My first UDS adventure (will be pic heavy) **All Done**

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chiefmanywrenches

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Sep 8, 2011
156
11
Florida
I have been wanting to build one of these for a while. I have started the process and should have it wrapped up this week. Here is what I have for now. I got the barrel burnt out today with some pallets. There was a liner of sorts in the barrel, it was red. After the fire, I scrubbed it down with an SOS pad and most of it came out. I will hit it with sand paper tomorrow and hopefully primer the outside.

This is my new fire basket and grill grate.

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/3/37/37da6280_photobucket-4732-1332127823505.jpeg

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/8/8e/8ea2bb85_photobucket-3699-1331832141924.jpeg

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/6/64/647257fe_photobucket-5077-1332127853662.jpeg

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/c/cb/cb581fd7_photobucket-5439-1332127881609.jpeg

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/c/c3/c320d377_photobucket-6496-1332127902988.jpeg

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/8/88/88c58d66_photobucket-6769-1332127929915.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Great looking start Booster. I gotta get myself up and finish mine , been at the halfway point too long , would of helped during my last cook
frown.gif


have fun and...
 
Looking good so far.  I have all the parts for mine I want to build, well all but the barrel.  Can't do a burn out where I live so looking for one that des not need it or a place to do it.  I will follow yours with an interested eye.
 
Following the general consensus of what I have seen on here, I raised my fire basket up 3.5 inches with a few bolts. I had planned on just putting it up on some small bricks but this looks much better and easier for an ash tray. I have smaller bolts to hold the expanded steel together nice but the wire on there will hold fine for now. It was all I had on hand at the time and looks fine. As for the inside, I am waiting to sand that completely until I am ready to season it. I don't feel like doing it now and having it coated in oil just sitting there. Next on the list for now is to head back to the store for more tools. Wishing I had a plasma cutter right now but maybe one day. All I have left to do is drill out the intake holes and mount the little pipes and caps and put in the ball valve. Also put in the thermometer, which I already have. It is a 12 in. one that I will position directly under the cooking surface. Ok, that is all I have for now.

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/a/ad/adcb8476_photobucket-4620-1332208596209.jpeg

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/9/9e/9e8b6a44_photobucket-4326-1332208545579.jpeg
 
So I got it 99% done today. I drilled and mounted all the intakes, sanded down the inside and oiled her good. I am seasoning it as we speak.

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/d/dd/dddcb7b5_photobucket-703-1332366747341.jpeg

I only have 1 1.25 hole for the exhaust for now, my drill died before I could finish. The lid is a little popped due to the thermo wire so a small bit is leaking out which I think makes up for the lack of holes for now. I also need to add a handle to the top and sides, both of which are on my table ready to be put on. I will post another pic when everything is done done, but for now she is going good. Temps slowly crawling up, at 225 after about 20 minutes. I am about to go out now and close the side intakes and try to lock it in on 250 with the ball valve. We will see how it works out.
 
Ok all done, enough to cook at least. I got my handles put on so now it's official. I started the maiden voyage to season it yesterday and it went from 5:30 until I was ready for bed around 10:30ish. When it creeped up to 245* I closed all the caps on the other intakes and left the ball valve wide open. It went up slowly to around 255* so I made my first adjustment and closed the valve by half. It stopped rising and sloooowly fell off. When It fell back to 245* I opened it back up to the 1/4 mark. It stayed at 249-253 solid from around 7-bed time. I put 2 magnets over the exhaust and closed the intake. I checked it again around midnight and it was much cooler to the touch. I left it and went to bed. Overall, I am very pleased and have a smoke planned for Saturday.

I started with maybe ~10lbs of charcoal with some wood chunks spread around. This is what was left after 5 hrs of solid smoking.

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/5/54/546d4fbe_photobucket-4977-1332458673162.jpeg

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/2/24/2435cd95_photobucket-5111-1332458627985.jpeg

And the final product. I may add a paint scheme down the road but I like the flat black for now.

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/6/6f/6f7716be_photobucket-3746-1332458568140.jpeg

Now a question. I currently have 2 holes in the lid measuring 1 1/4 inches. My main intake is a 1" ball valve and the other 3 are 3/4 in.

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/6/6c/6c6c6898_photobucket-1628-1332458467938.jpeg

Before I go drilling a bunch of holes, is this sufficient? If I need more exhaust, how much should I add? I have a 1 1/4 inch hole saw and a 7/8inch one. I can add as many of either size as necessary. Thanks for the input and following my build. It was fun and a learning experience. My brother may inherit this one and I will do another with some slight changes. Fun none the less though.
 
Well today was my first smoke. I took out a corned beef brisket to make some pastrami. It weighed 4.6lbs and was pretty lean. I soaked it yesterday for a total of about 8 hours while changing the water out 3 times. Then I seasoned it and wrapped it up for the night in the fridge. I woke up at 4:00 this morning and got the smoker going. Loaded it up with ~15lbs of kingsford along with some hickory chunks. Up to temp and meat on the grill by 5:00 am. The temps came back up from opening the lid in about 10 minutes. It cruised along around 252* for maybe 10-15 minutes and didn't budge. I put my wireless probe through a piece of wood at grate level. I figured it would hold steady but I wanted to stay up with it for a little while to make sure. It started to creep up after a half hour so I closed the ball valve down just a bit and it slowly came back down and locked in around 248-255. I opened it up for the first time around 9am and stuck my thermometer in and it was already at 180 internal. I pulled and foiled here and put it back on for another hour or so till it hit 195 internal. It is now in a cooler resting.

Starting out:

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/c/c9/c94885b9_photobucket-674-1332598130500.jpeg

Just chugging along with some thin blue smoke

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/8/84/84b63426_photobucket-2730-1332598097537.jpeg

Very thin blue smoke

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/7/7b/7b48d886_photobucket-4644-1332598014820.jpeg

Right before I pulled it off, just a long stem thermometer stuck down in the exhaust and my probe in the meat. I will be mounting the thermometer right under the grate but haven't done that yet. Also want to add a small shelf for the stuff.

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/7/7b/7b6a3a37_photobucket-4172-1332597973880.jpeg

And here is a sneak peak going into the small cooler to rest for a while

https://statich.smokingmeatforums.com/f/fb/fbb75230_photobucket-1161-1332597928839.jpeg

Q-view coming soon.
 
Looks nice ! Thumbs Up
painted mine last sunday. Going to put handles and wheels on this weekend.
Then season it saturday. And fill it with chicken on sunday.
cant wait ! :yahoo:
 
Ok all done, enough to cook at least. I got my handles put on so now it's official. I started the maiden voyage to season it yesterday and it went from 5:30 until I was ready for bed around 10:30ish. When it creeped up to 245* I closed all the caps on the other intakes and left the ball valve wide open. It went up slowly to around 255* so I made my first adjustment and closed the valve by half. It stopped rising and sloooowly fell off. When It fell back to 245* I opened it back up to the 1/4 mark. It stayed at 249-253 solid from around 7-bed time. I put 2 magnets over the exhaust and closed the intake. I checked it again around midnight and it was much cooler to the touch. I left it and went to bed. Overall, I am very pleased and have a smoke planned for Saturday.

I started with maybe ~10lbs of charcoal with some wood chunks spread around. This is what was left after 5 hrs of solid smoking.





And the final product. I may add a paint scheme down the road but I like the flat black for now.



Now a question. I currently have 2 holes in the lid measuring 1 1/4 inches. My main intake is a 1" ball valve and the other 3 are 3/4 in.


Before I go drilling a bunch of holes, is this sufficient? If I need more exhaust, how much should I add? I have a 1 1/4 inch hole saw and a 7/8inch one. I can add as many of either size as necessary. Thanks for the input and following my build. It was fun and a learning experience. My brother may inherit this one and I will do another with some slight changes. Fun none the less though.
looks awesome. One suggestion you may find useful. Throw a cheap ppizza pan on those charcoal basket legs. Makes ur smoker nice and neat and easy cleanup. Ashes can be dumped when you reload ur charcoal.
 
looks awesome. One suggestion you may find useful. Throw a cheap ppizza pan on those charcoal basket legs. Makes ur smoker nice and neat and easy cleanup. Ashes can be dumped when you reload ur charcoal.
Jennenga,

Yes, thanks for the tip. My smoker has come a long way in the past couple years and I have remedied that situation a long time ago. I actually used a cheap foil pan that I spread out and keep under there. They last about 8-10 smokes or so before I replace it. Quick and easy. This is it now after several years of turning out great bbq.


I actually use a pizza pan as a heat diffuser/drip tray on the bottom rack that works nice.

 
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