The Texas BBQ Forum

Just came across this thread for the UDS guys and just wanted to say thanx to BluDawg for helping me and Grillitarian with our first builds. We found some food grade barrels for 16 bucks up here in Denton and could not resist getting to work building our first,and certainly not last builds. We used them several times and have been more than pleased with the results. It seems hard to find a Weber top at garage sales etc. around here, so now we are adding extensions to the first build to increase our Q capacity. This is Texas and bigger is better. I will follow up with some before and after pics.

De Nada, Anytime Amigo!

I second the extreme gratitude, not only for the helpful instructions but for a very tasty brisket recipe/process that was dead on!

Bigdaddy Dan and I have been having soooooo much fun with the drums......and people are starting to notice and ask questions. Like, "CAN WE GET ONE?"

The last drum we had we turned into three domed cooking chambers, extensions, or what I call "the Magnum" .
For my 'Magnum' I cut the drum on the lowest rib, about a foot from the bottom, and tried to flare it out with a body hammer so it would do a slip fit over the top lip of my UDS. Didn't happen, so I went to plan B, which was to weld it to a lid and then cut out the lid so it would create a nice domed lid. Came out great!

Second one- cut the top section of the drum just below the top rib, where the barrel side comes straight again. This time the body hammer flared the metal so it did in fact make a perfect slip fit! Gave that one to my son for his UDS. He is using his original lid (and lockring) and it works perfect!

Third one- with the section we had left over we did a bit of grinding until the little bit of flare from the lower rib fit nicely into the edge of a drum lid. We then tapped the lip over until it made a tight seal.
Next, we tack welded the straight cut edge to the top of another lid and then filled in the gaps with a high grade, paintable sealant.
Bigdaddydan then gave it some paint to match his UDS.

$16 for the drum, $6 for two lids, $12 in paint and $5 in misc. hardware = $39 for three AWESOME meat chambers!

So, to say that we are serisouly afflicted and addicted is an understatement, thanks BluDawg!!!!

Quick update---- the flared rib techique, while it does create a flared seam that will seat over the top rolled lip of the drum, will not seal correctly. My son's first cook saw a quick ramp up to 300F....which stayed there even after all intakes were closed...for over an hour. Finally it began to creep down...then settled at 275F. I droppe by and determined that the flared union was actually drafting....creating an additional source of oxygen to the chamber. We closed the main exhaust and finally got it down to 250.

Bottom line is that we had a serious air leak with the flared rib technique. I will cut the rib out and weld a drum lid onto the bottom of it so that a reliable seal can be obtained. BigDaddyDan and I have two such units and they work perfectly. Live and learn!

My additionnal chamber fit snug and didn't need the lock ring. It seems the add on made holding a constant temp. easier for me,just remember if you are taking the top off for an extended amount of time to shut the valve first for a bit. This helped for temp spiking. After pulling my ribs I opened all air intakes and put on some moink balls. The UDS is fun and fuel efficient.

Bump

Why don't you make this into a Sticky Dave there is so much great info in tis thread that would really be beneficial to those interested and make it easily accessible. SInce almost every other "Good" BBQ forum has a section dedicated to the UDS.

Awesome work on the cooker. The extended lid is nice that is what I did for my wife's UDS to cook Turkeys.

I found a local place that has a ton of barrels for sale for about 10 bucks each, and they're all in good shape, so building a UDS is on my very soon to-do list. Reading over much information here, it seems the biggest thing to remember is intake to exhaust. So to clarify, let's say I have 3 - 1" intakes, I should have at least 6" worth of exhaust? 3x2" or 6x1", etc? I am looking to reach and sustain up to 400 deg. I suppose I can work out sustaining those temps (if possible) later on.
How about placement of intakes? Does this really matter? I was thinking, to make it even, putting an intake at 12, 3, 6, 9 o'clock positions on the drum with exhaust(s) closer to the center of the lid.

One the hunt for a 55 gallon closed drum up in Canada. The companies that do sell them in single order purchases are very expensive. Used drums are hard to find and even if I did it would be nearly impossible to do a 6 hour burn off to make sure the inside of the drum is clean as the heafty $500.00 would not make my wife happy . Thinking I might have to give up on a UDS build.

canadianbbqer wrote:One the hunt for a 55 gallon closed drum up in Canada. The companies that do sell them in single order purchases are very expensive. Used drums are hard to find and even if I did it would be nearly impossible to do a 6 hour burn off to make sure the inside of the drum is clean as the heafty $500.00 would not make my wife happy . Thinking I might have to give up on a UDS build.

Where in Canada are you located?

tex_toby wrote:

canadianbbqer wrote:One the hunt for a 55 gallon closed drum up in Canada. The companies that do sell them in single order purchases are very expensive. Used drums are hard to find and even if I did it would be nearly impossible to do a 6 hour burn off to make sure the inside of the drum is clean as the heafty $500.00 would not make my wife happy . Thinking I might have to give up on a UDS build.

Where in Canada are you located?

Simcoe Ontario. The Simcoe by Port Dover lol

canadianbbqer wrote:

tex_toby wrote:

canadianbbqer wrote:One the hunt for a 55 gallon closed drum up in Canada. The companies that do sell them in single order purchases are very expensive. Used drums are hard to find and even if I did it would be nearly impossible to do a 6 hour burn off to make sure the inside of the drum is clean as the heafty $500.00 would not make my wife happy . Thinking I might have to give up on a UDS build.

Where in Canada are you located?

Simcoe Ontario. The Simcoe by Port Dover lol

How about this http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/hsh/3586273047.html

The only real reason to burn one out is to remove the liner and then you can get it sand blasted to get around burning it. If it is an unlined drum a good scrubbing out with a strong detergent/ degreaser is all you need.

nascarchuck wrote:OK... Fixin to make another drum smoker within the next week or so. Question about painting and the prep for the paint.

Using the weed burner that y'all talk about, do you burn the paint off on the outside of the drum or what? I have yet to paint one but the next one will be painted. I just want to prep it right so the paint will adhere properly.

Also, when using nipples for the intake, what length are you using? I was using short ones, like around 1" but saw someone has long ones (maybe 10"-12"). Would that work better getting the intake closer under the coals?

What cha thunk?

One inch will be just fine that's what I have on my uds.