between these 2, which one...and why?

[lostarrow]

Notvas much fun as building your own but a weber WSM will burn for 12,hrs without tending & cook what you want.

[Jon D. Q.]

I believe that SoEzzy has you on the right track. An 85 gallon UDS with at least 2 cooking grate levels in it wrapped in a welders blanket when in use would meet all of your needs and then some and come in under budget. Just my 2 cents worth.

[dieselndixie]

with the double rack method and a weber lid on a 55gallon...what is the capacity? in terms of actual food. how many ribs, butts, brisket, etc

[Teleking]

[Toga]

You can easily fit 30lbs of butt on a single 22.5 inch grate. If you used 2 grates you could also fit a packer and a pile of turds in too
_________________
"if you cant cook it in bacon grease it ain't worth eating"

UDS
ECB x2
Gasser

[dieselndixie]

So I need to just stop being stubborn and build my own....

[Jon D. Q.]

dieselndixie, to answer your question about cooking capacity on a grate in a 55 gallon barrel. It is very easy to have three 8 pound butts on each grate level in a 55 gallon drum. I have twice done four 8 pounders per grate level but it is harder to do with trying to keep butts laying on their sides. I hope this helps you. As another example you can arrange 5 pounds of gooid size chicken breast on each grate in a 55 gallon UDS.

[dieselndixie]

If I do the 2 levels with a weber lid...i should have no issues doing a whole turkey on the bottom level with the top grate removed i assume?

will a UDS also do jerky?

[Teleking]

[Jon D. Q.]

You are correct. When doing whole turkeys the people with the most experience doing them very much prefer to smoke turkeys in the 11 to 12 pound range because the mass in the thigh can get so big on the bigger birds that by the time they get them up to appropriate done temps they sometimes start to dry out the rest of the bird. Having said that you should be able to remove the top rack and smoke three 11 to 12 pound turkeys at a time.