Made myself a present / UDS smoker

BRUISER

BRUISER

silent.. but deadly
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Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Raleigh
Been wanting a smoker so I copied a buddy of mine and made one

if you google UDS smoker you will see lots of these type.

my buddy gave me a free 55 gallon drum, that I cut the top off and then drill 3 holes near the bottom, then I set a fire inside it for about 5 hrs and got it so hot I could not stand within a few feet. I wanted to make sure I burnt of any crap left inside.

then I attached all the ball valves, made the catch pan and basket, made top and finish welded it all up. After that I sprayed pam inside it and lit the lump charcoal to let it "season" the inside so tomorrow I can test it out and smoke a chicken.
Not a bad set up for only having about 3 hrs of fab in it.

Here it is with fire burning all the crap off it
awww.impaks.com_images_ken_img_4410.jpg



top made and ball valves all connected
awww.impaks.com_images_ken_img_4414.jpg


start of catch can
awww.impaks.com_images_ken_img_4415.jpg


with basket that holds charcoal

awww.impaks.com_images_ken_img_4417.jpg


just lit it with charcoal to season it

awww.impaks.com_images_ken_img_4420.jpg



looking inside it
awww.impaks.com_images_ken_img_4421.jpg


all done and painted ready for tomorrows smoke

awww.impaks.com_images_ken_img_4424.jpg
 
So.....how was the yard bird?! :smokin:
 
Looks great. For the record, next one you build...only really need one ball valve, then pipe caps. The 3" temp gages from amazon drilled into the side work great--the 2" ones from lowes are junk-- mount it like you do a temp gage in a car with 225 pointing up...that way you don't have to get up to check. If you can find a weber lid, you're set, so much more room and chimney control. I've built seven of these things now and only recently built one for myself. By far the best (midsize) smoker design out there IMO.
 
Would you consider doing a write up for us smoker newbs that want to get started but don't want to drop a lot of coin for a nice smoker? My wife hates the artificial smoke flavor and it would be hard to get her to agree to spend the money on a name brand smoker. I want to show her that food smoked right doesn't smell and taste like that. It would be a lot easier to get her to agree to drop 50-75 dollars on this than 300 on another.

I've looked around and there's a lot of info on this but no one has a good step by step write up on these.
 
There is a mess of information on these smokers. Its probably the most popular to build cause you dont have to know how to weld to make one.

The hardest part of a UDS is the ash pan / basket. The rest is drilling holes in the right place.

http://howtobbqright.com/UDSsmokerplans.pdf


For the ash pan you might be able to get a pan from the cooking section at Wally world. Then you only have to make the expanded metal part.

Also go with 1" valves instead of 3/4 I have heard it makes things better.
 
The gist. I open all three ball valves when I start it to let as much as in as possible to get it up to hear then I close the bottom two valves and use the upright pipe to adjust the temperature. More u open it the hotter it gets. And it is easier to see and move valve when it is near the top and not have to bend over.
 
what are the pipe caps for?
braxton357 said:
Looks great. For the record, next one you build...only really need one ball valve, then pipe caps. The 3" temp gages from amazon drilled into the side work great--the 2" ones from lowes are junk-- mount it like you do a temp gage in a car with 225 pointing up...that way you don't have to get up to check. If you can find a weber lid, you're set, so much more room and chimney control. I've built seven of these things now and only recently built one for myself. By far the best (midsize) smoker design out there IMO.
Click to expand...
 
lockedup5 said:
what are the pipe caps for?
Click to expand...


To save $30 in ball valves. The other two pipe nipples are never open unless you want it 400*+ or are starting the coals. Otherwise they are closed and only one is adjusted, with a 3/4 full flow ball valve it's usually about half open to keep it at 230-250. I used to use weber coal grates and expanded steel for the coal tray, now I use the cut off tops of kegs that were used for home brew with a grate in the bottom. I'll try and get a pic of my newest UDS, the local fancy restaurant just used it to smoke a whole (parted out) pig.
Another critical factor IMO is how well the lid seals. If you've got a good lid seal, get the valve set right, and it's not ridiculously windy-- you can smoke at exactly 230* for 14+ hrs on 12 lbs of charcoal. The grates are standard weber kettle grill grates you can buy at lowes or wal mart, use 1-1.5" 1/4x20 screws and nuts to hold them, four per level drilled through the sides of the drum. The height of the grates depends on what you plan on smoking and what you're going to use for a lid.
 
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