Got a few questions about my UDS

[Smitty]

I’ve been reading through this UDS forum and read that some of you have figured out how to get a 12-24 burn on your UDS. Man, that would be nice!!! I can’t seem to get more than 4 hours like some of the other guys I read about. I do have one ball valve on a long upright and I’m going to take BluDawg’s advice and try getting rid of it to see what happens. Here are some pics of my UDS. It sounds like I’m ok on my exhaust, right? And are yall using lump or briquettes? Are you using a full basket? How are you placing the lit coals in? I’ve tried the minion method with the paint can and even tried using another vertical sheet of expanded metal (see the pic of my basket) to try and go from one side to another. Then, I just use my weed burner and light just the smaller section. I bolted a 17” deep-dish pizza pan to the bottom to catch the ashes. I read about another guy who filled the basket and then made a small crater in the top for his lit coals but I haven’t tried that yet. I’m about to get this thing powder coated and it sounds like I may have to weld shut some of my vents which is why I’m asking before it gets repainted. I have 5 vents on here right now but I only have them all open when I’m firing it up initially. My girlfriend just bought me a CyberQ Wifi for my birthday too that I’d like to use with it just so I can watch the temp from my iPhone. I’m thinking about drilling some probe holes like my boss’ Gator Pit smoker has. Is there a better way? It has 3 food grates in it currently but one is for a water pan. I added 4 long bolts to the top food grate so I didn’t have to drill more holes in the side. Thanks for the help.

[Raider18]

I use a bag of royal oak and cook for 24 hrs at 225. If you use the guru seal off everything but the vent connected to the guru and leave the exhaust wide open.

As for lighting the fire I use a half full chimney and dump it on the rest of the coals in the basket.


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[Mettle]

Fill the basket and light 1/4 chimney and just dump it on top. 10# gets me over 10 hour at 400-425 degrees.

[Smitty]

Thanks yall. Found some Royal Oak at Home Depot. Academy only carries B&B. Is that stuff any good?

Also picked up two 1-inch ball valves with the steel nipples and conduit locknuts. I don't have a way to weld them in so I've been using the conduit locknuts. I'll close off the other 3/4 in intakes for now til I can get them welded shut. I just need to find a larger step bit now at Harbor Freight since the biggest one I have only goes up to 1 1/8 inch which is just slightly too small. I'll test it out this week and try an overnighter.

[Smitty]

I answered my question about the B&B charcoal. It looks like the burn time is not all that great according to these rankings. http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumprankdata.htm?burn

[Smitty]

So glad I found this forum!!!! I converted two of the 3/4-inch valves to 1-inch valves and capped off the others for now til I can weld them shut. Modified by basket by adding a 3-inch cylinder of expanded metal to the center. Filled the basket with Royal Oak Lump and added 15 briquettes on top to light it. Started at 8:30pm. It settled in around 250 on my ambient probe with both valves halfway open and my water pan right above the coals. Aiming for slow & low. Checked it this morning when I woke up before heading to work (6am) and it was still purrin at 275. Curious to see if it's still going after I get off work.