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Post by wiscojames on Oct 6, 2017 19:09:12 GMT -8
When is the first pizza going on??
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Post by briank on Oct 6, 2017 19:29:33 GMT -8
Sunday ;-)
By then I’ll have a second barrel beside this one plumbed in and lined with firebrick that will serve both as a masonry bell and a black oven/BBQ. I want to try cooking some burgers or chicken in the second drum while we’re doing the pizza in the pizza oven.
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Post by briank on Oct 6, 2017 19:51:34 GMT -8
Curiosity got the best of me, so I stayed up to check it at 11:45, five hours since lighting this batch. Barrel top temp was 340•F and there’s still enough fuel for about another hour in the firebox.  |
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Post by briank on Oct 7, 2017 11:34:57 GMT -8
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Post by briank on Oct 12, 2017 16:32:14 GMT -8
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Post by briank on Oct 12, 2017 16:58:29 GMT -8
I started this batch with four medium pieces of ash firewood then added a piece at one hour and another at the start of the second hour. Four and a half hours after lighting this batch my barrel top temp is down to 300•F and my masonry barrel is at 150•F. There’s enough firewood left in the firebox for another half hour or so.  |
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Post by Orange on Oct 13, 2017 7:52:20 GMT -8
looks nice  |
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Post by briank on Oct 16, 2017 17:18:11 GMT -8
looks nice Thanks. I just picked up an old Weber charcoal grill off Craigslist so I can use the dome lid instead of the flat barrel lid on the second barrel. That way I can fit larger objects like a turkey friar in it:  |
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Post by briank on Oct 19, 2017 9:41:03 GMT -8
I’m building a second unit right now out of a combination of ceramic fiber board and big pieces of insulating fire brick slabs. It will be a more traditional looking square stove, 24”x24” and about 35” tall, top half metal and bottom half surrounded by red brick. I'm going to close in the fireplace in our family room with 24"x12"x4" thick firebrick and use it as the masonry bell with this rocket heater. I'm using the same design core but it will be the basis of a square stove. I'm seriously considering changing this design. Instead of vacuum formed ceramic fiber shapes, these insulating fire brick slabs are cheaper, and can be cut by the buyer if they want to assemble the core themselves. Its inert (ceramic fiber dust can cause silicosis) and easier to change shapes and sizes too.    |
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Post by woodrascal on Oct 20, 2017 2:39:26 GMT -8
This looks very interesting Brian. Please keep us updated with your progress.
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Post by briank on Oct 20, 2017 7:25:02 GMT -8
I hope its obvious to the majority of folks here, but some friends who are uninitiated to rocket heater principles asked how exactly the exhaust works.  |
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Post by briank on Oct 22, 2017 16:58:17 GMT -8
Well, I fired it up the new combination rocket heater and UDS (“Ugly Drum Smoker” - the second barrel that serves as a grill) with a combination of compressed hardwood sawdust fire bricks and cherry firewood. I added two 3/4” air holes beside the bottom of the door frame so it could breathe easier. Even with the new additional air supply, I had to keep the door cracked to keep the grill UDS at 300. Interestingly it was producing a thicker amount of smoke than I expected. I realized after about an hour why it was still smoking, despite adding two new air holes - I had closed the air supply slide when I drilled the new holes and forgot to reopen them! When we opened the air supply slide it immediately stopped smoking but it had smoked the entire first hour. We basted the chicken for the first time after an hour, and it had gotten too black from the smoke, so we used water and a basting brush to clean some of it off the chicken. We used a combination of Worcester Sauce, vinegar and water to baste the chicken, then seasoned it with a combo of Lowry's Salt, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper. We turned the chicken about 4 times, basting it each time and putting on the seasoning, cooking for a total of 2 hours and 15 minutes at 300 degrees. And it was simply delicious! We had it with fried peppers with squash, macaroni salad, and water melon. After about 2 hours cooking (three hours after lighting the fire) it struggled to get the UDS back up to 250 after we took off the lid and turned everything the last time, so I added two small pieces of cherry firewood... ...and it came right back up to 300. Drilling the two additional air holes was very helpful.    |
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Post by Orange on Oct 25, 2017 12:38:34 GMT -8
you don't have those slope bricks in the feed box so i guess they're not crucial?
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Post by briank on Oct 25, 2017 14:45:21 GMT -8
you don't have those slope bricks in the feed box so i guess they're not crucial? I can’t answer that question definitively, and I don’t think Matt’s current designs use them either, but I find my stove works fine without them, and it’s easier to stack the flat bottom compressed sawdust fire bricks I’ve been using. |
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Post by Orange on Oct 26, 2017 12:28:11 GMT -8
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