UDS briquet/wood question

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Neonnblack

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This is my first real post other than an intro in the new members spot. I have a question on briquet control in my UDS. I have thick skin and cant take criticism so feel free to speak your mind.

I have a recently built UDS specs are as follows:

55 gallon drum.
Still using the dual opening drum top(looking for a kettle top).
I have four intakes 2 inches from the bottom equally spaced.
Using magnets to control all four intakes.
Fire basket is ~11x8x6.

I'm trying to get the temp control better, i have it at consistent heat 215-230 or so. But im adding more charcoal about every 40 minutes, obviously this isnt right, considering i see people say they can let it got overnight no problem.

I started with 15 or 16 placed flat in the basket then put 7 pre lit (in a chimney) on top. Took about an hour or to hit 225. After that i needed to keep putting another 8 back into it to keep the temp up.

Would starting with a bigger pile of un lit charcoal help me? Say 30 or so unlit in the bottom and maybe 10 started in the chimney? I dont mind having to add any, but every 40 minutes im thinking is a bit much.

Also, when i start to throw wood into it how will that change the process?

Thanks for the help guys and gals.
 
Fill the basket with unlit charcoal leaving room for about 10-15 lit briquettes on top. It will burn down slowly like a pipe. Distribute a few chunks of smoking wood throughout the basket so one chunk will be engaged in the fire as it burns down to the bottom. You should drastically improve your burn time this way.

This is called the Minion method named for Jim Minion who came up with it.
 
You should have more unlit in the basket, yes. It also sounds like the basket is kind of small for long cooks. Most responders you'll get will tell you that they fill their basket up, with wood chunks mixed in with the unlit coals, and then start with some lit briquettes to start it up. once you're done cooking close your intakes and exhausts, the fire will choke out and you can use whatever charcoal you didn't burn the next time you cook.
You might want to consider replacing the charcoal basket. Mine's 14" diam X 9" tall and I'm very happy with it.
 
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Fill the basket bury 4-5 fist sized chinks of wood in the coal light up 8-15 briquettes in a chimney and dump it on top of the basket. leave it sit about 10 min then lower it in the drum. Open all the intakes and the exhaust. as the temp come up start closing off the intakes 1 at a time when you get to 50 deg of your target temp close the last one about 1/2 and give it 20 min, settle down. Make final fine tunning adj to lock it in. it takes about 15 min for changes to manifest. When the cook is over close the intakes and the exhaust to snuff out the fire saving unused coals for the next cook.
 
You need more charcoal. I think your basket is too small.

My firebasket is 16" diameter and 12" tall. I fill it about 3/4 to full every time I cook no matter how long I am cooking for. I normally light about 15 coals and put on top of the unlit coals and let the UDS sit for about 45 min before it is up to temp and the thick white smoke subsides. With my basket I have cooked 16 hours and still had coals to snuff out when done. I do this just by closing all the intakes and exhausts. I just add to the leftover coals for the next cook as needed.

Do a quick search for "Minion Method" and you will see tons of ideas.
 
My charcoal basket is also 14" in diameter and always kept near full with a mixture of new and partially spent coals from the previous cook. I add to it about a third chimney full of lit coals to get the UDS going.
 
+1 on filling the basket and then adding lit coal. Go to the search at the bottom of the page and type in Minion Method. It works perfectly.
 
N8man has a nice tutorial. It was my "go to" info when I first entered the uds world. He'll probably chime in. If you can't wait, there's a link in his signature. Btw, you are going to love your drum!
 
And like others have mentioned, give it a good half hour or so after lighting before you put the meat on. You can see the smoke actually settle down, going from white smoke to that sweet thin blue smoke. Then it's ready.
 
N8man, great sig link. Very helpful for a noob like myself. This is for anyone, is there any advantage to using all briquetts, or mixing with misquite (or lump charcoal) at some ratio? Any longeviity time advantage? In your post, the full baskt pic looks to have a mixture of briquets and lump, in the 1st 1/3rd fill, is there a mix ratio (of briquettts to lump) to your madness?? I hope I'm making sense in my writing. Thanks on advice.
 
Great link N8, thank you very much, i was starting to get frustrated with controlling burn time and temp, I've ran through a 17 pound bad of charcoal testing things. And yes i do need a bigger fire basket. Ill rework things in the morning and see how it goes. Gotta be ready for next thursday 21 pounds of sweet sexy pork ass is waiting.
 
Many folks will use a mix of about half briqs and half lump with some fist sized hunks of wood buried in the pile of unlit coals. Dump about 12-15 fully lit bricks on top of the pile, let em get going for 20 minutes and you are golden.

Don't worry about the 225 bs. Most people here like to run their cookers in the 250-325 range for faster cook times and juicier results. Any recipe or tutorial that clams you have to keep temps down at 225-230 should be ignored. That is referred to as warming meat to death.
 
built my new fire basket.
Old:
20130119_152636.jpg

New:
20130126_125312.jpg
 
It looks as if your basket has no legs and was sitting directly on the bottom of the drum? If so it needs to be lifted up a bit to allow air to flow from beneath. You may have removed the legs though?
 
well, after testing while seasoning the drum, and some other "dry runs", im smoking my first experiment. Using a mix of royal oak lump and stubbs briquets. Just a small shoulder at 4 pounds to really make sure i have the settings right before i go and do the real thing thursday. Wish me luck, ill have pictures in a few hours.
 
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