The Best Way to Build a Fire for Warmth vs Cooking

A fire pit provides the ultimate place to gather with friends and family. Whether you have your favorite drink in hand or roast a few marshmallows, it's sure to provide a great activity and warmth no matter the time of day.

But did you know there are multiple ways to build a fire? And some methods may be better than others depending on your plans, whether sitting around the fire to warm up on a cool evening or cooking an impressive wood-fired meal. Keep reading to learn the difference to set yourself up for fire-building success.

Solo Stove 360° Airflow Design

First things first, Solo Stove fire pits are known for being smokeless, and that's all thanks to a specific airflow design. The 360° Airflow design incorporates vent holes on the fire pit's bottom and top. The upper vent holes help burn off smoke while releasing preheated oxygen, resulting in a much hotter fire.

Build a Fire for Warmth

Because of its 360° Airflow design, a Solo Stove fire pit is quite literally engineered to create a fire that will keep you exceptionally warm. Whether you're gathering in the yard around a Yukon fire pitor keeping your hands toasty warm next to your Mesa tabletop fire pit, that helpful airflow plays a role in heating things up.

Build the Base: Warmth

1 - Start with a square base of kindling in the center of the base plate in your fire pit.

2 - Add one or two fire starters, depending on your fire pit size.

3 - Stack additional kindling to form a pyramid around the square base, keeping a small space open to insert a lighter.

4 - Use the lighter to light the fire starters.

Keep it Going

Once the kindling has caught, begin to add larger logs. Add medium or large logs to keep your fire roaring for plenty of heat. Just remember that logs should rest in the fire pit under the interior vent holes to allow for proper airflow to eliminate smoke and increase heat.

Build a Fire for Cooking

The process of building a fire for cooking is incredibly similar, but you don't want it to be quite as hot as a warm fire for gathering around. A cooking fire is all about the base of coals that provide residual heat.

Solo Stove's cooking system comes with a stainless steel hub for lifting your chosen cooktop away from the base of the fire. Depending on what you're cooking, You can use the hub with the cast iron griddle, wok, or grill.  

Build Your Base: Cooking

1 - Start with two pieces of kindling parallel in the center of the base plate in your fire pit.

2 - Add one or two fire starters in between, depending on your fire pit size.

3 - Stack additional kindling to form a log cabin style or pyramid shape around the square base, and then use a lighter to light the fire starters.

Burn Down to Coals

Once the kindling has caught, begin to add larger logs. Remember that hardwoods such as hickory and oak are more dense, meaning they will provide longer burn times than softer cedar, poplar, or Douglas fir. For cooking, only add four to six medium logs and allow them to burn down to create a base of hot coals.

Get Cooking

Once you've established a base of embers, place your cast iron on top of the hub to allow it to preheat. The heat resonating from the coals and the fire pit will heat the cast iron for cooking.

If you find that you need the cooktop to be a bit hotter while cooking, add one small log or a few pieces of kindling at a time to keep the flame at an optimal level. It's best to keep the flame just a few inches high to prevent it from getting too hot for cooking.