New UDS build in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
First time poster from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and very grateful to all you people for these posts. I am only on page 618 so far, but am working my way through as a rite of passage!
I have started my first UDS - some parts are hard to come by here, and a Weber would cost over US$400 here, so no chance of my finding one of them lying around unwanted! However, I did find someone who can weld for me (I am learning) and some suppliers of the expanded metal - I have not found anyone who will sell me less than a few hundred metres of it yet though...
Here's what I have got so far:
The Drum and Lid:
The insides before the first burn and clean:
The charcoal basket I made - not sure about this, and am trying to replace with expanded metal if I can get some. I am also sourcing a pizza lid to weld under this to collect the ash
I have 2 x 3/4" air inlets for the base, with nipples to close them off, and a 1" ball valve type tap for the main inlet, which I will space evenly, about 2" up from the bottom of the drum. At the top end, I am using 3 x U-Bolts to support my grill, when I get it made.
The lid seal seems ok, but I am wondering about using clamps to seal it better, or one of those barrel levers to close it. I saw someone here selling a type of silicon seal (red colour) by the metre, normally used for oven doors - any thoughts on this?
I don't think I will have room for a second grill, as my first one will need to allow for a flat lid for the foreseeable future, but it's a starting point. I will post some more photos once I make some progress.
Anyway - as an aside, one of the biggest learning curves for me has been finding out what ABT's and Fatties are. For some regional flavour, one of my first cooks is going to be a 'Cupim' which is the hump of a Bramha style bull - it's not unlike brisket in many ways, and really benefits from a long cook at low temps. Not sure if you have this in the US?