How to Make a Water Wheel Cooker
Using a barbecue spit or rotisserie is one of the most efficient ways to cook meat. The rotation allows for even heat distribution that has a wonderful way of cooking meat through without drying it out. Making your own is not all that difficult, but manually turning the meat for hours on end is not the most productive way to spend your time. Let’s look at a simple way to rig a rotisserie to a water wheel to automate the process.
There is a lot of room for variation to this idea, and you can make this cooker as simple or as complex as you like. You can also modify it to be portable or fixed along a creek or river as well. The basic idea is to connect a water wheel to a shaft that also turns the meat over the fire.
Building the Frame
An “A” frame is the easiest and arguably most efficient way to support the cooking system. All you need to do is join a series of legs that meet at an angle at the top. This will support the rotating shaft that extends from the wheel to the opposite side of the fire. At a minimum, you will need one “A” support next to the water wheel, one at the far end next to the fire and two somewhere along the middle.
You can make a very rudimentary frame by using thick branches as the supports and a long, thinner branch for the shaft. Simply lash each set of support legs together with some cordage and allow the shaft to rest in the space that is now on top of them. However, using metal rods and shaft will produce a more durable and efficient cooker. It is very easy to find special joints or drill holes in the metal in order to connect the components while providing minimal resistance for shaft rotation.
No matter what material you use to build the frame, you need to make sure that it will support the force of the water that powers the wheel as well as the weight and balance of the shaft and meat as it cooks. You will need a stronger system for heavier cooking and faster moving water, whereas a lighter system will work for smaller meals and slower water flow.
Attaching the Components
The easiest way to make this cooker is to attach the water wheel to the same shaft that will be used for cooking. This eliminates the need for a gear or transmission kit, and it will also be easier to assemble. Simply anchor the wheel to the shaft, place it in the water, and watch the current drive the cooker.
However, it’s important to design the system so that the height of the wheel, shaft and supports are all aligned properly. Otherwise, the wheel may break free from the shaft, the shaft may jam or the entire assembly can collapse. It’s also important to consider the size of the wheel as well as the design of the paddles based on the current of the water that is driving the system. You may need to increase or decrease the size of the wheel or the number of paddles or buckets to achieve optimal rotational speed, and this will vary from location to location.
You should also consider how much room you will need for the meat to cook. Pieces that are skewered tend to take up less space than those that are placed in between grates. However, meat that is flattened and pressed between grills or grates tends to cook faster. You will need to either adjust the design of the fire or elevate the frame in order to accommodate these variables.
Finally, chances are, for the sake of simplicity, that you will be placing the fire over the edge of the water. This will reduce the amount of power needed to drive the cooker while also reducing the amount of material that you need to build the frame. The other reason that this option is one of the more popular ones is that the water wheel needs to be able to be partially submerged in order to catch the current. The best thing to do is fashion a fire bin that can rest above the shallow water near the shore. However, this will also impact the height of the cooking system as you can’t create a underground fire pit in water.
This overview is intended to give you a general idea of what you will need to consider in order to build a water wheel rotisserie. However, it’s really important to take time to plan and make appropriate measurements in order to avoid a lot of unnecessary complications and setbacks. Take advantage of your situation, available materials and ability to improvise in order to make the most of this convenient and practical cooking tool.
