is 30,000 BTU enough for home WOK?

i have a CampChef Explorer two burner stove. it's fairly powerful. specs say 30,000 BTU.

i'm tempted to cut the burner grate and weld in a steel ring so the WOK can be safely cradled. bonus; the wok bottom can be IN the burner flame.

google KUNG FU is finding me lots of contradicting info. i kinda want to research this before i take a grinder wheel to my relatively new stove.

my brother's turkey burner is an old model that has a ring made to fit a wok. you dont find them like that anymore. i bet his BTU is north of 50,000. it sounds like a jet engine at full high.

ideas? i might try to stir fry some Kabocha squash tonight, but the entire wok thing is very tippy/unstable right now. danger! (in taiwanese - SHOUW Shing!!)

I'm no wok expert, but from what I have seen/ read in the past 'real' wok burners are more like 120,000-150,000 BTUs, but some people get by at home with 50,000-60,000 BTU setups. I suppose part of it has to do with the size of the wok.

Boom, I also wanted an outdoor wok cooker. Mine started life as a Bayou Classic http://www.homedepot.com/p/Bayou-Cl...er-with-Stainless-Braided-Hose-SP10/100056313 that was about 50 bucks. My brother does some welding and modifed it to this with brackets to hold a wok and cut extra air holes in the frame. (Cost me 2 pizzas) Works great for the wok, boiling a lot of water, outdoor frying. The factory burner did not have much low temp control and I wanted to use it for paella (and other stuff) so I changed out the burner. Hot. Fast.

Daveb, it is very dangerous to use that burner on patio furniture--please be careful!

Hmmm, I used to have 6 of those chairs - I think you may be on to something.....

daveb said:

Boom, I also wanted an outdoor wok cooker. Mine started life as a Bayou Classic http://www.homedepot.com/p/Bayou-Cl...er-with-Stainless-Braided-Hose-SP10/100056313 that was about 50 bucks. My brother does some welding and modifed it to this with brackets to hold a wok and cut extra air holes in the frame. (Cost me 2 pizzas) Works great for the wok, boiling a lot of water, outdoor frying. The factory burner did not have much low temp control and I wanted to use it for paella (and other stuff) so I changed out the burner. Hot. Fast.

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thats pretty cool. you have considerably more horsepower than my CampChef.

For $30 more if you have no welding skills like me:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003GISCDK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

For the times that you have charcoal going anyway, I like charcoal though. Drop it right on the grill grates hole:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0044EQM9Q/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


Perfect stuff to go along with chinese cleavers right?! Anyway having a wok at bbq competitions has changed my life. Frying is much easier. Breakfast, lunch, dinner are less boring

I'm digging these setups, you guys rock. We have been using a carbon steel wok on our 15k btu stove with some success but struggle to keep it hot enough (have to cook small batches and get it ripping hot before starting). Going go have to put that single burner on my Christmas list.

IndoorOutdoorCook said:

For $30 more if you have no welding skills like me:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003GISCDK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

For the times that you have charcoal going anyway, I like charcoal though. Drop it right on the grill grates hole:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0044EQM9Q/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


Perfect stuff to go along with chinese cleavers right?! Anyway having a wok at bbq competitions has changed my life. Frying is much easier. Breakfast, lunch, dinner are less boring

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thanks..but i dont want to buy anything else. i already own the campchef stove. charcoal..yea. i once used the chimney starter. filled it with charcoal, let it get hot and set the wok on top. two things sucked. it was kinda tippy. i used bricks to stabilize. and it was low on the ground. oil plume in the face is no bueno. that Wok burner was on sale at BASS PRO..cheap. but i dont want more gear around the house. i just want to make mine work.

no idea on the 30,000 BTU i have available? enough? maybe i should just try it.

Dave your pic got me thinking.

i would need to cut way too much to get a wok to fit. if i hacked off the center, that burner would be rendered useless for a regular pot. i think it might work in the "stock" config.


and bonus!! the wok fits in the bag!!

So I have the exact same camp chef stove and what I believe to be a similar size wok. IMO it does not work well for 2 reasons.
1 the wok needs more stability ( a larger cradle for side support) in order to aggressively move the food around without tipping. This way you can utilize the walls of the wok for things like fried rice.
2 I find the BTU output to be too low for the surface area of a wok that size. it seems to take too long to get hot enough to sear and get that sizzle. The extra time waiting for the heat up alters the ( in this case fried rice) as it not dry a light like the cantonese style. INO the rice comes out heavier and tend to have more moisture ( I have tried different variants of rice)

I totally agree with Dave and a Bayou Classic. The BTY output is something like 60-90K for just the one burner. the camp chef is something like 30K.
I am on the lookout for a bayou classic to MOD.

I have the 30k BTU Thermador built in wok in my kitchen. One big difference between daveb's setup is his exhaust is provided by God. Yours has to be provided by fan. Combustion byproducts, smoke, smell and need for O2 for the burner's combustion are significant considerations. When my 1250CFM Best exhaust hood is running with the wok I have to open a window in the kitchen or all the conditioned (heated or cooled) air goes out the hood very quickly. Equally important is a properly sized and located fire extinguisher. daveb just loses a chair and a deck. You lose a real knife collection and the house you store it in.

goatgolfer said:

I have the 30k BTU Thermador built in wok in my kitchen. One big difference between daveb's setup is his exhaust is provided by God. Yours has to be provided by fan. Combustion byproducts, smoke, smell and need for O2 for the burner's combustion are significant considerations. When my 1250CFM Best exhaust hood is running with the wok I have to open a window in the kitchen or all the conditioned (heated or cooled) air goes out the hood very quickly. Equally important is a properly sized and located fire extinguisher. daveb just loses a chair and a deck. You lose a real knife collection and the house you store it in.

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i would never wok in my house. i barely deep fry in the house. i just set the campchef under my patio and do it all outdoors. my vent hood is feeble.

I moved to a new apartment with a crappy electric stove. This thread has become even more important since I'm doing basically everything except soups and braises on the smoker or outdoor wok burner. Hey it fits with my chinese cleaver collection at least...

i answered my own question.

NO - the 30,000 BTU afforded from my CampChef grill is not enough for serious woking. i was trying to empty some propane, so out came the grill.

i made chinese sticky rice dish. we call it "Nwaa Mai Faan". couple of problems besides the weak flame. my 14" wok is too small. the heat laps up the small side and my hands get warmish..and yes, i need some wok stability.

on the positive side of things. the used wok i found at a garage sale might be perfectly seasoned. nothing stuck..not even the sticky rice.

goatgolfer said:

I have the 30k BTU Thermador built in wok in my kitchen. One big difference between daveb's setup is his exhaust is provided by God. Yours has to be provided by fan. Combustion byproducts, smoke, smell and need for O2 for the burner's combustion are significant considerations. When my 1250CFM Best exhaust hood is running with the wok I have to open a window in the kitchen or all the conditioned (heated or cooled) air goes out the hood very quickly. Equally important is a properly sized and located fire extinguisher. daveb just loses a chair and a deck. You lose a real knife collection and the house you store it in.

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Sounds like your hood was not installed to code. Since 2009 hoods rated more than 400CFM are required to have a make-up air system of equal CFM.


Here’s the IRC provision, which is found in section M1503.4: “Exhaust hood systems capable of exhausting in excess of 400 cfm shall be provided with makeup air at a rate approximately equal to the exhaust air rate. Such makeup air systems shall be equipped with a means of closure and shall be automatically controlled to start and operate simultaneously with the exhaust system.”

I remember that IRC item from when we built our addition. Main issue is the typical home HVAC contractors know zero about such systems at the time, and I'm not sure if that has changed. We installed a range hood that is something like 1,200 or 1,500 cfm, and our make-up air is a window. Would be nice to have a real system, especially one that conditions the air first before it is discharged inside. Lots of logistical and cost issues with that though.

IndoorOutdoorCook said:

I moved to a new apartment with a crappy electric stove.

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I got one of those where I live as well. They're not ideal.
On the bright side, a blacksmith forge makes for a mean cooking stove! I wonder how many BTUs it generates?





It turns out can make something similar on the cheap.
Also there were these pretty cool things at the same place I bought the wok, made specifically for cooking with one:



I've never tried one myself, but you'd think with the aid of a blower it would be possible to get some serious heat going in one of these too.

I'm not sure I fully understand the obsession with super hot wok burners. "Some" Chinese dishes require high heat but not all. It is a lot better to have something with a wide range of adjustments, you certainly don't need 30,000 BTU's for making steam rolls or noodle soups. Most Thai and Viet dishes don't require super high heat either.

Fully adjustable heat is a must, yes. Higher BTUs add to that by allowing a wider range of adjustments.

We can make steam rolls and noodle soups without a wok, using only a standard pan and kitchen stove. These are not the foods we're interested in when investing in a wok and burner!
It's all about the stir-fry baby! Flash cooking multiple ingredients quickly over high heat, retaining the individual freshness of each one.

There's definitely a point where the higher BTUs reach the point of overkill. However, adding that to good heat distribution translates to the ability to cook more stuff at any one time without compromising the quality of the end product.

The speed and convenience make it a hell of a lot of fun to do, also the food tastes terrific!

My Asian cooking covers a lot more than just stir fry but I know from experience most of these countries use a wok for just about everything. Steam rolls, my steamer sits inside the wok, etc. etc.

I use my work a lot for frying also, it works great and I bet it helps its seasoning also. I have 22000 BTU on my stove on my wok and it works for me if I don't overcrowd it.