New to the Forum and first question :)

[CharcoalTodd]

Hi everyone! Thanks for allowing me to be apart of your forum. I hope to enjoy the wealth of knowledge the you all have to offer. So here it goes. I wanna build a UDS and I would love it if it performed awesome! Any tips or recs?

Thank you!

Todd

 

[DrumDumb]

Welcome! Best advice I can give you is not to sweat it. Take your time with the build, and double check your measurements. This isn't difficult at all. Don't put it off. The more time you spend thinking about building it means less time to be eating off of it. Let me tell you. Eating off of it is the best part. Good luck to you!

 

[Chili Head]

Welcome aboard Todd.
I can't speak for other drum types out there but if you build a UDS using the the BPS kit you will love it! it's easy to use and you will love the food off of it.
Building one is easy. Really easy with just a steel drum but a little more work if you go with a stainless drum. If you go stainless spend the extra coin and have the holes drilled for you. You will thank me later. Whatever you decide you're going to like it. So go ahead..jump in and build you one!

 

[CharcoalTodd]

So I have a question again. What's the difference with the BPS smokers and a Gateway smoker? Other than the price? And how do the vents operate differently? I see how the Gateway smoker has lower air vents that use a upward pipe for air intake. Is that a huge deal?

 

[Chili Head]

The pipes are there for ascetics imo. You dont have to use your foot or bend over to adjust the intake vents. The drum itself is thicker material as well.

 

[CharcoalTodd]

Thank you chili head!

 

[Big Poppa]

actually they are way different and they both have their strengths...the intake and exhaust system on a gateway swirl the smoke for lack of better description. It has a heaver and square firebox...it is really a smoking stud.

The bps does a great job of smoking but probably beats the gateway in grilling or all around.

Lets put it this way.....I make the bps and also own a gateway and love it

 

[CharcoalTodd]

Thank you Big Poppa!

Being my first build I'm going the BPS route... So would there be any point to add air intakes similar in design to the Gateway smokers on the BPS? Or would that be a waste of time? I'll have to search the forum briefly I'm sure there is a section on where to find food quality smoking drums. Thank you everyone

 

[gettinbasted]

The Gateway design is definitely not purely aesthetic. In addition to the swirling effect Big Poppa mentioned, the high pipes provide protection from the elements and force the air to "draw" down the tubes which makes temperature adjustments more precise.

Both the Gateway and BPS are cooking machines that can hold their own against anything out there!

 

[Big Poppa]

you can do whatever mods you want to the bps but it is engineered buy guys a lot smarter than me....I suggest that you start with what we have come up with first as a baseline