UDS | BBQ Buff

The Beginning: Ugly Drum Smoker (UDS) Build Part 1

After burning some spare ribs this weekend for valentine’s day, I decided that it was about time for a UDS upgrade. My current UDS (pictured above) have always stayed true to the “Ugly” in Ugly Drum Smoker. With lessons learned, I plan to build myself a NOT so ugly drum smoker that has some convenient features and luxuries the old drum didn’t have.
Goals:

Look Good – I plan to go all out and make this thing stand out.
Heat Shield – I always do big cooks in the UDS and without a top rack, grease flair ups will quickly turn the bottom of your ribs and turn them into shoe leather. I have an idea for a heat shield that will still allow the juices from the meat to vaporize in the fire and give me that distinctive BBQ flavor that I could never achieve in a offset pit.
Working Area – I plan to add some sort of side table for ease of use.
Fire Box – My past fire boxes have been lacking, this smoker will have a proper fire box with a ash pan for easy cleanup.

That is just the basics, check back in as I document my UDS build with pictures and possibly even some video.

First Firing Of The Ugly Drum Smoker (UDS)

smoker2

I have been a big BBQ buff for many years now. Always on the lookout for the best tasting rack of ribs or the most delicious cut of brisket. I finally decided to step on the other side of the smoker and try cooking for a change.

After a ton of research, I came to the conclusion that a quality smoker would likely cost upward of $500.

I then found a video of Big Mista’s where he demonstrated cooking with a Ugly Drum Smoker (UDS). It sounded like the perfect solution, a quality smoker that I can put together for a relatively low cost.

I’ll go into the details of my UDS build in a later post. With about 90% of my UDS complete, I decided to cook up two whole chickens and a New Mexico green chile fatty this memorial day weekend.