Bushwalk Australia

Onestepmore wrote:Phil is this modified MiniBullStove from Tinny similar to the Mini Heat one where there is a continuous feed line from the stove to a remote metho bottle?
I've seen pics of this and it makes me a bit worried that something will go wrong, or of there's a leak in the metho through a seal or connection it could run down the tubing and the whole bottle will go 'whoosh'

Yes both the stoves have a external fuel feeder, it's not included with the stoves, you have to order them separately, The Remote feeder sold by MiniBullDesigns in my opinion is a lot safer than the feeder sold by Smokeeter908, The MiniBullDesign Remote feeder is more stable and better craftmanship. No problems with the seal, in particular with the MiniBullDesign system.

The Mini Heat Stove don't work for dry baking, not as expected, it needs to be readjusted constantly otherwise the flame is to large. My opinion the Mini Heat Stove is a failure for dry baking. For boiling and simmering food it would make a great stove, but for Dry baking, it's not precise enough.

I am in contact with Tinny from MiniBullDesigns for a couple weeks now, I asked him a couple weeks ago, what I'm looking for in a stove for dry baking and I think he has nailed this setup, but his suggestion of height for the wick in his recent youtube videos is to high, I've cut mine down to the length shown in the following image. I've just completed a boil test to see how long it takes to boil two cups of 21C water, Water came to a boil in 27 minutes, consumed 15ml (half ounce) of Fuel. I think this will work great for Dry Baking. Tests are run outside with a slight breeze using my Carbon Felt Windscreen.

Phil has become the master of what I have christened 'Bushtrack Baking'

Anyone interested in the Remote fuel feeding system best to watch this video from MiniBullDesigns.

Phil I've looked at the MiniBullDesigns stove and it seems the wick is the only control over heat output, how do you think this will go out in the field with constantly varying environments? Would you not lean towards the Featherfire for this reason?

DannyS wrote:Phil I've looked at the MiniBullDesigns stove and it seems the wick is the only control over heat output, how do you think this will go out in the field with constantly varying environments? Would you not lean towards the Featherfire for this reason?

Main issue so far with the MiniBullDesign Stove with the wick adjusted for dry baking is it will take 25 minutes to boil two cups of water. Tinny's suggestion was to take a normal wick for boiling and swap the two, that's not so easy to do with the wick cut down below the top of the stove as I do, you could pull the stove apart but a bit to fiddly for my liking and not so easy to get the wick exactly how it was for baking. The Featherfire stove you can boil and dry bake. But you would want to measure the fuel out exactly, otherwise without using the optional fuel system they sell, you will never get the access fuel out without making a mess and spilling fuel everywhere and that fuel system is a bit large for my liking.

My chose at this stage is to take the MiniBullDesign Stove with me on my overnight bush-walks with an additional stove for boiling, something like the 12-10 stove and maybe my two cup beer can pot, so I can bake and boil water at the same time. My pack weight is light enough to enjoy such luxury's.

Thanks you onestepmore for sending me a few of the Eggies to experiment with.

Today as soon the postie turned up at my door within 5 minutes of opening the package I had one on the stove with an egg inside.
Very interesting little contraption this is. The egg turned out great, but was a job to clean the inside of the Eggie, I practically had to scrape the inside of the eggie. According to the packaging they are called, Eggie.
Will I use it for baking cakes or muffins at camp, probably not, main reason for me is the fuel consumed will be higher than my current Dry Baking setup. Youl have to bring you water to the boil than maintain a simmer for the time required to bake a cake. For those that choose to use gas stoves to cook with, this could work. I will experiment with a gas stove and see if it's possible to boil a cake.

I tried to add a few images, I received a message [b]"Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached"[/b] I don't know what that's all about. First time I had this happen. It's a shame, as I now will not be able to continue experimenting with this topic, at least not with images.

Sorry all, I've not had a chance to do many experiments with the Eggies. I've had so much on and very limited time. The few tests I have done so far is not that promising, the results are nothing like I achieve with my current lightweight baking system. The eggies are not so easy to clean and the cakes stick to the eggies.

In regards to my Dry Baking Kit, I've found by adding varying amounts of water to the Diggers Methylated Spirits I can fine tune the heat output coming out of my Alcohol stoves for dry baking and it also eliminates the soot build up under the pot, fuel burns a lot cleaner when water is added.

ULWalkingPhil wrote:Sorry all, I've not had a chance to do many experiments with the Eggies. I've had so much on and very limited time. The few tests I have done so far is not that promising, the results are nothing like I achieve with my current lightweight baking system. The eggies are not so easy to clean and the cakes stick to the eggies.

In regards to my Dry Baking Kit, I've found by adding varying amounts of water to the Diggers Methylated Spirits I can fine tune the heat output coming out of my Alcohol stoves for dry baking and it also eliminates the soot build up under the pot, fuel burns a lot cleaner when water is added.

Phil what ratio of water to fuel are you using and how much did it effect the heat output?

DannyS wrote:

ULWalkingPhil wrote:Sorry all, I've not had a chance to do many experiments with the Eggies. I've had so much on and very limited time. The few tests I have done so far is not that promising, the results are nothing like I achieve with my current lightweight baking system. The eggies are not so easy to clean and the cakes stick to the eggies.

In regards to my Dry Baking Kit, I've found by adding varying amounts of water to the Diggers Methylated Spirits I can fine tune the heat output coming out of my Alcohol stoves for dry baking and it also eliminates the soot build up under the pot, fuel burns a lot cleaner when water is added.

Phil what ratio of water to fuel are you using and how much did it effect the heat output?

I have increased the wick length slightly on my Mini Bull design Bongo stove by about 3 or 4mm to whats shown on an earlier image I posted and add 10% water volume to the fuel. I have found prior to this, to much soot build up under the pot. Adding the water has decreased the soot build up.

That is some supreme baking skills Phil.

It is good feedback on all the stoves too. I am in the hunt for a more compact stove.

simonm wrote:That is some supreme baking skills Phil.

It is good feedback on all the stoves too. I am in the hunt for a more compact stove.

Thanks simonm.

The stoves mentioned apart from the featherfire stove are slower than most other alcohol stoves if used for boiling water. Even with a full size wick on the Bongo stove I find it a bit slower to boil water than most of my other Alcohol Stoves, particularly if water is added to the fuel.
I generally take two stoves with me, the Bongo Stove for dry baking and a homemade soda can stove for boiling water, The featherfire stove has not been with me on a bush-walks thus far because of the difficulty in removing unused fuel out of the stove. I generally measure out an apx fuel amount I think I will need and let the stove burn out using up all the fuel in the stove after I completed baking, but I've read reports of late that this is not a good thing to do with an alcohol stove, in particular with the Trangia Stoves as this can cause the stoves to crack.

In regards to water volume mixed in with Metho Fuel I have reduced the volume to less than 10% volume, as the heat output was getting a bit to low. It's amazing just how much the heat output can be changed by adding or reducing water volume.

I would be interested in any ideas and recipes as to how to make a decent damper with lightweight equipment without a log fire.

David M wrote:I would be interested in any ideas and recipes as to how to make a decent damper with lightweight equipment without a log fire.

Just use the same kit I am and instead of packet mixes, take your own Damper recipe.

For fresh bread, Mix up about a cup of plain flour with half a teaspoon of yeast and half teaspoon of salt, inside a zippy bag.
When ready, mix in a small amount of water, not to much and kneed through the zippy bag. Let it rise in the bag. Than turn the zippy bag inside out and place into a oiled dry-baking pot with baking paper at the base. Place this in another zippy bag or the same, if you don't mind the mess and let it rise as you walk.

Once arrived at camp or when you desire. Bake the bread on low heat till it's cooked, Fresh Baked bread at camp. Yum......

I've used the Flat Cat set up for baking and it works great. I put some grease-proof baking paper as a lining in the pan - no problms. I also have the Banks Fry-Bake pan but haven't used it for dry baking yet.

Bloozz wrote:I've used the Flat Cat set up for baking and it works great. I put some grease-proof baking paper as a lining in the pan - no problms. I also have the Banks Fry-Bake pan but haven't used it for dry baking yet.

Are you using esbit tablets?

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Yes, i use two small esbit tablets, they last about 20 to 25 minutes.

Bloozz wrote:Yes, i use two small esbit tablets, they last about 20 to 25 minutes.

I've looked into the Flat Cat setup in the past, but turned of it because of the Esbit Tablets, To expensive and there not available locally. I've looked into the Flat Cat option again a couple days ago and wondered how well it works with his Metho Stove and simmer ring, but his prices?. 16:00 just for the simmer ring alone, I think is a bit steep. Not to mention the price of his Metho stove. Ouch..... I'm happy with my current setup, It's cheap and works very reliably.

Mini Bull Designs in the US has a new stove his designed to use for dry-baking. Apparently by rising or lowering the wick you can control the heat output of the stove. Only $20.00 US. I been thinking about giving this a try. Not so sure I like the fact that you have to pour your fuel into the chamber, Fuel leftover, pour it back into the fuel container. I don't like that. To messy.

It's been a while since I tried my Featherfire stove for Dry-Baking, Today I gave it a shot.
It's the best I've ever had this working.

My setup is as follows.
I mixed apx 10% water volume to Methylated Spirits bought from Bunnings.
Set the Featherfire Stove to max, add apx one ounce of fuel to stove.
Light stove and let it fire for a while on high heat, It's very important you do this, otherwise the flame will go out when you lower the flame output.
Once the fuel is hot, you will notice the fuel boiling. Than turn the heat down, not all the way. And bake.

I'm now going to feast on my Chocolate Cake.

With all this baking, I'm wondering hows the weight going Phil?

photohiker wrote:With all this baking, I'm wondering hows the weight going Phil?

Not the best, I've put on some weight over the summer months, going back to gym this week, that was the plan, but I slightly hurt my foot up on the barron river, last week, spent 10 days up there, nothing severe but I kept walking on it, a bit swelled this week. Few more days rest, I should be fine for the gym.

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Tried a new simple recipe, which seamed to have worked out ok, for it's simplicity is good.

Half cup self raising flour
125ml water
Sultanas

Dry baked on low heat for apx 30 minutes.

Looks very edible Phil.

My mum and sister enjoyed it.

I think its better with plain flour and yeast, comes out more fluffy.

I may have used to much water, will try another with half the water listed and see if its an improvement.

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Whack a few dates into it instead of blowflies. Althoug there's nothing wrong with blowflies.

Phil your dry baking inspired me. I've gone with the batchstovez dry baking pot set but use a MSR micro rocket stove instead of a alcohol setup. I've found with the height of the pot supports and the micro rockets simmer control it gives good results with no burnt bottoms. So far I've done raspberry chocolate chip muffins banana cake and chocolate cakes but I would like to do a bit more experimenting with flavour's.

Hello all, I'm putting together a website on Dry Baking. Should be completed with the week. It's fairly basic at this stage, but I will build on it with more content over time.

The URL is www.drybaking.com.au

Nice one Phil.