SC - a grid?

[Lurking Girl]

Jeff Gedney wrote:
> I shall attempt to reply to a few of these:
> > 
> > Last year (the first year I worked over an actual firepit, and I did have
> > stove backup) I didn't have actual fire_making_ problems, unless you count
> > being stuck in camp all damn afternoon to keep an eye on it. :-/  The major
> > problem was smoke. 
> 
> Here you should use the wind to your advantage.
> Determing the general direction of the prevailing winds that day. 

Most of the days I had a problem, the winds were what you might call "light
and variable".  Translated, that means they followed me to whatever side
of the pit I was on. :-/  No tendencies towards one or another direction
that I could detect.  Just lucky, I guess...I do understand that this
would not always be a problem.

> make sure that you have a hook or some other tool to pull the put to you 
> somewhat, Closer to the edge of the fire pit, if you need to get into it. 
> That will allow you access to the contenst relativly free of smoke.

One of my other problems was that the tripod (which I had bought a while
before the pot) was way too small, so we had a fascinating balancing act
going too.  Bleah.
 
> For your big pot, unless you are baking, you might try not making the fire 
> ALL the way around it, to allow access form that side fior stirring. as long 
> as the ingredients are stirred, it doesn not matter that much if the heat is 
> applied to one side or all wht way around.

It was entirely under it.  Because the pot was almost as big as the pit. :)

> Before you start cooking rake the large unburnt chunks of wood (
> which generate the bulk of the smoke ) AWAY form the coals ( Which
> generate the bulk of the heat ), preferably in the direction the
> prevailing winds tend to blow. As the large chunks burn down to
> coals, rake them into the area where you are working. this will
> allow you to keep a replenishing supply of cooking coals. 

Neat!  We will need a bigger fire than I had to work with last year, I think,
so this will definitely come in handy.  What I did last year was let the
wood burn down and then just cook over coals.  (Except when I was running
out of time, of course.)

Tangent:  was anyone else at Pennsic deeply peeved at the change of court
to 6pm?  This made it really damn difficult for me to feed my people, as
either we had to a) make dinner at 4pm, which means the fighters got to
leave battles early or go to court stinky or b) make dinner after court,
which meant everyone got to starve for hours.

(The right answer might be "don't go to court", but for various and sundry
reasons, subsets had to go to East, Middle, AND Aethelmearc courts.)
 
> A roof would not be useful for a windbreak. 

No, I didn't think it would be, that was just a side thought related to
weather issues.

> Also keep in mind that a wall or other vertical surface close to the firepit 
> will draw the smoke to it when the wind blows, so you probably do not 
> want to try a high wind break with a roof anyway, since that will only 
> ensure that _you_ are smoked like a kipper.

That would be Bad, I agree...
 
> Use an umbrella. inconvenient, but the best option, as far as fire safety
> goes. ( cloaks and ponchos can ge useful but you have to mind the 
> trailing edges around the fire. ) have a friend hold, if you need both 
> hands.

And that was the problem; I didn't want to trail a cloak, and frequently
there was no one around to hold an umbrella.  (Our chore schedule suffered
from communications breakdowns.)

> Start the old Backyard Barbecue grille (this is gonna smoke like crazy!!)

I wonder if my pot will fit on our grill.  I suspect it won't, alas.

(And that's the major problem.  The pot is just too freakin' big.  Feeds
lots of people, though!)

> (Grampa used to do this on the stove top, but once the neighbors 
> called the fire dept, cause they thought his house was on fire, from 
> the amount of smoke pouring out of the kitchen window.)

Ooooh, we hate those uncomfortable moments...

Vika
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