Rookie Irish woman building UDS

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smokincailin

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 15, 2014
15
10
Dublin, Ireland
Hey everyone,

UDS's aren't common in Ireland so I'd love some advice on my build. It's was my husbands brainwave that we build one, but he's conveniently working and we want it for this weekend. Apart from the fact I'm more comfortable in a hardware store than him anyway :) I spent yesterday shopping around, picking up all the bits and pieces. Very tough to get my hands on some things here, where it seems easy in the US.

Anyway, just bought a brand new oil drum with lid. So, should I burn it out? It has no liner, but it's painted on the outside with non heat resistant paint which I guess I need to come off anyway so I can paint it with one that'll last (when I find a place that sells it).

Appreciate any feedback.
 
Yes ma'am you'l' have to burn it & season it. I'm a bit new at this built my first one a few weeks ago. I'm not familiar with the kinds of stores in Ireland so I'm at a loss to suggest somewhwere. Here in the US everyone goes to Walmart. Good Luck
 
Yes, burn it out somehow. If you can get some old wooden pallets, that seems to work the best. Locate and drill your vent holes in the bottom of the drum before burning. This will help with keeping the fire hot and burning good. Some folks will say to try and prop the barrel at an angle some how with the top facing into the wind then they rotate it every once in a while. Good rule of thumb is once the exterior paint is gone and burned off, burn it one more time. Then you should be able to rinse it out and finish the build and get it seasoned. Once you rinse it out, dry it and coat the inside with cooking oil of some sort to prevent it from rusting. Outside is no big deal since it's easier to sand the rust off. There are a ton of great building ideas on here and all over the internet. Here is my build that I documented on YT. I didn't use pallets to do my burn out but I had a new unused drum.



Hope this helps.

Chad
 
Hey! Cheers for the feedback, I appreciate it. 

Actually, mine was a new drum, raw inside, so I didn't burn it out.

here's the result of what I built. Weber lid didn't fit perfectly, so flattened the rim and used the locking rim from the drum to seal it and hold it in place for smoking. Only fitted one valve. Seasoned it, and temp rested at 215. Next day put some small pork pieces on it, again temp rested at 215. IT of pork got to similar heat before we took it off, but it didn't fall apart for pulled pork. I have a two whopping pork forequarters I want to put on for a big bash we're having tomorrow. One is 19lb, the other 18lb. I'm terrified of screwing it up and loosing all that meat. We want pulled pork sandwiches, so I need the meat to drop off the bone....

Any bright ideas anyone?? ;)


 
I'm new to the UDS myself but have been smoking with other smokers for a few years. My most recent smoker was a gasser. I still have it & probably will use it again when I tire of the UDS. If fall off the bone meat is your goal I'd recommend smoking the meat for 4 or 5 hours. Take them off put them in oven bags or aluminum foil & finish them in the oven @ 250 -275 degrees. It's worked well for me with ribs.
 
Thanks! yep, that's pretty much what we've done. Added two more valves this morning and another thermometer. Getting our desired temp now and it's resting perfectly. Smoked for 5hrs and wrapped in foil and into the oven. It's a 16.5lb shoulder and been cooking for almost 12hrs, has just reached desired internal temp, so we're trying to figure out if we rest it now or do we need to keep cooking for closer to 16hrs?
 
Just out of curiosity what temp is that butt at? I take mine to 200-205F. You will want to double wrap in aluminum foil and then a towel or two. Put it in a dry cooler or the oven and let it rest for at least an hour. If desired you can add a bit of liquid to it before foiling to keep it even juicier.If you don't take it all the way to 200 at least it will not pull for sandwiches.
 
 
Thanks! yep, that's pretty much what we've done. Added two more valves this morning and another thermometer. Getting our desired temp now and it's resting perfectly. Smoked for 5hrs and wrapped in foil and into the oven. It's a 16.5lb shoulder and been cooking for almost 12hrs, has just reached desired internal temp, so we're trying to figure out if we rest it now or do we need to keep cooking for closer to 16hrs?
A 16 pound shoulder will take 24 some odd hours to cook at 250 degrees. Just for your information. You could have just smoked it the whole time if you wanted to. That is kind of the beauty of having a uds. You can load that sucker up and smoke for that long without refilling the basket. Or close to it anyway. Generally most of the folks I know smoke the pork until it is about 165 internal temp. and then double wrap with apple juice for liquid. Then cook until 205 or until you can stick a toothpick into the meat with little to no resistance. Then of course you rest it for at least an hour like I described. Perfect pulled pork every single time.
 
Thanks. We wrapped it in foil after 5hrs smoking and then back into the uds for another 5hrs. Only put it in the oven for last two hours cause we'd to get a 19.5lb into the smoker, which I will be doing in the uds all the way. Just trying to get them both done for tomorrow. My internal temp is at 205 now and I've taken it from the oven, wrapped in towels and into the cooler. I'm a little concerned that it took only 12hrs to cook but it had no resistance at all with the thermometer going in and I could feel the meat fall apart through the foil.
 
You sped up the process quite a bit in the oven at 350 I would guess. I would figure 1.5 to 2 hours per pound at 225degrees. 25 to 30 hours? That is one big hog leg.
 
Kept oven at 250 so I can't understand it? Bone in the meat though, so maybe that makes it a shorter cooking time? Would that be right. I really hope we haven't screwed up all that meat, but it really seems to be done, and smelling lovely at that. I guess I'll find out in an hour when I try to pull it
 
Nice looking UDS! I see you solved your temp issues. I have built two UDS smokers and on both I used (3) 1" intake vents. Never used the weber lid, have always just used the drum lid and locking band.

You should really like that smoker. Easy to use and you can cook as low as 180f and as high as ????? I've had mine up to 500f+ that's where the therm stopped!

You will find that over time the paint on the outside will start to come off. That's why doing a burn out is important even if the interior of the drum didn't need it. I wouldn't worry about it much. Just keep smoking!
 
Thanks! yeah, I'm totally chuffed with it now. I knew the paint would come off eventually, but maybe one day I'll give it a lick of fresh paint when it needs it. 

loving smoking so far, plenty of learning to do, but I'll have fun trying that's for sure. Added two more valves for higher temps and another thermometer for more accuracy too. 

 
haha... this could be a potential disaster. thanks for the help, I'll let you know! 

Almost midnight here... this smoking business is tiring :)
 
I would suggest you buy A maverick remote wireless thermometer setup with two probes. One for the meat and one for the smoker. You can set alarms to go off if something goes wrong and it will wake you up. I can fill my coal basket and get 225 with no tending for 12 or more hours. 
 
If there is no paint or coating inside, you do not have to burn it.  UDS's are easy to make. If the lid doesn't fit perfect... not that big a deal. The smoke residue will help to seal it.
 
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