# Self feeding, single serving, rocket grill



## new old timer (Jan 15, 2019)

Well, seeing how I'm new to this forum, I thought I would start to share some things that I do that might seem a little strange (and there are quite a few). This is a rocket stove design made from 6" stove pipe, buried in the ground are two 90deg elbows and a short piece between them (because you need a little space between the wood tube and the taller heat riser tube) to keep any flames from ever reaching the meat. 

I usually cook on this while I'm working on a piece of land that I have for deer hunting. It's always just me so it's designed for one person only, but I have other designs that use self-feeding/rocket stove technology that will accommodate a small hog. 

This particular design burns fairly slowly and produces no smoke at all. The below pics of a turkey thigh cooking where taken during the cook but you can't see any smoke coming out anywhere. The air flow goes down the wood tube and out of the heat riser and burns very cleanly without making the meat black from soot. You can hear a slight roar as it burns, this is why it's called a "rocket" stove.

The pics were taken 30 minutes apart and you can see the sticks getting shorter as they burn and then drop down (hence self-feeding). I cooked a big sweet potato after the thigh was done before the sticks were gone. I never had to touch the sticks as they burned, and they lasted 3 hours.

Anyway, just wanted to share some stuff with you guys/gals, I hope you find it interesting and I hope I put it in the right section.

_new old timer_


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## new old timer (Jan 15, 2019)

I need to make a correction, I said that I didn't touch the sticks but now I remember swapping out the one with the bend in it, as it would not fall down, my bad!, I usually don't mess with it and they drop just fine.

_new old timer_


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## roadfix (Jan 15, 2019)

I've thought of making one of those before.   There are many variations of rocket stoves out there, the simplest ones made by stacking a few cinder blocks.


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## new old timer (Jan 15, 2019)

Yes, I too have made some with cinder blocks, but the first one I ever made was back in the 70's and was done with two holes in the ground like a "reversed" version of what is now called a "Dakota" fire pit. The holes were small and deep to get enough length in the heat riser.

No one said "rocket stove" back then, it was something my cousin showed me that they used in the Special Forces. They were not allowed to make fires but if they did, it couldn't produce any smoke or visible flame. Even the Dakota fire pit flames can be seen from above, where as this "reverse" design keeps the flames hidden between the wood hole and the heat riser (under ground in the tunnel between them) and is not very visible from above. It's kind of hard to explain.

I wish I had some pics of one design I made that used steel tubes that feed up through  the bottom of an old gas grill with a vertical wood pipe sticking up behind it, load it up with some long sticks and it will put out some serious concentrated heat.

_new old timer_


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