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Build a J-Tube Rocket Oven - PEP BB rocket.wood.oven

BB rocket - wood badge

posted 6 years ago

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This is a badge bit (BB) that is part of the PEP curriculum. Completing this BB is part of getting the wood badge in Rocket.

This BB requires you to build a j-tube style rocket oven.

(cource)

These are some potentially useful resources:
- Rocket Ovens
- Introduction to Rocket Ovens and What You Need to Know Before You Build
- My First Rocket Project - Rocket Oven in Stages
- The Rocket Powered Oven
- Roket Oven 2018 Plans

To get certified for this Badge Bit you must provide:
- 5 pics of build in progress
o Including inside of stratification chamber
- 3 pics of completed product
o Overview picture
o J-tube
o Inside of oven with door half open
- 2 minute video of starting the fire and proving there are no smoke leaks
- pic of uncooked food going in
- pic of cooked food coming out

COMMENTS:

Alexandra Malecki

gardener

Posts: 606

Location: 6a; BSk; Suburbia; 0.35 acres

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posted 1 month ago

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Approved submission

I built a rocket oven!

It's a 42sqin j-tube with a 6in exhaust. It has a full size feed, 16in, and a 48+in riser. The back door has 1in of insulation and is a functional cleanout. The oven door also has 1in of insulation (above and below the hinge). I insulated the riser with perlite enclosed in a cob/mesh cylinder. The brick provides structural support for the oven and adds some aesthetic benefits. The cob around the oven isn't really providing thermal mass storage since there's 1+inches (depending on location) of insulation but also weighs down the oven keeping the oven in place (it wasn't necessary to strap it down after cobbing).

On the first test run I struggled to keep the temp low at 350degF to bake the zucchini bread -- definitely needed larger pieces of wood than what I used. On a subsequent run, I was able to get to 550degF in <30 mins (without trying to get it to temp quickly and without really keeping track of the time) and cooked 20 pizzas in <90mins. Once the oven got to 550degF it could bake a pizza in 3 mins. The max temp I reached was 650degF but I wasn't trying to exceed that temp - I'm sure I could have gotten this oven much hotter if I used matchstick sized pieces of wood. I wonder how quickly the oven could get up to temp at startup if I tried to make it fast; I think I could get it there in <15mins if I had split the wood more. At around the 6th pizza, the oven temp was 650degF and the pizza stone cracked.

I highly recommend watching Paul's Rocket Ovens Movie, getting the "Unofficial Companion Guide to the Rocket Oven DVD", and getting Tim Barker's Rocket Powered oven book before getting started.

edited to add youtube link to video instead of having to download it

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complete_door-open.JPG

complete_j-tube.JPG

complete_overview.JPG

Filename: 2min-video_starting-the-rocket.MOV

File size: 417 megabytes

[Download 2min-video_starting-the-rocket.MOV]

Download Attachment

food_in.JPG

food_out.JPG

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