seasoning my UDS and poor temp control

[cmwr]

Someone give my a scenario for when they ignite the coals in their UDS. I got mine seasoning outside now with peanut oil and the temps are rather dissapointing. I plan on using the Minion method when I actually smoke something to get max life out of my coals. But to season, I just dumped a half bag of standard charcoal in the fire basket and put lighter fluid on it and lit. First off with both caps off and the valve all the way open, I couldn't put the lid on even with the chimney full open. The fire quickly went out. I have the same problem on my weber. I have to let the fire die down before I put the lid on. Anyways once the fire was done and the coals were grey on the edges, I put the lid on and left every intake wide open. After an hour, it is smoking great but the temp fell to 140. About 30 minutes later is is up to 180 and still smoking. This is disappointing cause i fiugured the temp would climb quickly. If I was cooking now, I would have to allow an extra 2 hours or so just for the temps to get in the 220 range. The fire basket is 3" above the floor and the intakes are 2" centered from the bottom of barrel. Is this normal that it takes a UDS forever to get to temp?

 

[cmwr]

After posting this I went and checked the temps. They were at 210 degrees. I capped both intakes and left the 3rd intake with the valve wide open. It is still smoking good but just taking its own sweet time.

I realize if I was to start a basket of coals like I would on my grill and let them get glowing before I put my lid on, the temps would soar fast and I would be capping intakes quickly. But my point is that if I am going for a 12 hour burn or even a 6 hour burn for my ribs, I will need to start with a few grey coals and add them to the unburnt coals to start a nice slow burn. And from the experience I am having now, that will take a few hours to get the drum to temp. And it is 65 degrees and sunny today. If it was 20 degrees outside I would never get this drum to temp doing the minion method.

 

[cmwr]

Update....After posting the secon response, I went out and checked temps. With both intakes capped and the valve wide open., the temp had dropped to 190 in 10 minutes. I cannot seem to keep a burning set of coals up to temp with just the valve open and both intakes capped. this does not seem normal from everyone elses experiences that I have read about. Grrrrr

 

[easttnsmoker]

Wish I could help... I tried mine out today and had the exact opposite problem!  You know it is a bad sign when your Maverick goes to HHH because it is too hot to read!!!

 

[cmwr]

I just have a feeling if i dump a load of charcoal in the baket and then add 8 or 9 glowing coals to the pile, it will take 2 hours to get over 200. Just now after 2 hours and 15 minutes with 2 open intakes and 1 capped, I had over 220. I capped the open one and left the valve full open to see if it can hold its temp with just one valve. Boy this has taken forever!!!!

 

[JckDanls 07]

First off I would suggest you get a charcoal chimney and dump the lighter fluid.... I was looking for some pictures of your rig but couldn't find any... I would suggest you put your unlit charcoal in your basket.. all pushed around to the outside (with wood chunks mixed in) and leave a little hole in the middle for about a half to 3/4's full chimney of lit coal ( all ashed before dumping in)... It will take some trial and error to figure out the right combination to use... Same with your vents... it will take quite a few runs before you start getting the hang of it... but as always it will take a good 15-20 minutes for changes made with air vent to start being noticeable... Just be patient and keep experimenting

If you can't keep temps steady (225ish) with 2 capped and valve all the way open.. then it sounds like you may have to change a cap with another air valve... that way you leave one wide open then start playing with the second valve...

Hopefully some UDS users will stop in and give their opinion... I don't use a UDS but I do use a Mini WSM.. it's close to the same just on a smaller scale... I have to use 10-15 coals to get started.. So I imagine you will need anywhere's from a half to a full chimney to get started since the drum is much bigger than my mini...

 

[cmwr]

With the valve full open and the other 2 capped, it doesn't hold temp. But I have discovered that if I uncap 1 intake only and leave the valve half open it can maintain 220. So with an empty smoker it appears to hold long smoking temps I will have to leave one uncapped and the valve 1/2 open. I wonder what will happen if I add a short stack chimney instead of just the lids bung hole. That may create a draft which would cause faster and higher temps?

The reason I used lighter fluid was just for this initial run to season the drum. I don't plan on using lighter fluid once I start smoking.

And am I correct that with a rack full of meat, I will have to relearn this all over again?

I will try and post pics tomorrow.

 

[JckDanls 07]

I would think that would help by all means... As I said... It will take time but it sounds like your starting to get the hang of it already....

 

[cmwr]

I went to bed last night with smoker going and this morning it is out obviously. But what surprised me is the charcoal was only half burnt. I had two intakes open and a 12" exhaust stack on the lid that I added last night mid burn. Why didn't the charcoal burn all the way? Could it have been because for my test run I used what was left of a bag of store brand charcoal?

 

[jrod62]

First off use good brand of charcoal. No lighter fluid . Get a chimney starter. Light 10 coals .
After they are nice and hot dump them on top of the coals in your charcoal basket. Have all vents wide open .
Start closing them as your temp get closer to what you want it at. You should have it up to temp in less then 30 minutes.
Think mine only takes around 15 minutes to get to 225 ( I will have to time it next time I smoke on it .)
Keep a record of your smoke. Every 15 minutes write down what the temp. is and what vents are open.
below is a smoking log that you can download.
http://www.smoking-meat.com/media-files/smoking-meat-log.pdf
Get a name brand charcoal and I think that will take care of most of the trouble you was having.
Take pictures of your setup that can help us a lot in helping you.