[Stoves] Charcoal burning in stoves

[neiltm at uwclub.net]

On 30 Dec 2017 at 23:48, Cookswell Jikos wrote:

> Hi Neil and Paul,
> 
> Thank you very much for that detailed description!
> 
> That is a very good use of charcoal fines. I was chatting with an old
> charcoal seller near Mt Kenya the other day and he was telling me that he
> sells many grades of charcoal (various sizes/prices of char for clothes
> irons, maize roasters, blacksmiths, soup boilers, home cooks, restaurant
> grade etc.) as well as seasonal blends of different types of charcoal made
> from different types of trees. Which he can sell either as fast lighting
> slow burning mixes to cooks, or higher ratio slow burning charcoal for soup
> sellers etc. Some restaurant chefs he said like the flexibility of light
> weight charcoal for faster service during lunch time rushes but still buy a
> bag of hardwood large charcoal for slow cooking beans during the day. The
> very fine charcoal dust that was left has now found a market as a soil
> amendment and he was selling for about 3$ for a 50kg bag.
> 

Fascinating.  Char heated flat irons or char in the irons themselves?  
Can't possibly be the latter surely, although I am aware of paraffin 
pressure irons?

The ash and char smaller than the 2.5mm mesh is riddled straight over our 
modest vegetable patch.

> With our charcoal making drum kilns, we try to advise people to treat
> charcoal much like how you are describing, just like with any fuel there
> are various grades...so for fast cooking things like eggs or rice, use
> maize cob or light twig charcoal as the 'high octane/V-Power' fuel mix, for
> low and slow goat ribs or maize and beans type cooking, larger hardwood
> lump charcoal from bigger branches blended with lighter twig char is better
> for a long slow burn. We are finding that more of our customers are
> appreciating the flexibility of using different types of woody biomass to
> get the fuel best suited for the job at hand.
> 

That's interesting.  I suppose because I can vary the heat so easily I 
can get whatever fire I want from just my home made char, but I can see 
that varying the fuel with a larger and less draught controllable stove 
perhaps would be the way to go, just as I vary the biomass with my fixed 
air ratio ND TLUD to get the fire I want.

> 
> A few questions if I may;
> 
> *''I usually start with enough fuel for a half hour cook before needing to*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *add more fuel.  Because it is only a fairly small BBQ, (14inch
> diametergriddle), I usually cook in batches, adding more char each time.
> If I'mcooking chicken joints from raw I aim for about 40 minutes which is
> easyto achieve on one loading. There seems little point in trying to
> controla thicker layer for a longer time than the food needs to cook, so
> eachbatch of food gets its own fresh layer of fuel. '' *
> 
> Do you find when you add more charcoal it smokes quite bit or not so much?

There's usually the odd whisp of smoke from some impurities, but not 
generally, which is another reason I apply the fan to get the flame to 
break through the new char layer which only takes a few seconds usually.

> How much do you add usually, do you bank it to have a hotter and cooler
> side of the fire? Do you have much fire left over once done?
> 

I just sprinkle a good covering straight out of the bucket, but not 
usually as much as the initial layer.  I usually aim for the most even 
coverage which then retains the same pattern of unevenness of heat 
intensity over the whole surface I'm used to working with.  How much I 
have left over varies.  Sometimes I miscalculate, cutting it a bit fine 
for finishing the cook, and there's nothing left worth bothering with, 
but since if I finish with more char than I needed I'm going to save it 
anyway, there is no need for me to try to be economical with loading.

Our children are vegetarian, so these days we often run two of these 
stoves simultaneously, otherwise we cook the veggy food first.  Onions 
frying in a pan over the rocket stove.  Keeps me busy and concentrating!

> It's still amazing to me to see, especially in hot places in Kenya, how
> many times once someone is done cooking, they leave the stove lit,
> unattended and not cooking while it dies down...all the while there is
> enough usable heat left in a typical ceramic charcoal stove to bake 2-3
> sweet potatoes or whatever tandoori oven style just as it cools.
> 

I used to put a kettle on the remainder to boil, but that seemed wasteful 
of char when I can be making it instead, using a TLUD or rocket.  The 
'belly' of the BBQ has handles making it easy to pick up and tip out the 
remaining char and ash.


> *''I can do some measurements and photos when the warmer weather comes if
> it*
> 
> 
> *might be of any interest.  I've had this BBQ for 25 years now, so its
> afamiliar tool that I am nicely attuned to, and the design
> persists,although as I said I couldn't find it on ebay.com
> <http://ebay.com/>, only .co.uk <http://co.uk/>.''*
> 
> Yes please do send photos, I at least would like to see it in action!
> 

It would normally be May or April at the earliest before getting the BBQ 
out, but I will see what the weather brings and maybe make a special 
session.  Snow, sleet or rain, and otherwise damp or freezing in the S of 
England at the moment, so not very conducive.  I'd like to be 'a fly on 
your wall' right now!

Best wishes,  Neil Taylor

> Best wishes,
> 
> Teddy
> 
> Teddy Kinyanjui
> Sustainability Director
> 
> 
> 
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