Bitter over smoked taste from my UDS.

A lot can be said about the smell of the exhaust. When I build the fire I never put the meat on until the exhaust smells right and of course the temp is where I want it.
 
Sweat'in Pig said:
A lot can be said about the smell of the exhaust. When I build the fire I never put the meat on until the exhaust smells right and of course the temp is where I want it.
Click to expand...

I definitely agree with this. I find myself double checking my eye for thin blue smoke with a sniff test. Seems to be the easiest thing to do if there is doubt.
 
Joe Dirt said:
Alright, so I spent the day at the machine shop working on the drum. Powerwashed, steam cleaned, and hand washed with soap and water. Back down to good clean stainless...well mostly. Taking the comments about oxygen or lack thereof into consideration. I made larger intakes. I always had (2) 1.5" intake tubes but the holes going thru the drum were 1". Not anymore. And I still am not sure if maybe the charcoal could have been a problem so I pitched it. So clean drum, more air, new charcoal...and a thirty pack of keystone light...I plan to light her back up and see what happens. Again thanks to all for the help.
Click to expand...

Should be enough intake. I run 3 -3/4" and that's less area of intake than 2 -1" intakes (if my math is right). My only regret about my UDS builds is not going much bigger on the intakes.... easily fixed though). I've found it hard to bump up the temps later in cooks when my fire starts to die down.
 
Sweat'in Pig said:
A lot can be said about the smell of the exhaust. When I build the fire I never put the meat on until the exhaust smells right and of course the temp is where I want it.
Click to expand...

I didn't even think about this. I also do the sniff test. I run my fingers over the exhaust and smell. TBS doesn't always mean the cooker is ready.
 
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