What I’m fabricating was born out of my contempt of locally manufactured briquettes and the taste profile I get. There are plenty of people I know that disagree with me but I think they grew up "braaing" using briquettes and know no different.
Since a young age I have insisted on using wood as my fuel and whenever that was not possible by virtue of being at friends or I could not get any decent wood I always have been disappointed with the outcome.
On acquiring my kettle late last year I was excited about the prospects of learning a new craft but that was short lived thanks to the infamous briquette. I tried various brands of briquettes and charcoal. I found charcoal more acceptable but still not there.
I posted at the time about my dislike of the fuel and heeded a suggestion by Frozen Smoke Smoke to try making a wood fire and feeding the kettle from that. The results were what I was looking for but it was loadsa work and costly.
All of the above were contributory in what I am designing.
I drew a prototype on paper after another frustrating briquette cook, worked out a parts list and sent it in for cutting and bending.
There was not a great deal of thought given to the design but was confident it will be a starting point to work from. It’s been a couple weeks since I had it welded together as a skeleton to build on and the results have been adequate thus far.
Shown in the photo is the main body without all the other add-ons that don’t necessarily affect my trial.
The dry runs and cooks have been a learning curve and the more I tested the more effective I and the gizmo functioned.
Learning fire management proved the most beneficial to us both.
I am now at the point where I am going to make a few adjustments and see how much improvement they will bring. The mod’s I have noted aren’t significant just fine tuning I think.
I have plans of building a second pilot with different dimensions to compare overall success.
The end product using the offset contraption with the kettle is remarkably better than any briquette or charcoal cook. It is more work but I don’t believe any more than a stick burner.
I am able to use both bottom and top grate for cooking area. I have only cooked on the top grate to date.
The kettle is easily lifted off to use as normal.
Above is just a short analysis of my evaluation.
Today was very challenging, the wind was blowing and temps were lower than during all other testing.
Today's cook
Since a young age I have insisted on using wood as my fuel and whenever that was not possible by virtue of being at friends or I could not get any decent wood I always have been disappointed with the outcome.
On acquiring my kettle late last year I was excited about the prospects of learning a new craft but that was short lived thanks to the infamous briquette. I tried various brands of briquettes and charcoal. I found charcoal more acceptable but still not there.
I posted at the time about my dislike of the fuel and heeded a suggestion by Frozen Smoke Smoke to try making a wood fire and feeding the kettle from that. The results were what I was looking for but it was loadsa work and costly.
All of the above were contributory in what I am designing.
I drew a prototype on paper after another frustrating briquette cook, worked out a parts list and sent it in for cutting and bending.
There was not a great deal of thought given to the design but was confident it will be a starting point to work from. It’s been a couple weeks since I had it welded together as a skeleton to build on and the results have been adequate thus far.
Shown in the photo is the main body without all the other add-ons that don’t necessarily affect my trial.
The dry runs and cooks have been a learning curve and the more I tested the more effective I and the gizmo functioned.
Learning fire management proved the most beneficial to us both.
I am now at the point where I am going to make a few adjustments and see how much improvement they will bring. The mod’s I have noted aren’t significant just fine tuning I think.
I have plans of building a second pilot with different dimensions to compare overall success.
The end product using the offset contraption with the kettle is remarkably better than any briquette or charcoal cook. It is more work but I don’t believe any more than a stick burner.
I am able to use both bottom and top grate for cooking area. I have only cooked on the top grate to date.
The kettle is easily lifted off to use as normal.
Above is just a short analysis of my evaluation.
Today was very challenging, the wind was blowing and temps were lower than during all other testing.
Today's cook
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