UDS - Made in Canada!

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baconisgood4me

Newbie
Original poster
Jan 27, 2010
11
10
Carleton Place, Ontario Canada
Hi all,

I finally got my UDS 95% complete.
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I ran into some problems with finding certain pieces and not having the proper tools, but I will explain in detail with pics in case any other Great White Northerners decide to build one of these.
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I have only a couple things left to do to it and it will be 100% complete. I need to buy a 2nd grill and add some decorative paint to it.
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So here we go...

I found a food grade barrel. However it had the dreaded liner in it. So I rented a Weed Dragon and hooked it up to a propane tank and burnt out the barrel. This is what the barrel looked like after the torch burn...



For added protection, I then went to Home Depot and grabbed four wood pallets and burnt the heck out of the barrel again.






For the lid of my barrel I purchased this Master Chef portable charcoal BBQ. In the U.S. I think you guys called it a Uniflame.



My design plan was to use the top of the barrel for the bottom for easy access and cleaning. So I had to come up with a way to cut the bottom of the barrel out. I used my reciprocating saw and it worked well.


The cutout piece will be used for an ash pan later on.



Next I had to drill pilot holes. These were for the 1 inch holes for the black pipe air intakes.



I had a heck of a time making the 1 inch holes as I didn't have the right tool and wasn't willing to spend $50 for the proper tool so I made do with what I had and got 'er dun! Next was paint and the temperature here has been cold lately so I took the drum to the Fire Dept. hall and painted it there. (That's why the Fire truck is in the background.) LOL


1st coat


2nd coat


3rd coat (no that isn't my hand, it is my daughters! LOL)





Next I added the ball valve, 24 inch extension pipe and bracket.



I don't have a welder nor do I know how to weld. I had a hard time finding a 13" weber charcoal grill too. Once I found one I had a buddy weld on the expanded metal to it. I bought 3 1/2 inch bolts with nuts and washers and fastened it to the ashpan. The bolts are 1 inch long out the bottom of the pan and 2" between the pan and grill. The ashpan is the cut out piece from the bottom of the barrel.







Next I installed some eye bolts to hold the cooking grill.




I had to bend the bottom lip of the lid to get it to fit over the barrel and then sprayed the edge with spray paint since the finish all came off when I put the pliers to it.
 
I coated the inside with PAM and lit up some lump charcoal and Hickory to season it.




It was cold and windy today. By cold I mean 4 °C (39 °F) and that wasn't counting wind chill as it was very windy too! It took an hour to get up to 220 °F. I had all 3 one inch vents open, at 150 °F I closed the first one, at 185 °F I closed the 2nd one and at 220 °F I played with the ball valve and found it had to be about 2/3's open to maintain 220 °F.


Success TBS!
 
Cost breakdown of this project was as follows...

Barrel = $25.00
Torch Rental = $12.00
Wire Wheel = $10.00
Chef Master BBQ = $0.00 (I bought it at Canadian Tire and used CT Money to purchase it. It's regular price is $65)
Expanded metal = $30.00
Paint = $20.00
Misc. (Screws, washers, pipe, ball valve) = $50.00
Weber grill = $18.00

Total = $165.00

I still need 1 more can of paint and another grill and that will probably bring me up to the $200.00 even mark. Not bad for the size of smoker it is. A 22.5 WSM would cost me over $600 with shipping.
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looks good man. when i cut the bottom out of my drum i left a 1 inch lip to hold my top grate,its free and works total build cost 12 dollars. but it probably took me longer to gather parts. lol
 
Hey, BIG4M - great job on you build. Here, SOTB (south of the border), Weber parts are readily available. And the 13" charcoal grate is a stock item at Lowes and Home Depot. Next time you need something you can't find, post it on the forum and someone will show up wanting to exchange it for something you might have that she/he can't find here.

Gary
 
Did my first smoke on Sunday. I did a Pork shoulder. I had a heck of a time maintaining the temperature.
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It worked well for the first couple of hours staying around 220-245 and then went nuts and shot up to between 350-400 and I couldn't get it back down.

I used lump charcoal. I think next time I'll try briquettes and see how they do.

The shoulder came out great though. I used some apple and hickory for wood, Jeff's Rub and the used the pulled pork finishing sauce in the pulled pork thread. Their are 2 sauces there and I made both. They were both awesome as was the meat with the rub only.

I can't wait to try Jeff's BBQ sauce. It's already made I just have to smoke some meat to try it out!
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