[Stoves] Charcoal burning in stoves

Sat Dec 30 20:26:49 CST 2017

Char coal burning irons have been common here since the Japanese time
before WWII.
As a boy my m other use solide cast iron one simply heated on a wood stove
of fire. They were used to iron the bed before sleep in sub zero weather in
between the served as door stops.

https://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Charcoal-Iron

On Sun, Dec 31, 2017 at 10:48 AM, <neiltm at uwclub.net> wrote:

> 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
> >
> >
> >
> >              <https://www.facebook.com/CookswellJikos>
> > <https://www.instagram.com/cookswelljikos>
> > <https://twitter.com/cookswelljikos?lang=en>
> >
>
>
>
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