Need help with UDS

[shouse]

Hey everyone. I built a UDS several years ago after recommendations from this site (Which is great btw). I've been in and out of smoking due to school, work, kids, life. I've always had mixed results that have discouraged me.

I have a little extra time this summer and am determined to become to get my UDS setup right and pump out some consistent bbq. Things i've been struggling with are:
1. Temp swings in the UDS.
2. White smoke.
3. Fair amount of creosote buildup on the lid.

The setup
This is the tutorial I followed. 3 3/4" holes, looks like 2" off the bottom of the smoker. I put a weber grill lid on it, sealed with silicone gasket. Weber exhaust is always wide open. I started using a tray for the charcoal basket some time ago. The issue I realized on the last smoke is that the intake holes are actually lower than the tip on the basket tray. I'm wondering if this is affecting my air flow. Basket has 3" feet on it. I find I'm usually running anywhere from the ball valve half open to one pipe hole open and half the ball valve. I'm using Kingsford briskets with oak and cherry chunks. 6 mixed chunks on the last smoke.

Issue 1. Temp swings in the UDS.
I think this is mostly my fault. I mounted my drum for 2 grates and mounted my thermometer (12" stem) directly underneath the 2nd great, which I've yet to even use. I recently started using a digital thermometer probes and found at that location, the stem thermometer can be as much as 50F on the hot side. I believe w/ a lot of previous cooks I probably have been trying to dial it way too down and probably resulted in choking the fire resulting in creosote on the lid (issue 3). This last cook I tried to maintain a true 275-300f and felt that worked pretty well.

Issue 2 White smoke.
This is probably my biggest issue. Chasing the clear blue smoke. On the last cook for example this weekend, I did 2 9lb butts. Used the normal minion setup with the depression in the center for 5 lit coals. It's about 85f here in texas when I started it. PUt the basket in w/ all wholes open. Capped the first at about 200f. Capped the second at about 235f. At this point temperatures were barely increasing. After an hour I opened up one of the caps and threaded the ball valve to half open (1 open, half ball valve). This got me up to 295f, but still white smoke. I ended up walking away for half an hour. Came back to find it at 285f and smoke looked pretty invisible. I put the meat on (out of the fridge for several hours at this point) and the drum dropped all the way down to 228f. This was a 3hr wait time btw. I stuck around for another 40mins and saw the temps start to climb up to 240f, so i figured I wouldn't make any adjustments and went to bed.

Woke up in the morning to find the drum at 195f. At this point I shook the drum a little to shed any choking ash and opened the ball vallve all the way (1 open, ball valve fully open). With this setup i got the drum back up to a consistent 275-285f. I cooked for probably another 6 hrs or so. Total cook time on this was 14hrs. Turned out great btw, but still discouraging.


So my 2 questions are, why am I having issues chasing the blue smoke? Is it in an intake problem? Is it a user-error problem?

Also, any ideas on why i found my drum w/ a massive temp drop in the morning? After ~8hrs of running, is it just normal to have to shake it a little to tap the ash off? People act like the UDS is a set it and forget it type device, but maybe I'm asking a little much out of it?

I'm going to try a brisket this weekend and really hoping to have things on point for this one. thanks all!

 

[SmittyJonz]

What charcoal.? Some charcoal will white smoke most of the cook which is Fine if it’s Not Heavy white smoke and the Food tastes Fine. I Never liked Lump in my UDS - needed a lot of air to burn and so temps would climb, close intakes some to lower temp and it would smolder or die out. Others love Lump in their UDS. Some times I would have to rattle my UDS or tap around the bottom with a mallet to drop ash after 6-8 hrs to keep coals burning Good.

 

[zippy12]

Temp Swings - Air leaking in dont forget air can come from the lid as well as the ports in the bottom

creosote buildup on the lid - yes and this can get on the meat you are cooking. I find certain brands of store purchased wood will do this.

 

[nevadasmoker]

every UDS is gonna cook a little different...

....cook more on it. Buy cheaper meats to experiment. I can't really say exactly what you need without seeing it. But I know you can figure it out by cooking more.

I built my UDS about 6-7 years ago. I had similar problems, but figured it out. I always had to keep checking mine though. Most of the time it stayed where I wanted it too, but than a few times it did not. Maybe some here can do the perfect set up and leave it be for a long time, but it is still risky not to check often.

Or do this, get a pit viper with a Cyber Q, or something similar. It cost me 3 times more than what it cost me to build my UDS, but well worth it. I can leave it alone now for long cooks, plus the app to check the temp on your phone is awesome. This will no doubt simplify things and you will have better results.

 

[Nuco59]

I've had 3 UDS- they all have cooked a bit differently. One was ok, one was "rock solid" and my latest....well it's still in the "love /hate" part of our relationship.

Don't sweat the smoke. Before you put on the meat, smell the exhaust. If it does not smell like something you'd want to cook over, wait a bit. Even if it has come to what you consider a "stable cooking temp". Some charcoal clears better than others and UDS are famous /infamous for "meat fog" from grease hitting the hot coals. I very rarely just get the thin blue.

 

[Radrob]

I'm not a drum expert but have learned a few things since building one in March using it almost every weekend since. I had a metal basket so I used it and noticed that I had temp swings when I used the minion method. I started using the snake method and haven't looked back. I can control the fire by how much charcoal I use and I usually start with a 7/8ths full chimney and it gets to temp and stays there. Here's how I set up the basket, that's a piece of plate to separate the coals.


I also noticed that I don't need 3 3/4" holes to run it. I used the same directions as you did but I rarely have to open more than 1 inlet to maintain 250-265 temps. People have mentioned all drums are different and cook at different temps so you should load up your basket like I do and open one inlet and see where that takes you. Be patient waiting for the temp to stabilize, it takes a while but it will get there.

I also noticed that grease was dripping on the coals causing thick smoke and sometimes a fire would start and shot the temp up so I'm using an Old Smokey ash pan as a difuser set on top of the firebasket and that works good.


I hope this helps but posting pictures of your set up will get you better answers.

 

[W.I.T.W.A.G?]

Most of the drums I'e had like to roll somewhere around 240-260. I think that if you expect it to stay within 5 degrees of xxx that might be asking too much. Though it is possible and even likely after you cook more on it and get it figured out. The bottom line is you just have to cook more. Chicken is cheap and easy so do that for a while. Having a big temp drop after you put a bunch of cold meat on is very normal, it's so normal in fact that it happens every time. The drum is simple and easy but it's not an oven. it is about as set it and forget it as you can get for $100. Dont sweat the small stuff like a 10 degree temp swing, I don't do anything until it gets 25 degrees away from my target one way or the other. When you make an adjustment let it sit for 10-15 minutes before you make any more adjustments otherwise you ed up over correcting (similar to the first time you drive a boat). cook more. relax. use cheap meat. switch to lump.

 

[el luchador]

Start from level zero.

0. Use lump
1. Don't add any chunks
2. Cook some ribs and see if you have white smoke
3. Enjoy ribs

 

[pharp]

I think you just need more reps.

I would not worry about the smoke on the drum. I would also not worry about build up on the lid. Once it kinda cures and makes a crust it wont flake off much, at least for me.

As for the temp swings I think of my drum like this. I light the number of coals that will get me to my target temp right from the jump. I usually am aiming for 300 and I light a full (brimming over top) chimney. If i want to run cooler I light 3/4 or 1/2. I dump the coals evenly over the top of my basket because I think it eliminates potential hotspots and makes for an even wick effect. Bottom intakes for big adjustments and top exhaust for minor ones.

I think you can definitely get your drum to run consistently at the temps you want, but I don't really consider it a set and forget overnight cooker. I have done it before but I usually need to make a minor adjustment every hour or so, and if you miss an adjustment the problem compounds itself. (my daughter has been looking over my shoulder and insisted I include an emoji).