UDS with a weber lid

Ramiro0727 · Jan 23, 2013

Im in the progress of building myself another UDS. Im going to use a weber lid. I have a few questions.
1. Do I need two temperature gauges? Or one for each cooking grate. Or one will be enough.

2. Where should the placement of my cooking grates be at from the top of my barrell.

Your guys input will greatly appreciated.

Ramiro0727

Chef Country · Jan 23, 2013

I bought a cheep weber type grill at walmart on sale and got all my greats and lid for mine

Bludawg · Jan 23, 2013

Read the mother of all UDS threads.

Callahan-que · Jan 24, 2013

Read this http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23436

jmoney7269 · Jan 24, 2013

If I remember correctly, your drum has to be exactly 22 9/16 to fit perfectly. It has to be a sealed drum that you cut the top out of. Rolled Tim removable lids will not work for a weber lid without some modification. The holes should be drilled .5" from the top and 5.5" down from the center of that hole. 3 bolts work better than four. The rack may get wobbly with 4 bolts if your not precise. It's easier to remove the racks also with 3 bolts. Get a b a guru dx2 and never look back on dome temps. You never have to work about anything. set the guru to temp, open the vent 100% and come back when your food temps out.

aawa · Jan 24, 2013

J'ville Grill said:
Read this http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23436

yes read through a 701 page thread to find an answer, when this question could of been answered faster than it took the time to link the thread. :tsk:

The 2 temperature guages will give you accurate temperatures on each grate, as the top grate will have a higher temperature than the lower grate which will change cooking times. It would probably be best if you did have a therometer at each grate, but it is not necessary. You could put a thermometer at the top grate and known the higher of the temps and also rotate the food between grates to get a more even cook time.

Carbon · Jan 24, 2013

I used to have thermometers stuck here and there on the UDS, then one day decided to keep things simple and mounted just one thermometer on the Weber lid and 'learned' to work with that set up, regardless of temperature variances inside the chamber.

Ramiro0727 · Jan 24, 2013

Thanks everyone for chiming in. Your help was greatly appreciated.

Ramiro

funugy · Jan 24, 2013

I don't have any input for your gauges.

As for cooking rack placement, I used 1.75" from the top for the upper rack and 9" from the top for the bottom rack.

I went real simple on the build since it was my first, and I am happy with it. I pretty much followed this build:

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43943

Enkidu · Jan 24, 2013

aawa said:
The 2 temperature guages will give you accurate temperatures on each grate, as the top grate will have a higher temperature than the lower grate which will change cooking times. It would probably be best if you did have a therometer at each grate, but it is not necessary. You could put a thermometer at the top grate and known the higher of the temps and also rotate the food between grates to get a more even cook time.

Why would the top grate have a higher temperature than the lower grate? Assuming you aren't using a diffuser, you are cooking directly over the coals, so it would seem logical that the bottom grate would run hotter to me. I mean, I am not speaking for experience here, since I am planning to build my first UDS in the coming weeks and was considering having two cooking grates (and possibly a third bottom grate to either hold a diffuser if I ever want to use one or to raise the coal basket up for higher heat cooking) so I find what you wrote interesting and counter-intuitive.

aawa · Jan 24, 2013

Enkidu said:
Why would the top grate have a higher temperature than the lower grate? Assuming you aren't using a diffuser, you are cooking directly over the coals, so it would seem logical that the bottom grate would run hotter to me. I mean, I am not speaking for experience here, since I am planning to build my first UDS in the coming weeks and was considering having two cooking grates (and possibly a third bottom grate to either hold a diffuser if I ever want to use one or to raise the coal basket up for higher heat cooking) so I find what you wrote interesting and counter-intuitive.

As you know heat rises. All the heat is collecting at the lid where you have a limited amount of exits in a UDS (either a pipe on the bung or 8 small holes in the lid or the 4 small holes on a weber lid etc) This causes the top grate to be hotter than the bottom grate.

jrn · Jan 24, 2013

Ramiro0727 said:
Im in the progress of building myself another UDS. Im going to use a weber lid. I have a few questions.
1. Do I need two temperature gauges? Or one for each cooking grate. Or one will be enough.

2. Where should the placement of my cooking grates be at from the top of my barrell.

Your guys input will greatly appreciated.

Ramiro0727

Here you go my friend........

1. No there's no need for two. One will be fine. I don't have any hard mounted to mine. I drilled a 5/16" hole between my two racks. Then I put my Maverick probes thru the hole, easily reaching either grate.

2. You want your BOTTOM rack to be to 24" off the BOTTOM of your charcoal basket. For example, my basket is 3" off the bottom of my barrel. That places my btm cooking grate 27" from the btm of my barrel. As far as your top rack goes, put it where you like. Mines about two inches from the top of barrel.

Google "redneck uds".

Jason

jmoney7269 · Jan 24, 2013

aawa said:
As you know heat rises. All the heat is collecting at the lid where you have a limited amount of exits in a UDS (either a pipe on the bung or 8 small holes in the lid or the 4 small holes on a weber lid etc) This causes the top grate to be hotter than the bottom grate.

Gotta throw the BS flag on that one. I have never cooked on a direct pit in my entire life where the farther alway from the coals you are, the hotter it is. Basically a UDS is a low temp grill and dont see how that's possible. You put 2 identical briskets in, one on top and one on bottom, never touch till done, the bottom one will cook alot faster and have a charred bottom

aawa · Jan 25, 2013

jmoney7269 said:
Gotta throw the BS flag on that one. I have never cooked on a direct pit in my entire life where the farther alway from the coals you are, the hotter it is. Basically a UDS is a low temp grill and dont see how that's possible. You put 2 identical briskets in, one on top and one on bottom, never touch till done, the bottom one will cook alot faster and have a charred bottom

I re-read ekindu's post and I stand corrected. He did mention not having a diffuser of any sort and cooking direct heat and not indirect heat. If it is direct heat then yes you are correct that the lower grate will be hotter. If you add in a diffuser the top grate will be hotter than the bottom grate.

I apologize for my misinformation as I missed the part about being direct heat and not indirect heat.

Enkidu · Jan 25, 2013

aawa said:
I re-read ekindu's post and I stand corrected. He did mention not having a diffuser of any sort and cooking direct heat and not indirect heat. If it is direct heat then yes you are correct that the lower grate will be hotter. If you add in a diffuser the top grate will be hotter than the bottom grate.

I apologize for my misinformation as I missed the part about being direct heat and not indirect heat.

Thanks for the clarification.

UDS with a weber lid

Ramiro0727

Got Wood.

Chef Country

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Bludawg

somebody shut me the fark up.

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aawa

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Carbon

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Ramiro0727

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funugy

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