So I've been reading about UDSs a lot over the past few months and decided to build one. I was able to find some new barrels on craigslist that hadn't been used but had a brown lining in it. Picked up a couple of them, then found a donor weber for $10. Wife got a few pallets from work and I did two burns then a bunch of cleanup with a flap disc on my grinder.
First Burn Still going two hours later. Second burn later that week.
Fire basket- I picked up two 12x24 pieces of expanded and used the donor Weber charcoal grate as the bottom. I used some 1/4" threaded rod, cut them to 4" lengths and made some legs. The washers I bought were too small in diameter so I used some sheet metal to make some "washers" so the nuts had something to grip onto.
The inlaws got us a firepit for Christmas and it had a BBQ grate that was the perfect size. Still have the donor Weber grate (not in great condition) that I will install lower at another time. I used 1/4"x2" stainless steel hardware to mount grate into UDS.
After the good burns and grinding away I sprayed the inside with veggie oil spray and dumped a bag of lump into it and let her run wide open (hadn't installed intake pipes yet) for about 10 hours with some hickory chunks.
Here I have the 3/4" ball valve installed and the other pipes are also installed. The step drill bit I was using was getting dull and I actually made this hole a little too big so I had to weld it closed to seal it up.
I did a test run last night with a little charcoal I received when I bought one of the donor grills but it wasn't enough to play with temps. It was also some cheap stuff and I didn't realize it was self light (had fluid on it).
I put two chickens in brine yesterday and just fired her up. Having a hard time getting temps up right now but I'll play with it and figure her out. More to come.
First Burn Still going two hours later. Second burn later that week.
Fire basket- I picked up two 12x24 pieces of expanded and used the donor Weber charcoal grate as the bottom. I used some 1/4" threaded rod, cut them to 4" lengths and made some legs. The washers I bought were too small in diameter so I used some sheet metal to make some "washers" so the nuts had something to grip onto.
The inlaws got us a firepit for Christmas and it had a BBQ grate that was the perfect size. Still have the donor Weber grate (not in great condition) that I will install lower at another time. I used 1/4"x2" stainless steel hardware to mount grate into UDS.
After the good burns and grinding away I sprayed the inside with veggie oil spray and dumped a bag of lump into it and let her run wide open (hadn't installed intake pipes yet) for about 10 hours with some hickory chunks.
Here I have the 3/4" ball valve installed and the other pipes are also installed. The step drill bit I was using was getting dull and I actually made this hole a little too big so I had to weld it closed to seal it up.
I did a test run last night with a little charcoal I received when I bought one of the donor grills but it wasn't enough to play with temps. It was also some cheap stuff and I didn't realize it was self light (had fluid on it).
I put two chickens in brine yesterday and just fired her up. Having a hard time getting temps up right now but I'll play with it and figure her out. More to come.
