Kelly Kettle

[RobertRogers]

I stumbled upon the Kelly Kettle website the other day. Anybody try one of these? Looks like it might be some kind of double boiler?

They claim you can boil water quickly only using leaves, small twigs, even newspaper

[Too Much Kit To Carry]

The Kelly is great for boiling water - but that's about all IMHO. Perhaps a bit too 1D for real bushcraft use?

I shall await being shot down in flames by Kelly fans :eek:

Phil.

[leon-1]

Hi mate, Kelly kettles are very good and you can burn pretty much any natural material in them that you want from twigs and leaves to larger dried prepared sticks.

I know some people have used them with burners inside them as well as hexamine tablets.

[Marts]

Here you go Robert

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/content/articles.php?action=show&showarticle=11

http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/kellystove.html

[bent-stick]

I've got the big one and the small one. Great stuff. They are a bit bulky to carry but they are just the thing for a quick brew.

Here's the best review...

http://www.outdooridiots.com/features/200611/kellykettle/kellykettle.asp

None of my buttons are working now...cut and paste it into a browser.

Time to restart the laptop perhaps....

[ScottC]

They will boil your water very quickly but can't do much more - they were originally used by irish fishermen to brew up quietly using natural fuels. They are also a bomb waiting to go off if you forget to take the cork out, which is extremely dangerous (imagine a tidal wave of boiling water hitting you in the face). ;)

[bent-stick]

Yeah but boiling water gives me:

tea
hot chocolate
boullion
cupasoup
couscous
noodles
rat pack hot rations etc

all without worrying about fuel.

That's multipurpose enough for me :)

[Silverback]

Purely and simply I spent three years 'umming' and 'arring' over getting one of these until my dad got so fed up he bought me one for my birthday. All I can say is I wasted three years of fun by not having one. I regularly nip outside the back door with my two little lads and we brew up on the drive just for the hell of it :D They are bulky but work so well in my opinion it is worth it and you would be suprised how many mates you can suddenly have when the kelly is on the boil ;)

[Shambling Shaman]

I like them and I belive theres a grill/pot set now?

did a quick google
http://www.sportfish.co.uk/product/31803/Kelly_Kettle_Cooking_Set.html

[Silverback]

I heard about the grill set but initial feedback is not favourable i.e. not worth the money. I have a bulldog billy that is almost the same diameter as the top of the kelly if you stick a couple of steel rods across the top of the bottom pot for a bit of airflow it works well :)

[fred gordon]

I got one of the larger kettles a few years ago as a present and I was a bit sceptical. Not any more though. I now have one of each size and never leave home without it. I even saw a TV chef cook a small trout down the middle wrapped in tin foil. Have yet to try that. :)

[bambodoggy]

Yeah but boiling water gives me:

tea
hot chocolate
boullion
cupasoup
couscous
noodles
rat pack hot rations etc

all without worrying about fuel.

That's multipurpose enough for me :)

I have to say I agree with Phil and Scott, a very good item for boiling water but I can do everything you mention above with a small billy but I can also dig with it, bake in it, fry in it, collect fungi/berries/nuts/water in it, wash in it, shave in it, drink out of it, feed and water my dogs with it, up turn it and sit on it, paddle with it, eat out of it, pretend to play the drums with it and many other things....plus it takes up far less bulk in my kit and most likely weights a little less.

I really don't think a kelly kettle is multipurpose enough for me (although obviously I've got one anyway...well, you can't judge till you try it lol ;) ).

I have the 1 pint version and am told the 2 pint one is better... I bought the accessory kit for mine not having been told that it only fits the 2 pinter lol ....still, it found a new home fairly soon lol :D

They are good at what they are meant to do and do have their uses but they just aren't for me, if you enjoy them and I'm up for a free coffee from yours then I hope you continue to use them :lmao: failing that....no thanks. :)

Cheers,

Bam. :D

[cyclist]

it can do far more than just boil water.
A look at www.thermette.com (a Volcano from the southern hemisphere) and a little tinkering gives a way of boiling water and frying food at the same time.
A little thinking helped me to design a couple of parts to use a Trangia burner inside (without modification it´s not working) - just in case ....
And yes, you can carry stuff inside the chimney.

No, I´d never dig with my cooking gear.

A pot cozy also is an essential part of my outdoor kitchen: homemade fry pan, ti pot, bowls & spork, stainless stell mugs,Trangia and homemade burners, homemade pasta machine, Kelly, homemade pot cozy, homemade kitchen knife etc.. Guess why ....

I use the Kelly because it´s the only Volcano Kettle offered in a small size.

[scanker]

I'm with Bam. My mate has a 2pint KK and whilst there's nothing better for a quick brew, that IMO is all it can do. The cooking kit is way too small for anything practical - if you're carrying a 2 pint kettle, you're going to want to cook more than half a dozen chipolatas. Ration packs and noodles all need simmering, and unless I'm missing a trick, I can't see how you can do that on a KK.

Except I wouldn't dig with my billy can. :)

[Mikey P]

I really don't think a kelly kettle is multipurpose enough for me (although obviously I've got one anyway...well, you can't judge till you try it lol ;) ).

They are good at what they are meant to do and do have their uses but they just aren't for me, if you enjoy them and I'm up for a free coffee from yours then I hope you continue to use them :lmao: failing that....no thanks. :)

Cheers,

Bam. :D

Agree - I think they are great bits of kit as long as you understand the limitations. I reckon they're perfect for picnics, days out working in the woods or someone else's land, brews on the beach, etc. Certainly not for lightweight, compact travel. Depending on what I'm doing will depend on the stove used: alpine climbing/bivvying - Jetboil; no-fires campsite - calor gas double burner; fire-friendly campsite - small fire & kettle/billy; etc.

As a device, Kelly Kettles are pretty efficient and, frankly, they make the simple act of brewing up more of a 'bushcraft' thing than just boiling a kettle.

Perhaps that's it? It's all about the psychological aspects - satisfying a need to boil some water but in the most aesthetically pleasing manner - not neccessarily in the simplest way. Someone mentioned that they go out into the driveway with their kids everynow and again with their kelly kettle just to make a cup of tea. I think that's fantastic! It's more about the act of making the tea than actually drinking it!

Getting pretty deep here...better go and have a cuppa and sort my head out.

[cyclist]

I'm with Bam. My mate has a 2pint KK and whilst there's nothing better for a quick brew, that IMO is all it can do. The cooking kit is way too small for anything practical - if you're carrying a 2 pint kettle, you're going to want to cook more than half a dozen chipolatas. Ration packs and noodles all need simmering, and unless I'm missing a trick, I can't see how you can do that on a KK.

Except I wouldn't dig with my billy can. :)

don´t put the ration packs, MRE´s and EPA´s in the Kelly. Just fill it with water and bring it to a rolling boil.
No tricks, just a bit of imagination. Using low BTU fuels is a pretty good education since you can´t avoid to waste the smallest amount of energy*. Simmering on Trangia & Co. is pure energy wasting compared to a pot cozy. Cozy cooking can be done with a KK as well, that doesn´t take much imagination after you got the idea :D

A pot cozy is just an insulation device that fully covers your pot. Lots of instructions on how to make one or to purchase via a quick google search. PU insulation mat or aluminum coated bubble wrap is the material you want. The minimal weight of a cozy pays in two ways: you save energy and (fuel) weight.
I made mine as a dual function unit: it doubles as a storage bag for the kitchen set.

To fabricate a Thermette-style pan holder :lmao: you´ll need sheet metall (pref. stainless steel), tin snips and take half an hour on a lazy saturday afternoon. :)

*Red man is making small fire ....... "

[gunnix]

I got the kellykettle 2 pint. It's great to boil water with, and I really enjoy it. I also got a big isolating bottle which has a broad opening because it's for food as well which I can use to do the "cozy cooking" like cyclist mentioned. I didn't have much success cooking potatoes this way though.. Just boiling some vegetable soup. Which kind of foods do you cook this way cyclist?

I did get the accesoires for the kk as well but they were worthless and to costly for what it was. I wouldn't know for what they are made, put them on the firebase after you cooked water? But the fire base looses warmth quickly, and you can't keep a fire going this way...

Although the kk is big I always have space for it in my pack :) I don't think it takes that much place, and the weight isn't very much either. I can make fire with it in the forests without leaving any trace, without any effort :) .

By the way, I have some question about putting a pot on top of the kk. Do you keep water in the kk all the time while you are cooking on top?

I also saw someone who just had a big tin container which fitted on top of the firebase which he used to put a cooking pot on. It fitted just over the kk when packed, so it didn't take much more space.

[cyclist]

about every food that can be simmered: potatoes, rice, with some care even pasta, all sorts of dehydrated etc.

I don´t have the set that goes on the firepan and is use instead of the kettle.
I use the frypan on top of the kettle and boil water and fry in the pan at the same time. That saves a lot odf firewood since it´s double used. Its shown here:
www.thermette.com/thermette_disaster_prep.htm
and (with an other type of pan holder) here:
http://spiritburner.com/collectors_galleries/kevin_mccarty/collectors_k_mccarty_malley.ht m

Those are no Kelly Kettles ... I´m sure you get the idea

[scanker]

I guess you mean this sort of thing:

http://www.thermette.com/thermette_tin_cookin.JPG

Do you do this on a KK though, because from what I remember the top of a KK has a smaller chimney and steeply sloped sides?

[lavrentyuk]

There are quite a few different versions out there. I got a South African Volcano kettle made from spun aluminium which is a bit stronger and came with a small cookset. I have fried up a breakfast for one after making the tea, cooked a burger on it and so forth. It isn't much more than a one person job though. The kettle on the other hand is great, especially when stuck somewhere that gets all funny about camp fires.

[anthonyyy]

I found a tin that fits over the one pint kelly kettle that allows you to use the base as a hobo stove.
Check out this thread:

http://72.36.134.230/community/showthread.php?p=180100#post18 0100

[gunnix]

about every food that can be simmered: potatoes, rice, with some care even pasta, all sorts of dehydrated etc.

I don´t have the set that goes on the firepan and is use instead of the kettle.
I use the frypan on top of the kettle and boil water and fry in the pan at the same time. That saves a lot odf firewood since it´s double used. Its shown here:
www.thermette.com/thermette_disaster_prep.htm
and (with an other type of pan holder) here:
http://spiritburner.com/collectors_galleries/kevin_mccarty/collectors_k_mccarty_malley.ht m

Those are no Kelly Kettles ... I´m sure you get the idea

yea I know the termette and I've seen those pictures before.
How long do you wait until your potatoes are ready? How long for the rice?
The method you use is just put a pot with food + cooking water from kk in isolation and wait till it's ready? It should be quite the same as putting food in isolating bottle and adding cooking water, then close the lid. But with this method the potatoes really don't get very good when I do it.. Any tricks ? :p

[cyclist]

gunnix I don´t use tricks, potatoes have to be cut in (smaller) pieces. Makes sure the insulation of your pot cozy works well, avoid a tight fit of the pot in the cozy. Preheat the pot. The rest is training ..... ;)

Pan on top of a working KK: all you need is a pot holder (you could do it the Finnish way: put a long handle to your pan like on a small Muurrikka www.muurikka.com ).
Both ways (the Thermette style "ring" and the Malley´s "cross") it works fine. All you have to keep in mind is to make the exhaust ports big enough to allow the exhaust fumes to escape freely. I did not use a Thermette "ring" or a Malley´s "cross" - all I did was a tiny little bit of thinking :rolleyes: about the way it works :D and to fabricate my own system :) .
Aluminum doesn´t last very long - get stainless steel.
A piece of sheet, drill enough holes and connect it with sheet metal screws or pop rivetts (st/st also) gives you the ring, two flat pieces make a cross.
Of course there might be lots other ways, think about stainless steel wire (bicycle spokes), look at www.brasslite.com etc.pp.

[gunnix]

ah, well I'll practice :)

[bushwakka]

I stumbled upon the Kelly Kettle website the other day. Anybody try one of these? Looks like it might be some kind of double boiler?

They claim you can boil water quickly only using leaves, small twigs, even newspaper


Hi there,

I too have been looking at the kelly kettle as I had a similar contraption many years ago when I first started camping. I ckecked them out on Ebay and the price is consistently around the £35 - £45 mark depending on size. I came across and have ordered a similar product called 'The Eco-Trekker'. This works on exactly the same principal as the kelly kettle but comes complete with the grill and cook set that you have to pay extra for with the kelly kettle.

It hasn't yet arrived but I know from past experience that they are quite efficient. The one I had years ago was called something like 'The Hobo Stove' but was just like the kelly kettle. A small fire of twigs is lit inside and burns well because of the chimneying effect of the kettle. water boils in no time at all. The one that I had had an ingenious self pouring spout. It was a length of narrow bore copper tube that passed through the stopper cork into the water tank. The end was bent to form a spout. When the water reached boiling point the pressure of the steam forced the hot water out of the spout into a waiting mug! Excellent and very simple. I don't know why these aren't fitted as standard! If you don't want the water to pour out you simply don't put the stopper cork in place. The 'Hobo Stove' I had also came with a pan rest that fitted onto the top of the chimney so that a billy can/frying pan could be used.

The disadvantage of this type of cooking stove is that it is quite bulky and the inside gets sooty but it comes in a carry case and you don't need to carry fuel with you.

Kelly Kettles are also knowns as Volcano cookers/stoves

I'll update this thread when my Eco-Trekker arrives.

[Graham_S]

i've got a eco-trekker.
not quite as good quality as the kelly kettle, and the lack of a handle to pick it up with is a bit of a drawback.
they give you a pot grab to lift it with, but the flame from the top of the kettle tends to get diverted under the handle. you need to mod the kettle to have a handle, let the flames die down before you remove it, or wear gloves.