UDS build

[billbo]

Well I finally got going on this after a lot of research and question asking. So far so good. I got the intakes in today as well as the cooking grate. I still need to finish the lid, put my handles on, and do the fire basket. Here is what I have so far.

Oh, my intakes did not drill out comletely clean so I have small gaps where air can get in betwenn the drum & nipple. Is there a putty or caulk out there I can use?

Grate in



Intakes in.



More to follow! Stay tuned!

 

[mossymo]

Billbo
Looks great and I love the green !!!
I have quite a few projects i need to get done, but a UDS is on the list.....
For a sealant I would use Rutland's high heat silicone sealant. Myself and many others here have used it on smokers and it is rated up 500º.

 

[billbo]

Thanks Mossy! Where can I find this sealant? Home depot carry this?

 

[mossymo]

Just about any hardware store should carry it, Menards is where I have gotten it.

 

[sumosmoke]

That is a beautiful green smoker, I'm not sure it qualifies for the "U" in front of the "DS". The build looks really slick, nice work!

 

[rickw]

So far, NICE! You could use some conduit nuts to help seal up the intakes.

 

[ddave]

You can order it here

http://www.redhillgeneralstore.com/A45119.htm

if you have trouble finding it in a store.

Dave

 

[billbo]

Woo Hoo! Got er done today! I started out by adding the therm and handles on the sides. Then I drilled the lid holes and added the handle. I totally agree with Tip, the most crucial tool I had was my wife's seamstress tape. I can't imagine building one of these without one. A must have for every UDS build!





On to the basket. I used the 13.5" Weber grill trick for the bottom with two sheets of 1/2" X 12" X 24" expanded metal wrapped around and held with rebar tie. I cut some 1/2" stainless threaded rod I had left over from my ECB mod and turned that into legs. I was hesitant about using 1/2" expanded metal instead of 3/4" but thought what the heck, it will be a nice 12" basket! The handle is a 3' strip of aluminum bolted on.



Here it is loaded up almost 3/4 of the way. I threw in a couple chunks of apple I had for good measure.



Fired up exactly 10 bricks in the chimney and placed them in the middle of the basket. Didn't take long at all to come up to speed. It was a total of 45 minutes between lighting the chimney and reaching cooking temp of 230. Not bad!



Seasoning away.



I have had it dialed in at 240 since 5:15 with only minor adjustments in air flow. Talk about consistent heat, wow!

My only concern is that my ET-73 mid grate is reading 240 and the barrell therm BQ300 is reading just 175. Is there that much disparity from center to edge? Or, is it because I have no food in there? Seems like a big gap in readings.

 

[rickw]

Did ya test both therms? I normally get around a 40 degree temp difference from edge to center. It hasn't affected any cooks so far.

Looks like ya did a mighty fine job with the build, now put some product in there

 

[billbo]

I have tested both using the boiling water. I may have to run them both through the test again. I think maybe the fact that its empty and the ET-73 is sitting right over ground zero might be doing it too.

 

[ddave]

That's pretty standard. You'll find as a cook goes on and the entire drum warms up the difference will be slightly less. It will usually settle in to about a 40° to 50° difference between the ET-73 center grate reading and the dial thermo reading.

Nice looking drum.

Dave

 

[billbo]

So if there is that much difference mid grate to side, I assume you try and guage your desired heat toward the mid grate mark? Thanks for the points DDave!

 

[rickw]

That's right.

 

[travcoman45]

Fine lookin drun yall got there! I sure do like that color to!

 

[billbo]

Thanks! I'm keeping an eye on your build too!

 

[ddave]

Yes. Or if you can't put a probe at center grate . . . like if you have a giant packer brisket laying across the grate . . . you'll have to compensate a little with a digital towards the edge.

After the drum has been running for a couple of hours, if you try and keep the dial thermo at around 200°, you should be in the zone of 240° to 250° in the center. If it's close to where you want it don't fight the drum chasing the temps. It will just get frustrating. (Don't ask me how I know this.

) Find out where the drum wants to run (in the zone) and let it go.

You're welcome.

Dave

 

[bigsteve]

Looks good Bilbo! Once you got started, you got it done darn fast!

 

[billbo]

Yeah it moved along good once I got going. The first blood dripped in the smoker was mine. My hands are shredded. Difficult to work with gloves when you have to do some of the work. Well worth it though!

 

[billbo]

I fired it up at 5:15PM eastern last night and had it going good. At 10:30 it was running at 240. I shut down all intakes except for one I left 3/4 open for the night.

I checked it again at 2am and it was still running at 227. At 6am it had dropped to 140. Opened up the intakes and by the time I was out of the shower it was back to 230. I left one intake fully open today and came to work. DDave you were right, the barrell therm did eventually catch up with the grate temp somewhat.

I took a peek at the inside this am and noticed that there was very little fuel used. Very efficient unit! I also noticed there was a sizable puddle of water in the bottom. Is this normal?

I will be curious to see how it burns today in my abscense, it is supposed to be close to 90 out today. My kids are supposed to call me after school and report in. I will report the results tonight.

 

[ddave]

Yep.

You'll see a little more condensation with a seasoning run because of the moisture of whatever you used to coat the sides with. But sometimes it happens when cooking as well. The drum is a very moist cooking environment. I just dump it out the next day.

Sounds like it is chugging along quite nicely. You're going to love cooking on it.

Dave