Although it turned out to be a highly insulated wood burning stove, I don't think it had proper separation of the fuel and air chambers. I tried this but wasn't happy with my results. He recommends a 4:1 ratio of Perlite (or Vermiculite) to reinforced concrete. The builder used 4" PVC pipe as molds to create his chamber in some homemade insulated concrete that he molded into a 5 gallon bucket. What motivated me to try to build my own, was the $12 rocket stove video on YouTube. So a 4" diameter chamber should have a riser 12" tall. Properly designed rocket stoves are said to have a riser height that is 3x the diameter of the fire chamber. I don't fully understand the science behind it, but when the heat is not radiated out of the fire chamber - a second combustion burns the spent gases, and incinerates the wood? Basically, its so hot that there's no smoke. For these stoves to be most efficient, they'd need to keep all the heat in the fire chamber, where there is a secondary combustion. Many companies sell an L shaped steel wood burning stove with called a Rocket Stove. The air is pulled in below the fuel wood, where it is preheated, then as it feeds the fire - it rapidly exits creating a whooshing noise like a rocket engine. They are usually very well insulated, which keeps the heat in the burn chamber. They are supposed to be incredibly efficient, and can be fueled by twigs, small sticks or scrap wood. In my opinion (but I'm no expert) a true rocket stove should have a distinct rocket like sound, and produce enormous heat. However YouTube, Google and even Instructables are loaded with wood burning stoves, (with chambers shaped like either an L or a J) that call themselves rocket stoves. I can't find it now, but I read an article where someone built a rocket stove and recorded temps in excess of 1500 degrees coming out of the top. Many attempts result in over cooked steaks because the sear wasn't hot enough. Timing that 10-15 minute super heat window, with having your steak hit about 110 degrees in the oven is tricky. I could add more charcoal, but that would take time to heat up. Then it only stays that hot for 10 or so minutes. It takes anywhere from 30-45 mins for those top coals to get red hot. I start the chimney with paper bags, and a little coal in the larger (now on the bottom chamber), and fill the smaller chamber with charcoal on top. The bad thing about this method is the window of that heat is small. I've seen temps near 1000 degrees with this method. I try to time it so the steak is ready to go one when the coals are red hot. I started using a Weber charcoal chimney upside down - so that the coals sit near the top. It takes about 2 mins per side, and usually over cooks the middle. When I try to sear my steak on an iron skillet on my grill's side burner - my infrared thermometer only reports about 600 degrees. I've heard that high class steakhouses use broilers that go up to 1800 degrees. Too much time, and that extreme heat makes its way into the steak, over cooking it. Ideally when I am searing the steak, I'd like it on heat no more than 1 minute per side. You want to trigger that reaction quickly. My problem has been - that second heat source. Flip once, then let rest a few minutes, then you'll have the perfect medium rare steak. Or if you use a super hot iron skillet, the entire side will be one char-grilled delicious grill mark. If you like grill marks, it helps to constantly rotate your steak, so you don't have a single set of parallel lines, your marks cover the steak. This triggers the Maillard Reaction, which produces the char-grilled texture or grill marks. Before you hit 130, you remove it, and expose it to MUCH higher temps, for a short time. If you cook it at 225, yes it takes much longer, but the internal temperature climb is much slower. By the time the middle is 130-135, most of the non-middle is overcooked. Throw it on a 400 degree grill, you're cooking it from the outside in. Somewhere in my reading someone referred to cooking a thick steak like trying to catch a moving bus. If you want to cook a 1 1/2" thick rib eye that's medium rare - all the way through (instead of just a medium rare thin patch through the middle) the easiest way to do that it is to bring it up to temp slowly. I learned about reverse searing - where you cook it low and slow until it's within 10 or so degrees of desired done-ness, then you sear it to have a nice layer of char on the outside. My interest in rocket stoves started with steaks.
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