My first UDS

[facepeeler]

So after searching long and hard about which type of smoker to buy, I decided to go "cheap" and make a UDS. I found a guy near wjere I work who is selling used barrels for $15. They stored graphite powder, and have the red lining.

I started the morning at Lowe's buying a 7/8" hole saw, I am planning on running 3/4" pipe with a ball valve for airflow, and about $20 worth of stainless steel hardware. Im planning on running two racks, so I have to go back and get some aluminum flashing to make a collar for a dome lid to sit on. Im putting in a third rack 1" above the top of my fire basket, for a water pan. My cousin's future father-in-law is a metal fabricator, so I have him making me a basket. Im thinking 18"x18"x10" should be adequate capacity. For the racks I am going to use 22.5" grates sitting on 3ea 3/8"x1.5" lag bolts.

So far, today, I managed to punch the holes for the pipe, and the bolts. Ive spent the rest of the afternoon burning the barrel with a big stack of old firewood so I wont have to take my barrel to a sandblaster. We'll see how it turns out.

This week I plan on getting a weed burner, trying as best I can to get the liner out, and get some aluminum flashing. Im not planning on painting the outside until Im finished.

I do have one question about a dome lid. Will just the vent on the dome lid be enough for adequate draft? Or will I need to add a bigger vent hole?

 

[jrod62]

Yes the hole on the lid will work fine. Don't forget to take pictures as you go and post them .

 

[facepeeler]

Ran into a bit of a snag. I tried burning out the barrel for two days using a good supply of old firewood. The outside of the barrel turned from blue to white, but the red lining remained. I called all the sandblasters I could find around my area *Little Rock, AR* and the cheapest was $90/hour. Screw that. I talked to the guy who supplies barrels to the engineering company my dad works for and he sold me a brand new unlined barrel for $65 yesterday. So tomorrow Im gonna be drilling my holes again, and figuring out something for the fire basket. I had a guy who was going to fab a basket for me, but he's also does subcontract work for the construction company I work for, and we had a nasty little tiff two days ago over a bill. Needless to say, he's not so willing to fab a basket for me, especially not for cheap. 

 

[facepeeler]

Here are a couple photos that I took of my progress today with the new barrel. Next weekend I will get the iron pipe, ball valve, and expanded metal to make the charcoal basket. I also still need to find some sheet metal flashing to make a collar for a lid to sit on. Then I should be ready for a test burn

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• facepeeler
• Jan 12, 2013

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• facepeeler
• Jan 12, 2013

 

[iceman61]

I had the same problem you did trying to burn out a barrel liner. After my 2nd burn I broke out my grinder with a wire brush attachment. This is something I do not recommend. Not only do you have to put up with little slivers of wire coming off the wire brush attachment at high speed, but when I crawled back out of the barrel I was so covered in soot, I thought our German Shepherd was going to attack me because I didnt look like the same person that went into that barrel. The hair on his back bristled up and he started barking and growling at me.

I called a few of the local body shops and they all quoted $20 - $30 to sand blast a barrel inside and out. I retired the barrel I had been working on as a burn barrel & gladly took them a newer barrel. They did a great job getting the liner out and the paint off. Alot of automotive body shops have sand blasters. Just give one a call next time.

 

[facepeeler]

Tonight I made a little progress, I bought the expanded metal to make my coal basket, and got my pipe nipples put in. I bought 3/4" x 3" nipples, and have them held in place with conduit nuts on each side of the wall. They seem to be holding tight, but I still think Im going to put a bead of high-temp caulk around the nipple on the outside. We came up with what we think will be a solid lifting system for the coal basket, when we have it put together I will post pics of our design. I still havent decided what Im going to do for an exhaust, as its looking more and more like Im going to use the barrel lid instead of a dome. Thinking like buying a 2" flange, bolting it to the top, and using like a 4" piece of black pipe out of that, and fashion some sort of flue for the "stack"'

Im open to suggestions if anyone has any.

AND, in the middle of this build, Ive committed to entering my first competition; the Buzz BQ here in Little Rock. I now have a whole lot of ground to cover between now and May.

 

[facepeeler]

Here are a couple pics of the basket I built today. 24x24 sheet of 3/4" expanded metal, and a bunch of 1/2" stainless steel nuts, bolts, and washers. Did a good burn out of the new barrel today, next weekend is a test run, and going to run ribs and a fatty.

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• facepeeler
• Jan 20, 2013

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• facepeeler
• Jan 20, 2013

 

[facepeeler]

All done. Test burn today, two racks of ribs tomorrow. The water pan idea worked well, both top and bottom grates were within a couple degrees of each other. And the temp control is insane, I was actually able to go inside and relax a while.

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• facepeeler
• Jan 26, 2013

 

[themule69]

looks like a nice build fellow arkie.

happy smoken.

david