I'm going to be using my cobb at a rowing event this weekend and need to keep it hot for a long time so people can cook when they aren't rowing. What will be the best way to do this? Should I just keep replacing the cobbstone or should I use beads and keep topping them up(but won't they flame/smoke and take time to heat up?) We'll need it most of the day.
If you use the beads you will have to empty out the ashes before you top up or you will block the vents on the bottom of the cobb.Yes when you add more beads they will smoke until they turn grey
Using cobblestones might turn out expensive as you will have to change them out every couple of hours as they will start to lose their heat by then.
If i were you i would let the beads lose most of their heat then empty them into a metal container with water, clean out the cobb and start again.just have to try and time it when nobody wants to cook
Depends how long you want it usuable for. We used ours last Summer when camping and put some beads on at breakfast and was still cooking in the afternoon. We did add a couple more beads but I think you would need to add quite a few before you blocked the vents.
About 6 I believe, 8 at the most. We baked some croissants and then fried some bacon. I then chucked in some potatoes for lunch. I left it going until mid afternoon then bunged some more on to do dinner, which I believe was beef stroganoff. That was followed by baking a cake. The cobb was still hot so we used it as a heater for a few hours.