Tips for Minimizing Smoke

[boyscout]

Hi All,
This is my first post. As I live in an urban setting in the far east, aka the "fine" city, I lit my first fire with fear and trepidation. The neighbours next to the WFO are not the most friendly, let just say, and they are not averse to the immediate neighbours hearing their family shouting matches, so the last thing I wanted was to get into one with them.

Having gone thru all my options, I cured the WFO with the Aussie heat beads, which were near to smokeless.

The first fire. I started it late at night when the neighbours were alsleep with the airconditioning on, so any smoke would not waft in to readily as airconditioning recirculates air within the room.

I bought large sized Kachi charcoal from the local supplier. about 2" in diameter and 5-6" long, there are actually made from mangrove stems. I laid out 2 parallel charcoal sticks, in between I placed 2 hexamine solid fuels, equivalent to Jiffy brand solid fuel but just much cheaper.On top of the first to sticks of charcoal I places 2 other perpedicular sticks about similar size. the first 2 sticks are placed perpendicular to the oven opening and the 2nd level charcoal placed parallel to the oven opening.

I lit the solid fuel under the charcoal rather confidently as I tested the smoke level elsewhere already. Once the solid fuel was totall lit, I started a protable computer fan about 3"x3" in diameter connected to an eveready lithium ion portable pack. The fan connects via USB and give an almost inaudible buzz.

The flame now blows red hot under the soft wind and the 2nd level charcoal starts to flame in 12 mins. once the entire stick is red hot and a flaming (I made sure that the flame did not come from the solid fuel) I placed yet anor 2 sticks on top. this time the 3rd level started to flame within 8 minutes. this process goes on until there are about 16 sticks in the oven not necessarily placed on top but wherever there is a flame that can pretty much engulf the next stick of charcoal.

1 hour passes. I say a quick prayer. I put in my best prepared sticks of firewood. In the far east Bakau wood (rhizophora stylosa) also a mangrove type wood. My best prepared sticks of firewood were dried with the heat beads during the initial curing phases. they were then de-barked and dried again.

I throw in my first stick of wood, half of me was waiting for the neighbours lights to turn on and the police and fire service to turn up, the other part of me had quiet confidence that the knowledge gleaned from this forum would stand me in good stead, nevertheless, i had a fire extiguisher handy...just in case.

Oh before I threw in the stick of firewood, I arranged the charcoal in a line so that the entire flame could engulf the entire stick of firewood.

I threw the stick in...it rolled off the charcoal, my heart skipped a beat as i saw fumes starting, I used tongs to put the stick fully on the bed of charcoal fire, engulfing the whole stick...I held the fan as close to the flame as I could with a baking glove...success! the firewood suddenly combusted with little discernible smoke...and there was close to no odour of smoke. I then threw in a second stick of firewood this time with renewed confidence and a bit more aplomb. the 2nd stick caught fire again with little discernible smoke.

I did not raise the oven to pizza heat as that was my first open flame.

I hope this helps other newbies who live in a WFO unfriendly zones.

[BrickStoneOven]

Originally Posted by boyscout

Hi All,
This is my first post. As I live in an urban setting in the far east, aka the "fine" city, I lit my first fire with fear and trepidation. The neighbours next to the WFO are not the most friendly, let just say, and they are not averse to the immediate neighbours hearing their family shouting matches, so the last thing I wanted was to get into one with them.

Having gone thru all my options, I cured the WFO with the Aussie heat beads, which were near to smokeless.

The first fire. I started it late at night when the neighbours were alsleep with the airconditioning on, so any smoke would not waft in to readily as airconditioning recirculates air within the room.

I bought large sized Kachi charcoal from the local supplier. about 2" in diameter and 5-6" long, there are actually made from mangrove stems. I laid out 2 parallel charcoal sticks, in between I placed 2 hexamine solid fuels, equivalent to Jiffy brand solid fuel but just much cheaper.On top of the first to sticks of charcoal I places 2 other perpedicular sticks about similar size. the first 2 sticks are placed perpendicular to the oven opening and the 2nd level charcoal placed parallel to the oven opening.

I lit the solid fuel under the charcoal rather confidently as I tested the smoke level elsewhere already. Once the solid fuel was totall lit, I started a protable computer fan about 3"x3" in diameter connected to an eveready lithium ion portable pack. The fan connects via USB and give an almost inaudible buzz.

The flame now blows red hot under the soft wind and the 2nd level charcoal starts to flame in 12 mins. once the entire stick is red hot and a flaming (I made sure that the flame did not come from the solid fuel) I placed yet anor 2 sticks on top. this time the 3rd level started to flame within 8 minutes. this process goes on until there are about 16 sticks in the oven not necessarily placed on top but wherever there is a flame that can pretty much engulf the next stick of charcoal.

1 hour passes. I say a quick prayer. I put in my best prepared sticks of firewood. In the far east Bakau wood (rhizophora stylosa) also a mangrove type wood. My best prepared sticks of firewood were dried with the heat beads during the initial curing phases. they were then de-barked and dried again.

I throw in my first stick of wood, half of me was waiting for the neighbours lights to turn on and the police and fire service to turn up, the other part of me had quiet confidence that the knowledge gleaned from this forum would stand me in good stead, nevertheless, i had a fire extiguisher handy...just in case.

Oh before I threw in the stick of firewood, I arranged the charcoal in a line so that the entire flame could engulf the entire stick of firewood.

I threw the stick in...it rolled off the charcoal, my heart skipped a beat as i saw fumes starting, I used tongs to put the stick fully on the bed of charcoal fire, engulfing the whole stick...I held the fan as close to the flame as I could with a baking glove...success! the firewood suddenly combusted with little discernible smoke...and there was close to no odour of smoke. I then threw in a second stick of firewood this time with renewed confidence and a bit more aplomb. the 2nd stick caught fire again with little discernible smoke.

I did not raise the oven to pizza heat as that was my first open flame.

I hope this helps other newbies who live in a WFO unfriendly zones.

That sucks that you have to go through all that just to light a fire. If you are worried about smoke and your annoying neighbors you can use a weed torch to start your fires. They burn at 500,000 BTUs, they are so hot that there is virtually no smoke at all. Here is a link to one http://www.flameengineering.com/Heav...apor_Kits.html. And this is a video of Bill/SFNM from pizzamaking.com using one to start his fires http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isbfZSC_5Pk. I think he uses it all the time and he said it works great.

[boyscout]

well I wish they sold those here, they don't. and I suspect that customs would impound it if I imported it.

I am just happy that I found a way to light the fire albeit in a long winded way. can't wait to light my first pizza temp fire, its been raining these past few days so I have been holding off. thanks for the suggestion anyway.