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dbleyepatches
Newbie
Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 39
Location: Nebraska
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 Posted: Nov 18 2009 Post subject: First cook UDS question |
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I did my first cook last night with my brand spanking new UDS. I put 1/2 of a charcoal starter of lit coals into the basket and opened the vents wide open. The temp quickly climbed to 350 (right where I wanted it for the turkey) and then fell to 325. I put the stoneware bowl on the lower grate to catch the drippings and put the turkey on the top grate. I could not get the smoker to get any higher than 250 degrees after adding the turkey. Even after cutting the pipe nipple extentions off and installing both ball valves right at the bottom of the barrel, no higher temps.
So I took the turkey out and added another 1/2 chimney starter of hot coals. The temp went up to 300 for about half an hour but then settled around 290.
The other posts that I read sound like these UDS will run away from you if you are not careful. This will be perfecty for smoking ribs, brisket, fish, etc... but is it possible to cook at 350 degrees in one of these things? Am I missing some design flaw? |
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Marky C
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Joined: 29 Nov 2006
Posts: 501
Location: Delaware
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| Posted: Nov 19 2009 Post subject: |
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From you previous posts I assume you are using Royal Oak lump?
Lump or Briquettes should not matter much, but the lump does burn hotter.
That basket is very large, is the charcoal concentrated or spread out. You may need to concentrate it more. Having your cooking grate and temp probe that high may make a difference, I don't have a weber lid on mine, so I can't help you there. I can get to 350 - 400 easy, if I leave the lid off for a couple of mins. Are you using just the original vents in the Weber lid, that may not be enough. Maybe someone with the Weber lid can help you more there. Sorry, that's all I have. Good luck.
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ChuckieD
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Joined: 07 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Nov 19 2009 Post subject: I'm New 2 |
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I did my first cook this weekend also on a new UDS. I put 12 lbs of coals in (large basket also) it spread out about 4 or 5 coals thick. lit the coals outside the drum & waited until they were ready, then dropped in the basket, the temp quickly shot up to about 450. It took about two hours to dial the temp down to 250 (is that normal?), but it stayed there for four hours (the length of the cook), after the cook I choked the coals out and I will use whats left later. I'm having trouble keeping the temp down. It sounds like you may have needed more coals. I don't know... I'm a rookie also. My drum has three one inch air inlets with 2 ball valves, how big are your air inlets?
I think there is a bit of a learning curve on these drums that we are both going through. I don't think this helps much... but I feel your pain Brother!  .
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dbleyepatches
Newbie
Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 39
Location: Nebraska
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| Posted: Nov 19 2009 Post subject: |
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| Marky C wrote: | From you previous posts I assume you are using Royal Oak lump?
Lump or Briquettes should not matter much, but the lump does burn hotter.
That basket is very large, is the charcoal concentrated or spread out. You may need to concentrate it more. Having your cooking grate and temp probe that high may make a difference, I don't have a weber lid on mine, so I can't help you there. I can get to 350 - 400 easy, if I leave the lid off for a couple of mins. Are you using just the original vents in the Weber lid, that may not be enough. Maybe someone with the Weber lid can help you more there. Sorry, that's all I have. Good luck. |
I was using royal oak. The charcoal basket was full after I added the lit coals. I never thought about the exhaust vent being too small. I guess I will see how it works on Thanksgiving when I try the same recipe again. I am going to add one and a half starters of lit coals and see how that works. |
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dbleyepatches
Newbie
Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 39
Location: Nebraska
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| Posted: Nov 19 2009 Post subject: Re: I'm New 2 |
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| chuckied wrote: | I did my first cook this weekend also on a new UDS. I put 12 lbs of coals in (large basket also) it spread out about 4 or 5 coals thick. lit the coals outside the drum & waited until they were ready, then dropped in the basket, the temp quickly shot up to about 450. It took about two hours to dial the temp down to 250 (is that normal?), but it stayed there for four hours (the length of the cook), after the cook I choked the coals out and I will use whats left later. I'm having trouble keeping the temp down. It sounds like you may have needed more coals. I don't know... I'm a rookie also. My drum has three one inch air inlets with 2 ball valves, how big are your air inlets?
I think there is a bit of a learning curve on these drums that we are both going through. I don't think this helps much... but I feel your pain Brother! . |
The holes in the bottom of the drum are 3/4" (1/2" pipe fittings). I thought that the problem was going to be keeping this monster cool enough!! |
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Teleking
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Joined: 26 Sep 2007
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Location: Maine
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| Posted: Nov 19 2009 Post subject: |
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I have no trouble running my UDS up at 350 for turkey. I use wicked good lump. I can run it even hotter than that If I want.
This is from the drum build thread:
| SoEzzy wrote: | Here are some temperatures and cook times for my UDS, 6 x 3/4" holes air intakes, and a 19" charcoal grate with 8" above the grate for charcoal, 2" below for air flow.
You will love them more and more as you use them, I've done everything from 240 - 375 F cooking in mine, all based on the amount of charcoal I start at the beginning.
I pour a two layer base of charcoal into my charcoal ring then add the following different amounts depending on what temperature cook I'm aiming for.
1/2 chimney of charcoal will produce 250 on the thermometer.
3/4 chimney of charcoal will produce 300 on the thermometer.
Full chimney of charcoal will produce 350 on the thermometer.
You can also weigh your charcoal for your cooks.
6 lbs of charcoal will cook for ribs or chicken, 12 lbs will be enough for a brisket or two or Boston Butts, 18 lbs will cook long enough for a competition with butts and briskets cooked first, then ribs and chicken to finish all on the same pit.
I often will do two or three cooks on a single load of charcoal, as it snuffs out so well between cooks.
I also use the weed burner to start it, if I'm going for a high temperature cook, I can start more charcoal that way, and so get a higher temperature rocking and rolling from the start. |
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12TH AV SMOKERS
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Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 648
Location: Rockford, IL
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| Posted: Nov 19 2009 Post subject: |
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I'm in with you guys and so is my buddy who took the other UDS I built. As I said in my build thread I too was having a problem getting it to hold any higher than 250. I was wondering about the exhaust ?? Seems to be a bit restricted.
I've got three inlets with 3/4" pipe ( 1" holes ) I'll likely add another 1 or 2.
Wish I could find some WG Lump around here. I've only found 3 brands so far. Schnucks, RO and Cowboy.
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Teleking
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Joined: 26 Sep 2007
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dbleyepatches
Newbie
Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 39
Location: Nebraska
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| Posted: Nov 19 2009 Post subject: |
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| Teleking wrote: | I have no trouble running my UDS up at 350 for turkey. I use wicked good lump. I can run it even hotter than that If I want.
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Is there a real difference between brands of lump charcoal? I can get Royal Oak for $5.73 for a 10 lbs bag and Cowboy is available here for more than twice that price. I would have to order wicked good lump which would be extremely expensive with shipping. Is there that much difference? |
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12TH AV SMOKERS
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Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 648
Location: Rockford, IL
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| Posted: Nov 19 2009 Post subject: |
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Haha... did the same search right after my last post. I'm not close to any of these but I do get towards Chi-Town fairly often so I can try the Vernon Hills location.
Wish I would have checked earlier because I've been in the suburbs the past three weekends and I could have went a little out of my way.
I need to talk one my locals into carrying Wicked Good or at least something better. Those chunks they show on their webpage are much larger than what I've seen so far.
Thanks Teleking
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Marky C
BBQ Pro
Joined: 29 Nov 2006
Posts: 501
Location: Delaware
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| Posted: Nov 19 2009 Post subject: |
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I use the Cowboy because it is readily available and $11.99 for 20 lb. I can get Wicked Good at $17 I believe 20lbs. I rarely see Royal Oak even at Wally World.
A lot of folks on here seem to not like Cowboy. I don't have a problem with it. Some of it is smaller pieces but the flavor is fine with me.
 
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Last edited by Marky C on Nov 20 2009; edited 1 time in total |
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dbleyepatches
Newbie
Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 39
Location: Nebraska
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| Posted: Nov 19 2009 Post subject: |
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Anyone use the Royal Oak steakhouse? What is the difference?
Oh, found my first rock in a bag of Royal Oak. It was about baseball sized! |
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Teleking
BBQ Super Pro
Joined: 26 Sep 2007
Posts: 4139
Location: Maine
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| Posted: Nov 20 2009 Post subject: |
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| 12TH AV SMOKERS wrote: | Those chunks they show on their webpage are much larger than what I've seen so far.
Thanks Teleking |
You have no idea  The last bag I opend had a chunk about 5" in dia and 12" long that fell out of the bag. I couldn't beleve it, never seen a chunk of charcoal that big before I almost took a picture of it.
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smokemaster
BBQ Fan
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 281
Location: Europe
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| Posted: Nov 20 2009 Post subject: Re: First cook UDS question |
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| dbleyepatches wrote: | I did my first cook last night with my brand spanking new UDS. I put 1/2 of a charcoal starter of lit coals into the basket and opened the vents wide open. The temp quickly climbed to 350 (right where I wanted it for the turkey) and then fell to 325. I put the stoneware bowl on the lower grate to catch the drippings and put the turkey on the top grate. I could not get the smoker to get any higher than 250 degrees after adding the turkey. Even after cutting the pipe nipple extentions off and installing both ball valves right at the bottom of the barrel, no higher temps.
So I took the turkey out and added another 1/2 chimney starter of hot coals. The temp went up to 300 for about half an hour but then settled around 290.
The other posts that I read sound like these UDS will run away from you if you are not careful. This will be perfecty for smoking ribs, brisket, fish, etc... but is it possible to cook at 350 degrees in one of these things? Am I missing some design flaw? |
I think your problem was the stoneware bowl. It acts like a heat sink, absorbs heat. Try a test burn with the stoneware and without it, same amount of charcoal. I believe you'll reach 350 without it. Better yet use an aluminum pan or foil to catch the drippings. Just my 2 cents.
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dbleyepatches
Newbie
Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 39
Location: Nebraska
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| Posted: Nov 20 2009 Post subject: Re: First cook UDS question |
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| smokemaster wrote: |
I think your problem was the stoneware bowl. It acts like a heat sink, absorbs heat. Try a test burn with the stoneware and without it, same amount of charcoal. I believe you'll reach 350 without it. Better yet use an aluminum pan or foil to catch the drippings. Just my 2 cents. |
That is something that I didn't think of. I have a stainless steel bowl that I am going to use instead of the stone. The stainless bowl wasn't in yet when I smoked the turkey last week so I improvised. I guess before I drill more holes in the bottom of the barrel I will see how it does with the stone out of there. Thanks for the info! |
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Toga
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Joined: 06 Aug 2008
Posts: 2736
Location: Southern Michigan
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| Posted: Nov 20 2009 Post subject: |
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Ditch the bowl as mentioned above. Also how much exhaust do you have? Without proper exhaust you will choke your fire. I run royal oak and I use a kettle type lid on mine with the exhaust wide open and an intake or two opend up and can easily hit and hold the temp at 350. To start off around 350 I will fire up 3/4 of of a chimney to dump in.
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dbleyepatches
Newbie
Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 39
Location: Nebraska
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| Posted: Nov 20 2009 Post subject: |
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| Toga wrote: | | Ditch the bowl as mentioned above. Also how much exhaust do you have? Without proper exhaust you will choke your fire. I run royal oak and I use a kettle type lid on mine with the exhaust wide open and an intake or two opend up and can easily hit and hold the temp at 350. To start off around 350 I will fire up 3/4 of of a chimney to dump in. |
I have the standard vents in the 22" weber kettle lid. I am excited about trying it again with the new stainless bowl and a few more lit coals! |
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SoEzzy
BBQ Super All Star
Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 13183
Location: SLC, UT
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| Posted: Nov 20 2009 Post subject: |
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How many holes air intake?
Are they 3/4" down to 1/2" with fittings.
I had 3 x 3/4" and added 3 more so I have 6 x 3/4" holes for air intake, and 8 x 1/2" on my flat lid, and the 4 standard 3/4" on the Weber or Charbroil kettles for exhaust.
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luckyduk
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Joined: 26 Sep 2008
Posts: 487
Location: NE IOWA
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| Posted: Nov 20 2009 Post subject: |
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Are the ball valves full-port or not, the cheaper valves are not, which restricts the flow even more. I have 4 -3/4" intakes with standard weber exhaust, never had to use a full chimney of lit coals to get to 350! FWIW I use RO steakhouse lump!?!
Good luck
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12TH AV SMOKERS
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Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 648
Location: Rockford, IL
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| Posted: Nov 21 2009 Post subject: |
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| dbleyepatches wrote: | Anyone use the Royal Oak steakhouse? What is the difference?
Oh, found my first rock in a bag of Royal Oak. It was about baseball sized! |
No rocks..... yet, but I have noticed the so called RO "big" chunks are at the bottom of the bag. Allot of the bag I'd call bite size. But I have only used 5 bags of lump in my life so has anybody else noticed that? or am I crazy..well I am but seriously?
If that's true I think I'll be pouring from the bottom of the bag into my basket as I'd rather have the big chunks deeper. Seems bigger chunks would produce a more stable heat. Is that true?
I did see Kingsford Lump... better than RO ? Might try it.. I'll try the Cowboy if I don't get the Wicked Good for the turkey this week.
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