Biolite Camping Stove Review

I mentioned in an earlier post that we used our new Biolite Camping Stove from Biolite. For those who don't know, this is a unique new camping stove that runs on "available biomass" more commonly known as sticks and twigs you find around the camp site. It claims to boil water in about 4 minutes and supposedly produces very little carbon (smoke). The stove is what is known as a jet stove, where air is forced into the combustion chamber in a very controlled way. There is an air layer between the combustion chamber and the outer body of the stove and a fan forces air into that layer which has strategic holes in the main chamber to provide oxygen to the fire in a very specific way. This results in a clean, hot burn that isn't really affected by wind and isn't picky about fuel.

(This picture shows the stove with our camping teapot on top)

The coolest feature on the stove though is how the fan is powered. There is a small rechargeable battery in the orange part that you need to pre-charge at home. Once it's charged though, there is a copper rod that sticks into the fire that is part of a Thermo-electric generator that maintains the battery, powers the fan and... as an added bonus... charges your cellphone!!! Sounds great, so how does it really work?

In practice, the stove is amazing. I had to use one of the fire starter sticks they give you the first time I started it but every time since I've been able to put together a small pile of tinder at the bottom and start it with a single match. You drop the match in, give it a couple seconds to catch then turn the fan on low and it just takes off. The fire is hot enough to cook/boil on in under five minutes. 

Once it's going you just keep dropping sticks into it and it keeps burning. Incredibly simple. As I learned how it worked I also found that adjusting the fan from low to high gave you a bit of control over how hot the fire was and how often you need to add fuel. It's definitely the type of stove you need to keep an eye on. You'll need to drop a stick or two in every few minutes but you don't have to baby it. 

Boiling water was reasonably quick. I did not time it but around 4 minutes seems reasonable, maybe more like 5 or 6. Where it really shined though was with the add on grill, a $60 addition that we decided to try because we were unhappy with the taste of meat grilled on propane.

(You can see my phone charging at the bottom)

As you can see, the grill is large enough for 3 pre-made hamburger patties. It sits just on top of the main stove and is supported by two additional legs. It is not exactly "sturdy" but it never felt like it was going to tip over or fall. There is a flip-top door that allows you to add fuel to the fire while grilling. The grill piece feels a little flimsy and is easy to bend. I need to mess with it a bit to see how best to clean it without bending it. 

What really surprised us about the grill was how great everything tasted. We've cooked sausages, turkey-burgers and hotdogs on it and everything was great. The real surprise was the turkey burgers, which tend on the bland side in general. They were the best burgers I've ever had on this thing. I have no idea why, but they tasted SO good. We were cooking over split firewood pieces, possibly oak, which may have helped. Anyway, the grill is awesome. What a great way to cook food over natural sources.

Let's look at some of the details. It is a relatively smoke-free stove. As long as all the air jets are working correctly, it burns the wood very cleanly. If you over-pack the chamber it will start to smoke. There's also something about the grill... all the juices from what you're cooking drip down into the fire chamber and burn, which can get a little smokey. It didn't create much smoke (compared to a normal fire) and it didn't adversely affect the food we were cooking. 

Finally, the charging works. It's not a great alternative for a wall plug but if you're out camping and need to top off or make an emergency call it will suit your purposes. I think I got about 20% charge while cooking dinner. So it's not fast, but it works. 

Overall this stove is amazing. I paid about $120 for the stove and $60 for the grill and it was worth every penny. I'm not a big fan of cooking on propane and this is just so convenient and easy. We bought some fire wood and split it but did our first use with just random twigs and sticks from around the camp site and it worked great. I highly recommend this stove.