UDS Version 2.0

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

chiefmanywrenches

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Sep 8, 2011
156
11
Florida
Well, the time has come to build myself a new UDS. My brother was given a few barrels for free for his job and he gave me one. I am going to make some changes on this one for the better and give my brother my original one. My buddy and I got going on it tonight and since this one was sealed we started by cutting out the lid. I will be using a dome lid from a Weber.






Wonderful, no liner. I will burn it out tomorrow really well since this drum previously held oil. I went and picked up a truck load of pallets this afternoon and broke them all up. I will keep this thread going until I get it done which should be a week or so. Some of the changes I will make are only using one intake, a 2" ball valve so that I can use my BBQ Guru. I will also make an adjustable rack so that I can raise and lower the grates if I choose. There will be more but that is down the road.
 
Thank you for your concern, I thoroughly rinsed out the barrel and it had water in the bottom. The cap was off so there were no fumes built up. Everything was under control.
 
I got the barrel burned out today. Before I did, I cut one hole for my intake. I still haven't decided how many intakes or what size I will use. Once the barrel was very hot I beat down the lip with a hammer to make it smoother and safer.




 
Here is a picture of the barrel post burn out that I took this morning. For some reason it looks really beat up in this picture but it isn't at all. This weekend I will give it a good sanding and pick up all of my hardware. Going to try to weld everything in on this one so it lasts a lot longer. One day closer to completion.

 
I'll be watching   Keep those pictures coming 

Gary
 
I'll keep everyone posted for sure. The advantage I have is that I have done this before and know exactly what I am doing, already have all the tools to do it and know the changes I want to make. These are some of the changes, if anyone has any suggestions feel free to chime in.

1. Going from 4 intakes to 1 bigger one or maybe 2 at the most. I use my BBQ Guru Digi-Q whenever I use the UDS. It mounts up to my ball valve and that is all the intake I need. Sometimes I open up one other one while it is getting up to temperature but never need more than one while cooking. I was debating putting in a second smaller one so that I can take it camping if there isn't electric. My current UDS will sit right on 250 with only the ball valve on wide open.

2. Instead of using bolts from the outside for fixed racks, I will be mounting some adjustable closet style racks so that I can adjust for whatever height I want.

3. I will be using a Weber dome lid instead of the flat ones that come on the barrels.

4. There are also several little things I will do like putting a hook for tools and maybe a tray or something. I don't know about all that yet.
 
Well, Home Depot doesn't have 1.5 or 2" ball valves so I will just do 2 of the 1" ones. I am also thinking about doing 90* elbows and raising them up some. With the turn and extra length intake, will it draw in enough air to be able to keep temps up without the BBQ Guru?
 
I'm waiting to see how she comes out

Gary
 
Yeah, I am pretty stoked to get it finished up. I am going in a little bit to pick up all of the hardware that I need to get it done. I will have to wait to do the welding though on the inside for the racks and also to seal up the ball valves but that's ok. I was also thinking of a theme and I have a few ideas in mind but you are going to have to wait for that.
 
So here is today's progress. I went to Home Depot and got all of the hardware, some more sand paper and some paint. The only thing that I do not have at the moment are the adjustable racks for the inside and the arms to put in them. I will get those this week and weld them in.

Here is the mock up before sanding and painting the intakes:


After some sanding and a little painting: I will do some more sanding before it gets painted.


Intake supports:


Sanded the inside and a picture of the intakes. I will re-sand the inside and oil it down before I season it.

 
Last edited:
I am already planning on a "new & improved" UDS and I have not cooked on the one I have now. What's the deal with your new intakes, how did you secure them to the drum? I an thinking I want to just try one big intake. I know that HD doesn't have big ball valves. Even the smaller ones are cheaper at Amazon. That Prime membership sure is paying for itself. I live an hour from the closest HD. Most everything I have got from Amazon comes from the other side of Washington state So I still pay sales tax....but I get it delivered to my door for less than getting it local....and I never have to leave the sanctity of my place...sorry for rambling...
 
Inkjunkie,

So the intakes are a 1" 90* with a male and female end. The male end goes into the barrel and I got a 1" inner diameter coupler thing. I also have 2 lock washers on the outside to get a good pinch on there. It is very secure but will be even better when I tack weld it this week. Then there is a 12" pipe that threads into the 90* and the ball valve goes on the other side. I will not tack weld the ball valves on the top of the pipe. I also put a u-bolt around each so that it keeps them from moving.

I also have amazon prime but I didn't want to wait a couple days for the parts when Home Depot is literally right around the corner from my house. I was originally going to go with a 2" ball valve but they don't sell it and the ones on amazon were pretty expensive. After finishing it up, I actually like the look of the 2 intakes going up. I would also have had to buy a new adapter for my BBQ Guru because I only have one for a 1" and a 1.5" ball valve.

This is what I am going to use for the rack. It isn't this exact one but same concept: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-ShelfTrack-84-in-Standard-Bracket-2812/100194576?N=5yc1vZc89d
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Hot Threads

Clicky