1st UDS

[elkhorn98]

Picked up a food grade 55 gal drum that had blackberry puree in it for my 1st uds. Burned it out, used a grinder with a wire brush, high temp primer, high temp semi gloss black. Went with 4 3/4" nipples and 1 ball valve. Made a thermo port out of threaded lamp rod. Garage door handles. Weber charcoal grate with expanded metal and pizza tray attached for ashes. Went with 2 cooking grates 4.5" and 11" from the top. A diffuser will go on the 3rd weber rack jusr above the charcoal basket and will use a pizza pan or pizza stone. Picked up 3 weber kettle exhaust dampers for the lid. I over burned the lid a little and it warped a little. Anyway to fix it?

http://s1345.photobucket.com/user/e... Uploads/20140917_202307_zpsrllpulr4.jpg.html
http://s1345.photobucket.com/user/e... Uploads/20140919_105638_zpsr3i8if3t.jpg.html
http://s1345.photobucket.com/user/e... Uploads/20140919_175914_zpsnujr4esz.jpg.html
http://s1345.photobucket.com/user/e... Uploads/20140921_092220_zps6snjkqdw.jpg.html
http://s1345.photobucket.com/user/e... Uploads/20140921_175341_zps2yzwmmo0.jpg.html

 

[flyboys]

Drum looks great!  A temporary fix would be to wrap stove gasket around it while cooking to keep it more airtight.  I do that with mine.  You could place hd aluminum foil there too.  Hopefully the bump will get you a better answer.

 

[denniston]

That's a nice looking UDS.  It's kind of hard for me to tell what's going on with the warpage.  Is it the lid that's warped or the drum?

 

[elkhorn98]

Its the lid. Look at the pic whete it is sanded down.

Did some testing tonight while seasoning it and it is impressive. With everything open I can get up to 390 degrees and adjust it down from there.

 

[flyboys]

If you're able to get the temps back down and hold them steady, I wouldn't worry that much about it.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

My lid warped a bit when I had it powder coated. Hasn't caused any issues controlling temps. I do use the locking band to close things up. Sounds like you have good temps going. You should be able to get higher temps though. I have (3) 1" valved air intakes and can hit over 500. For exhaust my lid has a 2" & a 1" hole. I pull both of the bungs from those and leave them wide open when smoking.

One thing with a UDS is to not over shoot your temp too much it's hard to get back down. Easier to increase if needed.

 

[inkjunkie]

My lid warped a bit when I had it powder coated. Hasn't caused any issues controlling temps. I do use the locking band to close things up. Sounds like you have good temps going. You should be able to get higher temps though. I have (3) 1" valved air intakes and can hit over 500. For exhaust my lid has a 2" & a 1" hole. I pull both of the bungs from those and leave them wide open when smoking.

One thing with a UDS is to not over shoot your temp too much it's hard to get back down. Easier to increase if needed.

This is my battle with the BGE. I have found that I need to be very patient in the fire building process, that it is better to just build a very small fire and let it creep up to the desired point than it is do build a barn burner fire and try to choke it down....

 

[timberjet]

Nice build there. I would just keep your eye open for a new lid. Or hit some yard sales this spring for a kettle lid. You would have to install a piece of sheet metal around the inside of the lip of the drum for it to fit though. Mine has warped a little with use but I use a big rock sometimes to press it down onto the barrel while it's hot and it goes back to shape for a while. It really doesn't seem to affect it much anyway. So, did you get all that liner out of there? That stuff is so nasty.

 

[pappa roach1]

Very nice build.

I have seen toggle latchs used to hold the lids down. You might look into doing that to keep the lid tight.

Looks to me like you did your research before building.

Bob