Well, I dont think I will need to worry about cold weather cooking. I did my seasoning/test burn yesterday. A few stats about the final UDS configuration.
3@ 1inch black pipe vents with 2@ ball valves and one cap. 3 inches up from the bottom of the drum
16x10ish charcoal basket made out of 9 gauge expanded metal with 3.5 inch legs (Basket will hold 18+ pounds of charcoal with lots of room to spare.
Cooking grate 7inches from the top of the drum.
A second grate approx 4 inches above the fire basket to set my diffuser/drip pan. (Old steel Wok with the handle cut off)
2 inch vent pipe in the center of the lid (6in long)
20 inch aluminum pan for ash and drippings in the bottom (Home Depot water heater pan)
3@ garage door handles (1@ for the lid and the other 2 for the barrel)
I used all stainless steal hardware inside the barrel
A side note on the build. A 1 1/4 inch hole saw made the perfect size hole. I was able to scree the 1' black pipe nipples into the drum with a very tight fit. Really did not need the nuts on either side but I do have them.
So yesterday I wanted to season the UDS and it was 26 degrees out. I sprayed the interior with Pam. I poured an 18lb bag of Kingsford in the basket along with some hickory chunks and pulled out 30 briquettes and put them in my
charcoal chimney. I opened all there vents. I started the charcoal in the chimney and poured it into the center of the basket. I left the lid off the UDS for 10 min then put the lid on. I let the temp come up to 350 degrees then started closing vents. The temp hit 360ish and started backing down.
I got it settled down into the 350 degree range and went to dinner at a friends just down the street. When I came back it was still holding temp at 352 degrees. At the 4 hour mark I closed all the vents and capped the vent. It cold down extremely quickly.
Last night I prepped an 8.5lb pork shoulder and put it in the fridge. I went out this morning to prep for my cook today. I couldn't believe how much charcoal was left after a 4 hour 350 degree burn. The ash was a fine talcum powder consistency. I loaded about a pound of new charcoal in the basket and added my hickory chunks. It now has been running for 3 hours in 16 degree weather at 245-250 degrees. I have one vent wide open and one just cracked a hair.
Wow I love this thing, Im excited to see how the pork shoulder turns out today.