I've Almost Got all The Parts Together

[g8adventure]

I picked up a used food grade drum today for $30 and a friend of mine gave a 13"x56" piece of #9 expanded expanded metal that is not galvanized. The barrel is not lined, but does have paint inside and out. I'm planning to burn it out tomorrow since, all the sandblasters I've found want to charge me more than I feel reasonable. I purchased everything else from Home Depot or re-purposed parts from a ECB.

IIRC cardboard is go to burn out the barrel. Is there any particular length of burn I need to get the job done right.

Will a 13"x56" piece of expanded metal make a large enough charcoal basket for long low and slow cooks. I've got a 9lb bone in butt I want to smoke.

[smokendink71]

I burn mine usually all day but I also get barrels with liners unfortunately as far as the basket 56" will give you a little over 17 3/4" diameter so yeah that's a good size, I only make my baskets about 10" tall

[g8adventure]

So I started burning out this barrel at 6a.m. PST and now at 1p.m. all accept the last bottom third on the outside looks like its all burn out. Is this normal is it anything I should be concerned with. A very good amount of the paint is gone from the top 1/3's is gone and metal is showing if this says anything.

[smokendink71]

yeah that bottom 3rd is a real bitch to get burnt some guys will actually build a fire on the ground and set the barrel in the fire and burn it that way also, I just do a lot of work with the wire wheel

[Smokeone]

I wouldnt worry about that paint down low on the outside. Wet sand it good and continue on. If you set it in a fire to burn it off, be careful, I have seen barrels ruined that way.

[dcman (The Czar)]

I wouldnt worry about that paint down low on the outside. Wet sand it good and continue on. If you set it in a fire to burn it off, be careful, I have seen barrels ruined that way.

and we have been making our baskets about 8 to 10 inches tall so you should be good to go.....

[g8adventure]

Okay I've got this sucker built. The only thing is I'm using a fairly long pipe for my intake that has the ball valve long enough that its right at the top of barrel. I need to find a pipe stand off, but when I ask about them at Lowes and Home Depot they look at me like I just told them I the man from the moon. I can find pictures of them online, but no online sources for them. Any ideas or leads of an online shop that sells them. I've search for them in the Smoker Builder store, with no luck as well.

One thing I'm very pleased with is that my Weber kettle lid fits this UDS better then it does the kettle. Now I'm just trying to find a used kettle on craigslist cheap so I can get it for the lid and grate, I'm planning on having 2 cooking grates in this UDS.

I've also gotten piece of 16 gauge mild steel that I'm going to turn into a heat diffuser. One idea I've had since my charcoal basket is 13" tall and it really does not need to be that tall I though I'd cut the diffuser about 1.5 wider than the basket thinking then I could just set it on top of the basket, that way I could get true indirect heat. What do you all think?

[Frank_Cox]

I think the diffuser thing is a great idea! also here is a link to the hanger I would use at lowes....
pipe hanger link
as far as the kettle lid goes, put a wanted ad on craigslist and say you are accepting them in any condition, you will be surprised how many people will sell you one!

[g8adventure]

Thanks Frank...

I had to travel to the next town to get the hangers from Lowes, because the nearest one didn't even have them or know what they are.

I will be placing Craiglist add right away.

[g8adventure]

Forgot a thermometer probe hole. On my Weber kettle instead of paying $8 for a grommet I went to Home depot and purchased one of those hollow threaded brass tubes like are used in lamps to run a lamp cord through. However, I've gone all out on this UDS build so I'd like to know is there anything inherently better about the grommets sold by Cajun Bandit? I suspect on the UDS the small hole wont create enough of a leak to cause fire control problems as it hasn't on my Weber Kettle.

I placed a "Want" add on Craiglist and Ebay Classifieds for a Weber Kettle Lid or whole kettle offering for them or trade my late father's barely used ECB. I figured that it start getting calls right away, but nothing. However, I was at Biglots today and they have a cheap fairly light gauge steel 22.5 kettle for sale for $26 would I be a whole lot better off waiting to find a Weber lid would the light gauge lid work just as well? How important is the gauge of the steel for the lid of a UDS? If you can't tell I'm not very patient...after all the work I've put into this thing I want to get it exactly as I want it.

The main reason I want a kettle lid is that I've built the UDS to have 2 cooking grates.