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Coals
Jan 11, 2012 8:23:07 GMT 12.75
Post by Toby Benoit on Jan 11, 2012 8:23:07 GMT 12.75
Reckon what is ya'lls favorite and how come I don't hear nobody cooking with pine coals, always oak or hickory or pecan...
Where I'm heading, there's a definite lack of hardwoods... Do pine coals cool faster or what?
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Coals
Jan 11, 2012 8:41:11 GMT 12.75
Post by Paws on Jan 11, 2012 8:41:11 GMT 12.75
Reckon what is ya'lls favorite and how come I don't hear nobody cooking with pine coals, always oak or hickory or pecan... Where I'm heading, there's a definite lack of hardwoods... Do pine coals cool faster or what? Pine has too much pitch in it Toby. It'll put a thick coating of gunk on your grill and your pots. If it is all you can find, look around for dung, almost any kind of dried grass, leaves etc and bind them up into bricks as tight as you can. It'll save you effort later on. As a last resort, if you must use an evergreen, use the dryest you can find and coat your grill and outside of your pans with a goodly portion of Crisco or such before you put the heat to them and let the fire burn down to coals. It'll be cooler than you want but will work mo betta! Another thing you can do if you can find some pretty good sized stones is bury them in your fire pit with your wood and get them hotter than all get out. Keep your fire going all day. Then when it is time to get supper ready move the ash to the side and cook right on the rocks. Pine and spruce is OK for heat and light but keep your utensils away from the fire. If you can find some clay to make a mud you can cook some things in that or in foil packs in the fire or coals.
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Coals
Jan 11, 2012 12:27:15 GMT 12.75
Post by Paws on Jan 11, 2012 12:27:15 GMT 12.75
Reckon what is ya'lls favorite and how come I don't hear nobody cooking with pine coals, always oak or hickory or pecan... Where I'm heading, there's a definite lack of hardwoods... Do pine coals cool faster or what? If I'm after smoke I prefer hickory or pecan. Oak puts out more heat and makes up a better coal/charcoal if that's what I'm after. Oak has an awful lot of tanin though and I thinks give food a mediciney taste when smoked. Sure does make a nice smellin, warm campfire though.
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Coals
Jan 11, 2012 17:32:42 GMT 12.75
Post by Two Tales on Jan 11, 2012 17:32:42 GMT 12.75
heavy flavored meats like beef, moose etc are ok to smoke with oak...if ya don't go over board with it...
pine or any conifer for that matter when burned, even when very dry, still produces a lot of creosote which can make you quite ill...while it makes a lot of flame and burns hot and is great for a short campfire, it does not produce the coals that are needed to cook with....unless you are backpacking in I would suggest that you take some charcoal or dry wood with you...
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Coals
Jan 11, 2012 19:05:53 GMT 12.75
Post by brittonfaith on Jan 11, 2012 19:05:53 GMT 12.75
Wish y'all was here right now. I've got a pile of hot coals about 18 inches deep by 25 feet long and 15 feet wide. Mostly aspen, sycamore, and tulip poplar. Might be a little dogwood, maple, and wrist-size white oak in it too. Went up fast and burned quick. Couldn't get within 20 feet of it until about 9pm. I don't think there's a hair left on my arms or legs. But oh those lovely hot coals! I've done several campfires on tulip poplar, aspen and syc and absolutely love it. Lit it up around 4pm. It's been burning over nine hours and the coals are still glowing white. I'll be up every hour or so all night long checking on it. If that's not enough coals to cook everything you bring for dinner, the pile from 40 hours ago is still smoldering (hot enough to burn the soles off my shoes) and shouldn't take a whole lot of coaxing to get fired up again. Funny thing...did you know melted shoes smell just like, uh...coal? Stood there in what I thought was cold ash for a long time smelling coal and thinking it was the neighbors chimney. Then my feet got HOT!!
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Coals
Jan 11, 2012 21:29:30 GMT 12.75
Post by Toby Benoit on Jan 11, 2012 21:29:30 GMT 12.75
Where I'll be going, there are no hardwoods, so it's looking like a few bags of Kingsford are gonna have to be toted along...
Just an unrelated question. I never really paid attention to how much wood I burnt to get the coals cause any cooking I did, we'd pull the coals out of the campfire we had been kept burning anyway. Usually oak. In the Ntl Forest I grew up hunting, the timber companies came in and took all te pine and they'd cut and leave all the oak behind. We'd scour the clearcuts and pick up all the oak we could use for the entirety of the season and cut and stack it two weeks before the season would start and there ws always a fire going in the ring... Anybody needed coals only hadd grab a flatheaded shovel and take as neded. So...how much wood does it take to build a decent bed of coals for a DO, coffee pot, and grill or skillet?
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Coals
Jan 11, 2012 22:06:21 GMT 12.75
Post by Paws on Jan 11, 2012 22:06:21 GMT 12.75
Hard one to answer. Most of my experience using wood includes providing fire for heat and ambience as well as cooking. I'm figuring burn time then or figure burning for ten hours a day I'll use about a chord a week. 1/7 of a chord a day or 70 hours per chord, 35 hours a pick up load; like that. If you are looking for quantities of coals to equate to briquetts for temperature control that's even harder. Just pile them on there and keep them live and check your pot every few minutes, turning both your lid and your pot every few minutes. Cooking too fast remove some, too slow add more. Use your touch to "feel" how much heat there is by holding your hand near the heat and counting the seconds. You'll be able to build yourself a mental scale pretty shortly. Use your nose too. When chow starts to smell good it is getting done. TT is right about the creosote in that pine so if you heat rocks don't go tossin' them in the soup pot to heat it up. To save your back, you can pre-position wood stores along your route or carry charcoal with you. used just for cooking you ought to be able to get about an hour of cook time per pot per pound of charcoal. So two pots cooking five hours would be about ten pounds of bricks. Kingsford is the standard.
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Coals
Jan 12, 2012 9:35:48 GMT 12.75
Post by brittonfaith on Jan 12, 2012 9:35:48 GMT 12.75
Found this online. It doesn't list Acer glabrum (Rocky Mountain Maple). So I don't know what kind of BTU it has. What part of the state are you headed to? Forests vary a lot out there. But you should be able to find some ash, maple, and birch to burn. Like everyone's been saying, stay away from evergreen. Will not only gunk up your grill and pots, but plug up your chimney and start chimney fires. Also, stay away from cottonwood if it's out there. That stuff stinks to high heaven. Cedar smells nice if you just want to use a little bit for kindling in the fireplace. Don't think it would be too great for cook fuel though. If there's any kinda apple trees out there, they make great heat and soaked chips are real nice for smoking meat. chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm
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Coals
Jan 12, 2012 12:01:51 GMT 12.75
Post by Two Tales on Jan 12, 2012 12:01:51 GMT 12.75
Toby, just were the he77 are ya headed off to anyhow?... Faith is right, willow, soft poplar and cottonwood all smell like an old pisspot when burning...so ya know in case of necessity you can cook using evergreens..just don't expose the food to it....everything in a pot with a lid....
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Coals
Jan 12, 2012 14:35:54 GMT 12.75
Post by Paws on Jan 12, 2012 14:35:54 GMT 12.75
Oh Toby, if you can find some elm now that is just the berries for fire wood. You'll want to split (heh heh) yourself up a big old pile and enjoy your fire! I think where he is going there isn't enough oxygen to support fire nor water to put it out if he does get it started. And if he finds that elm he'll be too damned tired to cook anyhow!
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Coals
Jan 12, 2012 17:08:06 GMT 12.75
Post by Two Tales on Jan 12, 2012 17:08:06 GMT 12.75
heck ifn he's goin up dat hi then he aint findin no elms..ifn he did it be bout the size of a match stick...there are a few dwarf pin oaks up that hi but ya'ld need at least four of them ta boil a pot of water...
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Coals
Jan 13, 2012 3:12:49 GMT 12.75
Post by Paws on Jan 13, 2012 3:12:49 GMT 12.75
I'm not going to make too much fun of him Ralph cause we might piss him off and we just might need to go look him up the way things are going here. Montana looks like a real good prospect if we slip into a revolt or that idiot that calls himself a leader decides he would rether be dictator. Time to put your survival gear and bug out bags in order.
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Coals
Jan 13, 2012 3:15:34 GMT 12.75
Post by Paws on Jan 13, 2012 3:15:34 GMT 12.75
Matter of fact might be a good idea to review some of Russ Goddards survival information and go over inventory suggestions.
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Coals
Jan 13, 2012 8:57:22 GMT 12.75
Post by Toby Benoit on Jan 13, 2012 8:57:22 GMT 12.75
I'll be settling in either Roundup, Shawmutt, or Hysham Montana. Going up there in March for an exploratory mission to look over several parcels of property. The place I really wanted with nothing but cedar/pine/grass is off my list. A full 160 acre section of land for under forty K... It's landlocked and two different attorneys in Billings have advised me to walk away as it is unlikely I can get an easement without incurring more than I have invested in the land... Still, some really good buys on land in that state. Looking at a few small ranchettes in Wyoming too...All fairly isolated and teeming with wildlife!!!
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Coals
Jan 13, 2012 8:59:38 GMT 12.75
Post by Toby Benoit on Jan 13, 2012 8:59:38 GMT 12.75
I'll be on the road for quite a while, so I bought a 20" camper trailer, golfcart, generator, and a shitload of gear to get me by. Gonna camp everywhere I go cause the prices of motels will break me!
Once I find the ranch I'm looking for, I plan on setting up camp and making some improvements on the land to attract and hold wildlife. Be rustic camping for a while, but I'm looking forward to it. I'll head back to Florida if I don't find what I'm looking for or before next winter sets in...whichever comes first!
So, ya'll plan on the next OCC gathering to be in Montana, lolol. ;D Russ and Rainguage, and princessrunamuck are already there waiting on us!
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Coals
Jan 13, 2012 11:24:08 GMT 12.75
Post by Paws on Jan 13, 2012 11:24:08 GMT 12.75
I'll be on the road for quite a while, so I bought a 20" camper trailer, golfcart, generator, and a shitload of gear to get me by. Gonna camp everywhere I go cause the prices of motels will break me! Once I find the ranch I'm looking for, I plan on setting up camp and making some improvements on the land to attract and hold wildlife. Be rustic camping for a while, but I'm looking forward to it. I'll head back to Florida if I don't find what I'm looking for or before next winter sets in...whichever comes first! So, ya'll plan on the next OCC gathering to be in Montana, lolol. ;D Russ and Rainguage, and princessrunamuck are already there waiting on us! Boy a Montana GT would be terrific. Afraid if I head out that way though I'm bringing everything I own!
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Coals
Jan 13, 2012 19:05:05 GMT 12.75
Post by Toby Benoit on Jan 13, 2012 19:05:05 GMT 12.75
Can't find a flaw in that plan, Paws!
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Coals
Jan 13, 2012 19:31:43 GMT 12.75
Post by Paws on Jan 13, 2012 19:31:43 GMT 12.75
Found this online. It doesn't list Acer glabrum (Rocky Mountain Maple). So I don't know what kind of BTU it has. What part of the state are you headed to? Forests vary a lot out there. But you should be able to find some ash, maple, and birch to burn. Like everyone's been saying, stay away from evergreen. Will not only gunk up your grill and pots, but plug up your chimney and start chimney fires. Also, stay away from cottonwood if it's out there. That stuff stinks to high heaven. Cedar smells nice if you just want to use a little bit for kindling in the fireplace. Don't think it would be too great for cook fuel though. If there's any kinda apple trees out there, they make great heat and soaked chips are real nice for smoking meat. chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htmGood chart to review. Highly useful especially if you are buying or selling wood. Might be a time it will be so scarce that it will be rated by energy output units per dollar.
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