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Kelly kettle ... anyone using one?

G

Glamper Gladys

Messages
81
Location
Leeds
Vehicle
T6 Ocean 150
I love these forums, you've been so helpful even before we pick up our ocean on Tuesday! I cook, I love to cook, the reason we bought the ocean is so I can cook (tho I wished I'd looked at a t5 conversion with kitchen pod now I know!!!) anyway, I don't fancy any outdoor cooking that requires gas or electric or meths and the only thing that catches my eye is the Kelly Kettle ... anyone using one that can give me the pros and cons before I click Buy Now? !! (It really catches my eye! I do not want to be restricted to ehu but I do have option to borrow a halogen oven thingy for then)
 
A lot of money for a kettle may be ok for light weight camping I say just use the Oceans gaz hob
 
Sorry, i should've posted a link, its more like a trangia but make your own fire and the kettle is a double walled cylinder thats kind of a chimney/fire too that you can pop pans onhttps://www.kellykettle.com/ the ultimate version is on amazon
 
Each to their own I suppose 'Gladys'. As a bloke I love a fire but not sure I want to go gathering twigs etc to make a cup of tea when I have a kitchen in my Cali, and a small £10 camping Gaz stove in the cupboard for outside use (and if the gas runs out in the van).
Often the advice is not to duplicate stuff as you have so little room to start off with, so the stove, the tiny kettle, the tiny pans all are in danger of duplicating bigger items you carry in the van.
But, each to their own !
 
I've got a mate who has one and uses it all the time. Burns anything he can find, grass, twiggs, dried cow poo.
It does work well but seems a bit of a faff to me, either got to take fuel with you or spend time locating it when stopped which could be difficut if it's wet weather. May as well just use gas IMO unless you're really into that kind of thing.
 
I've a Kelly Kettle which I have for canoeing trips. They are "fun" and have that back to basics element but are a bit messy. You need to have fuel, small dry twigs or old Christmas cards! Once you have the knack of getting it fired up the water boils quite quickly. Having had your brew you are left with hot ash and embers to get rid of. Also unless you can raise up off the grass you will scorch it. So no good at Caravan Club sites! The chimney part of the kettle and the base get pretty sooty so I keep mine in an old canvas bag. You don't need much fuel to boil it and as I said Christmas cards torn into strips are ideal as they don't take long to ignite and don't burn for too long.
 
I use a small bio lite wood burning cooker - it's not much larger when packed than a small camping gas stove, and boils a litre of water in 4 minutes. Can take it with me if walking, use it on the beach, and have that magic outdoor smell of burning wood. It's also smokeless when fully burning


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I've a Kelly Kettle which I have for canoeing trips. They are "fun" and have that back to basics element but are a bit messy. You need to have fuel, small dry twigs or old Christmas cards! Once you have the knack of getting it fired up the water boils quite quickly. Having had your brew you are left with hot ash and embers to get rid of. Also unless you can raise up off the grass you will scorch it. So no good at Caravan Club sites! The chimney part of the kettle and the base get pretty sooty so I keep mine in an old canvas bag. You don't need much fuel to boil it and as I said Christmas cards torn into strips are ideal as they don't take long to ignite and don't burn for too long.
Sounds just what I'm looking for then as a bit of outdoorsy kit to add to the comfort of the ocean! Thx!
 
I use a small bio lite wood burning cooker - it's not much larger when packed than a small camping gas stove, and boils a litre of water in 4 minutes. Can take it with me if walking, use it on the beach, and have that magic outdoor smell of burning wood. It's also smokeless when fully burning


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Thx! I plan on using the bbq/pan on this as well as water boiling - what bio cooker are you using?
 
The Biolite, with heat powered fan and inbuilt mobile charger. Has an optional grill that does great bacon! Can't beat sitting around a "real fire" with a hot drink late in the evening.

I run it on twigs, slightly larger sticks and pine cones, filling pockets when walking


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The Biolite, with heat powered fan and inbuilt mobile charger. Has an optional grill that does great bacon! Can't beat sitting around a "real fire" with a hot drink late in the evening.

I run it on twigs, slightly larger sticks and pine cones, filling pockets when walking


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Oh now that is swish with the usb charger on top! Back to my research!!
 
IMG_2022.JPG

I have one and like you I was just curious and fancied the idea of using a few twigs to boil a kettle which it does fine. But in reality there are much easier options if you have a Cali so mine gets little use now. I've since bought a Frontier stove and a Cobb which I much prefer for their versatility. Didn't manage to get away in the Cali over Christmas but instead had fun cooking our ham in the garden using both the Frontier and Cobb. Personally I wouldn't buy a Kelly kettle again.
 
Kelly Kettle in cupboard not used since the arrival of the Cali. Great for car/motorcycle use for a brew up but in reality other more efficient methods of heating water exist and it was used more for the fun factor than particularly practical use. I would probably have moved on to the Biolite system if it were not for the Cali and the Cadac (used for bigger and potentially odorous cooking).
 
With a COBB and the stove in the Cali, I would not know what I should use a Kelly Kettle for. With my setup we can prepare almost everything we want. Its seems more a great thing when going with a tent i guess. Those days I was happy with a bonfire and a Tranglia/jetboil. The jetfoil btw. is about the fastest cooker you can get I suppose.
 
View attachment 18378

I have one and like you I was just curious and fancied the idea of using a few twigs to boil a kettle which it does fine. But in reality there are much easier options if you have a Cali so mine gets little use now. I've since bought a Frontier stove and a Cobb which I much prefer for their versatility. Didn't manage to get away in the Cali over Christmas but instead had fun cooking our ham in the garden using both the Frontier and Cobb. Personally I wouldn't buy a Kelly kettle again.
Omg! That looks divine!
 
Hello Camper Gladys,
We have had a Kelly Kettle for some time. We don't use it with our Cali though as we have the built in stove and another Campng Gaz single burner stove that fits onto our spare 907 cylinder. We carry our Kelly in our estate car inside a small Really Useful Box along with all the necessary for picnics. Having used one many times before I would say that they are superb for wild camping and picnics. However I would imagine that you would almost certainly incur the displeasure of the wardens if you tried to fire it up at any Caravan Club or Camping and Caravan Club site.

Ours came as a kit, which from memory includes a small saucepan with separate handle and lid/fying pan, grill that fits over the burner pan, and two mugs etc. We went for the largest one they did which is in stainless steel, 1.5 litre capacity I think. They are well made and should last forever. The whole kit and caboodle comes in a handy bag.

Like every thing, there is a knack to using it. First prepare the fire in fire pan using waste paper, litter, cardboard, straw or just about anything that's handy but don't over fill it as it won't draw properly. Fill the water jacket but again don't overfill it otherwise it will cough out boiling water when it comes up to the boil. DON'T put the bung in the water jacket filler or it will obviously build up pressure before blowing possibly scalding you in the process. Place the water jacket section onto the fire pan and light the fire. Then feed the fire with sticks, twigs and dry leaves etc via the chimney. Once the fire really gets going the twigs etc don't need to be that dry either as the whole thing works very effectively indeed. Utilising the wind direction, you may need to adjust/rotate the whole thing to ensure that the air hole in the fire pan is in the optimum position to draw well. The KK boils 1.5 litres of water very quickly indeed and at the same time gives you the wonderful fealing of being connected with our caveman origins, although I doubt if they had Kelly Kettles back then. Using the extra kit that we have you can also cook limited things on it.

Tips:
1. Make sure that you place it on a stable non combustible surface well away from where you will be sitting otherwise the smoke will follow you.
2. Avoid lighting it in close proximity to long dry grass.
3. Like all cooking devices, Don't allow children anywhere near it when in use.
4. If possible, stay up wind at all times when feeding it to avoid smelling like a kipper.
5. Use any un-used water to properly extinguish the fire after use.
6. Empty and wash out the fire pan when hot. It will dry quicker. Pack away only when cool.

They are great fun to use and are totally green. Also we have often burned any litter we have found at picnic sites thereby leaving the environment much more tidy. Fuel is usually completely free.
 
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I love these forums, you've been so helpful even before we pick up our ocean on Tuesday! I cook, I love to cook, the reason we bought the ocean is so I can cook (tho I wished I'd looked at a t5 conversion with kitchen pod now I know!!!) anyway, I don't fancy any outdoor cooking that requires gas or electric or meths and the only thing that catches my eye is the Kelly Kettle ... anyone using one that can give me the pros and cons before I click Buy Now? !! (It really catches my eye! I do not want to be restricted to ehu but I do have option to borrow a halogen oven thingy for then)

Hi Gladys, (my mums called Gladys btw ;-)
I've not used many of these outdoor cooking items but have done lots of research. There are lots of examples of what lies under the Kelly, namely the hobo stove. Lots a variations and lots of prices too.

There are abundant videos of outdoors men* demonstrating these things and similar.

From your description you want to cook outdoors rather than in the wilderness?
So weight is not a factor? Will it be stable enough for the pans you plan to use? Are you planning on standing or sitting to cook? If cooking with wood, most items will be blackened, so you may need a set of pans for outdoor and indoor? Do you like the bonfire night smells? You might have no choice. How easy can it be put out?

Most are easy to light and use but the clean up from some are worse than others. As many have said they are typically smelly and could be difficult to extinguish and clean.
Hopefully this comes over as questions/thoughts rather than trying to teach you how to suck eggs.

If you go ahead I'd love to see your set-up and what you've cooked.

*These survivalists/outdoors-men/living-off-the-grid types, typically wearing camouflage head to toe, that have just hiked a few hundred metres from their car. A full campsite that they have carved out of raw timber with their bare hands, over the past 5 years.
In their mind they are living off grid, with a full compliment of knives, axes and saws and para-corded everything.
;)


... message ends...
 
Hi Gladys, (my mums called Gladys btw ;-)
I've not used many of these outdoor cooking items but have done lots of research. There are lots of examples of what lies under the Kelly, namely the hobo stove. Lots a variations and lots of prices too.

There are abundant videos of outdoors men* demonstrating these things and similar.

From your description you want to cook outdoors rather than in the wilderness?
So weight is not a factor? Will it be stable enough for the pans you plan to use? Are you planning on standing or sitting to cook? If cooking with wood, most items will be blackened, so you may need a set of pans for outdoor and indoor? Do you like the bonfire night smells? You might have no choice. How easy can it be put out?

Most are easy to light and use but the clean up from some are worse than others. As many have said they are typically smelly and could be difficult to extinguish and clean.
Hopefully this comes over as questions/thoughts rather than trying to teach you how to suck eggs.

If you go ahead I'd love to see your set-up and what you've cooked.

*These survivalists/outdoors-men/living-off-the-grid types, typically wearing camouflage head to toe, that have just hiked a few hundred metres from their car. A full campsite that they have carved out of raw timber with their bare hands, over the past 5 years.
In their mind they are living off grid, with a full compliment of knives, axes and saws and para-corded everything.
;)


... message ends...
Haha! Got to agree with your perceptions here! I really want it as an easy option for cooking extra stuff outdoors as mostly I'll use the inbuilt gas hob, more of a novelty than anything else and I don't want to be setting up and lugging about a full on feeding station and whatever it manufactured fuel or power they need.

I'll let you know whatever I come up with! We took delivery of the Cali 2 hours ago - I need to unpack!!!
 
Thanks for the input everyone, I'll let you know what I decide on! The Cali has arrived and is waiting or me to go unpack and drive it somewhere for a cuppa (which right now means I need to get a gas bottle -if I'd had the Kelly kettle I'd have had a brew on already!) very excited now it's really here!
 
Haha! Got to agree with your perceptions here! I really want it as an easy option for cooking extra stuff outdoors as mostly I'll use the inbuilt gas hob, more of a novelty than anything else and I don't want to be setting up and lugging about a full on feeding station and whatever it manufactured fuel or power they need.

I'll let you know whatever I come up with! We took delivery of the Cali 2 hours ago - I need to unpack!!!

Ye haaaa, two hours old already, congratulations.
 
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