]

Good.
Ed

 

[Skidkid]

Got it to temp and ran it 4 hours last night to season and see how it cooks. Basically set and forget seams to work. I had to learn the inlet control but it is rock solid at the set temps and I ran between 250-260 without ever touching it. I could not be happier with the performance. I purposely went a bit light on the charcoal but I would say a 12 hour cook will be easy and up to maybe 18 or so is definitely possible if I fill the basket fully.

Here are a few of the inside now that it is seasoned. Next up, some cooking and pics of the results. I want to but may not have time until Saturday.

 

[Stingerhook]

She's a beaut

 

[Titch]

Looks pretty snazzy mate

 

[CivilTrojan]

Very nice, congratulations on building a solid smoker.

 

[cowgirl]

Nice job on the drum!

 

[BruceKWHP]

Fancy, nothing with hardware like that when I built "robot" in 2011.

Great Job!!

 

[El Ropo]

All it needs is a Hunsaker Vortex basket. I'm not sure the current fire basket setup will be efficient enough. From the outside it looks amazing, but the fire basket is the motor that makes the vehicle move. I love everything else about it though, nice job.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

WOW That is really nice work You are going to have some fun

 

[Learning to BBQ]

Nice job on the build. You put a lot of work into that.

 

[billbek]

Certainly not an ugly drum...
Nice work!

 

[Kaptain Kadian]

Nice work. What casters did you use? I just ordered the same caster mounts to put on my drum.