# "Fat Lake" in the UDS



## porkaholic (Mar 30, 2010)

This past weekend I smoked two pork butts in the UDS.  Yesterday I went to clean out the ash pan and discoverd it was almost floating in a lake of liquid fat in the bottom of the drum.  Has anyone ever built a UDS with a bottom drain plug to avoid haveing to pour the fat out?  My other thought would be to put something like kitty litter in the bottom to absorb the fat and then just scoop it out.  I know the problem could be solved with a drip pan but from reading things on this forum I wanted to see how the vaporized material affected the taste of the meat.  What have others done?


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## solaryellow (Mar 30, 2010)

I can't say I have ever had that happen to me.


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## rbranstner (Mar 30, 2010)

I do get a lot of moisture in the bottom of my UDS but I don't think it is fat I think it is water/moisture from the smoke. Well I'm sure there is some fat in there to from some of the drippings that miss the charcoal basket but the UDS is a very moist smoker and builds up a lot of condinstaion in there. I have heard of people putting a drain at the bottom but I would suggest putting some type of drain that you can open and close because if you are smoking on your driveway I wouldn't want it dripping all over my cement. I have a pretty good build up of water in the bottom of my UDS from smoking all winter but not more than a 1/8 of an inch. Do you actually have like an inch of water in yours????? I guess it depends on what you have for a ash pan mine wouldn't float until I had like an inch of water. So maybe you only have as much water as me and yours floats because ours are set up different. And as for the kitty litter I don't think I would go there. I don't like the thought of all that stuff possible getting into my meat. I don't know what they put in kitty litter but I know I wouldn't eat it and if it kills odors and stuff like they say it must have some type of chemicas in there that you wouldn't want on your meat. Tip it over and drain it or put a drain in the bottom. Or some guys cut the bottom off and make it so it is detachable.


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## porkaholic (Mar 30, 2010)

Thanks for all the information.  I did have a lot of liquid and never considered that it might just be water.  The ash pan is a 18 inch pizza pan.  Since the lump charcoal I use is very effecient I do not get a lot of ash.  This is the first time I have had that much liquid in the bottom and I was a bit concerned.  If it is only water with a bit of fat then I will probably just continue to dump it out when I am done.  I guess that is what happens when the smoke takes 17 hours.


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## meateater (Mar 30, 2010)

I use a water pan or you could just use it as a drip pan, it keeps the bottom of my UDS clean, only ashes.


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