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Crashs Wife

  • Karma: 2
Crash bought me a gift......2 55 gallon drums!!!!  Now he tells me I need to figure out how to build it!!!  Figures!!  So start posting pictures here and at HIBarbeque.com on the best and easiest and cheapest way for me to build my first UDS!!!  I can't wait!!  I got here in Hawaii with 5 smokers.... after 5 months we know own 9???  How does that happen!!!
#1 - March 22, 2011, 10:53:23 am
Crash's Better Half :)
AKA Pit B!t@h

brandon

Since it was his idea for you to figure how to build I would start with another Stoker and two sets of probes as you will want them delivered before your first cook. Just thinking ahead! ;)
#2 - March 22, 2011, 02:16:45 pm
« Last Edit: March 23, 2011, 09:08:25 pm by brandon »

Mike (AZBarbeque)

  • Karma: 171
And I can personally deliver them for a fee...  ;D
#3 - March 22, 2011, 02:21:26 pm
Michael J. Reimann
Realtor - Clients First Realty (Real Job) - www.TheReimannWay.com
Owner/President - AZBarbeque - #1 BBQ Club in Arizona
Owner/Pitmaster - AZBarbeque Catering - www.AZBarbequeCatering.com

If God wanted us to be Vegetarians, why did he make animals out of meat??

Crash

  • Karma: 20
Since it was his idea for you to figure how to build I would start with a Guru and two sets of probes as you will want them delivered before your first cook. Just thinking ahead! ;)
We roll with a Stoker.  Guru's are so 2005.    :D

Why do  have a feeling that Tim with BBQ Bullies will be chiming in on this one?
#4 - March 22, 2011, 11:59:49 pm
I love animals.  They're delicious!
VRM Pit Crew

barbedQ

  • Karma: 3
years ago. before they got really popular we built one for my dad.  Since he didn't have access to a welder, we used stainless hardware to secure the brackets for the grates.   We bought flat stock and bent it in a bench vise with a little heat from a torch and a hand sledge.  drilled two holes in the leg that attaches to the side of the drum to keep them from spinning.  cut internal washers out of header gasket using shears and put wing nuts with lock washers on the outside so we could tighten them from the outside.   drilled out holes at the bottom and on the lid then used metal pop in plugs to fill them.  we put a eye bolt thru the middle of each so you had a handle to push them in and pull them out.

little bit of foil around the top to fix the crappy seal and we were ready to go.  Did the whole thing in one day, burned in the next and cooked the day after that.  Can't remember what we spent but I know it was less than $100.
#5 - March 23, 2011, 08:47:32 pm
Medium Spicewine; 2 NB Offsets; 2 WSM; 2 ProQ; 1 Peoria Cooker

azkitch

  • Karma: 9
I drilled 4 vent holes in the bottom, 1/2 inch. I could've gone w/3@3/4", I think. Many put 8 holes around the edge of the top, within inches of the edge. I clustered 'em together, so I can cover all at once. Bolted a 4 foot by 10" piece of #9 X 3/4" expanded metal into a circle with stainless, bolted to a Weber charcoal grate and a pizza pan with long stainless J hooks. 4 bolts about an inch and a half long to drop the cooking grate onto. Done. I plug the vent holes with magnetic steel balls I got at a gas station for 3/99 cent or something. And it works well. Best ribs I've cooked in a long time tonight!
#6 - March 23, 2011, 10:53:46 pm
CBJ # 53779
For cooking, lower and slower. For spices, mo' hotter, mo' better. Habaneros rule!

SoEzzy

  • Karma: 0
Here's how I do it, I have 12 out there working away, (well 11 really #1 sucked and I cannibalized it for parts) 9 x 55 gallon, 1 dead 55 gallon, 2 x 85 gallon!

Shopping list

1 x open top 55 gallon drum, (if it has a colored liner once you have the holes drilled, burn the heck out of the barrel, use cardboard or cardboard and wood, get the whole thing as hot as you can, or you can use a weed burner, nasty fumes DON't breath them), better to find unlined food grade drums if you can.
Use the charcoal grate out of a Weber kettle, 17.5" diameter, wrapped in 60" x 10" of #9 expanded metal.
3 x 1/2" x 1.75" stainless nuts bolts and washers.
3 x 1 1/2" U bolts, with plates and nuts, (Don't use Nyloc nuts, use standard nuts, I use galvanized U bolts and weed burner the heck out of them... WARNING don't breath the vapors though).
3 x 15 Oz Tomato sauce cans, topped and tailed.
2 x 22.5" grill grates.
3 x Cheap metal handles from Lowe's or Home Depot.
1 x Turkey fryer thermometer (WalMart $5.00).
Fridge magnets or 1" round rare earth magnets, Lowe's or Home Depot.

Tools

Tape measure.
1 x 1/8" drill bit.
1 x 1/2" drill bit.
1 x 3/4" step drill bit.
1 x electric drill.
1 x sharpie.
Wrenches to match the nuts & bolts
1 pair heavy work gloves
Weed burner.

Build instructions

Turn drum upside down, measure 2.5" down from the bottom lip.

I like 6 evenly spaced holes, some like 3 some like 4, pick what you like, as once you have it running at temperature you will mostly only be controlling it with 1 hole. I like the 6 holes for a couple of reasons, 1) symmetry the 6 holes works well with the 3 grate supports. 2) You can alter the choice of hole to use in blustery or windy days. 3) You regulate the intake on the side away form the wind, with 6 holes, I twice as much choice as with 3 holes.  

Drill the pilot hole with the 1/8" drill bit, then run them out to 3/4" with the step drill, (I find the 1/2" holes a little small to control the pit with only one hole, and you don't need to go as big as an inch).

Eyeball the position 180

Don't know where the rest went, so here's a link to the full version http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49419
#7 - April 01, 2011, 02:11:49 pm
« Last Edit: April 04, 2011, 03:24:03 pm by SoEzzy »
There's no such thing as a little Garlic! A, Bear

azkitch

  • Karma: 9
And SoEzzy gets bitten by the apostrophe bug. I kept editing, replacing apostrophes and quotes, until the whole message comes thru. And weird punctuation mark, a fraction, a degree thingie, etc. will dump the rest of the text out into the nowhere...Good luck!
I measured 180 across, eyeballed the 90 degrees between...or I figured out the length of a chord 1/4 of the 24 inch circle...or 24 inch diameter times pi divided by 4, you can measure around the lip...I do that crap for fun, cuz I know how. I enjoyed geometry and trig...
#8 - April 01, 2011, 10:35:12 pm
« Last Edit: April 01, 2011, 10:37:50 pm by azkitch »
CBJ # 53779
For cooking, lower and slower. For spices, mo' hotter, mo' better. Habaneros rule!

Quiggs

  • Karma: 3
This was my build...all hand tools until I decided to make custom Weber lid, then I had to braze ring to lid.  Only did that to get more room inside for two grates as far from firebox as possible....  The paint cost me more than any other single item, scrounged for all the rest...

http://www.azbarbeque.com/forums/bds-and-uds-smokers/uds-build-first-attempt/


Quiggs
#9 - April 03, 2011, 10:53:57 am
Quiggs@AZBarbeque.com
Smokin Dead Meat BBQ
Born on Date 4-18-08
WSM, 22" WSM, Offset, UDS, Pro Q, Couple of Weber Golds, Bradley & Gas Burner.
www.smokinbbq.piczo.com
KCBS member & judge # 51659 of questionable standing

Crashs Wife

  • Karma: 2
We did it!!  Still isn't painted but first burn done and have two pork butts cooking as we speak.  More pictures to come.



#10 - April 18, 2011, 12:29:47 am
Crash's Better Half :)
AKA Pit B!t@h

n2dabluebbq

  • Karma: 2
nice. ya'll have the chance to use that Hawaiian wood yet?
#11 - April 18, 2011, 05:36:49 pm
low and slow baby, low and slow

s.475 passed baby!           http://s801.photobucket.com/albums/yy291/n2dabluebbq/

Crash

  • Karma: 20
nice. ya'll have the chance to use that Hawaiian wood yet?
Kiawe??  Nope, we're sticking with Apple and Cherry from Colorado. 
#12 - April 18, 2011, 10:21:05 pm
I love animals.  They're delicious!
VRM Pit Crew

azkitch

  • Karma: 9
Kiawe is just laid back mesquite. It lives in the islands, fer pete's sake.
#13 - April 18, 2011, 11:44:28 pm
CBJ # 53779
For cooking, lower and slower. For spices, mo' hotter, mo' better. Habaneros rule!

Crash

  • Karma: 20
I personally think Mesquite sucks for smoking......same for Kiawe. 
#14 - April 19, 2011, 03:22:46 pm
I love animals.  They're delicious!
VRM Pit Crew

azkitch

  • Karma: 9
Yeah, what he said.
#15 - April 19, 2011, 07:02:38 pm
CBJ # 53779
For cooking, lower and slower. For spices, mo' hotter, mo' better. Habaneros rule!

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