Hoping it’s okay to post this here

Took a crack at making a UDS style smoker out of wine barrel my buddy gave me. I think she came out pretty dandy.

Running two,1 inch intakes each with a ball valve. Both intakes feed to just beneath the coal bucket. 2 inch dampened intake. Using Lavalocks charcoal basket, grate, and exhaust.

Have had 2 smokes aside from the test runs and she’s been running wonderfully. Easily able to maintain 250 for 10 hours.

I run 1 inch of water in the bottom of the barrel, place 4 fire bricks on bottom, then place the charcoal basket on top of that for a bit of fire protection.

I’m wondering if anyone has some insight on my exhaust pipe length? Should it be a bit longer? I have heard a longer exhaust helps with something.

Also, I do have a baffle plate on order, and plan on making my own flow restriction plate for the bottom as well.

Thank you!

by mmini1990

15 Comments

  1. Cold_Radio6139

    Pretty awesome – would love to see more pics

  2. Many_Consequence7723

    Coincidentally I’ve been adding whisky barrel stave pieces to my smoking and love it!

  3. Aggressive_Opossum

    How you going to keep the barrel wood from burning? If the heat gets away from you for too long, wood can combust from temp as low as 300°F.

    However, it does look awesome.

  4. Merely-a-Flesh-Wound

    This is dang beautiful. I hope you cook many great meals on it!

  5. MasterWhaleLord

    AI has made it so I can’t believe anything I see.

  6. macius_big_mf

    Looks good but just in case keep extinguisher near

  7. Actuarial_type

    I could see a longer exhaust helping. I’m not an engineer, but I’m thinking along the lines of scavenging like you get in car exhausts. I’d just let it rip, if you notice you’re getting back flow then maybe see if you can throw on a temporary longer thing.

    Beautiful barrel, not just oak but quarter sawn. Pretty hot.

  8. Illustrious_Cheek121

    What a great build, absolutely beautiful! I have played around with this idea for a long time but hesitated for fear of a limited shelf life due to burn up. It looks like you have approached this project with this in mind. Please keep me posted on your adventure and if possible, l would love to see more photos of how you set up the inside.

  9. That’s sweet. I’ve built quite a few uds. Your exhaust is fine

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