HUGE storm kettle!

[Dave Budd]

Following on from a thread a little while ago where I mentioned that I have been on the look out for a group sized kelly kettle, I found one at a show a couple of weeks ago

I had been struggling to find anything larger than the 1.4L kelly that I have been using for years. All I could find were some very nice ones in New Zealand, but nothing here It seems that I was being completely weak in the google-fu as I have since seen the one I now own all over the internet!

Anyway, the kettle...

it's the Triple S Storm Kettle made by the Storm Kettle Company. It's made from stainless steel and holds 5 litres of water. It costs £69

Diameter of body: 23.0 cm (9")

Height: 42.5 cm (16.75")

Weight empty: 1000 grams (1lb 13oz)

I bumped into the chaps from Wild Stoves at a show and got mine from them. I've no connection to them, but they are very nice blokes and had a fantastic array of rocket stoves, woodgas stoves, storm kettles, etc with them to try out.

I filled the kettle to the brim and lit it with a hand full of wood shavings. The air holes on this are quite small (about 14mm from memory), but are spread out around the integral base so the wind will get in there even when it changes direction (a problem I find with my Kelly).

Here it is alongside my large Kelly for some sense of scale.

I fuelled it with dry twigs (mostly birch and hawthorn today) and there was very little breeze, in fact at times the smoke was going straight up! It didn't use very a lot of fuel, but I forgot to record how much I did need, sorry. It got the full 5 litres up to a spurting boil in 9 and a half minutes! which isn't bad I would say!

As I was bored I got the thermocouple out to see how it held the temperature. I took the kettle off the fire once boiled and closed the little flap on the top. The disc, so far as I can tell, is placed over the hole to keep the water warm for longer (it means that cool air isn't being sucked up the chimney and cooling the water by the same mechanism as it was heated).

With the disc in place, the water was still at 97C after 10 minutes! After an hour it was still at 70C You could top it up whilst a fire is lit but I don't think I would bother trying as the filler hole is quite small (30mm ish) and the lid is a right PITA to get on, especially when hot.

so, good points:

- large volume
- fast and economical boil
- no separate base (less bits to break/loose)
- Proper spout (makes pouring easier)
- Not likely to drop stuff into the water chamber whilst topping up the fuel
- the handle at the bottom stays pretty cool even when the water is boiling.
- Stays hot for a good long time
- Stainless Steel
- 12 month garuntee

Bad points:

- the steel is very thin! (about 0.2mm), so is likely to dent easily. Only time will tell.
- water filler cap is a sod to put on, mostly due to the thin metal it and the hole are made off. I might just replace it with a cork!
- lifting the kettle from the fire is 'interesting' when the flames are still up! I didn't think to try the 'horizontal handle lift' I normally use with the kelly, so I'll see if it can manage the weight of 5 litres next time
- spout is an aluminium one from a teapot! purely an aesthetic niggle

All in all I'm very happy with it and I'm going to be using it a lot. Mostly I wanted it to use when I have groups of 6 or 8 and the kelly would have to be boiled twice. Also because I don't have water on site at work I have to carry it in, so I normally just drink it straight from the water butt. Most of the year that is ok for me, but right now it has quite a lot of interesting critters swimming around in it! So I'm boiling my drinking water and being able to boiled a few days worth at a time is very handy (especially if I want to drink cool water rather than tea/coffee)

 

[lab72]

Wow thats one big kettle

 

[FGYT]

Nice find Dave looks good

ATB

Duncan

 

[Toddy]

Woah, that's a beast :yikes:
5ltrs in under 10 minutes though Impressive beast however

cheers,
M

 

[mitch66]

very nice piece of kit, thought it would cost more.

 

[Shewie]

Nice and shiney, I like it

Good link too Dave, not seen them before

 

[Hugo]

That lifting sure gets you burnt fingers, I forgot the first couple of times on my kelly kettle, ouch.

 

[Dave Budd]

plenty of tea to be brewed with this one

the way I've been lifting it so far (I've used it a few times to get used to it before writing anything about it) has been to use the small metal handle at the bottom to lift with and the top handle is at 90 degrees for support. Or I just pick it up vertically really fast!

Mostly with my kelly I've got good at leaving just enough fuel burning to get it to boil, so there are no flames to contend with when you pick it up

 

[Nat]

That is one huge kettle!!
Cheers for the link. Those rocket stoves look like a good buy.

 

[IanGiblett]

Hello, Sorry for responding to such an old thread.

Having used this large storm kettle weekly with my conservation group for over 3 years I thought I would add some feedback in case anyone else is thinking of getting one.
Cardiff Conservation Volunteers bought one of these for their morning and lunch time brew and use it 51 weeks of the year.

It's lasted quite well but we did make a stout box to keep it safe. One slight knock and you would dent this; the build quality is awful.
The chain and stopper were rubbish and they didn't last 6 months before falling off. It does boil the water really quickly though. A good stash of dry wood is the trick though.

The other issue is that unlike the other storm kettles, it doesn't have a base which means you leave burn circles everywhere and boiling in long grass or mud can really affect the performance.
We built our own base which comprises two metals plates bolted together to raise it off the floor. It works lovely.

After a year though it started to dribble from the bottom and around the spout but not enough to cause that much concern. Recently though people have been reporting that water has been tasting really odd from it. I don't know yet what's causing it but it could be smoke coming into contact with the water somewhere. (It tastes of TCP in case anyone knows what causes a TCP like taste.)

Also, despite being stainless steel, it has developed rust patches. (maybe there is rust on the inside causing the odd flavour?)

If anyone knows of another storm kettle with a large capacity like this then I would love to hear about it. At the moment, we are thinking of going to a metal fabrication workshop and getting a custom kettle made.
The size and prep involved for regular usage makes the storm kettle ideal for scouts and outdoor groups but there is only one model that boils enough water in one go.

Ian

 

[mitch66]

Hi, Ian. is it worth asking kelly kettle if they have any plans to build a larger unit? i for one would be intrested. carl

 

[mountainm]

Re. The TCP comment. I often get an iodine taste boiling water from campsite taps in a normal kettle on a gas stove. I always attributed it to the way the water was treated.

 

[mitch66]

Hi, good point may be worth using bottle water, just for a one off test. carl

 

[Dave Budd]

great bit of necrothreading

Good to see that somebody has had some proper use from this kettle.

I have to admit that mine doesn't get as much use as I had thought, but that's mostly down to a change in the types of group I have had in my woods over the last couple of years. I did replace the cap with a cork but there are very few dents in the shell. The few dents that are there were caused when the empty kettle was left on a bench (so not sitting in the wet leaf litter) and was blown across the woods in a gale!.

It will rust. Stainless means just that stainLESS not stain proof. It just takes stainless longer to rust thats all If its left with water in it then you are more likely to get rust inside,but normally the first rust will set in where the heat has been greatest as the oxides formed by heat allow easier corrosion (converts from one oxide to another).

I'e got other kettles made from stainless (thick over the stove and kelly), aluminium and cast iron. None have developed strange tastes from age or use. The only ones that have tasted funny have been because something got in and died/rotted in the bottom of a smaller kelly, that was not pleasent!

I like the lack of contained base. It means that I don't have a spererate piece to damage (I've trodded on my kelly base so many times!) and the kettle can be put on the edge/over an existing fire (or used to start a subsiquent camp fire that I can sit around once the kettle has boiled). I don't need to worry about scorch patches though, if I did then a base is no hassel to put down really

 

[Zingmo]

The TCP taste will be from phenolic compounds (think creosote). These occur in smoke so that may be where the taste is from. Unless someone has "sterilized" the kettle for you!

Z

 

[mrcharly]

How about opening up the joints and resealing with silicone?

 

[treefrog]

If anyone knows of another storm kettle with a large capacity like this then I would love to hear about it.

Ian

I've always found these quite intriguing, but never ordered one.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BOAT-CAMP...amping_CookingSupplies_ET&hash=item1c25878925

(no connection to seller etc…)

 

[Dave Budd]

hmmm. that looks interesting. kinda storm kettle crossed with a rocket stove. I wonder if smoke and wood tar would stick the bits together a bit too fast?

 

[IanGiblett]

Hi, good point may be worth using bottle water, just for a one off test. carl

Since our triple S has been making the tea taste dreadful we've gone back to a kettle mounted on a bunsen burner.
It means we have a take a bottle of butane out with us but the tea tastes better. The water is taken from the same tap as always which proves it was the triple S causing the foul taste. A few people in the group also suggested that smoke may be mixing with the water.

I've been given the go ahead by the charity to commission a custom made Storm kettle with a large capacity and a better build quality. I'll report back here in the future with the results.

In the mean time if anyone else knows where you can get a larger capacity storm kettle I'd love to hear about it.

 

[rik_uk3]

Since our triple S has been making the tea taste dreadful we've gone back to a kettle mounted on a bunsen burner.
It means we have a take a bottle of butane out with us but the tea tastes better. The water is taken from the same tap as always which proves it was the triple S causing the foul taste. A few people in the group also suggested that smoke may be mixing with the water.

I've been given the go ahead by the charity to commission a custom made Storm kettle with a large capacity and a better build quality. I'll report back here in the future with the results.

In the mean time if anyone else knows where you can get a larger capacity storm kettle I'd love to hear about it.

Keep us (me) updated on this one please.