UDS or WSM

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Koopdaddy

Senior Cook
Joined
Jun 29, 2010
Messages
105
Location
Loveland, CO
So this weekend I learned that my current smoker sucks for anything longer than 4 hours, even with modifications. Therefore I am trying to decide if I should just go with the WSM that seems to be very popular and successful, or try my hand at building a UDS. I personally do not have much equipment (or knowledge) for fabricating things, but I do have a friend with a shop that would be willing to help.

I like the fact that the weber works out of the box, plus it has more WAF (wife acceptance factor) due to it not being an ugly drum sitting on the porch, but it is also more expensive.

What do you think
 
It's a personal and money question. The difference for me was getting the same space capacity out of the drum and a 22.5" WSM at less than half the cost. Don't worry about being clueless, there is a lot of info and help out there for building.

This was a loaded question and in the end it is up to you to get something your can be happy with.
 
I cooked on wsm's for years, both the 18 and 22. I've been cooken on a UDS now for 6 mo. They just cook better in my opinion. The wsm is built in 10 minutes. The wsm doesn't rust either.
 
Fixing rust can't be that much of an issue in a uds after your have built it from scratch...I mean, you have the wore brush and leftover paint/oil
 
I have both and cook on the UDS more than I do the 18.5 WSM only because the UDS is bigger. I will probably eventually get a 22.5 WSM and the only reason I will get one is just because I want one.
 
Oh and another reason! I got real sick and tired of bending the damn WSM back to round every time I got home from a comp! You can beat the hell out of a UDS and it keeps on loving you.
 
Thanks for all the input.

I have been reading up on the UDS builds and looking for some drums online. So far I have not found any used ones in my area but I will keep looking. Part of me just wants to order a new one from ULINE or similar and go from there. I have contacted a couple local places for some quotes on welding and sandblasting, just to see how much it is.

Amazon has the 18" wsm for two seventy ish which is tempting since it works out of the box.
 
My teammate got his from Uline new. shiny black with no lining pure metal inside. Just a bit of oil inside so they don't rust while waiting to be sold. Got it for $95 then another $140 for all the stainless steel hardware. Your temps don't get hot enought to burn the paint off.
 
A new drum shipped is about $150 or so, which again is not bad but not exactly cheap.

Where did your friend get his stainless hardware from? Local supply? Or online?
 
Koopdaddy said:
A new drum shipped is about $150 or so, which again is not bad but not exactly cheap.

Where did your friend get his stainless hardware from? Local supply? Or online?

He has a pool company and an account with Uline so they just threw it on the truck so shipping wasn't much. got the stailess from Lowes. Look for a local shop may be better priced.
 
Good food drums can be found on a local reuse site, http://www.recycle.net/
The rest is cake walk for anyone. The UDS is the way to go, we took 5 awards last yr in 3 events
I use it in grillin demos, comps, catering jobs, and at home
We ove they.
 
I ordered a new drum. I just felt it was the best way for me to go this time. I wasn't able to find any used ones locally and I have a BBQ party coming up that I want to use it for.

The drum should be here in about a week.
 
honcho said:
Good food drums can be found on a local reuse site, http://www.recycle.net/
The rest is cake walk for anyone. The UDS is the way to go, we took 5 awards last yr in 3 events
I use it in grillin demos, comps, catering jobs, and at home
We ove they.

I use em too for catering as well as grilling and bbq. I love love love em. We have gotten some top 10 calls too. Nothing like a nieghboring team watching you walk, when they don't. Aspecially after being up all night cooken on an $8000 pit. We catch a buzz than catch some zzzzz. and sometimes catch a call too!
 
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